With Brian Wardrop, Budapest, Hungary

With Brian Wardrop
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

Thanks to Rob Irwin, I found out that an old friend was living in Budapest, Hungary. Brian and I have been friends since Grade 7 (12 years old), but had not spoken in about 12 years until now.
Brian and his lovely girlfriend Lucie, invited us over to their place for dinner. I must say, it is quite a spectacular apartment on the top 2 floors of their building, with balconies overlooking Parliament, Budapest Castle, Basilicas and other wonderful sights of Budapest.
We had some drinks and some great Indian food, and basically caught up on the past 12 years or so.
Brian originally moved over to Europe to play in the NFL Europe, then went to business school in Brussels. He seems to be very successful in his company and enjoys his lifestyle in Europe!
It was an excellent night and a little surreal to be catching up with one of my first friends from Canada, but in Hungary. Although brief, it was great and we even had an invite from Lucie to head to Vienna with her the next day!!! *Stub

Formula One in Hungary.

F1 at Budapest Opera House
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

The next couple of days we explored the city. It was super hot and sticky so we took it easy in a couple of parks with sprinkling fountains to cool off. We also had to leave our nice apartment as it had already been booked (it was Formula One weekend - a fact we only discovered yesterday!). So the priority of the day was to find a bed for the night and the next few days. Sergio, our Serbian hostel owner although nice, was let's say, fairly disorganised and scatterbrained, and we couldn't trust him to have a bed for us.
On our quest for a bed we explored the city and our evening travels found the Renault team display at the stunning Opera house. * Mush

Sunflowers everywhere, Hungary

Sunflowers
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

This was a big travelling day for us as we headed to Budapest, Hungary. And of course, it would be a sweltering hot, humid day (in the 90's, about 32C)! Anyway, 4 intercity buses, a long train ride, a few local buses, a couple of trams, a metro, and 10 hours later we landed in Budapest at 9pm .... only to to find that the hostel we were staying at wasn't ready for us! We had to wait another hour and a half before the owner turned up! We did finally get our bed. It was in a nice apartment .... however, another tram ride away! So, all in all our heads finally touched the pillow at 12.30 that night!

Eastern and Central Europe must be where all our sunflower seeds and oil come from! We saw seas of them in Czech, Slovakia and now Hungary. LOVE sunflowers. * Mush

Spisske Hrad, Spisske Podhradie, Slovak Republlic

Spissky Hrad
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

Down again off the mountains in scorching hot weather to retrieve our bags and catch several hot, sticky buses to what was to be the poorest town so far on our trip. However, the famous ruins of Spis Castle - one of the largest ruins in Central Europe - tower over the town in which we had landed: Spisske Podhradie. We wandered the streets looking for somewhere to stay, ending up at Penzion Podzomak (bit like a B&B) with top views of the castle. After that, we trooped up the hill 2 miles to the spectacular ruins. The castle was originally founded by the Hungarians in 1209, yaken over and reconstructed by various nations, and then left to decay after being burnt in the 1700's . We enjoyed the castle, but it was a long, HOT day and we headed back to the Penzion.
We had been looking forward to a cool dip in the pool later that evening. We assumed that it was nice and pristine. Little did we know .. once the cover was pulled back pretty murky water was revealed. Since we had asked the hotel to prepare the swimming pool for us - he tested the temperature etcetc, and so we felt obliged to go in. So we did ...for 5 minutes. In terms of visibility I could only see my hand to a depth of about 10 inches!!! Yummmy! Needless to say we showered about 3 times before bed that night!! * Mush

Teryho Chata, High Tatras, Slovak Republic

Mush above Teryho Chata
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

Today we left our big packs behind at our hotel (yippee) and headed into the mountains to our bed for the night at the alpine hut, Teryho Chata. A beautiful (and hence, popular) climb of 4 hours and 3000ft; the weather was gorgeous (though we had been told otherwise!); and it was fairly challenging. This is me looking down at our hut at the edge of the smaller lake.

