Vienna: Museums and more!

We liked Hundertwasser's work so much we decided we had to visit his art gallery- KunstHausWien. We had no trouble finding our way there; have to say that public transport in Vienna is superb! The art gallery turned out to be quite interesting, even for one who is hopeless at art appreciation like me, heh. It was modern art though, and not easy to errrm, understand.

Leaving the museum, we moved on to take a closer look at the Rathaus (City Hall), the Burgtheatre and the Parliament. The space in front of the Rathaus was being cleaned up after an event held the previous day (launching the start of the winter season), so there was a huge heap of artificial snow left out in the sun to melt! It was so cool; people were posing for photographs and having snowball fights! :D

The Greek Revival-style Parliament

We walked through the pretty Volksgarten, where all the lovely roses were in bloom. From there it was a short walk to the Hofburg, and then on to Kohlmarkt (where the famous Cafe Demel is), down Graben, and finally ending up at Stephensplatz (where St Stephen's Cathedral stands). Grabbing a quick lunch on Karntner Strasse, we walked back to the Hofburg and finally decided on which museum to visit (there are lots to choose from so it was quite a tough decision!)

Skipping the popular ones like the Kaiserappartements & 'Sissi' Museum (one hears about the beloved Empress Elisabeth (Sissi) EVERYWHERE in Vienna), we opted instead for one museum that had 3 exhibitions in one place- the Ephesus Museum, a Collection of Arms and Armour, and a Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments. It obviously wasn't a popular choice amongst visitors- there were only a few people wandering around, but we really enjoyed ourselves there. We ended up spending the whole afternoon in the museum- checking out the armours (which had sensors that sounded an alarm when hubby got too close), and admiring/laughing at the weird and wonderful musical instruments that people came up with!

Bizarre, no?

We then went in search of the Mozart statue (which we knew was somewhere in the Burggarten), and were pleasantly surprised to stumble upon it right next to the Hofburg! It was a little too early for dinner at that time, so we contemplated hopping on Tram 1 that goes on the Ringstrasse, giving us another view of the sights (yet) again. In the end we decided to wander around a bit (in and out of chocolate shops!) until it was time for an early dinner.

Love the treble clef! :)

Dinner was at this lovely restaurant named Hinterholz, where I ordered a schnitzel; a must-have in Vienna! It was delicious, eaten with a squeeze of lemon and some cranberry sauce.

Vienna!

I remember waking up to a cold morning that day. It was really cold when we got off the bus to see the Hundertwasserhaus- a block of residential flats designed and decorated by Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

Note the similarities between Hundertwasser's work and Gaudi's buildings in Barcelona

We strolled through the Hofburg and the Museums Quartier, ending our city tour at St Stephen's Cathedral. Vienna is a lovely city of art, history and music. If you're a museum and/or music lover, you will definitely like it here.

After the city tour ended, we walked down Karntner Strasse and stumbled upon the cafe of the famous Hotel Sacher, where the Sachertorte originated. We decided that we just had to try the Sachertorte, so we bought a small one to share. It was delicious!

A small Sachertorte at 2.70 euros

We saw the Opera House and the Albertina, and then made our way to the lovely Stadtpark where the golden statue of Johann Strauss could be found. We took another long walk to Karlsplatz; it was a really tiring day indeed! Plus, it got rather warm in the afternoon, so it was a tad uncomfortable to be doing all that walking.

We were excited about spending an evening at a Heurigen (wine tavern) in the Viennese Woods- with the promise of a nice dinner, 'new' wine, as well as musicians to entertain us. Getting to the wine village was an adventure; our tour driver and director had some problems with the GPS (amongst other things) and so it was quite late when we finally got to the restaurant. We were starving, but it all turned out well in the end. We had a few good laughs, a lot of singing, and of course, a LOT of wine! :)

From Budapest to Vienna

Our next destination was Vienna. We had our lunch stop in Baden, a little town where Beethoven once lived for a while. The pretty Vienna Woods and Mayerling were also part of the day's itinerary, and we visited the hunting lodge where Archduke Rudolf and his 17-year lover met their tragic deaths on January 30, 1889. Nearby was Heiligenkreuz, a Cistercian Abbey founded in 1133.

