that place i can't say...

I gave up pretty quickly I have to say.

Usually up for a challenge, this time I knew I'd been beaten.

It's all about pronunciation you see, and my next port of call - Wrocław. If you thought it was 'Rock-law' think again.

If you understand phonetics (and why that doesn't start with an 'f' is beyond me) then this might help:  [ˈvrɔt͡swaf]

Consequently, in conversation it became referred to as "that place I can't say."

I might add - this difficulty extends to a large proportion of Polish words which, quite frankly, has far too many consonants including ones that just shouldn't be beside one another. In a spirit of linguistic benevolence I think Hawaiian should donate some of its vowels to Polish.

But language aside, Wrocław turned out to be a little gem of a place. I can't vouch for its swinging nightlife or availability of extreme sports but historically and architecturally its has a pretty cool medieval old town.

And it had the BEST hostel I've yet had the pleasure of staying in. Not only was there two well stocked kitchens (including an espresso machine - see me grin), new ikea wardrobes (you'd have to have experienced hostel wardrobes to understand) playstations, wi-fi in all rooms and deoderant sprays in the toilet, but it is the only hostel I have ever seen that has a childrens playroom.

It helped alleviate the suffering from the intense cold that I am beginning to experience. Time to drag out some of the trekking thermal gear.


wrocław cathedral


wrocław cathedral too


flower sellers


wrocław main square


wrocław main square again


guess where? correct


one more


night lights


enscribed couples' padlocks signifying desires of long lasting relationships.


example of wrocław public sculpture


there's always one...


wrocław mural


wrocław theatre

no more trouble brewing...

After the demise of 'old faithful', my coffee-plunger mug, at the end of the Pakistan trek I have been moping about as if someone had moved my food bowl.

Something had to be done about it:


surprisingly light addition to my backpack.

czech-oh! - slow vakia

I have just spent most of the last week in Bratislava (Slovakia) and Prague (Czech Republic).

Not a lot of time granted, but Slovakia was a sudden addition as I was heading to Poland from Toulouse and the cheapest flight (by a considerable amount) was to Prague. With Slovakia so close I thought it worthwhile to nip down there and have a quick squizz.

Bratislava has quite a tiny old town with some lovely spots but really suffers in the shadow of her big sister Prague. And after the frenetic evening activity I experienced across Spain and Portugal, where the old towns came alive after 8pm with quantities of the population perambulating the squares and boulevards, and restaurants didn't begin to get going until 10pm - it was quite a shock to find people eating dinner at 5pm and the streets deserted by 7.


bratislava main square

Bratislava is dominated by Hrad castle on a hill overlooking the city. I wandered up there to have a look but then discovered it had been burnt to the ground in the early 19th century and completely rebuilt in the 1950's. Consequently I didn't fancy spending good money to go inside and see a modern interpretation.


hrad castle




danube and ufo tower


still puzzling over the crustacean/pharmacy link


bratislava is full of these small wall mounted memorials


bit of colour


no colour


bratislava town centre


brat panorama (click to enlarge)


lots of street sculptures


bandwagon-biscuits?

The are not many photos of Prague because: a) it is such a photogenic city I could fill 10 pages of this blog with photos and b) as I have been here before I saw all of the usual sights on that visit so this occasion was spent idly wandering the streets and enjoying being here without the frantic pace of sightseeing.


prague nouveau


decoration


more decoration


missed this wonderful 'dancing building' on the previous trip


prague autumn haze


prague old square panorama (click to enlarge)

"m" is for...

After saying adios to Barcelona it was a quick bus over the Pyranees to visit an Australian mate who has made his home on a farm about an hour and a half from Toulouse.


pyranees at 120km an hour

Mike has taken Munson his Malamute with him and I was quite taken with Munson too!


happiness is...


'pleased to meet you'


majestic munson


turf 'n bœuf

It was a restful couple of days - and a brief sample of life in the countryside (also with an intended Malamute) that I am returning to Australia in a few months to begin for myself.

barcelona again

Of course you cannot visit Barcelona without checking out the extraordinary Sagrada Familia - the cathedral designed by Gaudi and still under major construction since its beginnings in 1882. Initially I planned to go inside despite the high entry fee (museums across Barcelona are quite expensive) as the entry fee provides most of the money for its ongoing building work.

Unforunately I chose the first sunny day after a period of rain which also happened to be a national holiday and the Serpentine queue around the cathedral from the ticket office went almost as far as Seville. So I settled for external appreciation only:







Gaudi's influence is quite apparent in the city - even down to his design for paving tiles:




rarr....

Also worth a visit is Park Guell in the north of the city. It houses a Gaudi museum and his work is dotted around the park:


gaudi goanna


gaudi benches



Amongst the 7 major galleries/museums I went to was the Antoni Tapies foundation. He was until his death earlier this year, the most prominent living Catalan artist:


tapies painting


tapies work on paper

I also went to one of the contemporary galleries which had part of it closed for an installation dismantling, and the open section didn't really thrill me so instead I took some photos of inside the gallery (and some looking out):


red coat





people walking on the floor above


people walking on the floor above 2


people walking on the floor above 3


gallery window


gallery packing area


outside skateboarders


outside skateboarders 2