Poland, Hungary, & Czech Republic

9/6-9/28/15

Last year Lennie and I signed up for a VENT trip to Hungary & the Czech Republic, part of the appeal was that it was billed as Birds and Music, along with some of the other culture. As much as I enjoy birding I have other interests as well. We decided to go a few days early in order to explore Budapest and then Lennie wanted to visit other countries as well. So we went a week before the VENT trip and spent three nights in Warsaw and then three nights in Budapest. We also stayed an extra day in Prague so we had a lot of varied experiences, the first being the flight from SFO to Frankfurt.

Sunday 9/6 Our flight was scheduled to leave at 2 PM and took off on time. But shortly after take off one of the engines blew up. We knew something had happened and soon we were told that we would have to return to the airport but first we had to fly in a circle for an hour over the Pacific Ocean in order to off load enough fuel to be able to land. It was interesting to see the fuel coming out of the plane while we flew over the Bay area with spectacular view of the bridges and rest of the area. The pilot assured us that they had been well trained to land on three engines - which didn't instill much confidence in me, as I am sure they have been trained for many kinds of disasters. So I just waited, taking photos from the window and sending my family a text message ending with an "I love you" statement so if necessary they would know my last thoughts were of them. Eventually we landed and after a few hours they had a new plane and crew for us and we arrived several hours later in Frankfurt. By then we had missed two flights to Warsaw but we got a late night one and eventually arrived at our hotel in Warsaw - very tired. It was Monday 9/7 around 11:00 PM. We quickly went to bed.

Tuesday 9/8 We stayed in Polonia Palace, a lovely and comfortable hotel centrally located in Warsaw, near the old city. Since it wasn't burned down or destroyed in the war it is the oldest hotel in the city having first opened in 1914. We really enjoyed our stay here and found all the people to be very pleasant. We took a three-hour city tour this morning with a small group of other travelers and an English-speaking guide. It was very worthwhile with a good overview of the city along with a lot of history of Warsaw. We drove around the "Old Town" which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site even though it was destroyed during World War II. But after the War it was faithfully restored using much of the old material and much of the same plans as the former buildings. In addition to the buildings there were lots of memorials to the people killed in the war, the Jews as well as other citizens. The reminders of the many atrocities are overwhelming at times. We also went to The Royal Park. Among other buildings in the Park is a Royal Palace built in the 1700s. In 1958 ambassadors of China and the US had secret meetings in the Palace including with Nixon before his 1972 visit to China. The meetings were so secret that all notes were destroyed after the meetings. Supposedly, to this day no one knows what was said at those meetings. Anyway we had a nice walk around this area despite a bit of rain. After we were dropped off at our hotel we went in search of lunch. Our guide had told us that Pierogi was a national dish of Poland so we looked for a place that had them and found a place near our hotel, "Radio Cafe". It has been a Club of former employees of Radio Free Europe so it has a lot of history posted on the wall. And they had very good food. I did order the pierogis and enjoyed them very much. They are sort of like raviolis stuffed with various fillings. I think I had meat filling. They can be boiled or fried, I had them fried. Delicious. After lunch it started raining so we decided to visit the Palace of Culture and Science which was across the street from our hotel. We had heard about this building from our guide. It is not a well-loved place by most residents. It was built in 1955 originally known as the Joseph Stalin Palace of Culture and Science and was considered a "gift from the Soviet people to the Polish nation”. But the Polish population had to pay for the building of it. It is the tallest building in Poland, 231 meters (758 ft). It was and continues to be a symbol of Soviet domination and we did get those negative feelings from several locals. But we knew we could go to the top and get a view of the city while avoiding the rain. We had to cross a very busy street to get there and we found underground passages to do this. There is a whole city underground - a way to take the metro, a way to cross the streets, and lots of shops of all kind underground. We often used these passages and had to keep climbing up the stairs to look out and make sure we were going in the correct direction. Anyway we got over to this building and went up in the elevator and enjoyed 360-degree views of the city. I can't remember if we did anything else but by dinnertime we decided to eat in the hotel and had a very good (but expensive) dinner. I had the pierogis again but boiled this time with some kind of sauce. They were very different from what I had for lunch but also very good.

