The day after our road trip out of Prague into the tiny town of Kutna Hora, we embarked on an even longer drive from Prague to Berlin on New Year's Eve, the celebration termed 'Silvester' (in honor of St. Sylvester) in Germany. Having only 8 days on the road together, the family elected the following itinerary departing from Mainz: 2 nights in München (Munich), with a day trip to Neuschwanstein, 3 nights in Prague, with a day trip to Kutna Hora, culminating with 2 nights in Berlin over Silvester, a route that could entertain travelers for about a month. Had we a month, we could have easily stopped in Stuttgart, Heidelberg, Nürnberg, Regensburg, Dresden, various countryside castles and ruins, and multiple national parks known for neat forests, rock formations, or decent skiing. The abundance of natural and historic sights to see within close distances distinguishes travel in Europe from travel in the states, and this 8 day, ~2200 km journey is characteristic of American or Australian tourists, who are used to travelling long distances with few desirable (or stoppable) stopping points in between.
The most beautiful (so I've heard) city of former East Germany, Dresden, thus remains a destination for a EuroTrip outside my 6-7 month tenure. Nonetheless, highway construction outside of the GPS's knowledge taught us to follow signs through a countryside detour in the mountains and through a mountainside town with winding and steep roads, sometimes narrow enough to impose one lane traffic. Ryan had a blast driving our 6-speed standard transmission diesel Opel houseboat, the same one you saw him expertly park in Prague.
We arrived in Berlin around 3pm, looped around the block by our hotel before emulating the 'legal' parking of other patrons of the apartments and hotels along the same street. We went online, looked for available times to view the Reichstag, the building of the Deutscher Bundestag, or German Parliament, from within, and quickly learned that the next available time just to enter the building and view out of the Dome would be the evening of the 2nd, and we were departing the morning of the 2nd. Moving along, I skipped showing my family the film traditionally viewed in Germany many, many, times in one sitting on Silvester in an attempt to get out before the sunset. Since it was already after 4, we were unsuccessful.
We boarded a regional train headed into the center of the city that was smokey (despite smoking being illegal on trains) and full of heavily pre-gramed and songful Silvester prepared youths. We surfaced for air at Potsdamer Platz, immediately hitting a wall.
Berlin Mauer
A giant ice slide at the Christmas Market by Potsdamer Platz Bahnhof
Mmmm shroooms!
We indulged into museum mode before letting the brick path indicating the former path of the Berlin wall lead us across the street to the Christmas style market to begin delving into tasty holiday sweets, i.e. Glühwein mit many versions of schuss, (gotta catch 'em all!) and some of the best food I've had in Germany out of giant skillets.
Once filled, we ventured to Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate), an entrance to the city since the late 1700s, closed in 1961 'until further notice', i.e. the fall of the wall in 1989. On Silvester, this is Germany's Times Square, the cite of the biggest party in Germany, and possibly in Europe. We passed through a checkpoint on the west side of the gate and south side of the stage where a few guards casually searched our personal bags, then submerged into the crowd in front of the stage. Realizing we needed drinks, we attempted to take a left turn to the stands in our sight. "Entshuldigung" (Excuse me) I said nicely. "Nein", the crowds had formed walls. "Warum nicht?!?" (Why not) I said. Some of the crowd had begun streaming the rest of the crowd through the back of the crowd. To the back of the crowd, however, were more fences containing the party. Now it was only 7:30, and remaining here until midnight would require us to a) not drink anything until then and b) not discharge any drinks already consumed until then. We grasped hands and danced our way out over possibly half an hour, occasionally squeezing hands as signals we were still attached even when the density of the crowd prevented us from seeing each other over our linked arms.
Brandenburger Tor, west side, site of the biggest party in Germany
Packed at 7:30pm - you'd have to dehydrate to last 'til midnight in this crowd
Once outside the checkpoints we had entered through, we followed the redirected pedestrian traffic passed the Jewish Memorial, a small field of rectangular cement blocks of varying heights. The heights are not so varied as you gaze upon them from outside the memorial, but walk between them and realize that the stone lawn is a bowl, with perhaps some rolling bumps. The situation resembles a deep pond: a nearly even surface, shallow by the edges, deep in the middle. The blocks near the sidewalk rise just past my knees, some in the middle are higher than Ryan (188 cm). We would return here later to view the fireworks centered over the Brandenburger Tor.