Huge blocks of cheese at a little market in Baden

At Heiligenkreuz- check out the ornate crosses

We arrived in Vienna; our hotel there (Bellevue) was the best we had on the trip! It was so spacious and comfortable.

We decided we could not go to Vienna and not see a concert, so we decided to join an optional excursion to see the Wiener Hofburg Orchestra. The concert venue was one of the rooms in the Imperial Palace (The Hofburg), so that was rather nice. It was a lovely evening with light, fun music by Strauss and Mozart; and of course, we got to enjoy the famous waltz- 'The Blue Danube'! :D

The Hofburg

The soloists were very good!

Budapest: Skanzen, Szentendre and an amazing cruise!

On our last day in Budapest, we decided to do something different, so we signed up for the optional excursion to Skanzen and Szentendre. Skanzen is an open air museum outside Budapest- a huge park in which villages from different regions in Hungary have been rebuilt. These are not replicas; apparently the government transported the houses piece by piece from their original locations. Skanzen was quite nice- out in the countryside, and it gave us a chance to see Hungary in one day! :)

Bee hives! :)

We were treated to a traditional breadmaking demonstration, and even got to taste the freshly baked bread (eaten with garlic and sour cream- yummy). We saw the old houses complete with furniture and appliances- it was quite interesting. There was a small farm with animals, and also a windmill with blades that could be adjusted to accommodate the direction of the wind!

Ever seen a furry pig??

We then moved on to Szentendre- a former artists' colony with its narrow, winding streets; now a favourite with souvenir shoppers. There were several museums (including a marzipan museum, no kidding) and art galleries in the little village, and we eventually decided to visit the Microart Museum. It was small (pun unintended), but the exhibitions were so interesting! They had to be viewed using a microscope of course!

Here's one of them- the smallest windmill in the world, made of gold and placed in half a poppy seed! Isn't that amazing?

On our way back to Budapest, we passed by this unconventional sculpture by the riverbank. The sculpture was a line of empty iron shoes; it was actually a Holocaust memorial to remember the barbaric Fascist habit of taking Jews and other undesirables down to the Danube and shooting them into the river. The sculpture was so simple, yet it conveyed such a powerful message.

We bid farewell to Budapest with a wonderful cruise on the Danube river. The food was nice (especially the Hungarian sponge cake we had for dessert), and the sights were spectacular. We liked it much better than the night cruise on the Vltava river in Prague.

We were sad to leave Budapest. I did feel that we didn't have enough time to do everything we wanted to. Sigh. Maybe next time?

Egesegere (cheers in Hungarian) to Budapest!! :D

Beautiful Budapest!

We started the day with a city sightseeing tour, and our first stop was Castle Hill on the Buda side of Budapest. On our way there we passed the Gellert Hill area, home to the beautiful Gellert Hotel and the city's most famous thermal spa- Gellert Spa.

We were given a bit of time to wander around the wonderful, neo-Gothic 'Halaszbastya' (Fisherman's Bastion) and to admire the lovely views of the Danube and the Parliament across the river. The famous Matthias church was undergoing some restoration (!) so it was a shame not to be able to see it in all its glory.

Isn't this fanciful?

The Parliament across the river

We then moved on to the Pest side of the city, starting with Heroes' Square that bears a sprawling monument showcasing statues of important tribal leaders, kings and statesmen. Travelling down Andrassy Avenue, we saw many grand World Heritage-listed 19th-century buildings. Next was 'Vaci utca', Pest's extensive pedestrian shopping street, and we walked along until we arrived at the Great Market. We saw the locals buying fruits, vegetables and spices on the ground floor; and tourists buying souvenirs on the upper floor. We had a quick lunch there- bread, sausages (one of the many, many sausages we ate on this trip), and fries (which were the most awful fries we've ever tasted. Yuck.)