Wednesday 9/9 We walked from our hotel to Old Town Warsaw and spent time wandering around looking at the various buildings and displays. I had to stop at a pharmacy to get some tape for the blisters on my feet and found that an interesting experience. You don't walk around looking for something. Everything is behind the counter so you must ask for it. Fortunately the clerk there was able to understand enough of what I said to get me what I wanted and they even had a bench there so I could sit and tape up my feet. In this area, we would occasionally come upon a musical bench. If you pressed a button you would hear a piano playing one of Chopin's compositions. It was rather fun. There are mermaids in several forms in Warsaw as she is the symbol of Warsaw and is on the city's coat of arms. As we walked past the Church of St. Anne we were just in time for an organ concert. Przemystaw Kapituta performed on the Baroque Organ; it was a wonderful concert and a nice rest stop. Afterwards we headed for the town square which was surrounded by small restaurants, most with outdoor dining. While trying to decide which one a proprietor came and invited us to his so after asking the important questions; Do you have beer? Do you have potato pancakes? Do you have a restroom? - We decided to eat there and it turned out to be a good choice. Potato pancakes are another national dish and I certainly enjoyed them, along with a variety of pierogis, stuffed with different things. After this we walked to the Multimedia Fountain Park. It had a lot of water fountains that danced to music and to various patterns and beats. It was fun to watch and seldom did I see repeated displays. Near here we also saw the statue of Maria Sklodowska-Curie, and the house where she was born. Then we went to one of the memorials we had seen yesterday only from the bus, Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East. This is to remember those who died during the Soviet control of Poland. We also visited the place where the Jewish Ghetto wall was. These memorials plus the memorials we saw yesterday for the Jewish people were poignant reminders of the horrors of that period of time. Eventually we walked to our hotel in time for a rest before dinner. We walked 9 miles today. We ate dinner near the hotel at a Georgian Restaurant and had a very nice meal.

Thursday 9/10 We ordered a taxi last night and he was waiting for us when we came down to the lobby. We both commented on how nice and pleasant people were in Warsaw. Even strangers were friendly. It was odd because we did not find that to be the case in Budapest and Prague. They weren't rude; they just were not as friendly as in Warsaw. We had a very smooth flight; the airport was so very clean. We met an American woman and her two daughters who were flying back to Budapest where they were youth missionaries. They gave us some nice suggestions for places to visit that they liked. We were met in Budapest by a member of Ecotours Wildlife, the company who planned most of the VENT trip. It took a while to drive us to our hotel, as the traffic was very heavy. We are in a really nice hotel, right on the Danube, Art'otel. Castle Hill was behind us, a short walk straight up. We checked in and got settled and then I think we went for a stroll looking for some place to eat lunch. We found a Belgium Pub near by so we had a non-Hungarian meal of hamburgers and a Belgium Beer, very good. The Parliament building was directly across the River from our hotel room on the Pest side so Lennie persuaded me to take the underground metro under the river to go visit the Parliament and surrounding area, it would have been a long walk to go over the bridge. So I reluctantly went along with her. Like in Warsaw, a whole large shopping area thrives underground, and the escalator to take us all the way down was the longest, steepest one I've ever been on. It was very crowded and not my favorite activity but Lennie managed very well to get us through. We walked around the Parliament building, enjoying the beautiful views across the Danube of Castle Hill and all the buildings on it. Again there were a lot of memorials and statues to the War and to the 1956 Revolution. The most emotionally charged memorial I have ever seen is the "Bronze Shoes on the Danube Promenade" There are 60 metal shoes set into concrete on the Danube embankment in memory of victims shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944-45. The victims, mostly Jews were lined up along the embankment, told to take off their shoes, face the river and shot in the back. A very difficult reminder of the horror that has been inflicted on mankind. After walking around for a while longer we returned to our hotel and after a rest walked around the neighborhood and picked a local restaurant for dinner. It seemed to be a very popular place and we had a very good typical Hungarian dinner, I forget the name but it looks like stuffed raviolis with a paprika sauce, not spicy hot.

Friday 9/11 Today we walked up to the top of Castle hill which is behind our hotel. Buda Castle is up there plus several other buildings and churches, along with a wonderful view. We were greeted with a drum and trumpet band in front of the Matthias Church which we enjoyed. Then we visited the inside of the church. It was originally built in 1015 by St. Stephen, King of Hungary, though nothing remains from that period. The current building was constructed in the 1300s and restored in the late 19th century by King Matthias. Then we walked to the other end of the hill and went inside Buda Castle, which is now a museum. It was raining so this was a good choice although we did do a lot of walking around looking at various places. After the museum we had lunch and then walked back to the other side of the hill in order to visit the Hospital in the Rocks. The entrance was down a few levels on the backside of the hill. We walked around the residential area while we were waiting for our tour to start. The tour was amazing; the place is huge, some six miles. There were caverns under Buda Castle that had been in use for centuries past. The hospital was built by manual labor in the 1930s in preparation for the War and is connected to the main tunnel system. It was heavily used in 1944-45 treating many times more wounded than it was built for. It was also used in 1956 in response to the uprising against Soviet rule. After that it was repurposed as a nuclear bunker. Now as a museum it still has much of the old equipment. The "true" story of this place only became known since 2002. It was a very memorable visit. Afterwards we walked back to the other side of the hill and took the Cable Car down to the bottom, a lot quicker than walking. After a stop at the hotel we again went out looking for a restaurant and found just what we wanted. We had eaten a big lunch up on the hill so didn't want too heavy of a dinner. On one of the back streets, a bit off the main walk we found a place that seemed to be French style, rather elegant and expensive but very good. I had a delicious soup and a salad. Lennie had a fish plate. All very good.