The supplies at this hut are restocked several times a day, everyday by crazy people who carry about on average 200lbs (~100kg) up the same trail that we walked from 'Smokey'. Double click to check it out in our photo album. * Mush

Devastation in the High Tatras, Slovak Republic

More Devastation in the High Tatras
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

We had a 'vegging' day today, but did manage to get out of our little town of Stary Smokevec ('Smokey' for short, as we call it) to Strbske Pleso lake (a ski resort). The Slovak Tatras were hit by a big storm before Christmas last year which caused huge devastation knocking over millions of trees here. The area is still very pretty, but now in some places it looks pretty sad. * Mush

Walking Over The Border into Slovakia

Walking Over The Slovakian Border
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

Up and out of the Polish Tatras, we thought we would walk from Poland to Slovakia... as you do! It was 6 and half miles to the border crossing (we didn't go over the mountains) and after walking to the front of the queue of cars to passport control, it was kind of cool just walking across the bridge from one country to the other. Once there, we caught a bus to the High Tatras - the same mountain range that happens to span both countries. Please admire Martin's backpack. Craazzzy! * Mush

Morskie Oko, Tatra Mountains, Poland

Morskie Oko {Eye of the Sea}
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

Sunday morning we left Krakow for the mountains - the Polish Tatras. Morskie Oko was our destination - a beautiful alpine lake called " the eye of the sea". After catching an intercity bus and then a local one, we arrived at the bottom entrance of the National Park. We had our full backpacks so as you can imgaine, we were reluctant to walk the 6 miles and 1400ft (500m) ascent up! However, the horse and cart that was on offer was expensive and charged full price for the bags, so we walked up. We were not alone though - Morskie Oko is very popular with Polish tourists and as we plodded passed the natives and the horses, I'm sure most of them (including the horses!) thought we were mad... Martin's pack looked monstrous and he was carrying about 55lbs (26kg, just under 4 Stone, for you Brits). I was carrying about 45 lbs - about 20kg - just under 3 Stone. Our mountain hut was swarming with people when we arrived, but the trudge up was worth it because when the daytrippers left it was very pretty and tranquil. We were lucky too: our room had the best view in the house with a wonderful balcony to sit on and drink in the view, and a few beers. As if we hadn't done enough for one day, just before supper we walked around the lake and up a steep path to another lake. This picture was taken from there. You can see the lodge at the far end of Morskie, our home for the night. * Mush

Touring Krakow, Poland

Schindlers Factory
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

We had spent four nights in Krakow, and apart from walking around town in the evenings after our day trips, we felt that we hadn't really seen the place properly. With one day left before we headed off into the mountains we decided to take a tour - by bike. What a great way to see the city! And, it was threatening rain all afternoon so there were only 3 of us on the tour. Krakow is an attractive, cultured city and was once the old Royal capital of Poland. It virtually remained unscathed by the WWII with a beautiful town square and lots of medieval towers, churches and cathedrals. We spent five and half hours exploring the city with a very knowledgable, amusing guide. We saw a lot and learnt a lot, and went to places where normal tourists don't go. We ended up in the original Jewish ghetto which was pretty delapidated, but which houses the untouched factory of the famous Oskar Schindler. Not the most pleasant side of Krakow, but definitely a part not to be ignored or forgotten. * Mush

Auschwitz Concentration Camp, Osweicim, Poland

Auschwitz
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

Today was a day trip to Auschwitz. Not a day we were looking forward to, but we felt necessary on our journey.
It was a very sombering day to say the least. We had a very good guide around both the Auschwitz Camp and the larger Birkenau, about 3 km away. It must be hard for her to experience this day in and day out, and you could tell from her mannerisms and emotions.
I'm not keen to write too much about the atrocities that were undertaken here. There were many details that we were told, and were appalled to hear. Over 1.5 millions Jews, Polish, gypsies, etc were exterminated at this camp alone, in many different inhumane ways - quite astonishing. We wonder how anyone could think this is the 'right' thing to do.
Again, it was an informative, but very somber day. *Stub

