MID LIFE AT THE OASIS

Vienna is a beautiful, well run European capital that has one of the best public transit systems that I have ever used. They have this really cool bike borrowing system called Citybike which we used the first day to ride along the Danube and through some of the parks (Including Prater) There are bike lanes, many wonderfully separated from traffic and pedestrians, and bike signals and signage nearly everywhere you want to go. You get bikes form one of the 50 stations by using your credit card and a one time registration that you can do right at the station. And amazingly the bikes are free for the first hour, and only a euro or so after that, and you can return them to any other station. The bikes seem to have airless tires, but are not too clunky. We did notice yesterday that one of the stations was broken and that it seems many bikes are available downtown, but fewer up the hills outside the inner ring. So we’re wondering if they have to move the bikes around to maintain a balance. Anyways the system is great and seems to be well used by locals, although we are the only tourists we’ve seen on them.

Well, all I can say is that everything so far on our trip has gone nearly perfectly, so it’s about time that something went a little awry. It appears in my meticulous planning over the past year that I totally misfiled the need for an Indian Visa in my brain. I was reading about each major destination that we were going to about a month at a time and made some notes about India, but apparently totally forget that we needed to get a visa in San Francisco prior to departure in August. I have the visas we need to get on the road all set, by checking on getting visas for Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam in Bangkok, and getting a Chinese Visa in Sydney. No problem. So when Cheryl discovered on Sunday in the Czech republic that we DID need a visa, we checked the Indian Embassy web site and got an application. It appeared we could get a visa in one day so we diligently filled out the applications on Monday night with the intent of getting to the Embassy first thing at opening to turn in our applications. Now, I was a bit stressed about this already, since our flights were set for Thursday (yes today, so you can see where this is going…), and I had booked the Delhi hotel, airport pick-up, two overnight trains, and a room in Varanasi.

Now the following is one of the reasons why Cheryl and I make such a good team, with the perfect combinations of Type A and Type B behavior. (And why I love her so) She read on the 5 page instruction sheet Monday night that the one-day thing was only for Austrian nationals and other foreign nationals could take four days. But she nicely waited to tell me this until the next morning when we were riding the (clean, low-boarding, and frequent) bus down to the Ringstrasse. What, what what? 4 Days? So I slept well Monday night as she correctly figured that this would kind of set me off, and sure enough when we got to the Embassy he told us that it would be Friday as the need to get clearance from Washington for Americans. We explained we were flying on Thursday, but clearly there was not much they could do, and after all, this was all our fault ( o.k. my fault). After some more pleasant edged conversation, he did say that he could scribble an urgent request at the top of the faxes, but that was the limit of his power, as there were no other special rush methods available. Our first lesson in the methodical, yet polite ways of Indian Bureaucracy. I believe it is a somewhat American trait to always believe theathere must be a way to get something done, with enough rush fees, or some other special process.

So to make a long story a bit shorter, we delayed our flight on Austrian Airlines until tomorrow (thank you flexible RTW tickets and there were seats) and after checking in with Embassy yesterday, he was somewhat reassuring that if we stopped by late this afternoon that the Visas should be ready. But he is not positive, so we’re living a bit on the edge now as delaying another day will be a mess, since I’ll have to cancel and rebook all our trains and hotels, and the availability of both of these is challenging, as Indian trains are way overburdened. Right now we just shortened our stay in Delhi from one two to one night, which some people may actually argue is a smart move regardless.

So wish us luck, and if you don’t hear from us in a few days, then let’s all assume that we flew out tomorrow, otherwise I’ll be right back here at the Internet cafe again to dump my brain. At least we are ‘stuck’ in Vienna, which has lots of grand museums and other sights to explore. Yesterday we went to the grand Kunsthistorisches museum and today we rode trams and buses out to the nice hills North of the city, full of trails, vineyards, and some nice old homes. And yes, we even found a good microbrewery last night called 7Stern Brau that had this amazing ‘RauchBier’ that was nice and smokey and completely unique. And the beer comes in convenient 5-pound liters to avoid the pesky need to reorder too often.

So we got the bus to the border of the Czech republic It was COLD on the little mountain pass, but just above freezing as we got off the bus and walked down the street to the border. Unfortunately the little pedestrian entrance was closed (off season), so we had the indignity of approaching the auto lane entrance, which kind of felt like walking up to a drive thru window. I was in my sandals and was way under dressed as we had actually thought that morning while sitting at the bus station that we should stay on the Polish side of the border for 2 more nights, but then noticed the bus we were catching went all the way to the border. So we rethought the crossing as we knew the weather was supposed to get worse in a few days (and it did). Luckily, the border guys were pretty mellow as this is an EU-EU crossing with little action these days, but I did take the first opportunity to put on warmer clothes prior to our hike down to town. We then had a nice hike down into Harranchov, which is a very pleasant little mountain-ski resort town that seems to be about 25% German, as the border of Germany is only 10 miles away. (This is where Poland, Germany, and he Czech Republic meet if you want to get your maps out )

The first thing I realized in the Czech Republic was how close you are at all times to great beer. In fact as I was changing under a little awning, a woman opened the door and asked if we wanted anything (beer and vodka) from a little shack we though was closed. Beer is certainly easier to find than water, gas, or juice.