Saturday 9/12 After a nice buffet breakfast we decided to cross the Danube via the Chain Bridge to the Pest side and start at the Market Hall. It was built in 1897 and is very large. The ground floor has many stalls with market goods, fresh meats, produce, and lots of paprika. The second floor has mostly souvenirs. We spent some time there and then headed up to the Jewish District. This is the area where the Jews lived before the War. We stopped to look at the Great Synagogue, the largest in Europe and second in the world, the largest being in New York City. We couldn't see the inside because it was Saturday but we walked around the back and saw the Jewish Cemetery and Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Park and Heroes' Temple. The Synagogue was built between 1854 and 1859 and was bombed by the pro-Nazi Arrow Cross Party in 1939. Restoration started in 1991. It is not customary to have a cemetery next to a synagogue but there are some 2000 people buried here. There were 70,000 Jews relocated to this Ghetto and in this crowded, horrible condition some 10,000 people died. Some deceased were transferred to another cemetery others left here. In the Raoul Wallenberg Holocaust Memorial Park there is a memorial of the Hungarian Jewish Martyrs, at least 400,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered by the Nazis. The memorial resembles a metal weeping willow tree and each leaf is inscribed with the name of a victim. There is also another memorial with the names of "Righteous Among the Nations", non-Jews who helped save thousands of Jews from the Nazis, among them Raoul Wallenberg, Carl Lutz, Giorgio Perlasca, and others who saved many in Hungary in amazing and courageous ways. While we were here an older local man started talking with us and then wanted to show us a few other places. We ended up having a long tour with him as he kept showing more places. Lennie was a little more cynical than I was but I wasn't surprised when he asked us for money after an hour tour. But I found his stories very interesting, he pointed out lots of interesting architectural points of interest and showed us inside some of the locked court yards where we saw some "hidden" synagogues and former Jewish living quarters. He kept showing us just "one more place" and I'm sure we saw places other tourists missed. I think he was just a lonely old man who enjoyed showing off his home with the hope of picking up a few bucks. We saw a memorial to Carl Lutz with the inscription from the Talmud: "He who saves but one man is as if he had saved the whole world." He enabled 10,000 Jewish children to emigrate and when he was "allowed" as a Swiss vice consul to issue protective letters to 8,000 Hungarian Jews for emigration to Palestine he deliberately misinterpreted his permission for 8,000 as applying to families rather than individuals. There are so many of these stories. Finally we said goodbye and went on our way for lunch at a place Lennie heard about, Cafe Gerbeaud, one of the oldest cafes in Budapest and well known for its chocolate. We had a very good lunch; I had a delicious chicken salad. We enjoyed a nice long break here and then went walking again determined to finish seeing the sites on our list. We walked back to the opera house and went in the lobby to see the elegance there and then we went back to St. Stephen's Basilica. It was a beautiful church but very crowded and there was a wedding going on so we couldn't walk down to the front. Then back to the hotel and out to dinner at another interesting local place, goulash that was very good. Today we walked ten miles, hard to believe. But we saw a lot.

Sunday 9/13 We had a nice relaxing morning, slept in a bit, packed, and had a nice breakfast. We met some of our VENT group in the lobby at 11 AM. Then we drove in our small bus to the airport and picked up more of our group and then drove to the village of Bugyi where we stayed at the Forest Palace Hotel. Our group had 14 participants and 3 leaders. Balázs Szigeti was our Hungarian leader from Ecotours Wildlife Holidays and he was a fun and efficient leader with an amazing amount of energy. Barry Lyon was our leader from VENT and he was such a nice person and so knowledgeable about the birds. Those two worked very well together. Victor Emanuel was also on this trip with us so it was nice to have him with us too. The 14 participants were a diverse and interesting group, very compatible. We had a good time traveling together and interesting conversations over dinner. Bugyi was about an hour south of Budapest and the Hotel we were staying at was in a rather isolated area. It was a former hunting lodge built in the late 1800s and open as a hotel in 2011. It is often used now for conferences, weddings, family events, and the like. It was a few stars down from the previous hotels but basically all right as long as you could sneak into the laundry room to get your own towels and you brought your own soap, amenities were few and far between. But the food was great. After settling in we joined the group and birded around the grounds, starting our bird list with some very respectable birds. Since this is migration time one never knows when you will be treated to some late or early species flying south.