Weilicka Salt Mines, Weilicka, Poland

Weilicka Salt Mines
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

A short 30 minutes from Krakow were the heavily visited Weilicka Salt Mines. This mine has been operating for centuries, but is now just a museum of the creativity of mankind.
After almost an hour wait in the line just to buy tickets - it's the Polish way - we took a guided tour through the mine. It was with a Polish guide, which made things more interesting.
The mine shafts we visited were up to 135m (350 ft) deep. There were many large caverns that we entered, that had been mined of all the rock salt. Most of the caverns had some type of sculpture in them, all made of rock salt. This picture is of a more recent addition to the museum, and is fitting with our garden gnome theme. Pretty cheesy stuff, as they had gnome type music playing as they turned on the coloured lights!!
There were some amazing sights though. There is a large chapel, some 52m X 15m X 14m (125ft X 37 ft X 34 ft), that has some extravagant sculptures throughout (picture on Flickr webpage). Also, a couple of large caverns filled with a greenish water or brine which made for great reflections.
Overall, a good visit of underground Poland!!! *Stub

PS sorry about the date in the corner of the photo, we just bought a new camera as Michelle's finally died, and we had the wrong setting on!!!!

Krakow, Poland

We left Warsaw catching the rickety, slow train to Krakow in southern Poland. Our hostel was right in town so it made easy access for most of the sights. The next day, however, was not one of sight-seeing. It was off to do something semi-'normal' for a change - shop for a camera! Not something one expects or budgets for on a year-long trip! And certainly, Eastern Europe is not the best - cheapest place to buy one! But we needed to - there's only so many times a camera can bounce and mine had seen it's fair share, so much so that it finally faded away! Don't worry, it had had a good life, lots of adventures, seen a lot of things, places etc. The new one, which we had diligently shopped for and researched, was reasonably priced, with a two and a half inch screen. Fantastic! All our criteria were fulfilled bar one: Martin was disappointed that it didn't bark when you press the shutter. You can't everything! *Mush

Pierrogeria restaurant, Old town, Warsaw, Poland

Pierrogeria
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

For those of you who don't know what perogies (english spelling) are, Martin introduced them to me - a delicacy of Canada thanks to the immigrants of Eastern europe. They're like ravioli but far better, stuffed with meat, potato, cheeses, or veggies. Martin and I tend to pan-fry them, but here they are boiled or better still, baked, where the dough turns into a pie-type pastry. And they are so GOOD. As some of you can imagine, when I realised we were in the land of perogies, I was very excited. * Mush

Stare Miasto, Warsaw, Poland

Warsaw - Stare Miasto
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

So, from Loket, it was back to Prague to catch a 10 hour night bus to Warsaw, Poland. Arriving at 5:30 AM anywhere is not much of a treat, but try a country where you don't speak any of the language and you have no idea where the bus station you arrived at is.
Not to worry though, all part of the fun of travel. At our hostel, our beds were not going to be ready until 3PM, so we took a walk into the old town.
In WW2, apparently 85% of this city was destroyed. Probably the most devasted city from the war. The locals actually rebuilt this area of town, to look very similar to the pre-war buildings. The amazing part is that there was no funding for this construction from the city, and they built these houses in their spare time, after work.
This is the old town square (Stare Miasto Rynek). Very colourful and a great place to just hang out and people watch. We did find a great little pierogi (perogi) place, and had some of these delicacies the size of my palm. We love the perogies!!! *Stub

