GERMANY, CZECH, POLAND, SLOVAKIA, HUNGARY,

AUSTRIA, SWITZERLAND, FRANCE – Part 2

July 17, 2012

It was then time to head north toward but not as far as Warsaw. Continued rolling hills now with small plots of crops including tobacco. Countryside and small towns are clean and tidy. The roads, however, are a different matter. Multiple layers of patches and a never-before-seen-in-our-travels set of perfectly straight ruts in both lanes from the over-weight vehicles on too soft asphalt. Getting in and out of these to pass is like going into hyper-drive on the Star Trek episodes usually to the wide-eyed amazement of oncoming traffic. Made for a long and tiring day at the wheel. The campground we had planned to stay in was closed…sort of…though an open gate let us seen foot high grass, overflowing toilet facilities, and washing machines in the open used by a few gypsies in large caravans. Time to move on. In Kozienice we finally found a sort of campsite with rough cabins with no water or toilets, some ready to fall down, a hotel which the staff preferred you use, and toilets and showers in the hotel. To get power we had to get into one of the cabins and plug in through the window…oh well…whatever works. We were the only camper with very few others in the hotel or cabins though we were kept constant company by bees and bugs of various shapes and sizes.

On Friday, July 13 we left for Wilga, about 50 km south of Warsaw, where I was to meet the Polish Zen group associated with my teacher (He has three centers; the main in northern California where we normally go, the Polish group, and one in Iceland.) My teacher, Kwong-roshi (Roshi is a high level title for a Zen master and he is considered one of the best on North America). Roshi was also there. He had invited me a few months ago to take Jukai in a ceremony where certain vows are taken by the student which are aimed at recognizing past efforts and at the same time aiming for improvement. As part of the ceremony a small bib-like garment is given by the teacher to the student as well as a lineage document going from Buddha to the student. The final piece is a Dharma (Buddhist teachings) name given by the teacher. Jukai is far more than just symbolic; it is a move, a pull, a push forward, a step in the continuing path of practise for a Buddhist. For the last 25 years Zen has been a huge influence and part of my life. I deeply thank all those who have helped me get to this point…you know who you are.

The ceremony was moving, inspirational and involved some with whom I had spent time at the main center in California. To see them again and to have them there beside me was part of the amazement of the day. One of the reasons for me to take Jukai in Poland rather than in California where I would normally have was that I was planning to be near Poland at the time. More importantly this would mean that Dawn could experience it with me. To me that was extremely important.

(As a side note, after a four year effort, some of Roshi’s talks are on the web on Podbean and on iTunes. If anyone is interested please send me an e-mail and I will send you the info on how to find and listen to them.)

The next morning it was already time to head south through Poland and into Slovakia. Slovakia is a beautiful country with rolling hills and the Carpathian Mountains in the south. We had a long day and at the end could not find a campground. Wild camping or on the side of the road was not an option due to the large number of Romas in the area. The local tourist office was no help but dawn had noticed a motel/restaurant nearby. We stopped in and asked the owner if we could part our van there and use the toilets. Absolutely was his answer. We offered to pay. No way he said. Just enjoy. Super nice man. We had just arrived when a couple from Austria in a motorhome stopped in. They stayed as well. In short order we were sitting glass in hand with Bruno and Ingrid, two extremely nice and funny people who looked a dozen years younger than they were!

The next morning we drove up to Spis Castle, just above the town of Spisske Podhradie. The castle dates to 1204, over 800 years ago! Ancient fortresses date back to 500BC. One of the largest in Europe it covers 4 hectares (10 acres). The rolling scenery of farmland and forests is magical enough but add such a castle and it is unbelievable. Amazing what you could do with cheap expendable labour back then! And the celebrations in those days were a big event. Read some of the do’s and don’ts.

After the visit we bee-lined to Hungary where we found many roads to be worse than those in Poland. We had originally planned to visit the town of Eger with an old center. But we have now officially had our fill of another old town center, another church, another city…and so we went straight for the campground and relaxed a bit.

The next morning we made a bee-line to Austria on our way to the French Alps. We needed a mountain fix and we love the Alps. Austria is one of the prettiest places on the planet and one of our favourite countries. Going through western Hungary, our GPS took us smack dab through the center of Budapest. So even though we had not planned to visit the place, we certainly did. We think we spotted John Wayne …or was it Clint Eastwood…on a motorcycle. The guy was a mix of western cowboy and Thunder Dome wannabe. Looked pretty cool though. The eastern part of Austria is gentle rolling terrain with crops. Nearing Salzburg the mountains equal in beauty to the Rockies appear. We didn’t stop in Vienna or Salzburg since we had visited both in 2004 during our second European bike trip. Both cities are incredible.