The Jewish Memorial of Berlin From: http://vanweeldenj.files.wordpress.com/judaism
Inside the Jewish Memorial, haunting, day or night
The redirected pedestrian traffic sent us several blocks away from the Brandenburger Tor on the east side, along Unter den Linden, the boulevard lined with Linden trees, once and still known as one of the 'grandest' streets in Berlin. Manned Glühwein carts and tables stood at multiple street corners and shop entrances. Three of us bought Glühwein at an ice cream shop so the fourth one could use the WC. Wandering and window shopping eventually led us back near Brandenburger Tor. Our group divided in two. The sky was already becoming yellow with the smoke and sparks of the civilian sparklers, bottle rockets, Roman candles, and other readily available firecrackers. I followed Ryan into a store. Opportunistic shop owners stay open until at least 11pm on Silvester well stocked with goods to satisfy the impulses of the crowd, much of which has pilgrimaged across multiple country borders and possibly oceans to partake in this party.
Mother and brother, with a quintessential tourist bear of Berlin, window shopping
Window shopping
Window shopping
Shopping
Taking pictures of road signs helps you locate a previous location
Street lights, search lights
Within half an hour of the official year change, we found front row standing room near our initial checkpoint, still on the old path of the Berlin Wall, and counted the minutes, then the final countdown (how appropriate that the band is called 'Europe'), to fireworks higher than the ones being shot off around us.
The Eltern were still up when the Kindern arrived, after visiting the subway, some currywurst and pommes, and a decent walk to digest that currywurst and pommes. A small piece of firecracker shrapnel had bit my mother in the imitation-UGG boot, leaving a little fuzzy hole in it and a light singe on her ankle. She was nonetheless in good spirits. 'It's really like a combat zone out there,' my father chuckled. The whole family slept until 11am the following morning.
A silhouette...made of light...
I think the gate is patterned onto the subway windows
Giant neon snowman
Mosaic rock!
Berlin feels modern, edgey, busy, mixed, and alive. It's beauty and energy are felt, not seen like in the romantic towns along the Rhein. I hope to elaborate more if I post pictures from the postSilvester wandering.
Our day in Kutna Hora, ended by our last evening in Prague, will not wait its turn in the chronological order
of travels to be blogged. A great tip
from a great friend to Google ‘Bone Church’ led us there in the boat on wheels
we rented: an Opel Insignia, they’re called Buicks in America. This small town located about one hour’s
drive east of Prague provided one of the most peaceful and interesting days of
sightseeing during our week on some central European roads.
With expert guidance, Ryan managed to park this house boat in the midpoint of the space between these cars, plus or minus 2 centimeters.
Kostnice is the first Cistercian abbey built in
Bohemia. It has a tiny chapel in the
upper story and an ossuary decorated with human bones of all parts of the
body. The abbey was settled beginning in
1142 in the valley by the Order of the Cistercians with the ‘goal to deepen the
discipline and sincerity of the monks through austerity as well as manual
labor’, and therefore strove to remain fiscally independent of the town’s
administration.
Sidewalk in front of the gate to the abbey
The cemetery became famous after a king returned from
Jerusalem in the 1278 and sprinkled dust from the holy land over it. Apparently, being buried in this area was
appealing because bodies decomposed to their skeletons quickly, minimizing the
amount of time spent in slow and ugly decay.
The plague and Hussite wars of the 14th and 15th
centuries filled the cemetery quickly. The
tiny chapel containing the ossuary was built in the 1500s in the middle of the
cemetery, and therefore now contains the bones of over 40,000 people who were
excavated.
The little church with the ossuary
One descends the stairs toward the altar to find a massive
pyramid of bones in each of the four corners of the room. The bones interlock like Lincoln Logs;
nothing was added to bind or stick them together. The ossuary provides a powerful reminder of one’s own
mortality, only enhanced in this season by seeing your own breath even while
inside.
