Paris, France

"Sittin' in a park in Paris France; readin' the news and it sure looks bad. They wouldn't give peace a chance - that was just a dream some of us had. Still a lotta lands to see..."

"...and I'd go walkin' down the Champs Elysee, goin' cafe to cabaret, thinkin' how I'd feel when I find that very good friend of mine!"

"In France they kiss on Main Street - Amour, Mama! Not cheap display."

Joni Mitchell songs run through my head on board the flight from Krakow to Paris. I didn't get a window seat, so unfortunately I didn't see much of the city, flying in. I arrived Charles d'Gaulle("Vive Quebec Libre!!") airport late morning of Feb 1st. I eventually got myself sorted out and on the correct train, thanks to the good directions from my niece Anne Catherine. The almost one hour train trip to the underground station where I switched trains, was a bit of a surprise. It goes through some pretty under priveleged areas, complete with gypsy shanty towns, and piles and piles of garbage. Not the Paris of the glossy brochures and travel magazines, for sure!

Futher following the directions to get to the suite where my niece and her family live, I thought I had found the correct door, and started to enter the combination codes when I heard behind me "wrong door, wrong door!" I turned around to see Anne Catherine and her beaming smile! I was trying to get into #14, and should have been at #14bis, dontcha know! Good thing she just happened to be going to pick up her boys at school when I arrived, otherwise I would have been completely mystified! I never did find out what is "bis".

Anne Catherine is the daughter of my brother Robin, who has another daughter in Paris, Lise, and a daughter in Moscow as well. Each of them have husbands and children who converge en masse every summer in Ottawa to enjoy a playful Canadian summer and each others great, good company. A.C. and her husband Eric have 3 sons, Roman, Thomas and Paul, all in primary school and all chess players. English is a challenge for the boys, with Thomas being the most willing to use it. My french is completely inadequate other than a handful of basic phrases, with which I barely get by. A.C. and Eric speak both languages (and others) fluently so it wasn't a lost cause for me! It was so wonderful to be able to spend time with them, and share a bit of the Parisian life. Once the children were sorted out in the morning and off to school, Anne Catherine had some time to show me around Paris, which she was starting to get pretty good at, having only moved there some 6 months earlier, from Toulousse (which was just too small a town for them).

Exploring a new town or city is always an adventure, but when you get to go with a local, it is so much better, than alone. They always have a different perspective and favourite special places that you might otherwise never discover. Anne Catherine showed me around and in doing so, we explored a few areas a bit new to her too. Together we went up to Montmartre, and I could almost imagine how it was for all those famous artists who made this area there home and workplace, back in the day, the likes of Degas, Matisse, Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir, van Gogh. Now it is pretty crowded with tourists and there were many artists selling their works. Pretty commercial mostly, but still with tons of charm and ambience. We found a lovely cafe to stop at for lunch, and soak up a bit more of the atmosphere.

One day when the boys were not at school, it was decided that A.C. and Thomas and Paul and I would head to the Picasso museum. This seemed like a fine idea to all of us except young Paul, who, having a Star Wars mission that he needed to get on with, thought it would be much better to stay home. He was adamant and put up a pretty good fight, but in the end parents decisions prevailed and so he very begrudgingly was dragged out the door. Within a couple of blocks he was on-board with us. After a ride on the metro, we walked for quite a way until we finally found the museum, only to be closed until 2012!!! Anne Catherine suggested that after such a long walk, we could wait till it opens, but instead we went to a cafe for a bit of a treat. So much for Picasso!

Lise and I met up at the Musee d'Orsay in the afternoon, for a casual walk through part of the splendid galleries in this renovated former train station. Small in comparison to the Louvre, it is some 17,000 square metres with 80 galleries. More that 63 million people have visited in its 24 years. When we reached our saturation point we started the walk back to Lise's apartment. She has lived in Paris for 20 years or so, I think, so she knows a lot of the nooks and crannies. On the way we stop to pick up some things for supper at a few of her favourite shops - cheese, wine, baguette (natch!) and blood sausage at her local Caribbean specialty shop.

