Chocolate Melting Pot

Brussels (pop 992,000, founded 11th century) is a melting pot of cultures. Apart from the age old rivalry between the Dutch based Flemish and French based Walloons, we noticed many Africans (Belgian colony of Congo), Turkish and Lebanese. Belgium is one third the size of Greece (30,000 sq km) with the same population of 10.2 million. Brussels claims that it invented "pomme frites" to go with its mussels and has the best beer and chocolates in the world! It certainly has the grandest plaza we have seen in Europe (first two photos)! The Manneken Pis (third photo) now has a girlfriend! She is called "Jeanneken Pis" and yes, she is also releaving herself (European Union Laws would not allow us to broadcast photos)! Paul and I have been to Brussels before and new sites we saw on this occasion included: the only operating brewery in Brussels (this beer is made the traditional way - open air fermentation), the chocolate musuem (saw how pralines are made, PS: the Belgians have confirmed that white chocolate is not really chocolate but cocoa butter!), the 1857 "Neuhaus" chocolate shop (invented the praline or filled chocolate) and the Cathedral of Sts Michel & Gudule (where the old monarchs are buried and the official parish of the Belgian Royal Family). Total distance travelled so far: 19,058km.

Big

Berlin is big. It has 3.5 million people living in an area, almost six times the size of Paris! This is because it is spread out, has lots of park land and more houses rather than apartments. A very extensive above ground rail, below ground rail, tram and bus system makes it seem much much smaller. Germany's 83 million people are also more evenly spread throughout over its 356,866 square kilometers (two thirds France).

Since Paul and I were last here in 1995 and 1993, much has changed. Lots of new buildings and sites. We visited the huge 28 million euro, "concrete block maze" Holocaust museum, opened in May 2005, just down the road from the Brandenburg Gate and ironically, next to the site of Hitler's lost bunker! It summarises every single Nazi death camp and Jewish memorial in WWII in all of Europe. Also new is the Berlin Guggenhaim (very disappointing - only one exhibit at a time in a small building).

Other older sites, not visited last time include: Oranienburger Strasse (Jewish Quarter, fall of cafes), Maassen Strasse and Nollendorf Platz (the Oxford Street and Taylor Square of Berlin with flashy Indian and Thai restaurants) and Gendarmenmarkt Platz (plaza with classic concert hall and music museum).

Rebuilt or cleaned sites since last time include: Reistag (Parliament), Brandenberg Gate (first photo), Potsdamer Platz (CBD with fabulous new Sony Centre) and Alexander Platz (new apartments, cleaned red town hall).

Classics include Kurfurstendamm (ritzy shopping boulevard with old and new bell towers at its end - second photo) and the fabulous Berliner Dom (protestant Cathedral, third photo). Overall, the Berliners were: very friendly, happy to speak in English, love having long breakfasts (they are much bigger and are available all day) and still have coffee and cake in the arvo!

Poles Apart

Gdansk (pop 481,000, 4th largest city in Poland, founded 1308AD) has an Old Town which is "poles apart" from Warsaw and even Krakow! Just look at the first photo. What a surprise for a working class port town on the Baltic. The Old Town is actually the "New Town" since the real Old Town was 90% destroyed in 1945 and is currently being re-built. The first photo shows the breathtaking "Dlugi Targ" the main town square, full of 14 and 15th century apartments and the Town Hall. Close by is the giant 14th century St Mary's Cathedral (with observation bell tower rising 405 steps or 124m). Nearby is the 1220AD St Katherine's and the 1350AD flour mill which produced 200 tons per day.

Gdansk is home to the Solidarity Movement, lead by Lech Walesa, which in 1980 precipitated events which lead to the fall of communism in Russia in 1997. Lech went on to become the first President of the 1990 independent Republic of Poland. A monument was erected in honour of this movement and all dock workers who died in violent clashes with the Soviet Government at the time.

Westerplatte is a seaside penisula approx 6km from the Old Town where WWII started and finished! On 1 Spetemeber 1939, a German Ship fired on this place and it was defended by these twelve for one week until they ran out of food!

Approx 70km from Gdansk, is the town of Malbork which is home to a 13th century red brick castle, the largest in the world (second photo). Paul and I also went to "Hel and back"!!! Hel is a seaside fishing town, 97km from Gdansk on a very thin 37km long peninsula which at its narrowest is only 200m so that the Baltic Sea can be seen through both sides of your car!!! Sad thing is that all of Poland spends "summer" here and it is extremely crowded with mostly overcast days, tops of 22deg and grey sand! If only they saw Queensland!