What tops Austria? Only Switzerland or Heidiland as we call it. Thundering mountains, bright green steep pastures, ringing cowbells, weather-beaten wood buildings, crooked and steep mountain roads on which it is impossible to get even close to the speed limit, crisp air, an independent attitude. It’s all there in Switzerland…and then some.

From a distance it always looks like the Swiss mountains are dotted by large lawns. Closer up you see they are steep fields of tallish grass. It never is let to grown up to the height of hay and is cut with a funky large lawnmower-type machine. The tall grass is let to dry and most often fluffed and later gathered with wooden rakes. We never see many farm animals and so have no idea what it’s used for. Many houses have large historical or cultural paintings on the walls. And many of the villages have old wooden buildings now used as storage, some redone and lived in. They are beautiful and have an earthy feel.

For the third time in six years we crossed a region of Switzerland which is especially beautiful. Crossing two passes high above tree-line on very crooked and narrow roads, the 70 or so kilometers takes over two hours. A narrow vehicle, good brakes and strong nerves are a must.

While in the western side of Switzerland we came onto a roundabout with…two camel statues. Our plan is to go back to Morocco…but maybe we’ll come back to this part of Heideland instead.

In the last ten years we’ve camped all over Europe, in campgrounds ranging from simple fields to posh five star massive places. In that ten years we’ve seen a change. It seems that more and more campgrounds are becoming permanent “homes” for people who with the deteriorating economies cannot afford a house or an apartment. Old beaten-up caravans, scruffy as they may be, are better than living on the streets. These people are becoming the unseen, unappreciated, and forgotten victims of an economic system not made for them. They feel as economic slaves living in “campgrounds” which are fast becoming ghettos.

GERMANY, CZECH, POLAND, SLOVAKIA, HUNGARY, AUSTRIA, SWITZERLAND, FRANCE- Part 1

GERMANY, CZECH, POLAND, SLOVAKIA, HUNGARY,

AUSTRIA, SWITZERLAND, FRANCE – Part 1

July 12, 2012

There is a French TV commercial, geekee to start with, which uses a main character called Bob Bacon (not very French) running these days on TV. Worth a couple hundred laughs. Wish you could see it.

Before leaving for the next leg of this journey we, with Evelyne, our landlady-turned-friend, visited Troo just a few kilometers from our base. Troo was what the invading English (scoundrels!) called the village because most of the inhabitants lived in limestone caves, some dug out by hand with multiple rooms. Troo was the then word for the French word “trou” or “hole”. Smart lads they were back then. Fast forward a few hundred generations and Troo was a natural place of safety during the bombings in WWII. Many of these troglodyte dwellings are still inhabited with a bit of electricity and some running water. Part of the visit was the wine tasting in one of the caves…Why else would we go??

We left Areines July 2 making a straight shot through the Champagne (don’t like the stuff anyway) to the Alsace region in northeastern France. And the rains continue. The next day was straight Germany and just inside the Czech Republic border. The campground beside a small lake was as peaceful as they come. This part of the country is rolling farmland. Large areas grew fodder corn thanks to the high humidity in this part of the continent. Due to a forced detour we also went through small towns most of which didn’t show a very high level of wealth. The colourful truck in the photo is ancient but is still in daily use as are many of its age group here. The end of the day saw us in a campground inside the city of Prague. At 1.7 million people, it ain’t small. We were surrounded in a densely populated area by Soviet-era cinderblock apartment blocks. Surprisingly the area was very quiet. The advantage of being here was that we were only 500 meters from a subway station which took us straight into the old part of the city. The weather continued very hot and very humid with powerful thunderstorms in the late afternoon which nicely cooled things off.

The Old City of Prague is large. It has incredible beauty, endless pedestrian-only streets and, of course, zillions of tourists. The large center square is surrounded by beautifully restored buildings and countless steeples with exaggerated detail. The inside of some churches is beyond imagination, overdone, overspent, over-the-top exuberance gone wild. Labour was cheap back then, nobody took vacations and strikes were …well…infrequent let’s say. Very Baroque…or is that Broke? Some buildings have large ornate paintings of the time on the outside, something fairly common in the old cities of Europe. The working astronomical clock was amazing. And statues are everywhere…in the squares, on the buildings, in the buildings, even on the postcards sold to the tourists but printed in China. From the square it was over the Charles bridge which crosses the river to Prague Castle, the largest in Europe. It includes a massive cathedral (seen above the musicians in the photo) similar to Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris with incredible stained-glass windows, some using modern art styles. The rest of the massive area is various huge buildings rather than a castle as such. The entire place stands on a high point overlooking the city. In the old days it was then easier to watch over yon subjects and flush yor toilets. Then it was time for lunch but we decided against the pork knee…joints are made for smoking, not eating.

Look long enough and citizens of the old days can still be found. Whether these two were just off the time machine or had lost track of time eating too many knee joints is uncertain…but they did appear happy.