Opera under the Castle, Loket, Czech Republic

Opera under the Castle
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

So, as luck would have it, we arrived in Loket the day before opening night of the summer opera. For those of you who know me well, that is a strange thing for me to say. However, I did actually attend my first opera. And what a stage it was, with the castle perched high above. They also managed to use the grass next to the stage as part of the show, using 2 horses and a carriage as one of the props. My assumption now is that every opera should have live animals in the show, but Michelle tells me this is not the case. I also noticed that there was a lot more running in the opera than I expected, as the actors often ran from the stage across the grassed area to exit!!
To clarify some of these strange observations, it is fair to say that Michelle mistakenely underestimated the wine consumption, and we were finished our 2 bottles by the end of act one - with 2 more acts to go. So, it was on to some more great Czech beer from the vendors as we watched from our perch on the wall, eating bread, with brie, blue cheese and some fruit!!
An amazing night at the opera, and luckily it continued at a little local pub called 'Local', where we met some really nice Czech people and drank plenty more of the fantastically cheap beer!! Definitely one of our best nights of the trip so far. *Stub

Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic

Karlovy Vary
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

A day trip out of Loket was to Karlovy Vary, a much larger town. This area is called Carlsbad and is famous for it's spas. People walk around to the ancient and modern collonades, and fill up these strange little water cups will water from the springs. I must say, it tastes a little bizarre, but apparently it is supposed to keep you young and healthy!!!
The rest of the buildings are these stately flats along the river. We also walked up into the surrounding hills to find some absolute mansions, perfectly manicured. There was this bizarre church of SS Peter and Paul in the residential area, pictured in flickr. *Stub

Loket nad Ohri, Czech Republic

Town Of Loket
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

We took a bus out to Karlovy Vary and had luckily decided to stay about 10 km out of town in this little village called Loket nad Ohri. The local bus circled the town on arrival giving us a great view of this little town, centred around an impressive castle, but almost totally surrounded by a bend in the river (Loket means elbow). It takes about 5 minutes to walk from one end to the other, but what a nice place to hang out for a few days. The Lazy River Hostel we stayed in was great - very laid back. This shot was taken from the castle tower. *Stub

Krivoklat Castle, Czech Republic

Krivoklat Castle
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

We took a local train through the pretty Berounca Valley to Krivoklat Castle, 40 miles west of Prague. The scenery on the way was quite nice as we travelled in the valley through holiday cottages and campsites where everyone was swimming in the river.
We enjoyed this train ride as it was not as busy and we were the only English tourists. We took a guided tour with a Czech guide (no english) which actually was quite fun considering.
After the tour, I walked up into the hills to try to find a lookout over the castle. The result was this photo, but only since I came across a cabin with a guy cutting some fruit with a huge knife and I decided to turn back before I could get a better view!!! *Stub

Golden Lane, Prague Castle, Czech Republic

Golden Lane
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

Being up so early for Charles Bridge gave us a headstart for the rest of the day and after having a good hearty breakfast from the stalls of St Wenceslas' square (known as 'street meat'), we headed to Prague castle. It was beautiful and, because it was before 9am, without many people. We wandered around looking at all the beautiful buildings of the Cathedral and the Royal Palace. These 16th century cottages on Golden lane were built for the marksmen and guards of the castle. Later the castle goldsmiths lived and worked here - hence the name - Golden lane.
Exploring is exhausting work especially when you get up at 4 in the morning, so home for a quick nap. In the evening we headed back out for a concert in the Klementium, one of the churches in town. Great music in a beautiful baroque setting. *Mush

Karlov Most - Charles Bridge at Sunrise, Czech Republic

Silhouettes
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

We were determined to see the very famous Prague bridge without throngs of people, so we awoke early leaving the house at 4.30 am. Although we missed the beautiful pinks and purples in the sky before we got to the bridge, we still managed to get some special light. At five in the morning apart from the occasioanl drunk (so right at home!) and a couple of mad tourists like ourselves, we had the bridge mostly to ourselves. It was fantastic and we spent over an hour trying to drink in the views of the city. * Mush

Konopiste Chateau, Czech Republic

Konopiste and Lake
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

Konopiste is a 14th century castle that was last owned by Archduke Franz Ferdinand d'Este. For those of you who don't know, he was heir to the Austro-hungarian throne back in 1914, and the guy who got shot in the Balkans (!) - triggering the First World War. Now the chateau although quite plain on the outside, apprently has a beautiful neo-gothic interior. We wouldn't know as the place is closed on Mondays! We only discovered this when we saw the car park! Anyway, it was nice in a way since there weren't many people around as we walked the beautiful estate. * Mush

Kutna Hora, Czech Republic

Eerië
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

The thigh bone's connected to the ...... collar bone...?