Monday 9/14 Today was a full day of birding. We birded the hotel grounds for an hour before breakfast - great birds, had a nice buffet breakfast and then made our lunches from the breads, meats, and cheeses they put out for us and off we went. We spent the day in Kiskunsag National Park, a large protected area of several separate units between the Danube and Tisza Rivers. Part of this park was declared a Biosphere Reserve by the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme in 1979. We spent the day walking along several roads and in some fields; birding a variety of habitats, grasslands, aquatic habitats, bogs and marshes. We had a respectable list of species. We had a wonderful bus driver for this trip and every day we spent in the field he would get out the table in the morning and he and Balázs would make us coffee or hot tea which they served with some cookies or other snacks. We had our box lunches and they often brought fruit along for us and they always had plenty of water so we were well taken care of. We got back to the hotel with time to clean up before dinner and then we had a very nice dinner. The food here was very good. Dinner was family style, a big platter with several kinds of meats, often with some potatoes or other starch. We usually had a bowl of salad and sometimes other vegetables. The food was good and plentiful and a little heavy so I had to learn to be comfortable with not cleaning my plate, as I wanted to taste everything.

Tuesday 9/15 Today we birded the fields and marshes of another area of the Park, a little north of yesterday. The names were Tiszaalpar and Kiskunfelbgyaadza. (You can see why Hungarian is a hard language for us to learn - they have 43 letters in the alphabet so these names are different using Hungarian letters) We ate lunch at a restaurant in Tiszaalpar, a really good goulash type of soup - I picked out the beans and the large pieces of fat and it was just fine. On the way to the fields we stopped in a small town with a small coffee shop that had a lot of Long-eared Owls roosting in the trees in the back. We spent a long time enjoying watching them while they watched us. Later in the day we were fortunate to see well both a Saker Falcon and an Imperial Eagle, both highly sought after birds. The Park guide who was with us found them and we were able to drive and then walk close enough to them in order to get very good and long scope views of both birds. Saving some of these birds has been helped by some of the Euro funds. Another good day in the field with time to clean up for another delicious dinner.

Wednesday 9/16 Today we packed up and left heading northeast to the Bukk National Park. First we went to Hortobagy National Park where we took a narrow gage railroad train out to the fishponds and marshes. They use the area in multiple ways, helping both the economy and the wild life. We spent a good part of the day out here watching shorebirds close from the inside of several blinds and by walking along the board walk and by climbing up several look out towers. We were lucky to have the train, as it doesn't usually run except on weekends when lots of families come out to enjoy the wildlife. But Balázs knows the right people. Then we drove to Noszvaj and the Nomad Pension where we stayed three nights. It was very small, with small bedrooms but the food was great. We are in the Bukk National Park area. Tonight was real treat - we went to a local wine cellar where the family has been making wine for many years. We had a tour of the cellar with the usual lesson about wine making. Then we went to a private dining area where we had an amazing several course dinner along with a tasting of seven different wines. It was so much fun and so good and very long! We slept well this night.

Thursday 9/17 We had a delicious buffet breakfast and then packed our lunches for the day. We drove to Bukk National Park and spent the day walking through several different habitats, meadows with spring like wild flowers, and Beech Tree forest. This is the area where wolves have recently been re-discovered after being gone for many years. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the Cistercian Abbey of Belapatfalva. It is the only intact Cistercian abbey church in Hungary. It was founded in 1232 but was in ruins by the 1600s. It was rebuilt by 1745. We walked around here and visited inside. It was a pleasant visit. We had a wonderful Hungarian style dinner.