Surprisingly we found Prague, including the Old City, none to clean with lots of litter and its fair share of graffiti. To add to this we have never seen so many “tourist junk” shops in all our travels anywhere else in the world; it was mind-boggling!

Continuing east of Prague we again were in the midst of huge corn fields, sunflowers and 35C heat with 95% humidity. We deeply thank the person who invented air-conditioning. Crossed into Poland about mid-day. A little more hilly and more wooded. Lots of road-side stalls selling fruits and vegetables. Because Poland is part of Europe but not on the Euro we got the local stuff at an ATM. Also seeing lots of coal storage places; Poland is a big producer and because the natural gas they buy from Russia is very expensive, coal is still used to heat homes. Stopped in Aushwitz to find a well-known camping site attached to the Center for Dialogue and Prayer. It may be well known but signage was non-existent so it took us a while. Maybe it was because we didn’t pray.

And then, the next day, a visit that was difficult. The WWII murder camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau. You’ve all seen the horrifying pictures, read first-hand knowledge of the atrocities that occurred there. So we won’t expand here. But to see the gas chambers where 1,100,000 people were murdered, the two crematoriums, where people were hung or tortured or shot for the most minute of offenses, where an orchestra played by the gate when prisoners were forced to go outside to work and when they returned (if they survived) twelve hours later, is to be silenced. Most who came here lasted between one and three months. Some displays impacted more than others. A huge pile of human hair which was to be used to make blankets and socks for the Nazi army. A huge pile of shoes taken away from prisoners on their arrival. These were once worn by people. A huge pile of baby and kid’s shoes. These were once worn by the innocent of the innocent. Suitcases by the hundreds with people’s names marked on the sides. These held the last belongings before these new arrivals would find out they were in fact not coming to a new place to start a new life. The thousands of acres on land around the camps where human ashes were found after the war. The Auschwitz camp buildings were made of brick, unheated in the minus 35C Polish winters. The Birkinau camp, some three kilometers away, was mainly of drafty wooden buildings. Birkinau itself was 150 hectares or 375 acres. Four crematoriums.

An aerial shot of all the complexes taken during the war shows the factory-like processing systems. The efficiency. The effectiveness. The insanity. There is a footnote on the lower right corner showing that two buildings in the Auschwitz  camp were called Canada I and Canada II. They were named this to first show the inmates that there were nice places here. They were called after Canada because Canada was considered to be a nice, safe, rich country. What an honour.

Surprisingly we did not feel death here, some sadness, some hopelessness…but not death The place exuded very little which is exactly what those who came through this place soon felt. We have been to no other place in all our travels where this was the case. We both felt, however, ashamed. Ashamed and partly responsible that such insanity could be inflicted on others of our kind, something the animal world does not do. But the big questions is…Will it happen again? It already has. Uganda, Somalia, the Killing Fields of Cambodia.

The following day we drove to a campsite near Krakow, booked in and drove the 17 km to the small town of Wieliczka, famous for the Wieliczka Salt Mine. One million visit the mine annually. The 3 ½ hour guided tour lets you see about 1% of the entire thing. Tunnels total 300 km on endless levels going to 700 meters below the surface. Salt was deposited here some 13 million years ago after the land rose and the waters evaporated. Records show salt was first mined here 2000 years ago. The rock salt is as pure as it gets with no industrial pollution back then. Though workers went into the mines and came out each day, when horses were introduced as work animals they lived there full time. The mine is still active but generated more from tourism. The most impressive things to see were the carvings done by the miners themselves, some of the chapels complete with chandeliers  (one a chamber where 20,000 tonnes of salt once was), the salt floors carved into tile shapes, crystal-clear pools of water (one big enough for a small ferry to operate; that was stopped when one capsized and the passengers under the water could not save themselves because they were too buoyant under the hull), pools of water at 50 times the salt density compared to the Dead Sea, the acoustics when Chopin was being played in a massive chamber, a wall carving of The Last Supper which looked like it had endless depth (since it was carved in salt would they have ever needed to say “Pass the salt please”?). On some days 7000 visitors come, walk down the staircases to lower levels and are taken out by the same old rickety elevators, six people at a time in 40 seconds. An amazing place.

The next day was a visit of Krakow, at ¾ of a million people the birthplace of Pope John Paul II. The city as a whole seems very upmarket and clean with lots of parks. The Old City has the largest square in Europe and is surrounded by majestic buildings, cathedrals and has at the center a 16^th century cloth hall which now sells…yup…you guessed…tourist trinkets mostly made in China. One end of the Old City has the Wawel Castle, made up of spectacular domed buildings, the 14^th century cathedral, and the royal palace all surrounded by a castle defensive wall and four large “attack me if you wanna” towers. Krakow is Poland’s biggest attraction and well worth the time. From the same campsite four km from the city, Krakow, the salt mine and Auschwitz can all be visited on day trips.