Finally Gdansk was the place where Paul and I ate Wild Boar Dumplings (a local specialty) - they were better than the smoked pigs ears we crunched on in Vilnius in Lithuania the previous night! Distance travelled so far: 17,780km.

Spanish Of The Baltics

The Lithuanians think of themselves as the "Spanish of the Baltics" because they see themselves as loud, red blooded and always celebrating, which they associate with the Spanish. Paul and I were unable to confirm this but we did consult our usual musuem experts to ask about their origins. The musuem personnel agreed that Lithuanians are more like the Latvians than Estonians but felt their language was more like Russian (with some Swedish) than Germanic (like Lativian). Lithuania (pop 3.6 million) covers 65,200 square kilometers, same as Latvia (half of Greece). Like Poland, the country disappeared officially from maps of Europe in the early 1900's and like Latvia and Estonia was occupied by Russia and became independent in 1991. Unlike its fellow Baltics, ethnic Lithuanians comprise a major 82% of the population. Lithuania is very flat with 4,000 lakes and 470 different types of butterfly!!!

The UNESCO protected capital, Vilnius (pop 600,000), founded 1321, has the largest old town in Europe (top photo, taken from the Gediman Tower) and before WWII had 100,000 jews (out of a total pop of 230,000) and 105 synagogues. The Nazis exterminated 100,000 (70,000 jews) in a death camp in Panerai (10km from Vilnius) where there is now an outdoor memorial (bottom photo). Only one synagogue now remains.

Vilnius old town is very well laid out and is the home of the unusual and rare "Baroque" styled Russian Orthodox Churches. We visited two in town and the monastery of the Holy Spirit which contains the preserved relics of three martyrs: Sts Anthony, Joann and Eustachius. Other city sites visited include: the 1579 University, 1363 Gates of Dawn (preserved city gate with miraculous Catholic icon of the Virgin housed in a chapel above the gate), 1615 St Casimirs Baroque Church, 1581 St Annes Gothic Church and the Three White Crosses on a hill at the start of the old town, where 3 monks were crucified in the 17th century.

Finally we visited the 17th century castle at Trakai (28km from city, second photo) where most of the cities newlyweds take their wedding photos (we saw more than 10 brides that day!). Distance travelled so far: 16,795km.

The Mystery Continues

Like Estonia, Latvia (pop 2.4 million, area 64,600 square kilometers or half Greece) is unsure of its origins. The musuem staff in UNESCO protected Riga believe that they are from Hungarian related tribes in Ukraine with some connections to the Danish. The Latvian language is of Germanic origin. This means Estonians and Finnish share common roots and language whilst the Latvians and Lithuanians share their roots and language. There are also similarities. Latvia was also occupied by Nazi Germany and Russia with independence in 1991. Riga (pop 790,00) is a very classic European city, whose old town is 40% Art Noveau architecture. The top photo shows the central "Ratsaukums" plaza with the 1344 House of Blackheads dominating (rebuilt in 2001 to celebrate the city's 800th birthday. The bottom photo shows the old city looking towards the Daugava river.

Other sites visited include: 1211 Dome Cathedral (largest Baltic Church), 1209 St Peters Lutheran church (with 123m tower), Presidents residence (old castle) and the 1698 Swedish Gate. Whilst the central old town is very classic the scene quickly deteriorates as you move into the suburbs - lots of traffic, grubby streets and buildings. Stalls and outdoor markets are quickly being replaced by modern malls. Distance travelled so far: 16,443km.

Magical Country With Mysterious Origins

Even the Estonian Musuem staff do not know where Estonians came from... quoting them: "it is a big mystery but we think we are descendant from the Haseatic Tribes of Siberia". There you have it. Estonia (pop 1.4 million) covering only 45,000 square kilometers ( a third of Greece) is not sure of its origins. What they can tell us is that they are not Slavic and their language is very close to Finnish! One thing is for sure, Estonia has had a turbulent history. They have been occupied by Germany, Russia, Denmark and even Sweden. No wonder they are confused about origins!