I’ll be honest, I’ve never been a huge fan of pilsners and have always thought that many highly touted European beers were overrated, including Pilsner Urquell. As my friends at home know, I am a loyal American microbrew fan, and generally prefer a good Pale Ale. Well, there is something amazing about the Czech beer (and the 60 or so breweries) that is hard to describe, but I think half of it comes down to ingredients, freshness, and volume, They drink a lot of beer here, about 60 liters per capita per year. That is a lot of beer. Well, in order to keep this quantity maintained on a national level, it appears to me that Czech society has developed the following adaptations.

1) Drink Early and Often – We have seen (many) people drinking half liters of beer at 9 a.m. and beer is a staple of lunch, dinner, and of course, beer drinking time (which is always).

2) Local Breweries – I have had about 10 different kinds of Czech beers here and they were all good and fresh. And some are so fresh that you just find yourself sliding glass after glass down without even a small burp. It really is wonderful stuff.

3) Border Collie Bartenders – I have run into 2 marginally neurotic bartenders serving beer in two very hardcore drinking restaurants-bars. One guy in Harranchov was the most dedicated beer artist that I have ever seen in my life, and may ever see.

He poured perfect Pilsner Urquell from 4 beautiful brass taps and twitched like a Border Collie as he watched the entire room drink their beer, just waiting for the next call to serve up another fresh half liter, since it took about 5-10 minutes to properly pour a beer. I had the luxury of siting in front of him at the bar as Cheryl was making phone calls down the street and it brought tears to my eyes. Here is a guy who really loves his work. I think they may have served other beverages in this little bar, but there was no sign of anything like wine, spirits, or even another type of beer. Pilsner Urquell (12 degrees I believe) A very slight angle on the glass, not the heavy tilt used by many lesser beer-tenders in the US to limit the head and pour faster. And he pauses in the middle of the beer as he often is working on pouring 3 or 4 beers at once. And when he is done, you get a perfect mug of beer with the perfect few inches of head rising just above the lip of the glass. Beautiful.

Olomouc is a big surprise and just a perfect little university town to explore for a few relaxing days as we prepare for Vienna and India a bit. It snowed on Friday which made the trees and foliage just glisten in the late fall sunlight. Prague was great too, as our neighborhood, Vinohrady, reminded us of San Francisco with more efficient transit. Wonderful buildings, parks, and wandering around a city that seems to be doing it right. We really dodged the crowds too, which always makes things more intimate and personal. And just to close the loop, we left Harrachov on a series of local trains that ended with the most crowded 4 hour train ride of my life, along with a track construction bus transfer in the middle. We took it in stride though which clearly shows our level of mellowness, and all I could think was that it was good preparation for India. The IPOD really helped here.

LITTLE VISITED STATUE IN PRAGUE CASTLE

So we’re off to Vienna on the train tomorrow and fly to India on Thursday. Luckily, Cheryl just caught a major planning glitch, as I thought I had read that you could get a tourist visa on arrival in India. Doohhh, not true! So we just printed out visa applications and it looks like it will be no problem getting visas in three days in Vienna. It would have been fun to get sent back from the airport or deported as their website states will happen if you land without a visa. Ooops…maybe its the beer…

Visas aside, I am getting a grasp on our next destination after 10 hours on the Internet this weekend. I have booked two overnight train tickets and a place to stay in Varanasi, which is where we are headed on Saturday night from Delhi. There is still only one problem, as I have tried to book 10 hotels-guesthouses in Delhi and they are all full, so we have no place to stay upon our midnight arrival. There are 2 dozen 4 and 5 star hotels (although most are booked) that want 400 dollars per night and up. It’s crazy as I think some event must be going on there. Of course, there are tons of places in the 10 to 25 dollar range, but each one I search on the web about comes up with horror stories. There are virtually no places to stay between 25 and 400 dollars a night which I guess sums up the imbalances in wealth in India quite well. I’m freaking out a bit about this, but I know it will work out. Worst case, we just take a trustworthy tout to a lousy place our first very short night and then find something better the next morning by walking around a bit. We thought about sleeping in the airport until a morning train, but it seems a shame not to at least spend a day or two experiencing the chaos of Delhi. Clearly things will be better once we are out of Delhi.

Wish us luck……but we ARE excited! And this is what it’s all about.

Now wait a second…..what the hell am I doing sitting in this Internet cafe on our last night in the Czech Republic? There is a place here in Olomouc, Czech that also has a crazy beer server, so we might just head back there tonight.

So much beer and so little time.