After a long hike through to the east side of Paris we arrive at Lise's home, where Daphne and Jacques are waiting. It is a real treat to see them and to get to spend some time with them, since I really didn't know them at all. While we get busy with preparing supper with the help of the children, Lise was busy on the telephone talking to her employer who wanted her to leave early next morning for Luxembourg to do a film editing rescue job. She sets to work getting all her ducks lined up, and awaits delivery of the script for the film. Meanwhile, we sit down to a really nice meal with wine, risotto, salad, sausage, and cheese and good conversation in French and English between the four of us. Before I left, Jacques very kindly gave Pokey and Gumby a much needed bath, and Daphne donated a tiny suitcase to them, along with a itty bitty "portrait" of Pokey, so now they have somewhere to put their treasures!

I managed to scare up a ticket to the opera, starring my current favourite soprano, French superstar Natalie Dessay. She was performing in La Sonnambula, which I had seen her in, by way of the Met Opera HD transmissions. It was so wonderful, and I thought - here is possibly my one and only chance to see her live. So, even though the opening night reviews were only fair due to her not feeling well, I decided to swallow hard and cough up an unbelievable number of Euros for the ticket. It was the only on available, and it wasn't available when I checked on-line the day before, so I swooped!

I have to say that I was expecting a lot more from her, and that she was obviously not on top of her game. However, you pay your money and you take your chance. Even so, I was glad to see her live, and interested to see her response to the applause at the end of the show. She was clearly not satisfied with her performance, and in fact, through my binoculars I detected that she was quite tearful. In addition, I was not terribly impressed with the opera hall, which was the new one, not the grand old Garnier. I toured the Garnier the next day, and would love to have been able to attend a performance there. It is a gorgeous building - check out some photos here:

http://images.google.co.ma/images?rlz=1C1GGLS_enCA334CA334&sourceid=chrome&q=garnier+opera+house&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=_-SUS46PIMbK4gao45W1DQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CC0QsAQwAw

I had a wonderful time in Paris, despite the high cost of everything. I find Paris to be at once a handsome city and a charming city, but not beautiful in the way that Prague is. Prague still tops my list for beauty. Winter visits to these places strips down impressions to pretty much just the buildings, without the colour and greenery of their many parks and "natural" areas, though.

After lots more exploring and walking with Eric and the boys as well as on my own, it was getting time to leave for Tangier,Morocco. I still had not a clue where I would stay the day before my departure, when I decided to try one more time for a "Couch Surfing" option. I was truly amazed when I received a positive response at such short notice, and very excited to start this new phase of my travels with a local Moroccan, who was close to my age, female and "happy to host me". I was also looking forward to leaving behind the grey, damp and cold of Europe!

Krakow Poland

Polish train door!

Birkenau

Krakow

Krakow, Poland

Taking the train from Olomouc to Krakow was a bit of an adventure. It involved changing trains in a city whose name I have forgotten. My ticket indicated that I had 5 minutes between arrival and departure, and I had no idea if I would be able to make it from train to train in time. Boarding the train in Olomouc, I took what I thought was an appropriate seat, but when the conductor checked my ticket, I was directed to go to another car. I found a compartment with only two other women in it, so I let myself in, and exchanged introductions with Suzanne and her mother Elizabeth, who were both from Switzerland. They were taking a short holiday together in celebration of Elizabeth’s 80th birthday. They had boarded the train in Prague and were also on their way to Krakow. We had lots to talk about, and shared easy conversation about travelling and family and such. Turns out Suzanne had been to Canada with her husband a two children a couple of times, and was hoping for another trip there. We all were ready for some fast action when we got off the train in Katowice (I think that’s the name of the city where we changed trains…).

It was bitterly cold there, and the grim, unpleasant platform was wide open to the harsh winds. We tried in vain to figure out which platform we need to switch to in order to get the train to Krakow, so I asked one of the station employees, who just completely waved me off. There were some other non-Polish speakers (English speakers, actually) who were also as befuddled as we were. Fortunately, after changing platforms at least twice (which involved a lot of stairs with awkward luggage, and a tiny, shivering 80 year old) a local man noticed our confusion, and told us that the train was 20 minutes late, and we were on the correct platform. But someone else said “no” we need to be on the other platform. Arrgh!!! It was damn cold and nobody seemed to know what was what. Well, anyway there was another train scheduled about an hour or so later, so we felt better knowing that.

