Wenceslas statue Karl's Bridge
I was able to get a ticket to fly to Prague and return from Zürich. First I flew to London, where it is necessary to go by bus to the other airport, Heathway. I could pay with my credit card, and the trip takes about 1 ¼ hour. The other nuisance one has to accept is going through security check-in again.
Arrival at Prague was at 9 PM.. After getting some Czech money from the ATM I proceeded to the bus station (No. 119). I should have stayed till Dovica where I could catch the Metro. But I got out of the bus much too soon. It was night and I panicked.
Eventually I caught a taxi. He did not know where my hostel (reserved) was and he charged me more than I had. I got to an ATM and was able to pay him 950 Kroner. Those taxi drivers in Prague are bandits! Please avoid them! Everything else in Prague was very reasonable. Well, the accommodation I ordered via Internet was quite OK. There was a bath, TV, and even a small refrigerator at a moderate price.
Visiting Prague was quite easy. Outside the metro terminal
Skalka I was able to buy a day ticket for 70 Kr. That was a real good
buy. First I took bus 350 all the way to the end, way out in the country.
There were beautiful and large fields of wheat, barley, rape etc. I went
through 2 or 3 very nice little villages. Back in Prague I walked to the
Karls Bridge which was crowded with tourists, souvenir stores
and even a small music band. The other attraction I visited was the
Prague Castle. I used the tram extensively. It is important that one
stamps the card, and I saw a controller giving a young girl some grief.
I could escape, but stamped the card real quick! Eventually I had something to eat in the form of salmon plus dumpling and a large Pilzner Urquell beer. In the evening I watched a movie on TV with some men drinking beer, and me not understanding a word they were saying. This was followed with the American movie “Striptease” without censorship, dealing with Fort Lauderdale and also in Czech.
Next day again I bought a day ticket for 70 Kroner. Metro stops are marked
quite nicely, and with a city map orientation was easy. The Prague castle
(Hradčany) and its beautiful park were beautiful. One could also
take nice pictures of the City. I also visited the botanical garden.
In between I saw the Wenceslas statue, St.Vitus Cathedral and
many other sites listed in my guide book. Prague also offered several
musical presentations of Smetana, Dvořák, Vivaldi, Mozart and
others that made Prague famous. I also missed some good museums, concentrating
mostly on walking. Walking along the Moldau (Vltava) was
very enjoyable. Since it was very hot, I made many stops for either beer,
ice cream or mineral water. Like most everywhere there, was also a McDonald
where I could buy a milkshake.
Leaving Prague by train was not so easy, since I was directed to the wrong railroad station. A kind lady led me to a taxi that got me to the right place for an enormous sum of Kroner (3500) for a very short trip. I emphasize that taxi owners in Prague are bandits.
Some of the things I saw in Vienna were Schönbrunn, the technical
museum. Near the Rathaus is a beautiful rosegarden. There was
a Blasmusic Congress at the time. Players from most “Lands”
of Austria paraded and later played beautiful music together. There
must have been 1000 musicians. The end of course was the Radezki March
where all or most of the audience was clapping their hands.
In the Stefanskirche was another big assembly. I heard the Archbishop of Budapest give a sermon (or speech) advocated United Europe and religious peace. My evening meal was consumed at the Goulash Museum near the Stefanskirche. Back at the hostel I was able to call home. Next morning I stopped and rested at the Prater. This time I did not go on the Riesenrad, but enjoyed walking through the famous amusement park.
Late in the evening I went to the Südbahnhof with a ticket to Rome costing 110 € .
My train arrived in Rome early the following morning. Having been in Rome previously, I decided to go on and bought a train ticket to Naples. I found 2nd class quite comfortable and did not need a reservation. At Naples Stazione Centrale. I went to the tourist information office. I had to wait a long time for some Japanese or Chinese tourists to talk and talk and talk. Finally I got a map and a guy nearby led me to hotel nearby. The price I paid for a single room with bath was 60 € (as compared to 220 € near the seashore). There was no elevator, but the clerk was kind enough to carry my heavy suitcase to the 2nd floor. After I was settled, I went back to the train station and bought a ticket on the Circumvesuviana train to Pompeii.
We passed the Vesuvius and saw nice gardens with Bougainvillea, some
citrus and apricots. Pompeii was rather crowded, I was tired and
hot, so I did not pay the 10 € and walked a lot at the Pompeii
ruins. I walked back by a beautiful church to wait for the
return train to Naples and having a beer near the station.
Naples was a rather busy and crowded place. It was not clean…. Maybe because the trash would be picked up the next day. After getting some directions by a policeman I found the Mediterranean seashore. The Ovo castle was open, and I visited it. There are many touristy places in or near Naples which I did not bother to see but should have. This includes the famous blue grotto on the Isle of Capri.
From the seashore I wanted to return to the Stazione Centrale and my hotel. Looking at my tram card I noticed that the 90 minutes had expired. Not wanting a big fine, I walked to Piazza Garibaldi. A German tourist asked me for direction to the main station which I gave him, but he walked right past it, and I could not catch him.
Now I was starting to get hungry. The trouble was that in Naples as well as other Italian towns, you don’t get fed till 7 PM. So I had to wait.
