Entries about parliament

With regular flights to Zurich and Milan, the best plan was to see the northern side, and then cross through the Alps themselves to the southern side. Ending up in Italy, we could see some bits there before heading home, and making this a week long trip.

The weather this summer has been terrible. June had about 3 weeks of decent weather, but July was almost a complete washout - even the middle weekend that is almost always glorious. Thankfully we were headed to Europe where they had decent weather! Or so we thought - in the run up to our trip, the weather took a turn for the worse, and the weather in Switzerland was not much better than it was at home! The third trip this year we'd need to carry our rainmacs with us.

With it being summer holidays, the airport was pretty busy - taking an hour to get through security. So much so that we had to rush through our dinner before boarding commenced.

When I checked in, we had been given seats in the first row, despite not paying the hefty surcharge for the privilege. Extra legroom was great, but it meant we also had to put all or bags in the overhead lockers - kind of annoying with a window seat. As we hadn't paid for Speedy Boarding, I wanted to make sure our bags were close to our seats. When we got to the gate we showed our passes and were directed to the Speedy Boarding queue - we'd now be first on the plane!

Having boarded and flown to Switzerland, disembarking we were one of the first off the plane, and with the flight having been on time, we thankfully weren't arriving too late - just as well as we had to wait in the slow Brexit queues at immigration.

Once through, we made it out of the airport and boarded the next tram, headed the short distance around the corner to our hotel for the night. Due to the late time, we were staying the night near the airport before we would get to start properly enjoying our trip the next day.

The next morning we grabbed breakfast, before heading off just before 10am back to the tram stop. A few stops later and we had arrived at the local train station, where we waited to board the next train heading north to Schaffhausen. Schaffhausen is the northernmost canton of Switzerland, and just to the south of the eponymous town are the Rhine Falls - the largest waterfalls in Europe.

Shortly before arriving at the station, we emerged from a tunnel with an amazing view overlooking the entire waterfall area - both the falls themselves and the castle above.

We then pulled into the station, and made our way down the hill, and across to the railway bridge on the higher section of the river above the falls. We walked across the bridge and then up to the top of the castle complex.

Up here it was very busy, and after buying entrance tickets for the falls, we made our way across and down the lift to the riverside.

There were many opportunities here to get close to the waterfalls themselves. There were many lookout positions, and a small deck that protrudes out into the falls themselves.

From here you can literally face into this wall of water. Slightly scary, but incredibly unique!

With such a long day ahead, we didn't have much time to stay here, which was a pity. It was very busy here, and the lift back to the top was packed - a very sweaty experience.

After buying a souvenir, we headed back across the river and to the station in time for the next train south. Once there another tourist stopped us and asked us where Platform 1 is. There is only one platform at the station, and so we told her - this is it! "No this is 1A" she said - misunderstanding that in Switzerland, the platforms are subdivided into lettered sections which the boards then identify as to where each carriage will be. Despite this, she still looked confused and went hunting for the missing platform...

On the way back to Zurich, interestingly the trainline passed through a small salient of German land, completely disconnected to the rest of German rail network. Two stations are situated on this line, which we stopped at before we re-entered Switzerland.

Once arriving in Zurich, we had around 15 minute to transfer between platforms, so we took a quick look at the pretty building housing the National Museum, opposite the station.

The train on to Bern was pretty busy, but we managed to get seats. It took around two hours following the River Aare before we reached the Swiss capital.

After putting our luggage into storage, we then went for a wander around the city. We headed south and over to the parliament building. Although there are four larger cities in the country, this is it's capital. The building as sadly being renovated, and was covered in scaffolding.

We then headed over to the nearby bridge, where the scale of the city's imposing view over the meandering river was clear.

After this, we headed eastwards, past the cathedral and towards some of the beautiful views off the Nydegg Bridge.

Having done a fair bit of walking, primarily downhill, we jumped on the next trolleybus and headed back up into town. We then jumped off a few stops later and wandered between the parallel streets, viewing the town hall before heading back to the main road, grabbing a souvenir.

Adjacent to the shop was the Einstein house, a museum in the flat that Einstein lived in between 1903-1905. Today it had free entry, so I took a very quick look, including seeing the lovely view of the city from the balcony.

We were now heading back to the station, walking past the clock towers. We grabbed some dinner and then headed to grab our luggage and take the next train to Interlaken.

We made our way south, passing several Swiss towns, before entering the more mountainous areas and passing Lake Thun. On the other side of the lake was the town of Interlaken, which its sandwiched between Lakes Thun and Brienz.