First view, above the entry stairs descending into the ossuary
One of these on the wall on each side of the entry stairs
Chandelier
A tower like this sat in each of the four corners of the room. The bones packed together with nothing added to bind them together
A tunnel, through the middle of the tower
Close up of another tower segment
The altar
One of these sculptures stood in each niche on both sides of the altar
One tower had been fed a lot of money
A family coat of arms, with bones from all parts of the body. Zoom in and you can identify shoulder blades, collar bones, hip bones, vertebrate, femurs, etc. A bird is pecking out the eyeball from the skull in the lower right hand corner.
The chapel on the top floor, accessed from the stairs outside, was boneless
Someone already made this hole
'Window', where I peaked in to take the preceding photo
For only 80 Czech Korunas (about 20 per USD), you can get a
combined student ticket for the ossuary and the Cathedral of Assumption down
the street, all part of the same Abbey.
This cathedral contrasts the common template consisting of main tower
plus twin towers. The architecture here
is Gothic. While the insides are well
decorated with Baroque paintings contributed through the centuries, the windows
are not stained glass and the outer stones are not ornate.
Cathedral of the Assumption of our Lady and St. John the Baptist
Zoom in above the main door
Although originally built in the 1200-1300s, the interior decorations have evolved, and are now mostly Baroque
A panel in the floor
Organ!
The ceiling in the center, between the pews and the altar
The relic of St. Felix
Touring the attic
Pass through the attic to the balcony, view the entire sanctuary as well as the shadows of the exteriors by the entrance
In the winter, these sites close entry to visitors at 4pm,
as the sun already begins to set then.
Most neighboring shops and restaurants, and even the coin operated WC
closes then. A short drive down the
hill, however takes you to more Cathedrals and castles dating to the 1100 and
1200s. The darkness and calm along the
narrow cobble stone streets deepen the chill and isolation brought on by the
crisp cold air and vast distance from the throngs of Prague. Nonetheless, a thin neon sign and chalk board
will invite you for a cup of hot wine or apple wine punch.
Cathedral of St. Barbara
Cathedral of St. Barbara
Faces in the cafe
We dined at an inviting restaurant near the top of the
street leading to St. Barbara’s Cathedral.
Tart, dark blueberry sized berries enhanced the rich brown gravy of my
venison goulash and a generous amount of onions laced and sweetened my
delightfully chewy potato pancakes.
After the prelude of a Kozel brown beer, I let the warmth of the meal draw
on by sipping a shot of Fernet. We left the town tucked into its bed of black, cold, and
Goth shortly before 8pm.
Mother's 1/4 duck, served with a 'bread dumpling', fluffy and sliced, and stewed red cabbage
My venison goulash, served with potato pancakes, accompanied by Kozel, a brown beer with a light but slightly sweet finish
For our last night in Prague, Ryan and I wandered back near
Wenceslas Square, busy despite the memorials.
Vaclav Havel, 5 October 1936 - 18 December 2011
After vetoing hotel
bars and restaurants obviously catering to people like us, we turned onto the
darker narrow street neighboring the Museum of Communism we visited the day
before. The first bar had no one
inside. The second was a shisha bar,
dark with couples snuggled on recliners.
The third bar, called CafeBar was smoky, lively, full people speaking
Czech, all ages represented, although more in our range. Easy choice, we passed through the door (kind
of thick curtain, made of kind of thin carpet), passed into and then out of the
2 x 3 meter room containing a dart board, pin ball machine, and kicker table,
then down the spiral metal steps to find more tables and another bar in the
basement. Ryan ordered and beers and
vodka shots poured into tumblers fresh from the freezer arrived via our barkeep
whose appearance resembled an older version of Charlie Brown. He persuasively convinced me to have another
beer with a wordless jestful frown later and thanked Ryan gratefully for
returning the extra change he gave. The
young tenant of the neighboring table was happy to practice English with us,
having rare opportunities in his profession as a waiter in a sushi restaurant,
as he described it. The impeding nightly
five hour pause of subway service approached and we wished him and his cohort
appearing 2x older in age a happy new year, then bid a happy farewell to
downtown Prague.