There is a good night train from Naples to Palermo, scheduled to leave at 10:27 PM. The train is equipped with sleepettes. My tickets said 26, and I climbed to the top in a compartment of 4 sleepettes. It took about 10 hours of night riding to Palermo. Near Messina I felt the train being loaded on a ferry. After Messina the scenery was very nice, and the rails passed very close to the Mediterranean Sea.
Somewhere I met a Swiss couple, and we had supper together. That is, we had to wait till 7 PM before a waiter gave us the time a day. Wine and Pizza were good. At one of the piazzas I saw a large modern monument stating that the Mafia has been eliminated.
By bus I traveled to Trapani at the tip of Sicily. The bus stopped near the port, and I enjoyed that scenery. Later I walked a bit into the city which has nice buildings, too.
I also bought myself a spaghetti lunch with red wine. Surely exploring Trapani a bit more would have been nice, but I went on another bus to Agrigento. Before we arrived in this city, I noticed extensive Roman ruins, including a form of pantheon. The town was very steep, and I felt too tired to walk it, so I continued on the Catania and from there to Siracusa and back. Again I spent too little time there and returned to Catania. It was dark at that time and I could not find a hotel. I walked and walked and finally saw the sign Mediterranean Hotel. After walking some more and pulling my heavy suitcase over rough cobblestones, I found it. It actually was a Best Western, a 4 star hotel and cost me 100 € . But I was extremely tired. In Sicily I saw vast fields of cereal in the higher elevations and lots of fruit trees like Apricot, peaches, and citrus on the South Side of the Island. It was beautiful. After Catania I saw the volcano Etna with a lot of smoke pouring out of it.
In Catania I got into a bus which drove all the way to Rome in 10 hours. I had to make one change at Taormina in the middle of the night. After that it was all night, and I managed to sleep a little. It was 6:30 in the morning when we got to Rome. Again I thought it would be nice to revisit this eternal city, but decided to spend some time in Florence.
This really is a beautiful city and most worthy of a very long visit. Information at the Stazione directed me to hotel Colorado. I had a bit of trouble finding it. Also it was on the 3rd floor of a building and had to ask to have the suitcase carried up to my room. This was quite adequate and breakfast was included in the price.
Soon after registering, I bought a one-day ticket on city transportation. I saw the old bridge, Ponte Vecchio. This one together with the Karls Bridge in Prague are very famous and interesting. Both are for pedestrians only and have shops on them. The Arno, though, is only half as wide as the Moldau (Vltava) in Prague.
There is the Piazzale Michelangelo way up on the other side of the Arno. From there one has a gorgeous view of the City.
Toward evening I took tram 7 to Fiesole. I found out that at this place, high above Firenze, one could see ruins from the Etruscans who lived here before the Romans came.
Florence was so interesting that I decided to stay another day. I went
across Ponte Vecchio to Palazzo Pitti. I bought a ticket and got in.
This was the palace of the Medici Family and flourished from the 15th
to 18th centuries, and was built even earlier. The high ceiling
rooms with fantastic paintings reminded me of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
There also were other treasures, like gems and cameos, and on top of
the hill was a porcelain collection. I took it all in, but was shocked by
the many steps in the garden. Somehow I walked around them and got to
the porcelain museum on top. To my regret there was nothing to drink up
there, and I was totally dehydrated. – Eventually I got my beer right next
to the Ponte Vecchio. – I then walked across this bridge and got to the
Uffizi. There was a big crowd there, including some musicians. I saw big
statues of Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Macchiavielli, and others on the outside
of the building. I regret that I did not go in to see the marvelous paintings
in the Uffizi. Maybe next time! On the sidewalks were numerous Africans
peddling trinkets, women's purses and such. I saw
2 policemen, and as they approached, those lay-outs were folded up.
I bought another train ticket. First I got out in Pisa. I thought the
leaning tower of Pisa was within walking distance
of the train station, but instead I had to take the tram. After taking
a picture I immediately went back to the train to proceed to Genoa.
The train tracks followed the Mediterranean for quite a while. We could
see swimmers enjoying the Sea. In Genoa I only stopped to go outside the
train station and saw the monument to Columbus and had a beer nearby.
I also did not rest in Milano, but bought a ticket to Como. Now I was in northern Italy. After asking around I finally found the Youth Hostel and checked in. Later I walked to the lake and watched an amusement ship getting ready. I spent a restful night in Como and then proceeded to Lugano in the Canton of Ticino, Switzerland.
It was June 10 early morning when I pulled my heavy suitcase over the cobblestone streets of Como to the train station. The trip to Lugano was rather short. No problem with customs. Next to the train station was a hostel called Montanard where I checked in. The nice thing about this place was that there was a very pretty and large swimming pool where I could cool down and even order a lunch of roast beef plus Tessin (Ticino) Merlot wine. After that swim I went downtown, that was really downwards from the train station and hostel. I enjoyed the walk along the lake. During my whole trip through Italy and Switzerland it was quite hot. Newspapers mentioned temperatures in the 30 degrees C up to 35! Later, in the evening, I met my sister Alice who lives in the mountain near Lugano. We had a good dinner followed by a walk in the park along the lake.
