Frederick or Christian?

Every male child in Copenhagen (pop 1.8m) is either called Frederick or Christian!!! But there´s more to Denmark than this! It is the land of Hans Christian Anderson (who is in the Guiness Book for the second most translated author behind the Bible!), Jorn Utzon (who designed the Opera House), first country in the world to legalise same sex marriages in 1989 (Paul and I saw two men wheeling a pram, one dressed as "the mother") and of course, Prince Frederick and our very own Princes Mary of Tazzie!

In the top photo are some amazing sites: the 19th Century Tivoli ammusement park (that inspired Walt Disney to build Disneyland), no less than three palaces (one used for Parliament, one the winter residence of the royals and the other a storehouse of their possessions!), Christianhavn (a hippy / drugs harbourside suburb that pursued independence in 1971, second photo), Stroget (the longest pedestrian mall in the world - except that trucks are allowed in each morning!!!), Frederikskirke (church with world's third largest dome). The Danes also have a special seating section at the very front of their trains called "the quiet class": we used trains to get from our shoebox hotel to the city and were "told off" for talking too loudly in the middle of peak hour - boy, give us a break!

In our spare time we also visited three countryside castles: Frederiksborgslot in Hillerod (third photo, most grande, built by King Christian IV around 1600 and coronation site for all royalty from 1671 to 1870), Fredensborgslot where Fred and Mary live most of the time (fourth photo) and Kronborgslot in Helsingor (not shown). We finished our stay with a few litres of freshly brewed beer at Carlsberg / Jocabson brewery (last photo). Distance travelled so far: 12,061km.

Last Two Polish Stops

As we exit Poland we travelled via Torun (top pic - pop 170,000) where you can see the other leaning tower (no not Pisa!) which was built, as punishment, by one of the Knights Templar who had failed his vow of celibacy! As to why he built it with a lean - you can decide for yourselves. Torun is also the birthplace of Copernicus and the city is famous for its all red-brick buildings.

Next we stopped at Szczecin (pop 420,000) which is located on the Odra River & Dabie Lake and is an important port for Poland. There is also a channel to Berlin (completed in 1913) used for goods transportation. Szczecin was bombed by the Allies in 1945 and almost 65% of the city was destroyed. Nowdays this city is very industrial with the port taking pride of place. In the bottom pic you see the church of St. Peter & Paul which was built between 1425-40 over the original wooden church used for mass baptisms by Bishop Otto in 1124. Total distance travelled to date: 11,396km.

Living City Museum

Warsaw (pop 7.1m) is the capital and largest city in Poland and a living historical musuem! It was established in 1313 by a Slavic King, disappeared off the European Map (along with Poland - Prussia, Serbia & Hungary shared control) from 1795 to 1918, was levelled by bombing in WWII, rebuilt by 1984 and now shaking off the last vestiges of communist influence it left behind in 1989 (second photo from top). Warsaw is big and flat. Its roads are huge, it still has the huge Soviet style concrete apartments (in the distance) but the most impressive feature is the completely re-built old city (top photo). During WWII the city was 85% destroyed and 50% of its 1.2m population killed. Prior to WWII, there were 400,000 jews living in the city - after WWII only 100 remained, the rest killed in the camps. There is very little left of the Jewish Ghetto but there are many monuments scattered through Warsaw's suburbs that tell the story: the Jewish cemetery where 250,000 killed in the war are buried, only one piece of the original 3.5m high ghetto wall (bottom photo), the station where Jews were deported to Auschwitz (5-6,000 per day), the heroes of the 1944 uprising and only two original ghetto apartment buildings are left - complete with bullet holes. Other interesting sites visted include: Chopin's tomb (heart only!!!, body is in Paris) inside Holy Cross Church, Presidential Palace, University, St John (first church in Poland 13th Century) and the birthplace / musuem of Marie Curie (who invented Radiography, discovered Radium, Polonium & the only person to win two Nobel prizes!). Distance travelled so far: 10,868km.

What Were They Thinking?