Good thing that there was another train scheduled, because the first train never did show up! We were very glad to get on the rickety old rust bucket, and get out of the cold. After about a 20 minute delay, we finally rattled out of the station, and I do mean “rattled”. The driver had a really heavy foot, and he would actually come to a jerking stop at stations along the way. Then it would be pedal to the metal, and honestly, we wondered if the train would jump the tracks. Poland’s rail system needs some upgrading, I do believe. A very funny thing happened when a lady was walking through our car into the next car. When she went to close the door behind her, she threw a lot of weight into it, and managed to knock it off its sliding mechanism. It was hilariously funny to see, because she glared at me and scowled, and then carried on as if it was a regular occurrence. When the conductor was making her way through the cars she got to the dislodged door, and of course it wouldn’t budge. But she just manhandled it until she managed to set it right. All in a days work on the Polish Rail system. About a half hour later, someone else dislodged it again, but failed to right it. He wasn’t quite as burly as the conductor… The visit on board with Suzanne and her mom was super nice, and made the trip go quickly and pleasantly, despite our concerns of a horrible train wreck. We said our goodbyes at the station and I set off to find my hostel, not far away.

It was a bit expensive for a hostel, but “Tom and Greg’s” was very well run, with excellent staff, and it included both breakfast and supper. It is situated within easy walking distance of the old centre, and also with in walking distance of the very fine castle (on the hill, natch) and the old Jewish quarter of Kazimiertz.

I did a lot of walking in Krakow. It just seemed to be too much hassle to try to figure out the buses. There are a lot of nice coffee shops and cafes to stop in to warm up. The first day I managed to find myself in Kazimiertz and I visited a Jewish museum, and walked many of the interesting streets there. I was just thinking that it was time to warm up somewhere, when I heard a knocking on the window of the café across the street - it was Suzanne and her mother! How nice to see them again and have a hot drink together.

A visit to the castle is a must in Krakow. I toured the royal apartments, which have many magnificent tapestries from Brussels, specifically made to order for the castle by one of the kings, ‘way back in the day. He ordered 360 in total - almost one for every day of the year! The castle had been neglected and pillaged during the years of communism, and so many of the original furnishing and art work were long gone, but generous donations have been received from Polish citizens to the castle museum, which were representative of the missing treasures.

I did the tour to Auschwitz and Birkenau as well. This is not a fun outing, but an important one. They are very sobering sites and the facts were still shocking, even though I felt I was reasonably well informed about Nazi extermination camps and genocide. The coldness of the day served to put a finer point on the horror of it all.

On a somewhat cheerier note, I also visited the salt mine in nearby Wieliczka. Salt has been taken out of this mine since the 13th century, and there are more than 350 kilometres of tunnels below the surface. It’s pretty interesting and just a bit cheesy too, but it was a fun outing. There is no longer salt being mined, since 1996 or so, but there are more than a million tourists like me who take the tour to see the huge caverns and salt sculptures deep below the surface. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wieliczka_Salt_Mine Interestingly, I chatted with an East Indian young man, who was also on the tour. He had recently completed his masters degree in pharmacy in London, England. We ended up on the same transit bus back to Krakow and so got to chatting about our experiences there. When I told him that I had been to Auschwitz the day before, he had no idea what I was talking about, but thought that he had heard of the place. Hmm.

Krakow seems to be one of the cities which attracts weekend travellers from U.K. thanks to Ryan Air and their super cheap flights. There was a group of such visitors in my hostel, and it was clear from the start that the sole purpose of their trip was to get completely polluted every night, and then spend the next day talking about it. In fact, they got so hammered that one of them was arrested and they missed their flight back to London. Apparently, this is far from an isolated incident. It’s actually cheaper to fly to Krakow (or other eastern European city) and drink yourself into oblivion, than it is to stay home and do it! It used to be just British soccer hooligans causing disturbances, but now it’s British Ryan Air hooligans as well. Very bad form.

The main square in Krakow is very lovely and large, with an abundance or shops selling fabulous jewellery. Lots of amber and garnets, as well as many other precious and semi-precious stones in gorgeous settings. Try as I might though, I just couldn’t find that one special piece to compliment my ball gown…

I was very lucky indeed, to catch a concert nearby where I was staying. It was a concert performance of the opera Griselda by Vivaldi, presented by Crakoviensis made up of a small string orchestra with period instruments, two mezzo sopranos, two sopranos, one counter tenor and a tenor. It was absolutely glorious, and the voices were superb, except for one of the sopranos, who was basically in over her head. But the others were highly skilled and executed their difficult and demanding parts with clarity, precision and beautiful artistry. I was still vibrating the next day! Ten euros.