Friday 9/18 This morning we birded around the small town of Noszvaj where we are staying. At the end of town was a reservoir that produced some nice birds. Then after breakfast we went to Lake Horvolgyi in Mezokovesd and saw some good water birds there. Back to the hotel for lunch and my notes said we had a good soup and goulash. Then off to Bukk National Park, which is near Cserepfalu. There we transferred to a vehicle with large tires and benches for all - open sides and we entered into the dark forest. We were looking for an Ural Owl. We stopped along the way and birded at some meadows and eventually reached the area where the owl might be. After waiting a while someone saw something fly so we sat for another 15 minutes in silent anticipation and finally saw an Ural owl. We saw him very well through binoculars and through the scope. We saw him catch and eat a mouse - it was an amazing sighting. It made our long dark bumpy ride back down the forest, totally worthwhile. We were late for dinner tonight but dinner was amazing. A huge platter filled with three kinds of meat, catfish, ham, and pork. People in Hungary sure love meat dishes.

Saturday 9/19 After breakfast we packed up and left on our way to Budapest. First just outside of Noszvaj we stopped to see some of the Pocem Cave Houses. These houses have been used for centuries as homes, wine storage, food storage and so forth. Some are new, some 300-400 years old. The rock is volcanic rhyolite tuff. Some artists bought this area in 1997 and use it to add sculptures and other artwork. One room has seats carved along the walls and is used for resonance therapy. A male voice humming will produce a deep buzzing hum and vibration to anyone sitting in any alcove, very interesting. We continued on to the historic town of Eger, a centuries old town. We walked around the old area, nothing much of significance but it did have several beautiful views of the whole city. We then walked around the main square of the city and the best part was when it started raining and we ran up the stairs to go into the main church in town. We were just in time for a concert on the organ so we had a nice rest while listening to the music and enjoying the study of this large basilica, the second largest church in Hungary. It was built in the 1800s. Eger has a lot of history and is much influenced by the Turks but I didn't learn about all of this until I got home and looked it up. I would have appreciated what I saw more if we had a guide who gave us the history or if I had studied more ahead of time. We then continued our drive to Budapest checking into Art'Otel, along the banks of the Danube. We are on the same floor (7) and next door to the room we had a week ago. We had dinner tonight on a cruse ship dockside. It was very elegant and formal. I finally had roasted duck, which is a very traditional Hungarian dish, can't say it is my favorite meal but it was OK. We walked back to our hotel on the chain bridge over the Danube and enjoyed the beautiful lights of nighttime Budapest. One sight that we had missed before was the scene of the gulls flying over the golden-lit dome of the Parliament Building. They looked like golden stars flying overhead, it was lovely.

Sunday 9/20 Today we had a guided tour of Budapest with a wonderful local guide. She gave us a lot of the history as she showed us around the city. We drove some and walked some. One of our first stops was at one of the Baths of Budapest, Szechenyi Thermal Bath. We just walked around the building, inside and out and enjoyed the architecture (and the rest room stop). Budapest has many natural warm springs under the city so they have built an entire culture of spas and therapy on these baths for more than a thousand years. After this we went to St. Steven's Basilica. This being Sunday we couldn't go through all the church but we did see a bit of it and our guide told us about some of the history. Then we went to lunch at a strudel house - so good. This was a typical Hungarian lunch - the strudel again was sort of like a large ravioli. I think mine was filled with chicken and cherry. Very good. After lunch we walked around the area and saw many interesting places, including a Ruin pub. Ruin pubs are a popular phenomenon in Budapest. I think they started around 2000 when a group of people would take over a totally abandoned building and set up a club in there. The building was usually in a disreputable neighborhood but the club became so popular that the area was gentrified to the point that these pubs have become the centerpiece of a neighborhood and therefore have not been shut down. We visited one named Szimpla Kert (Simple Garden). It was an overwhelming mix of stuff in a warehouse like setting, bikes, cars, a cart of fresh vegetables, plants, a bar, food service, some stuff on the floor, some hanging from the ceiling. The car was an old Trabant from East Germany days, I remember seeing those broken down along the side of many roads in East Germany in 1989, now they are collector items. Anyway it was an interesting place. We visited an orthodox synagogue that was built because the large Dohany Street Synagogue had an organ in it which isn't allowed by the orthodox. It was a beautiful building. After these visits we returned to our hotel where we had an early dinner in the hotel and then walked up the street for our evening concert in the Hotel Victoria. We walked up some very elegant stairs to a small lobby where we were greeted with a glass of wine before we walked into a very elegant room, the Hubay Music Salon. The room had a feeling of gold all around; there were chairs for the 14 of us and a group of four Victorian style chairs for the quartet. We were the audience. It was truly a special experience and very personal. It was one of the trip highlights for me. The string quartet played, Mozart, Dvorak, Barber, and Weiner. One of the artists, Miranda Liu is from our area and has played with a local group. The Artists were: Miranda Liu (Violin); Eniko Samu (Violin); Bence Hargitai (Viola); Eszter Mády-Szabó (Cello). A wonderful evening.