We made our way to St Stephen's Basilica, but we did not manage to see its precious relic- the mummified right hand of St Stephen! The chapel was apparently closed for a private function- oh well. The basilica itself was beautiful, of course :)

We probably could have walked around the Pest area a bit more, but my feet were killing me. We decided to cross the famous Chain Bridge and make our way back up Castle Hill, since we wanted to wait for nightfall to take some pictures (gotta put that tripod to good use after lugging it around!) No, we didn't walk up the hill of course; instead we took a ride on the Siklo Funicular, which was waaaay easier, heh.

We wandered around the grounds of the Royal Palace, took some nice pictures and ended up visiting the Hungarian National Gallery- which was free and the perfect place to kill time while waiting for the sun to set. Haha :)

The reward for waiting out in the cold until it was dark enough? This...

The lovely Fishermen's Bastion again

Chain Bridge- nicknamed the 'Necklace of the Danube'

Tired from all that photo-taking, we went in search of dinner. We decided to check out this restaurant called 'Fatal', which was recommended by Lonely Planet and also another friend. After a rather long walk, we finally found the restaurant- it was so crowded, but that did not deter us! We were warned by both Lonely Planet and our friend that the dishes are served in gigantic portions, so we figured that we could share one main course and another soup/salad between us. Imagine our horror when we were told by the rude waiter that every diner has to order a main course! Busting the budget aside (the prices were steep as well), we were low on Hungarian Forints, the moneychangers were already closed, and the restaurant did not accept credit cards! It was dreadful. We had to change our orders to ensure we could pay the bill, and ended up eating things that we didn't really want to eat.

Well, at least the baked stuffed goose leg was delicious; the fried chicken on the other hand, was just so-so (by that time we were too stuffed to notice, anyway). Also, as anticipated, there was way too much food for the both of us so some had to go to waste! Tsk tsk. We had such an unpleasant experience there; I have half a mind to give some feedback to Lonely Planet! Hmmph.

What a 'Fatal' experience! (Okay, so I exaggerate :p)

An afterthought on Prague...

'We came for Prague, but we fell in love with Budapest instead.'

I repeated this a couple of times to hubby when we got to Budapest. Not that Prague was bad; in fact, looking back at the photos, Prague is very beautiful indeed. I suppose our expectations of Prague might have been slightly unrealistic (photos in guidebooks can be misleading!) :p

There is much architectural beauty in Prague- but if you don't know where to look (or when to look up, heh), or you don't know the history/significance of the sights, you will not get as much out of this lovely city. It may just seem to be a whole lot of pretty old buildings!

Unfortunately for us, the local guide we had in Prague spoke with an accent that was difficult to understand, and consequently we missed quite a fair bit of the 'history lessons'. I think that would have helped us to understand and enjoy the experience in Prague a whole lot more. Sigh. In contrast, our local guide in Budapest was excellent. I think that really resulted in a much more enjoyable experience in Budapest.

Also, on my part, I suffered excruciating pain in my feet while we were in Prague. It wasn't the usual soreness one gets from walking too much. It's difficult to describe the pain, but it was BAD, BAD, BAD. It might have been due to unsuitable shoes, or just the fact that Prague has cobblestoned streets everywhere! They are really quite tricky to walk on, and they are not very kind to feet (well mine at least anyway :p). We were so worried since Prague was only the first major stop, and we still had a lot of ground (literally) to cover for the whole trip!

We prayed so hard for the pain to be kept under control, and thankfully, it did get better as the days went by. Even now, I'm not 100% well yet; I still need to limp when I get out of bed. Hubby has been bugging me to go and see a doctor; hmm maybe I should huh...

I really thank God that hubby was so understanding and kind throughout the whole trip, even though I had to stop ever so often to ease the pain! :(

Anyway, that was Prague. More about Budapest in my next post!

