BALTIC COUNTRIES
As mention in my Cruises page, we took a cruise through the Baltic in 2011. Certainly stopping in a country like Sweden for only one day does not give you a good feel for the country, but it does let you have a taste of it to see if you think you would like to travel there for an extended time. Personally I had never been drawn to the Scandinavian culture, but by visiting those countries, I have seen that I might really enjoy Sweden. I was particularly drawn to Stockholm and found it to be easy to navigate and full of interesting sights.
I totally enjoyed our two days in St. Petersburg Russia,. but do not believe the Russian people are hospitable enough for me to want to venture further into Russia. St. Petersburg, however, is so full of beautiful architecture that you can't possible see anywhere else, please go if you have the opportunity.
My biggest delight on our Baltic excursion was actually tiny little Estonia. I found it charming and unique. The people all are happy to have you there and are interested in helping you enjoy their country. For a little country closed in and ruled by oppressive foreign governments for so long, they have an amazingly independent spirit. Did you know that Skype was founded and operates from Talin, Estonia? Me either..
THE CZECH REPUBLIC
Our visit to Prague was our very first venture behind the "Iron Curtain." May I say I was more than a little surprised to find the fabulous architecture in good shape...even the churches, given the Soviet's lack of support of religion in general. Very few of the people in Prague were English speakers, but with the help of the hotel staff, we were able to figure out the metro and how to make our way to the more prominent sites.
The Old Town of Prague takes your breath away. Everywhere I turned I was grabbing my husband's arm to show him something else. I called my daughter whose significant other is a photographer and told her never to bring him for less than a month. With his eye for detail, he would need that long to capture it.
We were quite surprised to find out that we had arrived in the midst the Sprint International Music Festival that happens each May. For two classical music lovers, this was like falling into a vat of dark chocolate. We went to at least five concerts during the three days we were there. There was literally a concert on the steps of the equivalent of their city hall, and we sat on pads on the stairs to listen.
One of the most famous sites in Prague is the Charles River Bridge. While it is crowded with tourists, it is also loaded with artists and musicians.
POLAND
First of all as a native of North Carolina, I was struck by the similarities of the landscape to my homeland, with a coastline, high mountains, and rolling hills it really felt familiar. Our first stop was Wroclaw, a small town with a big heart. First thing you notice is that the place is decorated with small statues of Gnomes/Dwarves everywhere. The little imps are busily engages in all types of activities.
Of course our group engaged in a competition to see who could fine the most.
Our second stop was at Auschwitz, the German Concentration Camp. It does take a strong will to walk into the place and face down the evil exhibited there, but I was glad I did it. It was so disturbing that several times I noticed men in our group crying. If you are close, you must honor the people who died there. The Jewish tradition is to take a rock and place it on the grave stone to say a prayer for the deceased. I personally placed rocks in several points throughout the place.
Krakow Poland was a much happier place. It is full of markets, beautiful churches and happy faces. Our group brought along a Hand Bell choir and one of the biggest joys was to see the faces of the Polish people as they rang the bells after the concert.
Krakow was the home of Pope John Paul and he is heavily honored as a favorite son. This portrait is seen through the door of a building on the main street.
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
What a pleasant surprise! We really didn't know much about Budapest, except what we had seen on travel shows, but we were truly made to feel welcome and we enjoyed the culture very much. Budapest is another one of the countries who was oppressed by both the Germans and the Russians. In one of their museums, Hall of Terror, they made it clear that living under the extreme right or the extreme left are not different at all. It has been only twenty years since Hungary has been able to speak for themselves and have some self-determination both as a government and as a people. You find young people there just bursting with entrepreneurial ideas and having a good time in exercising their rights.
As in most of Central and Eastern Europe, much of the old "soviet block" buildings remain...especially in the residential neighborhoods. However, once again their historical buildings remain in good condition and are really beautiful
In Budapest we spent time in the old Jewish Quarter visiting the Holocaust memorial park and the oldest Synagogue in Europe. However, the thing that touched me the most was the "Shoes on the Wall" exhibit, which portrays in a stirring fashion the plight of the Jews as the Germans took over Budapest. They literally stepped off the edge of the world.
There is also a very happy side the Budapest. We took a lovely dinner cruise down the Danube, went to the Folk Music and Dance Theatre for a knee slapping performance, and enjoyed a walk along the ridge of the Castle Hill District. Many things to see and do. We spent five full days and could have done more.
Again, my choir sang in Budapest at two cathedrals. The Hungarin people welcomed us with open hearts and a love of good music,
All I can say is Amen!
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