Monday 9/21 Today was the day we had to leave Budapest but first we finished up a couple of places we missed yesterday. We drove to Heroes' Square, a place honoring a lot of Hungarian History. The Millennium Monument began to be constructed in 1896 to commemorate the thousandth anniversary of foundation of the Hungarian state in 896. There are seven statues on each side of the circular monument for people in the history of Hungary. There is a lot of other symbolism in the statues on this square which I won't go into now, but it makes interesting reading. Then we went up to Gellert Hill where we had a wonderful farewell view of Budapest and today the Danube was really blue. On the top is Liberty Statue which can be seen from much of Budapest, a person, a woman I think, is holding a palm leaf overhead. It was first erected in 1947 in remembrance of what was then referred to as the Soviet liberation of Hungary. After the transition from communist rule to democracy the statue inscription was changed to the memory of those who sacrificed their lives for independence, freedom, and prosperity of Hungary. The memory of the Soviet rule is not a happy memory. Eventually we left and headed to Prague. At the last moment we heard we would be able to go through the Austrian border as the immigration activity had settled down. We were going to cross through Slovakia, which would have taken two hours longer. So we spent several hours driving through the countryside and some small towns in Austria - outside the Vienna city limits. We stopped at a gas station/ travel rest stop for lunch. These are not the simple road stops like we have in America. There was a big building with a good food section, and several shops selling a big variety of things you might need, including souvenirs. Also very clean restrooms. A note here - in most places we did have to pay to pee, it was about 25 cents. But unlike other countries where you have to pay to pee these toilets were very clean and neat and they always had paper. There often were turnstiles where you put in your coin to go through and in places like this gas station, you get a receipt, which is worth the same amount if you buy something upstairs. Balázs always gave us the coins to pee so we gave him back the receipt, a pretty sensible way to handle this. Even in some city parks the restrooms were very clean and safe places. San Francisco could think about trying something like this. We did not have to stop at either border. We did see a few hundred refugees at the Hungary/Austria border; they were waiting for a bus ride. There were still several Red Cross tents and other equipment around but as this writing Hungary had closed its borders to the Syrian Refugees. Eventually we arrived in the Czech Republic in the charming border town of Trebon, in the South Bohemian region. We arrived at dusk to our hotel Zlata Hvezda and checked in and then went down to dinner in the hotel. It was a buffet and rather disappointing. After all the great food in Hungary we had become rather used to eating well but I did not find the food in Czech Republic as good which was rather surprising as it is supposed to be one of the better countries economically.

Tuesday 9/22 Třebon is a small city surrounded by ancient trees, the river Vlatava, medieval fishponds, and peat bogs. It was founded in the 12th century and used to have a large German population, but they were expelled in the last century after the war. We spent a lot of time in this area driving and walking to see a variety of birds, lots of water birds including a lovely flock of swans. The area we birded is called Nadeje, near the village of Frahelz. After a picnic lunch we returned to the town of Třebon where we had a bit of time on our own. Lennie and I walked around town including the Masaryk Square, a pleasant area with colorful buildings of Renaissance and Baroque architecture. We also climbed up to the top of tower, which afforded us a wonderful view of the town and of the surrounding area. We found out that the original Budweiser was first brewed in the former Kingdom of Bohemia, this area we are visiting. There is a long history of the name, as to how and where it can be used in Europe and America. I believe there is still an ongoing legal battle over the use of the Budweiser name. The beer in Czech Republic is much better than the Bud we have in America. For dinner tonight we walked to a nearby restaurant where we had a fish dinner along with soup and a delicious dessert. The fish was served on a big platter, about 4 or more different types of fish, probably all from the nearby fishponds. It was all good.