Prague-Bratislava-Budapest

With a heavy heart, we left Prague and headed for Budapest. We had a brief stop in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. We had a quick lunch there and wandered around the city centre, which seemed to be rather small.

So cute :)

The Slovak National Theatre

There were some rather interesting things in Bratislava. We learnt that the most photo-opted sight in Bratislava is a bronze statue called 'The Watcher', who peeps out of an imaginary manhole! There are also other quirky statues scattered around the old town, so it was rather fun trying to spot them, heh.

The Watcher :)

View from Bratislava Castle; that's the Danube river...

We arrived in Budapest late in the afternoon. Our first activity there was a Hungarian Gypsy Night, which turned out to be quite fun! We were served ice-cold 'barack palinka' (apricot brandy; reminded me of Archers Peach Schnapps, which I love) and a warm cheese pastry. The cold drink and warm snack went quite nicely together!

Wine was served using long glass pipes; for dinner we had goulash as a starter, various types of meats for the main course and strudel for dessert. The goulash was really yummy! We were also entertained by gypsy dancers throughout the evening; hubby even ended up being 'tortured' by them! He sportingly went up on stage, drank the huge amount of wine given, and undertook an 'obstacle course' on stage while being blindfolded! Poor guy. But he was cool about it all and received a thunderous applause from the audience! :)

The apricot brandy was served inside the little green man, which we got to keep as a souvenir!

Dancers in their colourful costumes!

More of beautiful Prague

We had a full free day, so we took Lonely Planet's advice and visited Charles bridge (again) at dawn before the hordes arrive. Okay, so 8:30 a.m. isn't exactly dawn, but it was good enough. It was really quite an amazing experience. The usually busy bridge was silent and calm. A handful of people were walking to work or school, jogging, or walking their dogs; the buskers and portrait artists had yet to open for business. We walked along, admiring the views from the bridge, and the thirty 18-century statues on the bridge itself. We took our time taking pictures, and there was plenty of space and opportunity to use the tripod!

A lovely, misty morning...

Going fishing!

Walking right over to the Mala Strana (Little Quarter) area, we caught a glimpse of the famous St Nicholas Church, one of the city's greatest Baroque buildings. To the east was the Wallenstein Palace and Gardens. The gardens were rather interesting; there was a giant Renaissance loggia and a fake stalactite grotto full of hidden animals and grotesque faces.

Next stop was the famous Wenceslas Square- a broad, sloping avenue lined with shops, banks and restuarants, dominated by a statue of St Wenceslas on horseback. We were not really interested to look at the shops, so we just took a few photos, had a quick lunch (KFC!) and went on our way to Vysehrad- an ancient fortress perched on a clifftop above the Vltava river.

In Vysehrad we saw the SS Peter & Paul Church, and the famous Slavin cemetery beside it, where many distinguished Czechs are buried, including composers Smetana and Dvorak. I found the cemetery incredibly beautiful; it wasn't scary or depressing, instead, there was a distinct dignified silence about the place that was most enchanting.

The Slavin cemetery

The spectacular view from Vysehrad's southern battlements

Tired from all the walking, we went back to have a rest before going in search of dinner at the shopping centre next to the hotel. We eventually settled for some traditional Czech cuisine, which was really delicious! Beer this time was Budvar (Budweiser I think it was)- one light, one dark! :)

Beef goulash with Karlovy Vary dumplings

Roasted marbled pork with white cabbage, potato dumplings and bread dumplings

A glimpse of Prague

Our city sightseeing tour of Prague began from Czech bridge. The weather that morning was lovely, and this was our view of the Vltava river as we approached the bridge...

We could see Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral from afar. We walked down 'Parizska trida' (Paris Boulevard) to Josefov, Prague's Jewish Quarter. Some of the interesting buildings there include the Jewish Town Hall and the Old-New Synagogue.

Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral

We then made our way past the Rudolfinum, which is home to the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. The roof of the building is highly decorated with statues, and we learnt of a humorous incident played out in the late 1930s. The occupying Nazi authorities demanded that the statue of Jewish composer Felix Mendelssohn be pulled down. The workers were not able to identify which one was Felix Mendelssohn, and they ended up pulling down Hitler's favourite composer- Richard Wagner, instead!