Here we then swapped to a much smaller train that headed up the mountains towards our final place for the day - Grindelwald.

Just over half an hour after leaving Ghent, we arrived in Brussels. We checked into our hotel, chilled for a bit before heading out.

This afternoon we'd take a look around the very heart of Brussels before grabbing dinner and heading back - we still had almost all day tomorrow to look around the rest of the city too.

Brussels is surprisingly hilly, something no one seems to talk about. We made our way over to Mont des Artes, where there is a nice view over central Brussels, before heading downhill towards the first of many murals around the city.

After making our way around the corner to the Royal Gallery of Saint Hubert, a very pretty shopping gallery, we took a short walk to the heart of the city, the Grand Place - the main market square.

The final sight for today was the Manneken Pis - the famous weeing boy statue, which much like the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen, is pretty tiny, and difficult to actually see between all the tourists.

After grabbing dinner, we headed back to the hotel, and got caught in a rainstorm. To be fair though, given the weather forecast for this weekend we'd been pretty fortunate.

Settling in for the night we became aware of a pretty stupid flaw in the hotel. When we turned of the lights, the power in the room totally cut out - including the charging points. Great... my phone was almost dying and now I couldn't charge overnight ready for tomorrow's busy day.

The following morning, whilst charging our phones, we headed down for breakfast before checking out and leaving our bags at the hotel. Having seen the centre of the city yesterday, today's plan was to see the sights on the outskirts.

We headed out on the metro northwards to Heysel, and walked around the corner to Mini-Europe. This is a miniature park with monuments from all the EU member states.

It was a lot better than we expected, featuring a lot of locations we'd seen in real life. Interestingly, given the UK used to be a member, there is still a UK section, with new customs post and border control lines drawn in for realism.

We had a good wander around for a while, and at the end watched the European Space Agency launch a rocket from Cayenne.

We then headed around the corner and went inside the Atomium. Much like the Eiffel Tower, this icon of the city was built for the World's Fair, and has stayed well past it's original intention.

We headed inside, and darted between the spheres and escalators/staircases around the structure.

There wasn't a huge amount to see and do, as the spheres were relatively small. It felt very 1950s, with history of the Expo and some light shows.

There was an observation booth at the top, but as we were running short on time, and the queue was very very long we skipped it, and had to make do with the views we'd seen from the spheres from the middle of the structure.

After an interesting time, we then made our way right across the city towards the European Quarter. Sadly a lot of this area required pre-booking, and on Mondays not everything is open all day. Not knowing what time we would be around we had to skip the Parliamentarium museum, but we did get inside the Parliament itself - this was despite being told there was no spaces left, and then immediately booking a space online for the next tour...

I'd been here before, but Chris hadn't and so we took a brief look around at the hemicycle, before making our way across Leopold Park to the House of European History. It was interesting, with some information on the history of Europe, and fortunately all the EU sites were free to enter.

We then wandered past the European Council building and the EU Commission building, before grabbing some dinner.

Heading back to the hotel, we passed the Halle Gate, a very impressive mediaeval city gate along the line of the former city walls.

After grabbing our bags and having a quick sit down, we then made our final trip just around the corner to back to the train station and eventually through into the departure lounge for the Eurostar. Once again, with juxtaposed controls, meaning we'd entered the EU in London and exited in Brussels, despite the tunnel physically being in France.

Luckily it didn't take too long to get back to London. But having prebooked our trains back to Luton, we did have to stand around and wait in the cold St. Pancras station for the later train, watching the earlier train leave without us.

It had been a good and fun trip. Very busy, and weather not perfect but lots of interesting things to see and do!

After many short city breaks, our Berlin trip was going to be slightly longer - four nights in total. However even that did not seem enough!

We started the first day with a delay on our early afternoon flight, meaning we didn't manage to arrive in Berlin until early evening. We stopped off en route at the East Side Gallery, where the longest stretch of remaining Berlin Wall was turned into an art gallery, with many different murals by various artists.

We then continued on to grab some dinner before heading to the hotel via the supermarket. By now it was already getting late, so we decided to stay put and carry out the rest of our sightseeing in the following days. Although upon arrival we did find an interesting policy by the hotel - in return for not having our room cleaned the following day, we would get a free drink at the bar. As we'd just arrived we decided the free drink was a better idea, so we headed down to claim it.