It is in this place! The 'bone church' as it is known is just outside a little town called Kutna Hora, about 40 miles west of Prague. The elaborate decorations inside the church consist of the bones of some 40,000 people. Yummy! Don't worry, they've all been disinfected and whitewashed! They were assembled very carefully into pyamids and chains - bit like Christmas decorations, in the 1870's. So where did these bones come from? Well, most were from the people buried here killed by the plague in 1318, and then the rest came from the Hussite wars in the 15th century. There wasn't enough room to bury everyone so this is the result! It was pretty spooky. *Mush

Prague from Petrin Tower, Czech Republic

Prague from Petrin Tower
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

Our Saturday consisted of a walking tour of Prague, courtesy of John. Thankfully, the rain had cleared and we had fine weather for it. We started out with a trip to the Wallenstien Garden that has this bizarre dripping, oozing wall (double click on the photo to get to see this one in our photo album in Flickr.com) . Not sure of the significance of this. We continued up through the labyrinth of alleys and streets passed the castle and the monastery, and up onto Petrin Hill. On top, there is this mini Eiffel Tower structure, this one with only 287 steps. From here, there was a 360 deg panorama of the city. This view shows the downtown core, with Charles Bridge over the Vltava River, and Tyn Church visible.
Our next stop was the Mirror Maze also in our photo album, good for more than a few laughs. Another interesting structure was the Dancing Building, supposed to depict a couple dancing - what do you think?
And of course, in a country where the beer is literally cheaper than water, our next stop was a big beer hall called U Flecku for some pints and sausages!!! A good way to end the afternoon and usher in a good party evening that ended with some street meat in Wenceslas Square. *Stub

Karlstejn Castle, Karlstejn, Czech Republic

Karlstejn Castle Close
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

Friday brought more pouring rain and if it weren't for the train tickets we had bought the day before, we probably would not have visited Karlstejn Castle. Glad we did. It is an ancient castle built for Charles the IV between 1348-1355, 33 km southwest of Prague and is perched on a high crag overlooking serene and now peaceful hills. Its fantastic towers and turrets loomed into view through the mist and rain as we climbed the steep lane to its entrance. Thankfully, because it was such a soggy day, the normally overcrowded castle was pretty empty when we got there at 9.30 and we were able to get on a much sought-after tour of the two big towers and the Chapel of the Holy Cross. The latter was very impressive with a large collection of original Gothic paintings dating from the 1360s, and the vaulted ceiling was composed of 8000 gold lenses designed to reflect the light and look like stars. It was great trip despite the rain. *Mush and Stub

London News

We are still in Prague right now and have heard about the news about London although I do not know much of the details. We hope that everybody is fine, and we send our best wishes to all and their families.
We have been in touch with some friends there and they are all OK, but they all said something like 'I use that tube line every morning' or 'I was in that station an hour before', so a little scary and probably quite a bizarre feeling for them.
So strange that the city was in such a positive mood after the surprising Olympics announcement and then in disarray the next day. I am curious if it was about the announcement and if they had plans for a different city if another one won!!!!
It is a feeling that is hard to describe when you are so far from home and will not see family for quite some time. This happened on my previous trip too with 9/11. You definitely feel a little helpless.
Again, we send out our best to all our families and friends that have been affected and we are thinking of you. *Stub (and Mush)