The Rudolfinum; the fine concert hall with excellent acoustics- Dvorak Hall, is inside

We were walking and chatting when the Old Town Bridge Tower of the Charles Bridge sprung unexpectedly into sight! We had arrived at the Square of the Knights of the Cross; the statue of Charles IV, the Church of St Francis and the Church of St Saviour were there. It was rather thrilling to walk on the quaint cobblestoned streets and look up to find amazing buildings all around!

Old Town Bridge Tower of the Charles Bridge

We then moved on to the Old Town Square, dominated by the twin Gothic steeples of Tyn Church and the baroque wedding cake of St Nicholas Church. The famous Astronomical Clock is also there, which springs to life every hour with its parade of apostles and a bell-ringing skeleton. Close to the top of every hour, huge crowds gather near the clock to watch the 'performance'!

Can you spot the skeleton? :)

In the afternoon, we joined an optional excursion to see Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral, Prague's most recognisable landmark. Prague Castle is the largest medieval castle complex in Europe and the ancient seat of Czech kings throughout the ages. St Vitus Cathedral is unbelievably huge; I remember turning one particular corner as we walked, and my mouth fell open in disbelief when I saw the height of the cathedral!

Could not capture the special moment when the cathedral first came into view in that magic corner; so this will have to do....

We had dinner in a lovely restaurant called Restaurant Stoleti. Hubby had a rumpsteak with rosti, and I opted for turkey skewers with Prague ham with apple horseradish sauce which was delicious. The apple horseradish sauce took some getting use to but I got the hang of it after a while! Beer was Krusovice this time :)

That's not rice- it's pasta risoni :)

I thought hubby was mad to bring the tripod along for the trip, but on hindsight, I have to agree it was a splendid decision. Check these out...

The Dancing House; or Ginger & Fred (as in Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire)

The left glass tower resembles a gracefully flexed dancer- Ginger, and the right concrete tower with a metal cupola crowning it is Fred :)

From Munich to Prague

Next morning, we headed for Prague. We stopped at this pretty little place called Nuremberg, and we walked uphill to get a view of the town from above. It was early Sunday morning, and all was peaceful and quiet.

There was a souvenir shop that started to open just as we were leaving, but we managed to catch a glimpse of the lovely Christmas ornaments that were on display. They were so beautiful! Sigh, if only they weren't sold in Euros! :p

We were told that wonderful Christmas markets open as Christmas draws near, and that the atmosphere is just incredible. Christmas colours and spiced wine... mmm. If we ever go back to Germany, we shall certainly make it nearer to Christmas! :)

The fortress at the top of the hill...

Isn't this pretty?

We travelled further on to Pilsen (Plzen), which is apparently renowed for its beer. There were some interesting buildings in the town, such as:

The Great Synagogue

The Pilsen town hall- can you see the drawings on its facade?

We finally got to Prague late afternoon, and the first thing lined up later that evening was a cruise down the Vltava River. We were so excited- Prague was our 'dream city' and we were finally there!

Dinner was included- it was a buffet (which wasn't great) and the dining area in the boat turned out to be too cramped. The Pilsner Urquell beer was excellent though! We made it a point to drink the beers that were popular in each of the cities we visited; and so we've ended up drinking more beer on this trip than we have in the last couple of years! Haha :)

The cruise turned out to be quite different from expected. Don't misunderstand, Prague is a beautiful city, but perhaps its beauty cannot best be appreciated by a night cruise down the river. The beauty of Prague is quiet; mysterious even...

So if you're expecting an experience like the cruise in Shanghai (say), where all the buildings are illuminated, you would be rather disappointed! In fact, it was rather dark most of the time; hmm maybe it's because the buildings are further apart and further away from the riverbank...

The famous Charles Bridge

The beautiful neo-Renaissance National Theatre