Wednesday 9/23 Today we were headed for the Šumava Mountains on the Czech-German Border but first we stopped at the city of Český Krumlov. This town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The castle and town date from the 13th century and it has been restored in recent times. Nazi Germany had annexed the town as part of the Sudetenland but after the war the German speaking population were expelled and the city given to Czechoslovakia. We walked around the town on our way to a lunch place. Streets were narrow and mostly cobblestone. Lots of little shops mostly selling souvenirs. The place we ate lunch was very interesting. We ate in the very back of the building in a couple of rooms that looked like they were underground and/or cave prisons. But the food was amazing. We were first brought a platter of long sausages with other side dishes on the platter. We also had bread and a huge salad bowl of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and cheese. And there was more if we didn't have enough. We never went hungry. After lunch we broke up in groups, some went shopping; Lennie and I decided to walk up to the top where the castle was. Along the way while we were still with Balázs we stopped at the place where they made funnel cakes and he bought us one. It isn't something I'd eat again but it was worthwhile to find out what they were. They are dough wrapped around a funnel and cooked over a grill. Ours had cinnamon on it. I don't think they are the same as they have in America but then I've never eaten one here. Anyway it is a popular bread in the Czech Republic. Lennie and I walked up to the top and walked through the castle gardens, which were beautiful and relaxing, even picked up a couple of birds. I'm not sure if we could have gone into the castle - all we saw were signs for pre arranged tours so we just wandered around on our own. We hadn't really prepared ourselves very well for this area so we did not have a list of things to see, but we enjoyed the relaxing walk. After leaving here we drove north to Zdikov where we stayed for two nights in Hotel Zamek. We arrived rather late at this charming town and interesting hotel - looks like it was for hunters - lots of dead stuffed animals on the walls and paintings of hunters. We had ordered our dinners earlier so they were ready for us when we came down to dinner. I had the strangest dinner - people talked about it for days afterwards. I had ordered turkey and dumplings. What I got was a very small piece of meat - turkey/pork/something? with lots of gravy on it with three pieces of what looked like very thick slices of bread. Neither the meat nor the bread had any taste to it - totally tasteless. The only thing any of it was good for was to shovel some of the gravy into my mouth - the gravy was excellent. Interesting how different the Czech food was from the food in Hungary. My stomach didn't bother me at all in Hungary but 1 day in Czech Republic and I was taking antacids. All of our hotel rooms in the countryside were small but this was the smallest of all. We didn't even have enough room to get both of our suitcases off the floor and out of the way. Also the shower and the shower door were so small that we could barely get through the door to get in and out of the shower - it was almost funny.

Thursday 9/24 Today we drove to Šumava National Park which includes part of the Šumava mountain range, which is along the German and Czech Republic border. This green island in the hub of Central Europe has not been touched for centuries and some of the pristine areas are even fenced off to keep humans out. The German side of this area is referred to as the Bavarian Forest which with Šumava is a UNESCO Biospheric Reservation. We birded along the road and saw some "good" birds and eventually stopped at the entrance to the park. The bus stayed in the parking area while we walked into the primeval forest. Parts were thick with spruce trees and we also stopped along a lake. People stopped along the way to rest and some walked around the lake and fenced off forest. We ate our box lunches at a perfect spot and in general had a nice day in the forest. I went back to the bus a bit early and had a nice nap which was much needed. Had dinner - an "interesting" vegetable lasagna and then I went to bed!

Friday 9/25 Today we did a bit of birding around town and in a park near our hotel. I chatted with one of the neighbors who was interested in what we were doing. He was one of few friendly people I met in Czech Republic. People were rather reserved, not rude but just not friendly like they were in Poland. Eventually we loaded up and headed for Prague. Driving in Prague was rather tricky as our hotel was on a very narrow side street. Fortunately we got there a little early as Lennie and I had some housekeeping adventure. Usually in every hotel the first thing we have to do is rearrange the furniture. They always have the twin beds right next to each other so we have to separate them so we can sleep more comfortably. Well these beds had not been dusted under them for several years. There were dust bunnies the size of a bunny under both beds. I picked them up and put them in the garbage but as I sat there thinking about taking off my shoes I just couldn't do it so I went in search of a broom or towel or something but I finally ended up talking to the head of housekeeping who came up and took photos of everything and had a house maid come up to mop the filthy floor. So that took our unpacking and shower time but we managed to clean up for dinner and a concert. We did have a good laugh over the shower - it was designed by the same small designer as the last hotel, you had to be 5 foot and 100 pounds to get in and out of the shower with ease! Had a big dinner with very large meat servings and then walked to the Klementinum (a large complex of buildings) for our concert in The Chapel of Mirrors. It was wonderful five soloists, soprano, tenor, violinist, flutist, and organist/pianist. (Mozart played on the organ in this chapel.) The soloists played/sang some together and some alone and a variety of music. It was so lovely and in a beautiful setting, I really enjoyed it.

