Prague.

We arrive in Prague on a Sunday evening after a 5-hour train ride from Berlin. My first impressions of this much anticipated city is desolate, fraught and frigid. As we walk towards Katerina’s apartment from the mental image of the map imprinted in my head, we walk past a guy who Amber notices has disturbingly large pockmarks on his forearms and a middle-aged woman under a highway on the verge of tears. From the discolorations of her face, clearly a crack addict.

We find Katerina’s apartment easily enough, but already drenched in our own sweat from the searing heat. To our dismay, we find the apartment not air-conditioned. The place is nice though, modern with all the amenities for required for a comfortable stay – wifi, kitchen, walking distance to the town center. Our host was also very accommodating when she offered to buy our overnight tickets to Crakow on our behalf while we were still in Berlin (I found out that the cheapest available tickets were from over the counter at the Prague railway station).

Katerina informs us that during the weekends, locals go to their houses outside of the city to escape the tourists and heat of the city, hence the empty streets. Also, the railway station is located between the apartment and the Old Town Square so we are outside of the touristy areas. I think this is great as we get to see the ‘real’ Prague as well. There’s a very strong booze culture here unlike New Zealand’s. People do not seem as well off and look somber and gloomy. My first impression.

The following 3 days discovering the city turn out to be pleasant and much more colorful! I had made a list of the attractions I had intended to see, but did not eventuate. Reason being the heat just saps our energy here and walking is just exhausting! We easily decided not to see the castle (we’ve been to plenty), and Amber was very reluctant to go to the Torture museum even though I was keen (Half the fun for me was to watch Amber squirm). I decided against seeing it on my own - no biggie. Walking around historic Prague was beautiful in itself and we saw lots of wonderful art on the streets. The Jewish quarter, Old Town, and Charles Bridge were really the main attractions for us.

On the Charles Bridge

Old Town Square

I really loved this amazing painting (Sleepy Prague) in one of the stalls that is our current wallpaper on our MacBook. The other reminded me of Eve tempting Adam with an apple (I don't know if the artist intended to depict this). We were tempted to buy a couple of paintings for our future house back in New Zealand, but decided against it as it would probably get damaged on our journey and it wasn’t cheap. This is the first time I’ve ever really appreciated painted art. Here are a couple I enjoyed the most:

 We walked into a tiny Jewish art museum and the lady amiably asked our names so she could tell us what they represented(?) in the Kabbalah alphabet(?). I know nothing about this but her ‘interpretations’ struck us uncannily, describing “us.” Amber had ‘Tet,’(?), which translates as ‘intelligence,’ and my name had ‘Mem(?),’ meaning ‘unconditional truth.’ I liked and felt the connotations and have in mind learn more about Kabbalah.

On our last day in Prague we decide to treat ourselves to a Thai massage! Services are cheap-ish here in Prague and we each chose a 90 minute massage. It was good, but I preferred the broad full bodied strokes that I had gotten from the Ayurvedic one back in Italy. Thai massage can be a little rough and I found myself wincing at a couple of the stretching poses. Amber enjoyed it more than I. 

So now we're here in our very big and cool apartment right in the middle of Cracow, and what a  lovely town it is! Everything is softer and personable, and accommodation is cheaper. A large apartment such as this one is just over NZ$100 a day. I'm so glad I decided we stay here for 7 days and 8 nights. Amber and I set aside the rest of today to plan our next 7 days to cover all we want to do. Very exciting! Here's what we've come up with:

Krakow:

• Explore town center by foot.
• Kazimierz (Jewish quarter) 
• Schindler's factory.
• Auschwitz concentration camp.
• Aqua park (swimming complex)
• Bike trail in Wolski Forrest.
• Krakow Mounds
• Krakow Fortress bike trails.

Achtung, baby!

We arrive in Berlin after two giant train journeys: An overnight train from Venice to Munich (8hrs), followed by another after a brief transit from Munich to Berlin (6hrs). We set ourselves up in a luxurious 1st class 2 person cabin in the former and I slept like a baby!

