Saturday 21 February 2009

AFA - Vienna Austria (no kangaroos) February 2009


(a picture of the hat I bought - clearly Austria has a sense of humor - the "Austria, no kangaroos" logo was very common)

Well, it was mid-term school break, time to hit the road again!! Last year at this time we did the Germany, Switzerland, Holland loop. This time we decided to hit three major cities in Eastern Europe, Vienna, Prague and Budapest. We flew into Vienna, got a family room and used it as home base for the whole 9 day trip. That was nice, it allowed us to just take overnight bags to Prague and Budapest.

Vienna used Euros (1.25 = 1$) and spoke German, Prague used Crowns (20=1$) and spoke Czech, and Budapest used Forints (200=1$) and spoke Hungarian. So including the UK pounds in my pocket, I was carrying four different types of currency at one time or another. You should have seen the look on the faces when I accidentally would try to spend an inappropriate bill. It was very confusing to figure out the best prices.

The people were incredibly friendly, often approaching us and offering directions. The first day there a very large, scruffy young man approached John and I while we were waiting for the girls to get ready. I was very uncomfortable, fearing the worst. He just came up and said in pretty good English, "Can I help you find something?" When I told him we were just waiting for the rest of the family, he proceeded to point out some of the nearby sights and then just walked away.

One characteristic that fit all three was the buildings had style. Even many of the more mundane buildings had little touches of class that made each of the three cities very beautiful and "old world" feeling. To honor that, I am adding a "miscellaneous pictures" section to the bottom of each of these three posts.

Haydn Hotel
Here's where we stayed. Despite the appearance of the scaffolding outside, it was perfect. It was a block from the 'U-Bahn' (subway), in the middle of the biggest shopping district in Vienna (called Mariahilfer strasse), and reasonably priced. A weird coincidence, as you can see there is an English language movie theater next door. Right next to the theater there was also a small, but incredibly ornate on the inside, church who's bells rang incredibly loudly early Sunday mornings. Notice the statue of Haydn in front.


The House of Music
Vienna (called "Wein" locally, pronounced "veen") is known for music, with the Strauss family, Haydn and Brahms being from there. There was a hands on museum about the major composers.
The coolest exhibit was the one pictured below, at which (using Wii-like technology) you have the opportunity to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. You pick a song off the menu and hold the baton, and conduct. The orchestra follows your lead, as slow or fast as you conduct. But, if you go too slow or too fast for too long, the orchestra puts down their instruments and yells at you in German. Hilarious!


Trinity Column / Plague Monument
Europe was devastated by the plague 400 years ago, and each of these cities have monuments to those who died and to indicate the gratitude of the survivors. One third of Vienna died.


Ferris Wheel
This is in the Prater, a park donated by the emperor Franz Joseph to the people. It is 100+ years old and over 200 feet tall. Great views from the top. Each of the wooden "cars" are shaped like train cars and will hold about 30.



Charles Church
This is a "votive church", a gift to honor someone. This church is dedicated to a local Bishop (want to guess his name?) that served the people of Vienna during the plague.
The really interesting thing about it is the opportunity to go up to the painted dome while it is being restored. You can see how they distort the pictures in order that they look normal 200 feet below. Note how they look a little squashed in order that they look proportionate from the floor.


St Stephen's Cathedral
It seems that every European city has one of these massive, skyline busting cathedrals and Vienna is no exception. St Stephen's is Austria's national cathedral. It was damaged in the second world war and the roof had to be replaced. For donations, you got your own tile to be placed on the roof. Hence the colorful tiled roof that otherwise makes no sense with the architecture. The view from the tallest tower is incredible, but you earn it by climbing 343 steps!

Two different Hofburg Palaces - Amazing Religious relics
Vienna was the home of the Holy Roman Emperor (HRE), both king and the pope. As such, these guys lived pretty good. But they also had a passion for religious artifacts and the influence to get them.
In the first row you see the crown of the HRE. Interestingly, we saw many portraits during our visits to these cities, and if the picture contained the HRE, he was wearing this same crown.
But even more amazing is their claim about the next items. Pictures were discouraged, but Mom pulled out the cell phone to capture these, hence the lesser quality - but still very interesting shots.
The first picture is of a gold, jewel encrusted cross. The back of the cross had a hidden compartment designed to hold the next two items.
The second picture is the spear that pierced His side on the cross.
The third picture, the cross shaped item, is a metal container. The vertical piece of wood in it is a piece of His cross, complete with a nail hole.
Astounding, if real.