Saturday 9/26 Today we had a tour of Prague with a professional guide who was wonderful. Prague was not destroyed by the two World Wars in the 20th century so many of the buildings in the historic center are very old. We spent some time in the Jewish Ghetto and drove past the oldest Synagogue in Europe, built around 1270. We watched the Astronomical Clock chime on the hour. The clock was first installed in 1410 making it the third oldest one in the world and the oldest still working. In addition to the astronomical dial, and a calendar dial, this clock has an hourly "walk of the Apostles" showing figures of the Apostles and of Death. We walked around Wenceslas Square, named for the patron saint of Czech Republic. This square is a traditional setting for demonstrations, celebrations and other public gatherings. We had an excellent lunch, a piece of chicken on salad and it was probably the best meal I had in Czech Republic. We visited St. Vitus Cathedral inside and out, the largest church in the country but it is owned by the government. (We were told several times that the Czech Republic is one of the least religious countries in the world.) The Cathedral was started in the 1300s but not finished for several hundred years. It is very ornate. Back to our hotel to dress up for our last dinner together and then another concert. We ate at a very busy restaurant but we had a private room. We had all ordered our meal ahead of time and as usual we each had a very large plate of some kind of meat along with a variety of vegetables and salads. I have finally learned I didn't need to clean my plate. Then we went to the Municipal House where our concert was being held. It was wonderful - about 11 string instruments- violins and a couple of violas and they played mostly Mozart and Beethoven, wonderful. We had a farewell goodbye drink out by the bus in the parking lot. It was a traditional Czech drink that tastes like cough syrup only worse. But it was a pleasant and friendly end to a grand trip. Most people were going home the next day; Lennie and I were staying one extra day and leaving Prague on Monday.

Sunday 9/27 We were both so exhausted that we decided to just take it easy today. After breakfast we went out and decided to walk headed towards Wenceslas Square without worrying about the details. It was pleasant to just stroll through almost empty streets, as it was so early in the morning. We chanced upon a very interesting statue of Franz Kafka made up of 42 moving layers of steel. The layers would move in a circle and occasionally line up and stop to make a bust of Kafka. It was designed by David Černý. We continued walking towards Wenceslas Square - and then walked up to the end of the street where the Square started and back down to the Astronomical clock to watch it again. While we were sitting in Old Town Square waiting for the hour I first noticed a helicopter circling overhead which I thought was rather annoying. Then suddenly we hear the loud voices and then saw a large group of protestors, about 200, marching at the edge of the square. They were accompanied by a group of police in full riot gear, walking along side them and behind them. We watched for a while but when the police were moving near where we were sitting I said I wanted to leave. A protest can get nasty very quickly. We went over near the clock where again a large number of people were waiting for the hour but when the horse drawn carriages were moved out of the square to where we were I was really nervous, more so than Lennie. But we stayed for the clock to chime and then left the area. Nearby there was a place we wanted to visit that the guide told us about yesterday. Inside the U Prince hotel was an elevator to the rooftop where we could get a cup of coffee and a roof top view of the city. We went up there and enjoyed coffee and a dessert and a wonderful view of the city. We could see the protestors but they finally moved on and when the helicopters left (there were 2 eventually) we knew it was safe to go down. We were told the protesters were skinheads who were protesting the immigrants but we never could find any information in the newspapers or on the web about the protest. We then walked to the Jewish quarter and walked around to look at the buildings. I had wanted to go in and see the cemetery and some of the older synagogues but the line was very long because you had to be searched so I decided to skip that and just walk around. We did that and then went back to Old Town to go to a restaurant for lunch that the guide had told us about, Brasileiro. It was a fixed price menu of all you can eat, with a cold buffet. Then the waiters walked around with a skewer of a variety of meat which they would slice onto your plate, every cut of beef you could imagine, plus chicken, pork, fish, sausage and so forth. It was all very good but I felt like I could not eat enough to try everything. But it was certainly an interesting place. We walked leisurely back to our hotel and packed up for leaving. We thought we should have something to eat so we went next door to a small restaurant that was associated with the hotel. We had a pleasant and quiet last dinner and enjoyed an early night.

Monday 9/28 We had both ordered taxis, Lennie to go to the train station on her way to Dresden, me to the airport headed for home. I was driven through the residential part of Prague with very nice homes and like any other suburban area. I then had a straightforward trip back to San Francisco arriving around 8:00 Monday night, exhausted because that was really 5 AM Tuesday and I had not slept much. So I was glad to be home. It was a wonderful trip, I enjoyed it and I'm glad I went. I hope to travel more but I'll have to think about it. It is getting harder to travel and I don't recover as well, so we will see.

Written from my notes and photos on 10/27/2015

edited 11/8/15

I have a bird list but haven't checked it against a master list for the whole group. But at this point I saw 126 species on this trip, 27 were new species for me. My life list is currently 2889. I need 111 more to reach 3000 but I'm not sure I'll make it. I need to go someplace I haven't been like south east Asia or India to get a bunch all on one trip. So we will see how much more I continue traveling.