Pracinska Brana, Sandstone Rocks of Labe, Czech

Pracinska Brana
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

The next day was also a holiday - celebrating someone called Jan Hus: we think he was a King that got burnt at the stake and was quite a fat King to boot, so much so, that it took him four days to burn! Nice!
Anyway, the weather had vastly improved, so we drove up with John to a national protected area close to the German border. We walked (hiked) to the Grand Arch. It was a beautiful area, but it was sad to see that it was so commercialised with restaurant tables right at the arch itself.
After our long walk we stopped at the nearest town called Hrensko - apparently famous for its stalls of miscellaneous sshhtuff! And, for some unknown reason Hrensko is a mecca for gnome enthusiasts. So if you should ever have the need for a garden gnome, then Hrensko is the place for you! Garden gnomes galore! Double click on the photo here to see them in our photo album and check out the cheeky one!! *Mush

Charles Bridge and Prague Castle, Prague, Czech Republic

Charles Bridge and Prague Castle
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

Today was a national holiday celebrating – Saints Cyril and Methodius. Unfortunately, the weather was miserable. Seeing that the rain wasn’t letting up, we decided to venture out and do some more exploring of the city. We did get wet and cold, of course, but the beauty of going out in the rain was that there was only a fraction of the tourists of the day before. So we had a nice stroll with nice views especially of Charles Bridge – a sight that is normally hard to capture due to the number of people. *Mush

With John Tokaruk, Prague, Czech Republic

With John Tokaruk
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

Upon arrival to the Czech Republic, we were impressed to see all the construction workers drinking big pints of beer for lunch. Since this time, we have eaten some fantastic food with plenty of dumplings and cabbage!!
We are now staying with my friend John Tokaruk (from Queen's University) in his large apartment in the Holesovice area of town, just a short walk from downtown. Of course we have shared a few pints and some good meals. This photo is from his favourite local restaurant - and we love it!!
Unfortunately, we have had a couple of days of solid rain that have dampened our walks around the town, but so far it has been a beautiful city to visit! *Stub

Cesky Krumlov Rooftops, Czech Republic

Cesky Krumlov from Tower
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

This is a view of the rooftops of Cesky Krumlov from the top of the Castle tower. Krumlov's charm comes from its traditional medieval atmosphere, the labyrinth of lanes, and its colourful, decorative buildings. Most of the buildings are either etched or painted with simple or elaborate designs. They call this 'trompe l'oeil' painting, apparently.
Our hostel (our first stay in a hostel so far) was nestled in the town walls and had lots of character. Fortunately, our room was a small one (with four beds in total) and our roommates didn't snore!
The town has a good atmosphere of fun and we watched lots of people floating (and capsizing!) the river in canoes or rafts while passing the beers around. Unfortunately, Martin had a headcold so we didn't get to float the Vltava.

At the bottom of this picture, you can see the full benches of our favourite pub on the riverside (left of the second tree left of the bridge). *Mush

Cesky Krumlov Chateau, Czech Republic

Cesky Krumlov Chateau at night
Originally uploaded by Martin Callum.

Sadly, we had to leave Paris and friends Rachel and Pierre, and we moved onto the Czech Republic arriving in Prague (during a downpour - refreshing after Paris´ heatwave) for our connecting bus to Cesky Krumlov. Cesky Krumlov is in the south of Czech Republic and is a UNESCO world heritage site - a small, charming medieval town with lots of alley ways and cobbled streets overlooked by the grand Krumlov Chateau. The castle, the second largest in Czech, was built in the 1250's and throughout the centuries was taken over by various rulers and families with various architectural tastes. This is the view from our favourite restaurant " U Dwau Maryi" - a gruff, medieval style pub next to the Vltava river (the longest in Czech), overlooking the psychadelic tower of the castle. The traditional food that it served was fantastic and the beer served is the oldest beer in Czech Republic. Regents beer has been brewed in Czech since 1379 and it didn't taste too bad considering! *Mush