Vienna

We headed out on the coaches for Vienna in the morning and, having been able to sit right behind the driver for our tour of Budapest, I decided it would be worth stalking the bus in order to snag those seats again for my roommate and I. Part of it is that I'm much more comfortable if I can see out the front window, and the other part was that we really wanted to be able to see the countryside as we made the trip! It was well worth the effort, since the landscape was lush and rolling, dotted with poppies and vineyards and occasionally, the huge windmill farms.

Before making it into Vienna, we did take a break at a rest stop maybe two hours into the drive. Those Europeans really know how to do a rest stop - it included a variety store for snacks and sodas as well as connecting to a cafeteria-type area where you could pick up fresh sandwiches, soups, salads and so much more. At this point, we were out of Hungary and so our forints were no longer any use to us and we needed to find a way to either spend enough on a credit card or use an ATM to pull out some euros. Fortunately, there wasn't a high minimum for the plastic which was good news since the ATM at that location didn't take any of the Visa-based ATM cards.

We also were introduced to the concept of paid toilets at this rest stop, which I definitely found a little odd. You paid the lady outside the restroom and then you were able to go in. Now, when I think of tipping restroom attendants here, it's usually the folks who handle the nice towels, wipe down the vanity, and manage all the little cologne bottles/mouthwash/etc. The difference in Europe is that you didn't get anything but use of the restroom for your money (in those cases, I'll admit it was money well spent)...although for the most part, the restrooms we clean. One of my friend's had her 14 year old daughter with her, and she was fascinated with all the different toilet types we came across - I think she was documenting with photos, LOL.

After leaving the rest stop we easily cruised the rest of the way into Vienna and actually arrived at a fairly reasonable time - around 3pm. Brandy and I headed immediately to our room to get ourselves organized and then decided that with only a day and a half in this amazing town, we needed to head out to explore as soon as possible. So after ooohhing and ahhhing over our room (white and blue, with a huge window that went all the way to the ceiling) we hit the sidewalks.

It was overcast during the afternoon so our photos weren't spectacular, but we had a ball taking in the sites. Our first priority was to taste the Viennese coffee and pastries we had heard so much about, so we visited Cafe Landtmann - one of the oldest and best known cafes in Vienna. It didn't hurt that it was literally two minutes away from our hotel! The coffee was truly to die for, and I had a strawberry cake the likes of which I can't imagine I would find anywhere else. Whether that is because it truly was a fantastic piece of food or because I was sitting in the sun with my friend enjoying the snack and a cup of coffee in Vienna amidst buildings that have been around forever...it's hard to say. I will absolutely revisit this cafe when I make it back to Vienna!

Out second priority was to take care of the shopping we wanted to do, so as we walked we kept our eyes open for souvenirs for ourselves and our families. I easily found postcards and my shot glass, and after a little more work found a key chain for my brother. We also stumbled upon this cute little shop which featured unique crafts and jewelry - I found a ring out of Italian glass that I immediately feel in love with and which reminds me of Vienna when I wear it now.

We strolled past the city building, the university, the Hapsburg palace and grounds, St. Peter's Church, and the primary shopping area in the center of the circle formed by Ringstrasse (the major road that goes around the middle of the city - all of the buildings mentioned above can be accessed by walking along the Ringstrasse). For fashion and unique boutiques, Vienna was the best place of all the cities we visited.

Finally, we made it to the Stephensplatz and the Stephensdome, which is where we were scheduled to perform the next day. When you can actually use the spires to help guide you to the location, it gives you a hint of exactly how large the structure really is...and then when you walk into the open area around the cathedral, it really takes your breath away. By this time, I was practically bouncing out of my flip-flops with excitement, because next to the performance hall in Budapest the idea of performing in such a sacred space with so much history was almost too much to get my mind around. They actually had a banner on the Cathedral advertising our concert, so of course Brandy and I had to take photos of that!

The inside of the church was cavernous - it just went on forever. After taking a quick look, we headed back out in the rain which had just started, continued shopping and wandering and finally made it back to the hotel to meet the rest of our group for dinner.

Dinner was an event all by itself - we ate at a little place just up from the hotel recommended by the folks at the front desk and truly splurged on an elegant meal. Regional wine, pork chops, potatoes and veggies, bread and the best chocolate mousse ever! We were there at least three hours, taking our time and enjoying all of the different flavors. That's something that we were very aware of in all of the cities we visited - mealtime was very relaxed, and we could never get the check when we asked for it so usually meals were even longer than we intended them to be. Usually, that wasn't a problem but on the rare occasion that we needed to grab something and then get to rehearsal it was nearly impossible to do!

We headed back to get some shuteye after dinner so that we'd be ready to go on the guided tour the next day along with rehearsal and performance.

More to follow...will update with the rest of Vienna soon!

Budapest

You know, I'm realizing I'm not very good at keeping up with this! I need to try harder and start updating on my lunch breaks, since I don't really spend time on my computer when I'm at home (that whole spending 8-10 hours on a computer at work makes me want to avoid it at home).

So...taking over where I left off on my last entry - Budapest! Once we finally arrived, it was SO wonderful to be there. We went immediately to dinner at a restaurant called The Citadel located on Gellert Hill. The building had previously been a fortress, built in 1851 and now converted, and with the concrete walls and the winding corridors you could really feel the history. The restaurant also boasted a fantastic view of the city.