The German ticket-master who greeted us for the overnight train seemed very unpleasant and he brusquely asked for our tickets and showed me how to operate the intricacies of the cabin door. He practically snatched my tickets from my hand and said he'd return them in the morning. He spoke with a very strong German accent and I felt like I had to stand at attention when we was addressing me! When he made his way down the coach corridor I had dreadful memories of room inspection back in the Singapore military. Amber and I had a good laugh! Intermittently, we would hear him yelling at other passengers for not getting their coach numbers right, or leaving their luggage around, or dilly-dallying. This all seemed very confusing. We paid for 1st class, so shouldn't we be getting first class service? Then I noticed it was only 3 minutes to departure, and I remembered how Europeans are very meticulous about punctuality. I suddenly found his curt behavior uncompromisingly necessary, understanding that passengers can be particularly uncooperative, even to the point of abusing a less resilient ticket-master. He Had to take this authoritative stance, we wouldn't have left the station on time otherwise, and he'd have to put up with passenger balderdash. I like him!

We arrived at an enormous ultra-modern steel and glass Hauptbahnhof in Berlin at mid-day, and I have the most satisfying meal I've had this year at an Asian food outlet at a reasonable price - Unagi-don! Boy, was I glad I was not in Venice anymore. Then we catch a train to Potsdam, where we meet Roz at a cafe to go to her apartment by the lake.

Roz and Malte stay in a cool 2-storey apartment on the third floor and it so happened that on the day we arrived, Germany was playing Spain in the semi-finals. Malte invited several work colleagues over that night for a bbq and to watch the game on the patio upstairs. Germany lost but I thoroughly enjoyed having to spend time with some locals and watching Malte squeal extendedly every time Spain came close to scoring (and boy did Spain come close to scoring many times!) Lol!

We borrow their very old style bicycles the next day to see east Potsdam the next day. I love the city’s serenity and the excellent facilities provided for cyclists. Don’t be caught walking on cycle lanes though, I had inadvertently got in the way of a couple of cyclists who shot me annoyed stares as they whizzed by. We rode past a beautiful lake and noticed locals sunbathing by the lakefronts, many of who were naked! My feeling for Germans is that they are more attuned to nature and more inclined to express their ‘naturalness.’ This is a broad generalization however, as Malte does not share this predisposition.

The following day our hosts suggest we take the boat out for a paddle. The lake that the apartment is by is was lovely! We paddled to the other shore and people watched while dabbling in the water. Glorious!

Keiran is Roz and Malte’s beautiful baby boy! I loved being around him and noticed my feelings of antipathy every time Keiran threw a tantrum. On a bad day I think he threw 5 in a space of 30 minutes! I also noticed how quickly he got over each one and the smile that followed erased all my aversion I had for him but a few moments ago. I love him. He is my most recent, invaluable teacher.

How German babies throw a tantrum - in a yoga posture

Play horse

Happy

After 3 days and 3 nights in Potsdam with Roz and Malte, I book us into the Meininger Hotel in Berlin. It’s right next to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Train station) and I figure this will give us plenty of time to see as much of Berlin as we can in the time frame provided before leaving for Prague the next day. I had researched Berlin while at Roz’ and these were what I wanted to see:

Berlin:

The Reichstag

Brandenburg Gate

Under Ter Linden

Erotik Museum 

Potzdamer Platz, Sony Centre. 

 I had found Kitkatclub on a “Top 5 must do” list on the internet a week before. It’s a club owned by a German porn filmmaker who wanted to create a club where VERY ‘liberated’ could come and party. From what I’ve read about the club on the internet is that its got a very strict dress code (BDSM Fridays etcetera), and that people have sex freely at the venue either in ‘open rooms’ or on the dancefloor?? Recommended only for “open-minded” people. I decided against doing this as its location was quite out of the way and I didn’t enjoy the ‘party’ atmosphere of dance clubs anyway. I was definitely curious to see how “liberated” Germans party though! As it turns out, the Erotik museum we went to had plenty enough displays of private parts for one day.

Eeks!

We’re on our way to Prague now after only spending 5 days in Germany, which I feel is a shame. I want to come back and am wondering if our invitation from our new German friends we made during Mystic Tantra will still be open in the future. I have booked to stay at an apartment in Prague for the next 3 nights through AirBnB.com, a bed and breakfast website. Here is what I want to see:

Prague:

• Prague Castle Complex (apparently the biggest in Europe)
• Old Town
• Jewish quarter
• Charles Bridge
• Torture museum
• The Fred and Ginger Building (built by Peter Eisenman)

Achtung (watch out), baby!