Next morning I took the train first to Belinzona, then Locarno.
This is another beautiful town where I have been before. There was enough
time for a brief walk down to the lake (Lago Maggiore). Next I
got on the special train that took me through Centovalli. This
is an exciting mountain train very similar to the one in Mexico’s
Canon de copre. It goes through beautiful forests with real chestnuts,
deep canons, a few rustic villages and vineyards. The terminus was
the Italian town of Domodossola. Here I waited for the regular train to
go thought the very long Simplon tunnel to the Swiss town (Canton Valais)
Brig. This is on the Rhone river. There is a very fertile valley with
lots of fruit tree plantations. Along the slopes were enormous tracts
of wine grapes. Fendant and Aigle are among the famous wines coming from
the Valais. At Sion I saw an airport. I thought about the difficulties
I would have as a pilot to make the approach between those towering mountains
(Alps).
In time the train left the Rhone valley and drove along Lake Geneva (or Lake Leman). There was Château Chillon, Montreux, Lausanne and other towns. The slopes again were covered with vineyards. This was the Canton of Vaud, and people speak French.
Geneva was reached by about 4 PM. I walked out of the large
railroad station and followed direction to a Youth hostel. The first hostel
I checked was full, but the main YH was able to take me. It cost me 25
Franks since I am a senior member of the YH. My bed was one of 4 on the
4th floor. It was easy to get there by elevator. Breakfast
was included
Geneva, Switzerland. Lake with waterfountain.
Like always, I feel a great relief after having found a place to stay and leave by baggage. I went out the door and walked 200 meters or so to Lake Geneva. This has a beautiful promenade, and I still think Geneva is one of the nicest towns on Earth. I lived in Geneva during the war from 1942 to 1944 to attend a garden school.
I stayed two nights at this hostel, and walked extensively. First I visited the Scientific museum which was a former villa in the Pearl Park. There were old instruments like clocks, compasses, theodolites, sextants and others to be seen. Entry was free. From there I went to the Botanical Garden which I have visited many times between 1942 and 1944. The best part of it were the Rock Gardens. Many beautiful and interesting plants were to be seen. Since I get tired easily, I frequently sat down on a bench.
From there I tried to visit the United Nations Building. There was a policeman in front, and he kept me from entering despite the fact that I told him my taxes pay for this.
So I had to walk down to the Lake Promenade. I found a beer and relaxed for a while. Then I continued walking past some very, very expensive looking hotels. Pont du Mont Blanc took me to the other side of the Rhone, emerging from the lake. There is a nice park, jardin anglais, and the majestic water jet going to about 70 meters.
Well, it was so hot (34 °C), that I saw some of the well-dressed men taking off their jacket and loosening their ties. Others, like me, walked around in shorts. I found EPA, a store and part of a chain, where I could have a good meal plus Geneva red wine.
Next I walked by the reformation wall with Calvin, Zwingli and Knox, the reformators.
At the St. Peters church plaza I saw a fancy orange car. It was a Lamborghini! I saw a man get in and start the engine. When I asked him if it was his car. He answered he stole it, and drove off. Well, I saw other expensive cars, like Jaguar, Rolls Royce and Porsche. (no Cadillac). Traffic in this and all other European towns was horrific. I feel better taking the train than renting a car, fearing traffic and lack of parking places.
I also walked past a very fancy store, which had all its large windows smashed. This was a result of vandalism during the G8 meeting that was held a couple of weeks earlier in Evian, France.
Next day, I took the train again for Liestal via Basel.
Liestal being my hometown was nothing new to me. I meant to take all my friends and relatives to a big dinner at my cost. This, though, was not possible everyone had their own plans and dislikes of others. So I made individual arrangements, like with brother Bruno and wife where we had a good meal in Nuglar, in the Jura mountains. It still was very hot, and Heidi wanted to go home early.
I went to my other brother, Reinhard in the Chlöpfgatter. My nephew, Dany, showed me where the cherries were and I picked a bag full while always eating some.
During my last day in the canton Baselland, my brother Reinhard and I went on a car trip through the Black Forest. We crossed the Rhine River into Southern Germany in Rheinfelden. We followed the Rhine to Waldshut and then turned north. The Black Forest is rather pretty. There are lots of spruce forests, steep slopes where people were haying, and fairly rugged mountains. At St. Blasien I was surprised to see a large domed church.
St. Blasien, Black Forest
There are a couple small lakes in the Black Forest, one being the Schluchsee. We looked for a place to eat, passed some, and stopped at the restaurant Adler. Here we got a very good meal. Afterwards we drove on down the river Wiese into Basel and back to Liestal.
Next morning I had to wake up at 4 am and get on an early train to the airport in Zürich.
The flight went back to London, then to Atlanta, and from there (after excruciating passage through customs and getting my baggage) home to Tallahassee. This was a very long day!
In retrospect, all went well. My major gripe is against the bandit taxi
drivers in Prague.
For other travel stories, please click: http://www.freenet.tlh.fl.us/~heinisj
you may e-mail me at: jheinis@nettally.com