The Nazi concentration camps of Auschwitz were actually three camps located near one another: Auschwitz I (built in April 1940 in Oswiecim, approx 60km from Krakow, all buildings intact), Auschwitz II - Birkenau (in Brzezinka, 3km from Osweicim, much larger, half the mens buildings and the gas chambers / crematoria are now in ruins) and Auscwitz III - Monowitz (in Monowice, 10km from Osweicm, opposite the metal factory as seen in Schindlers List, nothing is left of this camp or the factory).

Paul and I took an extensive 4 hour English tour of the two camps. Auschwitz was built to hold Polish political prisoners but in 1942 was greatly expanded to become the official site for the "Final Solution". The camps literally became death factories. It is estimated that between 1940 and 1945, a total of 1.5-2.0 million people were executed from 27 countries all over Europe with approx 90% being Jews. The site was chosen because of the central railway junction: 5-7,000 people came in by train each day (70 to a carriage, 7 days average trip, no food or water) and approx 85% were lead 400-600m direct to the gas chambers, executed, their hair cut, jewellery / gold teeth removed and incinerated. Hair was made into cloth, gold melted down and the human ashes used to fertilise surrounding fields. Paul and I saw mountains of original hair, suitcases, shoes, toothbrushes, showbrushes, combs, shaving brushes and sadly childrens clothes. It is estimated that 600,000 children were sent to these camps and the Russian Red Army only found 600 alive when they liberated the camps on 27 January 1945. What were the Nazi's thinking?

Kraking Good Time

Krakow (pop 758,000) is Poland's third largest city and very interesting. The 900 year old Wielicka Salt Mine, approx 10km from the city was a thrilling introduction. Paul and I descended 135m (800 steps) underground and visited several cavernous rooms (along 2km of passages) filled with sculptures from the salt. The top photo shows an entire cathedral sculpted from the surrounding salt - even the chandelier chrystals are solid salt. Poland is covered in salt mines and it is a very important industry.

Krakow is very European, a little old but still grand: The Old Town has the largest medieval plaza in Europe (Rynek Glowny, almost one by one kilometer!), The first Baroque Church in Poland, The Oldest Alterpiece in Europe (500 yrs old), a fabulous Royal Palace and Castle and the Cathedral that Pope John Paul II served in as bishop before he became Pope. Poland is even cheaper than Slovakia. A three course meal with drinks is $10AUD per person!!!

Ten Thousand Kilometers And Counting

Graz in Austria (top photo) was our stop travelling from Ljubljana to Bratislava. Like most Austrian towns it is very picturesque, surrounded by mountains and very green. It also has a bizzare stained glass window in its main cathedral depicting the scourging of Christ with Hitler and Mussolini looking on - what was the artist thinking!!!

Bratislava (pop 450,000) is the largest and capital city of The Slovak Republic (Slovakia) and eager to westernise and embrace tourism. It is a city of contrasts. On one side of the Danube is a very classical European old town (1291 Fransiscan Church, 1421 Town Hall) and on the other rows and rows of huge concrete apartments (a legacy of the communist years). Communism ended in 1989 and Czechoslovakia split into the Czech and Slovak Republics in 1993, both joining the EC in 2004. Bratislava is also very cheap - a three course dinner with drinks is only $15AUD per person. Beer is still 75 cents per half litre. We gobbled down traditional dishes such as bean and cabbage soup, potato pancakes tuffed with pork and gallons of beer. Exactly 39km out of Bratislava on our way to Krakow in Poland our Citroen C3 (lovingly named C3-PO) clocked up 10,000km - what a milestone!!!

Another Greek City

Ljubljana (pop 290,000) is the capital of Slovenia and it was a surprisingly, green, organised, sophisticated and an all-round pleasant city. What else would you expect for yet another city founded by Greeks - according to the LOCALS, Jason and the Argonauts founded this city!!! Ljubljana was controlled by the Austrian Hapsburgs for many years and it shows - it is laid out and looks like a mini Salzburg. The influences are all there - castle on a hill, 1708 St Nicholas Church, a Paris style canal. The only difference is that it is cheap. Distance travelled so far: 9,492km.