Tallinn (pop 371,000) is a UNESCO protected tourist haven. A magical place of cosy cobbledstone streets, great coffee and very very cheap eating. St Olaf's church has a 159m tall bell tower (first photo shows view of old town from tower) that made it the tallest structure in the world in the early 13th century! "Toompea" is the elevated part of the old town containing the old castle, Orthodox Nevsky Cathedral and now houses the parliament of Estonia since independence in 1991 (second photo shows view of the lower old town from Toompea). The main square "Raekoja Plats" is a statistitians wonderland (bottom photo): it contains the world's oldest pharmacy, town hall and even the highest toilet up to the early 1900's (77m high in the town hall tower). The best thing about Estonia and Tallinn is the willingness of locals to help tourists, high use of English, small walkable sites and yes, the 10-15AUD meals (with beer)!!! Distance travelled so far: 16,109km (Total distance covered in Russia by train: 2,440km).

Orthodox Saint Petersburg

St Petersburg also has a large share of the rich Russian Orthodox heritage. A highlight for us was attending the Sunday Liturgy (mass) at the 1900AD Cathedral of St John of Kronstadt which contains his relics and is part of the convent he founded (first photo). St John is a very popular Russian Saint and one that spent a lot of time advising youth.

St Petersburg has a large Orthodox cemetery hidden in a thick forest, only 8km from the centre. In its centre is a small chapel housing the relics of St Xenia (second photo) - we were lucky to be annointed with oil blessed on her tomb. We also visited the 1789 Cathedral of St Price Vladimir who, on behalf of the Tsar, "selected" Orthodoxy as the official christian religion for Russia in 988 (photo three). Our next stop was the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, founded in 1713 by the Prince of the same name to commemorate the victory of the Russians in the Neva battle of 1240. This monastery also contains the Tikhvinskoe Cemetery, founded 1823 with 147 graves of the most well-known musicians, artists, scientists and politians of the city and Russia, including: Tchaikosvsky (bottom photo), Dostoevski (author) and Ivanov (grand master artist with works in Hermitage).

Many of Russia's monasteries and churches were closed down by the communist regime (mainly in the thirties) and used as orphanages, hospitals or left to deteriorate. Many were re-opened in the mid fifities and early eighties and now there is extensive rennovations in progress to restore them. It is apparent to Paul and I (especially when we visited the Smolensky Cathedral which is now a concert hall) that some "deal making" needed to happen to get the more important churches back to the Russian Orthodox Church (especially those founded by Saints).

We farewell a grand city and Russia. Our summation is that Russia is like someone who has awakened from a long sleep. There is still a lot of work to do especially to update aging infrastructure and be better prepared for tourism but the encouraging news is that there are visible signs that change is happening. Russia will be an even greater place to visit in 10 years time!

The Paris of Russia

St Petersburg is the "Paris" of Russia: essentially built by Peter The Great in 1703 as a "royal city" and it shows! Classic French-Baroque buildings downtown but as you step back into suburbia the "classic" remains but the dirt creeps in, big time! Lets say it is the "grubby" Paris of Russia. St Petersburg has almost 5 million people, half the population of Moscow and Europe's fourth most populous city. It is built on 44 islands and 55 canals at the end of the Baltic Sea.

The first photo shows its greatest prize - the Hermitage. It is one of the world's largest art musuems with just over 3 million pieces housed in the former sumptious, dripping with gold Winter Palace of Peter The Great (1672-1725). Peter's wife the "whole lot of woman" Catherine The Great started this art collection with 255 pieces in 1764. The Hermitage is absolutely grand and ornate. The whole thing is like having a Louvre inside Versailles or Prado inside Palacio. Paul and I spent 4 hours covering this beast. Apart from the actual rooms, furniture, sculptures there are paintings from all the grand masters of Europe. The Alexander Column in the first photo is the place where, on 7 November 1917, the Bolsheviks, lead by Lenin, seized power from the royals (Tsar Nicholas II) and started communist Russia (which fell in 1997). The second shows one of the rooms inside the Hermitage (Palace).

The other great site of the city is the Peter and Paul Fortress, which Peter The Great founded as the original city in 1703 (photo two). Peter then built the Peter and Paul Cathedral in 1733 (photo three) which now houses his grave, his wife's Catherine and most of the Russian royalty which spanned 1613 (Mikeil Romanov) to 1917 (Tsar Nicholas II). The other site of note is the Cathedral of Our Saviour On Spilled Blood (bottom photo), built in 1881 on the spot where Tsar Alexei II was murdered - hence the name. The amazing thing about this church is that the entire interior is covered in icons made entirely of mosaic glass - took 32 artists 12 years to complete. Other sites visted: 1858 St Issac's Cathedral with its impressive 260 step view and 100kg of gold on its dome, Our Lady of Kazan Cathedral containing the body of the General who defeated Napoleon in 1812 and the Dostoevsky House and Musuem.