After a few days in Krakow, I was heading to the airport to catch an EasyJet flight to Paris, where I would spend one week with niece Anne-Catherine, her three sons, Roman, Thomas, and Paul, and her husband Eric. Lucky me!

Olomouc, Czech Republic

The Lonely Planet Guide tells that Olomouc (say Olomoats) is like a miniature Prague, without the crowds of tourists. This is another time that I took exception to the guidebook. Olomouc is a university town, which means that there are a lot of young people there. But to compare it to Prague, in terms of the beauty and grandeur of the architecture is ‘way off the mark, in my opinion. Clearly this small city does not have the infrastructure or budget to restore crumbling facades of once elegant buildings. There is an abundance of deteriorating old apartment and university buildings, many of which seem to have gone past to the point of no return. The centre of the old town is very pretty though, and there are a number of sculptures, classical and modern, gracing the spacious squares.

Once again the weather was cold, making it unpleasant being outside for any length of time, so I usually would head back to my hostel for lunch. There was a good grocery store nearby where I was able to find nice things to eat, rather than eating in restaurants. So, a nice hot bowl of soup with some local cheese and bread was a good way to break up the days of visiting various places of interest in Olomouc, which can easily be seen in a couple of days. It was a nice enough town, but nowhere near the same class as Prague, even though Prague is very crowded with tourists.

From Olomouc I took the train to Krakow, Poland.

Prague, part II.

The weather was much better for my second visit to Prague, AND I had a better hostel stay as well. For those of you who are going to this most beautiful city, I can recommend cheap hostel accommodation at (believe it or not) Sir Toby's. Not the best location, but not a bad one, and the facility is really quite nice. That means - no bunk beds, plenty of room in the dorms, enough bathrooms and showers, a self-serve kitchen, and a nice little pub in the basement that doubles for breakfast service (extra Czech crowns, but super convenient) and also serves local food for dinner.

So, what opera did I see? Cosi Fan Tutti. It was wonderful. A nicely done production in a contemporary style that completely honoured the integrity of the music, story and intent. Nothing that assailed the senses or sensibilities, yet fresh and fun and fantastic (Vienna - take note!). Voices were great, although I couldn't pronounce any of the names of the principles. Lucky me, I got the last ticket available, 12 Euros (about 20 bucks)! It was in the Estates Theatre which is a lovely old building, where in 1787 Mozart debuted his opera Don Giovanni. Isn't that neat?

I toured the Municipal House, which has been restored after much neglect and pillaging during the bad old days of communism. It is brimming with art nouveau features and details, including one room that was completely designed by Alphonse Mucha, complete with patriotic images of national heroes of old. One of hundreds of beautiful buildings in Prague, the Municipal House makes it almost impossible to imagine how things looked during that recent dark chapter in European history. The vestiges of that dreary time are well away from the city centre and easy to ignore, being so completely ugly and lifeless, and overwhelmed by the sheer magnificence that defines the rest of the city. Without a doubt Prague is the most beautiful city I have been to, with Venice ranking a very close second place. Prague sets the bar very high indeed, and I strongly recommend a visit. It must be even more lovely in the spring, summer and fall.

The bad news is - I seem to have lost all my photos of Prague. I have searched all through my computer, to no avail. This is a major disappointment for me, however I guess it means I will have to go back and take the pictures again. Not a bad plan! Anybody want to join me? Here is a website that has some nice photos of Prague if you want to take a look. http://translate.google.co.ma/translate?hl=fr&langpair=en|fr&u=http://www.pbase.com/alangrant/prague

Berlin

The train trip from Prague to Berlin goes through Bohemia, western Czech Republic. It is very beautiful with fabulous rock outcrops along the river which the route follows. The train stops in Dresden briefly, then pushes on to Berlin. The day I caught the train was a bit of gong show, due to the snow storm that had happened the night before. I had intended to get the 11:00am train, so I got myself to the station with lots of time to spare. When I checked the departure board, it didn't really make any sense to me, not just because I don't understand Czech, but because the departure times were all a mess. I had bought my ticket the day before, so I knew that there was supposed to be an 8:30 train and an 11:00 train. I finally got a straight answer from the info desk, that the 8:30 train had still not left the station, and would be boarding in a few minutes. So I dashed to the platform and waited to board the 8:30 train at about 10:15. It finally showed up, and I was happy to get inside the car where it was nice and toasty warm. And there it sat for another hour and 10 minutes. I shared the car with a young American woman, who had spent several months teaching English in Prague, and was on her way to visit friends in Hamburg. We managed to keep ourselves entertained with chit chat whilst we were waiting for the train to leave the station, which it finally did at 11:30. In Dresden we took on more passengers and were joined by a lovely, older German couple who spoke a little English, and so shared some conversation with them as well.