Viennese Chocolate!!!
It would be a catastrophe to miss that. Each of these displays in the chocolate shop window are made of chocolate. As you will see in the last picture, the catastrophe was averted - more than once. The specialty is called 'sachertorte', basically chocolate cake. The Allens don't miss excuses to eat chocolate cake! (nor did we want to hurt any feelings)




Another Palace - Used as the Natural History Museum



Classy public toilets

The story behind these unique, luxurious, toilets is that around 1900 a local entrepreneur wanted to convince the public that he had a chemical concoction to really get bathrooms clean, so he bought two wine cellars and hired Vienna's most famous architect Adolf Loos to make them into public toilets. (get the irony? Adolf Loos built two loos?) They are really nice, and free.


Funny Shots
First, Vienna (being the classy town that it is) had the classiest McDonald's we've ever seen! And second, horse drawn carriages were popular. Looking carefully you can see they even carry a bucket to pick up their 'leavings.' This particular carriage must have been in a rush, because you can see a 'gift' by the back left wheel. They didn't stop.


Miscellaneous buildings that caught our eye ...


AFA - Budapest Hungary February 2009

Hungary is an interesting country. Just a 100 years ago, it was very powerful, participating in the rule of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Then they made the mistake of siding with Hitler in WWII and were eventually 'liberated' by the Soviets leaving them a Communist state until 1989. Today Hungary is poor, but our experience in Budapest (boo'-dah-pescht) was great. The people were very friendly and the city is lovely.
Hungary has a few famous sons, Rubik - the inventor of the Rubik's Cube is from here and you see them on sale in the souvenir shops. Edward Teller (A-Bomb), John Von Neuman (computers) and the founder of Intel, Andy Grove are Hungarian too.
Budapest is really two cities, "Buda" and (you guessed it) "Pest" divided by the Danube river. The word 'pest' goes back to a Slavic word for "oven" and is named that because the whole area sits on thermal springs. One of the most popular local activities is soaking in the thermal baths, and they have huge facilities for doing it. We didn't have a lot of time, and were a little squeamish about the idea, so we passed on that. The guide book describes "fat men in speedos and old women in bikinis." We weren't up for that.

The Cityscape


Great Synagogue
Budapest has a large Jewish population, and in Hungary over 600,000 Jews were exterminated during the war after Hitler took over the country. This Synagogue is the second largest in the world, after the one in New York. After WWII it was refurbished with finanacial support from Tony Curtis, he and his daughter Jamie Lee are supporters today.


Matthias church
An incredible looking church that was so dark inside, it was difficult to get good shots. But take a look at the walls - unlike any church we have seen. You can see the outside is being refurbished.




Statue of St Istvan
He was the first Christian king and had an interesting "missionary style." If you would not convert to Christianity, he would cut off you head. To make his point he quartered his uninterested uncle and sent each quarter on tour as a missionary aid. It worked.


Danube at night
We took a boat ride down the Danube to see the buildings lit up. It was beautiful, poorly captured in these shots because we were inside the boat (very cold outside). As you can see, Brittany was more interested in the Game Boy - but the rest of us enjoyed it.



The Fisherman's Bastion
The seven spires represent the seven Magyar (mud-jar) tribes. The Magyar settled Hungary a 1000 years ago. The cones represent the style of tent they used.
The old fisherman's market was just below this point, so the fishermen had responsibility for guarding this corner of the castle, hence the name.


Parliament
Interesting story ... this building was built to house the government of Eastern Europe, the Austro-Hungarian empire. But today, it only houses the government of Hungary, so only uses about 1/8 of the building. It is designed after the British House of Parliament, all the way to being positioned on the river, just like the one in London.


The Chain Bridge (aka Szechenyi Lanchid)
150 years ago the only connection between Buda and Pest across the Danube were pontoon barges that had to be removed in the winter. In good weather they still could cross by ferry, in bad weather they crossed on the ice of the frozen river. It was not uncommon to get stuck on one side or the other waiting for the river to re-thaw. That happened to Count Szechenyi, causing him to miss his father's funeral. That inspired his commissioning the city's first bridge. Note the lions guarding the entrance.


Hero's Square / Millennium Monument
The Magyar tribes moved into the area that became Hungary in 896. A thousand years later, 1896, the country threw a gigantic celebration of its anniversary. For the celebration it built many of its most famous monuments, including this monument, the Parliament building, the Opera House, Matthias Church (rebuilt), St Istvan's Basilica, and the Fisherman's Bastion.
The top of the 118 foot tall pillar is the angel Gabriel offering the crown to St Istvan who would then convert the country to Christiandom. Around the base, on horseback, are the most famous Hungarians in history. It is cool, it looks like they are riding together and the horses are walking around the pillar.


St Istvan's Cathedral
Very interesting. Although this is a Christian church, the statue over the alter is St Istvan (Stephen). The most interesting (grisly?) thing about the interior is they have his right hand ("the holy right hand") in a jeweled box in a little chapel. You had to pay extra to see it, so we passed, but I got a picture of the sign that shows what it looks like. Ewww!


Miscellaneous buildings ...