(The Danube and Castle Quarter at Night)

We tried the various Hungarian dishes made available (I didn't write down the details of the food as well as I should have), and I have to admit I'm not sure I was a big fan of the food. It may have been the mixed textures, but there wasn't anything specific I found in the traditional dishes that really blew me away. Still, I tried it all...

They also brought in live music for us to enjoy. Ironically, a lot of what they played were familiar tunes, but the quartet was entertaining and a great way to end the night.

(Quartet playing after dinner at the Citadel)

Finally...bedtime! After the flight, that might have been the most exciting moment of the day :-). The hotel in Budapest was nice, not extraordinarly big, but enough for our needs. It's true what they say - the air conditioning is a whole different story in Europe. It really didn't work fantastically well, but that seemed to be par for the course. Fortunately, we were so tired it didn't seem to matter.

Day two was our full day to explore the city. We kicked it off with a guided bus tour (the tour company arranged to have these in each city), where we revisited the Citadel during the daylight hours, then went on to the castle quarter and Hero Square.

The Citadel was just as amazing in the daylight, and at this point we learned the story of Gellert Hill. Gellert was a missionary in 1000 A.D. who was tasked with bringing the Hungarian people to Christianity. This did not go over so well with the pagen leaders of the time, so they nailed Gellert into a barrel and rolled him down the hill and into the Danube. As our tour guide said when we all gasped,"They had many worse ways to kill people at that time, so maybe this was not so bad for him!" LOL. Our tour guide was a young woman born and raised in Budapest - Katie - who totally rocked!!

The Castle Quarter is home to Matthias Church, which is one of the main features of the area. There were several museums located in this area as well as Fisherman's Bastian, which is the square located outside of the church. From this vantage point, there was a wonderful view of the Parliament building across the Danube...and really, the church itself was truly spectacular with all of the mosaic work on the roof. Also located in this area was a building which had been completely destroyed on the inside during World War II (used as the armory). The building was left standing, unfixed with bullet holes still marring the outside, as a reminder of the damage. Even beyond the Castle Quarter, nearly 90% of the city was destroyed during World War II and rebuilt.

.......(Looking down the street in the Castle Quarter)................................................... (Inside Matthias Church)

..........(St. Stephen in the Fisherman's Bastian).............................................. (Looking around the edge of the Fisherman's Bastian)


...........(Across the Danube at the Parliament Building).............................................. (Part of Matthias Church)


.........(the Turul Bird on the top of one of the spires).................................... (Another photo of Matthias Church - mosaic on the roof)

Hero Square was our final stop for the day. This was a square in the middle of the city built for the celebration of the 1000th anniversary in 1896 of the Hungarians arrival in the present-day location.


..................(Wide shot of Hero's Square).................................................. (Statues around the base of the center tower)

Living in a country that is 233 years old, it is almost impossible to get your mind around a country's celebration that is 4 digits. It's just such a remarkably different point of view, and they've been through so much during their history. It also makes the things that you learn from your history books so much more real, when you can actually lay eyes on the effect.

My roommate and I spent the second half of the day wandering around the pedestrian market, where we found all kinds of trinkets to bring home. My favorite items were the table runners, table cloths and all manner of doilies out of lace or linen, with intricate handwork on them usually including poppies (which is the national flower). The primary colors really made them pop, and I brought one home for me (a small lace one) and one for my parents (a linen table runner).

(The pedestrian mall)


(Flooding on the Danube - this added to traffic levels in the city)

Dinner that night was on our own, and we visited a small hole in the wall down from the hotel. The food was inexpensive (compared to here) and was amazing - I had a turkey dish with a plum sauce. And the dessert - it was a type of crepe with chocolate and a liquer to make it flame, with whipped cream. To die for!

Day 3 was the day of the rehearsal in concert, but we had the morning open. Unfortunately, I was really pretty ill from the time I woke and still forced myself down to try to eat breakfast (that didn't go so well). But, we had missed the bath house (which I really wanted to do) and we were going to see St. Stephen's Basilica and there was no way I was going to miss out. So I tried to pull it together, and off we went to the tube station!

We explored the church, which was magnificent...so ornate. The most interesting (and slightly creepy) part is the fact that they have the right forearm of St. Stephen encased in a relic in the back chapel. We had to put money in to make it light up, so that we could take pics (no flashes allowed in the church), and honestly - we had no idea what we were taking pictures of. But later, when you zoomed in on the digital cameras...you could definitely make out the mummified hand. We also took the stairs up into the roof of the church, and walked around the outside. This offered a great 360 degree view of the city with photo ops in all directions. At about that point, I couldn't take any more and opted to head back to the hotel rather than on to the cafe, in hopes of recovering before the performance.

At the National Concert Hall, we had our rehearsal (painful, since I still wanted to curl up and die rather than exert the effort to sing) and after practice a traditional Hungarian women's group came in and performed for us. It was fantastic and I can't believe how well they projected without hurting themselves!

Finally - the concert. The concert went well, and they actually made a recording for us from that particular show. The very best part was that at the end, instead of a standing ovation, slowly the clapping all came together so that it was in unison. Then, once it was in unison, it began to speed up. The energy from that response was amazing, and it was unlike any response we'd received anywhere else. I learned later that it's an Eastern European tradition, and although we didn't run into it in Vienna or Prague, it was the most incredible way to kick off our concert tour.

More on Vienna, Litomysl, and Prague when I can write another novel detailing all of the adventures...I swear, I'm trying to be detailed not just for you guys reading but for myself. There was so little time to sleep that although I tried to journal, I didn't make it far before I realized that I just couldn't cram it in...so this is my own record of the trip as well!