When I arrived in Berlin, I was heading to my nephew's place. Jarrod has live there for 8 years, and he very generously offered to put me up (or should that be "put up with me"?) during my visit. It was such a treat to stay in a real home (Jarrod and his girlfriend Kate, had only just moved into this apartment a few weeks earlier) and they certainly went the extra kilometer to make me feel welcome and at home. They even vacated their bedroom and gave me the luxurious king-size bed! After one night in that bed, I stopped protesting!

I liken Berlin to New York City. The similarities are: the are both really big cities, they have a mixture of old and new very large buildings (although in NYC they are certainly much, much taller), there are tons of museums in each city, and while NYC has a large and prominent Latino population, Berlin has a huge Turkish population. (Good thing, too, because without the readily available, wonderfully delicious Turkish food, a person could easily go hungry looking for something decent to eat in Berlin - unless you really, really like wieners, that is. And dislike vegetables. And love desserts.) Both cities sport an abundance of graffiti, and have a certain grittiness about them that allows/encourages/tolerates self expression in fashion and body adornment. There are some crazy hair styles and colours out there and lots of pierced people with tattoos. The music scene is strong in all genres, not the least of which is the Opera, of course.

I did make it to a performance at the Deutsch Oper Berlin (there are 4 opera venues in Berlin). I was able to get a ticket for La Traviata, and it was a wonderful production. Unfortunately, the production at the Volksoper was completely sold out. The Volksoper is housed in a gorgeous old building so it would have been very grand to see a performance there. One more opera disappointment was that the HD broadcast of Carmen from the Metropolitan Opera in NYC was also sold out. Such are the woes of a traveller... Another performance that I scored a ticket for was a recital with soprano Danielle de Niese with Il Giardino Armonico. The small orchestra plays on period instruments, with a lot of vigour and precision, while Ms. de Niese sings with great style and expression. She is very beautiful, and her gorgeous gowns show off her full figure with flair. I'm sure every male in the audience was completely smitten by her physical beauty, if not by her vocal prowess. She cuts quite a swath, when exiting the stage! Great performance all around, except for her encore rendering of Handel's Ombra Mai Fu, which was dreadful. But she quickly made up for it with a barn burner for closing.

Berlin Cathedral is perhaps the largest cathedral I have been in. It is so massive that in order to fit the whole thing into the camera viewfinder, you must be across the broad avenue and go 'way down the block. I believe that the interior height of the dome is 85 meters. Exterior is much higher still. But it isn't just it's size that makes it impressive - it is truly a gorgeous monument.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Cathedral

I wouldn't say that Berlin is a beautiful city. It isn't. It's big and sprawling, but there are some very handsome and striking buildings and museums of which many are situated on Museum Island. In the spring, summer, and fall the city must be quite lovely though, on account of the large number of parks.

It was very cold in Berlin, and I was really getting sick of Euro winter. Since I had the luxury of being able to take it easy, staying with Jarrod and Kate, it gave me mental space to get serious about getting out of the dreary cold and heading to somewhere warmer for a month or two. I had been thinking about Morocco quite a bit, so I checked out the flight options, and headed to the book store to check out what the Lonely Planet guide could tell me. I read enough to assure myself that this would be a good option, so I booked the flight. But first I needed to get back to Prague for a few days, as I promised myself I would, and then on to Krakow via Olomouc, Czech Republic.

Two nights before heading back to Prague, Jarrod's brother Ben arrived in Berlin as well. He now lives and works in China, teaching business. I cleared out to a hostel, to free up that great bed for Ben, but we were able to rendezvous before I caught my bus back to Prague. Very nice to catch up with him over a delicious Turkish lunch, just up the street from Jarrods' flat. Then I said my farewells to my most excellent hosts in Berlin and headed back to the subway station, with my slightly lightened suitcase and my e-ticket for Tangier.