Upon ordering, I decided to have a wine spritzer, however the German barmaid had never heard of this! (despite being in the limited menu) and asked what this was in German - "Schorle". A little surprising, I thought, as spritzer is clearly a German word - although evidently not used in these parts! After a good night's sleep, we awoke the next morning and ate breakfast before heading out for our first day of sightseeing.

Today we would be seeing the sights in the city centre. We had prebooked entry to the Reichstag Dome, and so had to keep to schedule. We started by heading round the corner from our hotel, to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. Much like that of Coventry, it was an old cathedral almost destroyed during the Second World War, with the ruins kept as a memorial and a modern church built next door.

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

Checkpoint Charlie

Next, we headed out to the city centre, and to Checkpoint Charlie - the only foreign public crossing point during the days of the Berlin Wall. We then continued along the line of the wall towards the Topography of Terror, on the site of the Gestapo Headquarters, which detailed the history of the rise of the Nazis, and their rule, all in this geographical area of the city.

Our journey then took us to Potsdammer Platz, a modern business district built upon the old Berlin Wall site, before heading north past Tierpark and arriving at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews. This memorial is made up of rows of concrete pillars across a sloping field, which reach up to 5 metres tall and can be walked between.

Inside the memorial to the Jews

Brandenburg Gate

After taking a walk around this memorial, we then stopped by the Brandenburg Gate, the iconic German landmark, separated on the line of the Berlin Wall, where we took lots of photos, before continuing on to the Reichstag - Parliament Building.

We first viewed the building from the outside, before entering through the security check and up onto the roof itself. The building is from 1894, but has been unused for most of the time since, with the inside being completely new, from the 1990s. The dome was a modern replacement for the original cupola and is open to the public as a viewing platform, and views of the surrounding area and inside the centre of the Bundestag (Parliament) can be seen.

After touring the roof, we headed back down and walked past the new government buildings to the north, towards the Friedrichstraße station. The station was unique as it was located within East Berlin, and yet functioned as a border post. The reason why, was that the city was divided after the existence of the underground transport network, which cut across lines in the city. Remarkably, it was agreed that lines that crossed the border would not necessarily have to close. Those that ran West to West, via the East were allowed to stay open, but with the stations in East Berlin closed and functioning as ghost stations.

Even more remarkable, was that there was one station in the east - Friedrichstraße, that intersected with both sides. Being a major transport hub, the East decided to fence off the station, with some platforms serving interchanges between lines solely for West Berliners, as well as interchanges for East Berlin lines. There was also a border post within the station that enabled those few who were able to cross sides a point in which to do so. easily.

To the north of the station, an entrance was built that would serve as the non-transport-connection border post for Easterners heading to the West. It was called the Tränenpalast (Palace of Tears) as for many crossing here it would be a sad event, leaving behind friends and family. It is now used as an exhibition for the story of this time, and even had a border checkpoint from the time for visitors to experience.

After taking a look at this exhibition, we got on a tram and headed towards Museum Island. Stopping first off at Bebelplatz where there is a monument to the burning of books during the rise of the Nazis, before continuing past the Cathedral and the Old Museum.

Stopping off for some refreshment, we then went inside the DDR Museum - a museum dedicated to the life inside East Germany, which included a recreated East German flat.

After looking around the museum, we then made our way over to Alexanderplatz, the heart of East Berlin, where after a bit of shopping, I went inside the Park Inn by Radisson Hotel, which has a balcony on the 40th floor open to the public, with views over the city, including the nearby TV Tower.

Our final place for today was further north, at Bernauer Straße, where part of the Berlin Wall has been recreated, with a viewing platform across the road. After taking a look at how life would have been just thirty years ago, we travelled back to our hotel via the underground station, which had information about the ghost stations on the network.

After stopping off at the supermarket we then went out for a German dinner in the restaurant around the corner. After surviving being hounded by wasps, we then went back to the hotel for an evening chill after the busy day before we would continue our adventures tomorrow.

After taking an early morning flight, we arrived in Vienna mid morning, and made our way to our hotel, where we hoped to be able to check in early, or at least leave our bags before exploring.

Upon arrival our room was being cleaned, and so we waited for ten minutes, whilst being offered a complimentary drink, despite being two hours before official check in - brilliant customer service!

With the weather at home being terrible (rarely above 20C, despite it being the middle of summer), the hot and sunny 35C Vienna was welcome. However as a storm was to hit tomorrow, this would be our only day with these kind of temperatures, and so we made the most of it going out in shorts. Did we need a raincoat? Not today we didn't!