Warsaw is huge and is full of pockets of culture and history, connected by scattered and vast spaces. The scale of the main boulevards is massive and the legacy of the Soviet architecture leaves the feeling that this is a city that is going to have a hard time competing to make people want to live there. There are long pedestrian underpasses under every major intersection that often require going about a half a mile just to get across a few corners or to the tram stop out on a distant island, not to mention the stairs up and down. There are a lot of buses and trams, and one metro line, but they still connect these vast open spaces. We walked miles and miles both ways across the core of the city and were exhausted. It’s scale demoralizes you as a pedestrian. Amazingly the city just cries out for cycling as a solution to the distances and scattered street plan, but we saw very few cyclists compared to other cities in Eastern and Central Europe. We certainly wished we had bikes, and a few feet of bike space of the hundreds available on every big street.

But there is a lot of energy in the city and the people are clearly tough, as evidenced by the amazing struggle to survive two world wars and the soviets. And the other thing I found in Poland was the fact that the people are some of the friendliest that we have encountered and seem to be very happy. We found bus drivers, shop keepers, and people on the street were laughing a lot, and always seemed to take the light side.

We left Warsaw on a First Class train, as we had only taken second class to date on the entire trip and were feeling like a bit of a splurge (15 USD extra), since second class on some of the trains we had been on in Poland were crowded and not very comfortable. Well first class was fine, and very quiet, but very dull, since it was all business people. But I was feeling worn out a bit and couldn’t face an adventure that day. You don§t get good stories from travelling first class, but sometimes you need a break. The adventure is definitely inversely proportional to the style and class of train, with local and 2nd class only cars being the most colorful, and intercity reserved seat first class the worst. I think mixing it up a bit based on your mood is best, but India may be an exception, since apparently you can barely get on any train there unless you reserve a higher class (of the 8 train classes there) seat through the tourist ticket windows. The same goes for buses, as the Muppet buses are what I will remember, while the slick AC intercity coaches a bit lacking. Of course, most places in Europe 2nd class is more than fine for even my lanky body to travel comfortably.

We arrived in Wroclaw (sort of pronounced Veratz-off) after traversing the great plains of central Poland. Wroclaw is in the finally the Silesia region of Southwest Poland, a fascinating area with a turbulent history and beautiful rolling countryside. But the best thing about Wroclaw was the fact that we got to stay with another local family for a few days through the wonderful (did I mention how much I like Servas today).

Gosia and Wojciech met us at the train station and took us to there home in one of the neighborhoods of Wroclaw. The family lived in one of the old style high-rise soviet era apartment buildings, which was fascinating for us as we have seen thousands of similar buildings in nearly every city we’ve been too and always wanted to know what they are like on the inside. We’re taking a mini-city within a city as their “neighborhood” of “Gaj” had 30,000 people in about two dozen buildings. Well, their place was very nice and homey, and they were amazingly gracious and generous hosts for our stay.

Gosia is a high school English teacher in Wroclaw and she was one of those teachers that you always remember from school, full of energy, enthusiastic, and just plain cool. But she asked us a favor in return for our stay and Cheryl and I ended up speaking in front of two of her English classes. The kids in her classes were fascinated with our lives and San Francisco and they even sang a rousing version of Happy Birthday to me as well. Pretty special and unforgettable for sure! The only problem was that talking about all the great things about San Francisco made me homesick, but luckily it only comes in waves. We are slowly appreciating how special our lives were in SF and how lucky we are to live there. But we’re not done with our adventure yet, so onward.

Wojciech was the cook of the family as well as a Biologist, and he made us some great nettles and soup of local plants, that I’m still not sure what they were, but everything was delicious and a nice break from restaurant food. They live at home with their nice 14-year old daughter, Carolina, who showed us around the city and tried to work on her English as much as possible. Wroclaw is an amazingly beautiful and historical city with bridges, cathedrals, and islands, all spreading from the grand old town square. We would have stayed a third night, but I was actually getting really sick and I really needed to rest for awhile.

So we said goodbye and headed on a lovely bus ride through little towns on our way to Jelenia Gora, just on the edge of the Karkonnose mountains. We spent two of the lowest key days of our trip so far just hanging out in the little city and walked up a little gorge to yet another scary old pedestrian bridge that was of questionable integrity and missing numerous cross boards. Always fun, since you gotta love the lack of Lawyers here. We did have a bit of a schedule now, since we had booked our apartment in Prague for 5 nights and only had 3 days to get there.

But it looked like we could cross the border up over a mountain pass less than an hour away by bus, but when we inquired at the tourist office (in German, thanks Cheryl), we were wold there were no buses that crossed the border and that it would involve walking across the border and hiking down into the next town.

O.K. I admit it, when she said this, I couldn’t help but thinking in my mind, yes, NOW THAT SOUNDS FUN. So we walked to the Czech Republic, because after all, I’ll do just about anything for a really good beer.