We headed over to the Schönbrunn, where our first sight was the zoo, where one year old pandas and koalas lived - something unique! Beginning with the panda talk, it became clear that for many of the animals the prolonged heat had worn them out.

As we toured the zoo the clouds started to darken and noises could be heard. Hoping it was just lorries, it soon became clear this was impending thunder. Hoping we could avoid it was too much to ask, and as we were almost done in the zoo we headed up a wooded hill when the heavens opened. Without raincoats or umbrellas we ran from tree to tree to avoid the rain, before entering a farm animal building along with many other visitors who had the same problem as us.

After hanging about for 10 minutes, the rain looked like it had eased a little and so we decided to carry on anyway - we were far from the metro station and still had a few things to see.

Leaving the zoo we entered the Schönbrunn Palace Gardens and ran between the trees viewing the Gloriette before heading down towards the Palace building itself. Even in the rain it was pretty but it was a shame the rain prevented us from spending more time enjoying the area.

After having taken photos between the trees and under what little shelter we could find, we headed back towards the metro station as the rain stopped - typical!

Having grabbed food we headed back to the hotel where we could dry off and have a good night's sleep after the busy long day. However not long after we had fallen asleep, the bulk of the storm arrived and in the midst of over thirty flashes of lightning we went off back to sleep.

As the storm had arrived early, it did mean that the following day would be almost entirely dry, despite being over 10C cooler. After having had breakfast, we headed into the city centre to view the old city.

Beginning with the St. Stephen's Cathedral, we then headed via many souvenir shops to the Hofburg Palace, the Royal Palace and where the Spanish Riding School is based.

By now we had made it to the Ringstraße, the ring road where some of the grandest and most important city buildings are located. Beginning at the Burgtheater, we crossed the ring outside the City Hall, where the Vienna Film Festival is held.

Walking around the building, we then went past the Parliament building and headed down to the Museum Quarter and the Maria Theresa Square, where many of the buildings were in the same style.

We then diverged from the ring road and made our way to the Charles Church, before arriving at our last destination in the city centre - the Heroes' Monument. This monument, a Russian language Soviet War Memorial was completely out of place in the imperial city, but highlighted the mid 20th century reality of this Central European city.

Having seen the sights of the city centre, we headed back to the hotel for a rest before we went for an evening walk to the Danube, not far from our hotel, where we could see the UN buildings over the mighty river.

The Viennese Danube

The Prater

Heading back our last sight was the Prater, where we would grab dinner in the Rollercoaster Restaurant and tour the amusement park.

After a busy day we went back to the hotel and chilled before our final full day tomorrow in Bratislava.

Vienna, like all the other Central European capitals of Prague and Budapest is very grand and has beautiful buildings. However despite it being on the Danube, the river flows on the outskirts of the city and with very little hills I personally prefer the others, who also have the river, bridges and hills to see, whereas the focus on Vienna is simply it's grand buildings. Nevertheless it's a beautiful city, and was a lovely place to visit.

After having a final breakfast with Halina, we said our goodbyes, and boarded a five hour bus crossing southern Ontario towards Ottawa, eventually arriving in the city by mid afternoon. After checking in to our huge room, we then headed out for a short walk to the heart of the city.

What had struck us most in Canada was just how shabby much of it is, and Ottawa was no exception. Even though we were just a five minute walk from Parliament, the whole area was very shabby, with signs falling off, paintwork needing maintenance, and broken pacing slabs everywhere. And yet, as we walked past the city hall and entered the very heart of the city it was very well maintained.

The city centre was rather pretty, and Parliament Hill's Gothic architecture was a welcome sight against the bland and typical North American architecture of the suburbs. Walking past a protest against FPTP, we headed towards the back of the complex for views over the Ottawa river that separates French speaking Quebec from English speaking Ontario.

It is for this reason that Ottawa was made capital - being neither Toronto, nor Montreal, yet between the two and therefore a good compromise for a united country. Although with the Parliament buildings overlooking Quebec, it's a good job their independence never happened!

After walking past some beautiful buildings and the Rideau Canal, we made our way to the Alexandra Bridge to cross into Quebec. What would we find on the other side? Would people be speaking in French? Well... yes... in fact everyone we heard was a French speaker, and as we headed back from what appeared to be the same city, we followed some French speaking ladies and were intrigued to find out if they would revert to English by the time they reached Ontario.

Unfortunately our illusions were shattered as they continued their conversation in French as we dispersed back towards our hotel for the night.