Dreary, Damp Day in Vienna

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

The expected rain arrived but, luckily, it was just an intermittent drizzle rather than a steady rain. It still made for a damp, rather dreary, day but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

I had about 5 stops today and I got to most of them. First up was the Austrian National Library. What??? I know you’re thinking, “who goes to a library on vacation?” Certainly not me, but this place is magnificent. I visited the State Hall which is the tourist spot. It’s not your regular reading room.

Even from the outside it doesn’t look like any library I’ve ever been to.
The stacks of books are on either side of the entrance.
One of the many statues. This one was just inside the entrance.
One of the beautiful ceiling medallions.
Dad had a globe when we were kids but it didn’t look like this. Ours was plastic, this one is from 1693 and was owned by Emperor Francis I Stephen of Lorraine. It has been on display in this hall since the middle 18th century.
Long view of the State Hall.
The upper stacks and part of the ceiling. It is incredibly beautiful.

I would have never thought to visit here but I saw a YouTube video of the top 10 places to visit in Vienna and this was on it. I only spent about 30 minutes here but am so glad I made the stop.

Then it was a short walk to Michaelerplatz, a city center square and home to, among other things, Hofburg Palace with its Sisi Museum and Imperial Apartments. Hofburg Palace was the home of the Habsburg Dynasty between the 13th and early 20th centuries. The last Emperor to live here was Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife Empress Elizabeth.

Front of the building.
Replica of the gown worn by Empress Elizabeth at the Hungarian coronation in 1867. It was designed by the most famous designer of the day, Charles Fredrick Worth. I can’t even imagine wearing this. How did she go to the bathroom??
Elizabeth’s fan.
Her bedroom/lounging salon.
The Emperor’s study.
Small salon. They really liked the color red; it was everywhere.
As Palace dining rooms go, this one is pretty small.
This was part of Elizabeth’s exercise room. I’m not sure what she could have done on this but, okay.

The place was wall-to-wall people so I didn’t dawdle too much. I’ve seen a lot of palaces so I didn’t feel the need to read every plaque. There were just too many people. Actually it’s the first place I’ve been to on the trip that was so crowded.

After the palace I went back out in the drizzle and headed to the Town Hall Square. My plan had been to visit the Town Hall but I couldn’t find a way in. This is also where the big Christmas Market is so maybe the tourist entrance was obscured by the booths. Or maybe I just missed it. But so I didn’t waste a trip, I picked up a couple of sweet treats.

I got the Mozart, which is chocolate cake covered with marzipan. I don’t think I’ve ever had marzipan so I’m looking forward to trying it. Maybe tomorrow.
I also picked up a Maroni. I don’t think these are filled with anything but they were covered in chocolate so who cares what’s inside.
Looking over the market from the porch of the Town Hall. I thought the door would be up there… it wasn’t.

By this time it’s raining a little harder. Up until then I hadn’t been wearing gloves because it didn’t feel that cold but now the wind was picking up so I bundled up again. To keep my head dry (no umbrella) I had my hood up over my hat. I’m sure I looked lovely (no selfies) but at least I stayed dry. Well, mostly dry.

My next stop was the Votive Church, which would have been only about a 10 minute walk if I hadn’t run into construction that shut down the sidewalk. I had to walk back a block and around a ginormous building so I spent an extra 5 minutes getting there. Not a big deal except I was getting cold and my feet were tired.

This church was built on the site of the 1853 assassination attempt on Emperor Franz Joseph. He survived the attempt and his brother, Maximillian who later became Emperor of Mexico, called for donations from communities in the Empire to build this church. BTW. Things didn’t end well for Max in Mexico. In 1867, he was executed by members of the Mexican Republic. His memorial was held in the small salon in Hofburg Palace (see photo above).

Votive Church.
The room was closed off and there wasn’t a sign so I don’t know what it’s all about. Maybe a baptistery? The church must not have been damaged too badly in the war as most of the windows appeared to be in great condition.
Of course the pulpit.
Compared to the main altar of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, this is fairly simple but still pretty.
This side altar looked pure white.

My last stop was going to be the Mozart House Museum. This part of the trip is when I decided to change my GPS’s name from Gracie to B*tch! I was about 15 minutes away but when I got within a couple of minutes she kept walking me in circles. When I finally heard “you’ve arrived”, once again there was nothing. Then I found a small plaque on the wall of a restaurant. I think this might be a building where he lived or possibly the house he died in. The latter stood until the mid 18th century when it was torn down. There’s a different building there now so I guess this could be it. Or not. I have no idea.

This building has something to do with Mozart but I have no idea what.
He died in 1791 so I don’t think this is where he died. Anyone read German? Translations are welcome.

I tried again for the museum and in a few minutes I was in familiar territory… St. Stephen’s Cathedral. It turns out the museum is around the corner from my hotel. Since I was tired (walked over 14,000 steps with just a short rest in the church), cold and very hungry (it was almost 2pm and I hadn’t eaten lunch yet), I decided to go home instead of visiting the museum. It’s close and open until 6pm so I can go anytime in the next 2 days.

Back at the hotel a woman at the front desk reheated my leftovers from yesterday. It was just as good the second time around. After lunch, I decided a nap was in order. Tonight is the Mozart/Strauss concert and I didn’t want to fall asleep during the performance.

Now I’m just hanging around the room until I leave around 7:30. The performance is at 8:30 and it’s only about 15 minutes away, but I’d rather be early than late. Maybe I’ll get a glass of champagne to celebrate Thanksgiving. Or maybe not. Wine usually makes me pretty sleepy. I’ll report on the concert tomorrow as I’ll probably get back pretty late.

I wish everyone a joyous Thanksgiving with family and friends.

Welcome to Vienna

As usual, my travel day was a little challenging. I walked the 3 blocks over cobblestones to one of the main streets in hope of catching a taxi. But in spite of spotting several empty cabs, only one stopped for me and he wouldn’t accept the fare. I think he thought I wanted him to drive me all the way to Vienna instead of taking me to the train station only 5 minutes away. So, I ended up calling for an Uber. Even though it took about 25 minutes to get a ride, I still made the 9:15am train. It didn’t matter that much as I could have taken any train (they leave every hour) but it was nice not to have to wait in the station.

The one-hour ride was uneventful except for having to listen to “Old MacDonald had a Farm” for the entire trip. It wouldn’t have been too bad except it was in Slovak. But as soon as it stopped playing the baby started to cry so I guess the song was better than the alternative.

I arrived at the Hotel Domizil without difficulty, dropped off my luggage, picked up my map and headed out to St. Stephen’s Cathedral, which is only about a block away. The hotel is in a perfect location as it’s in the center of the Old Town.

The Cathedral was named after St. Stephen, the first martyr of Christianity who was executed in 34 A.D.
The beautiful Capistran Chancel on the outside of the building.

The church was crowded except most of the tourists chose not to pay the 7 euro fee to gain access to the main part of the church so they stayed behind gates in the Nave. As a result, it was pretty easy to see the church and get photos without a zillion people in the way.

The main altar from the Nave
Wiener Neustädter Altar

The story behind the next statue is that a Countess accused her maid of stealing a piece of jewelry. After the house was searched and the real thief found, the Countess felt so bad about the false accusation she commissioned this statue for the church.

Servant Madonna; I could see only a little of the original gold color. The statue has discolored over the years from the smoke from the candle that sits just to the left of the statue. I would think that they’d clean it off occasionally.

Like much of the church, the organ was destroyed by fire in the final days of WWII. While it had been rebuilt, it only started functioning again in 2020.

The main organ in the north wing of the church.

The choir organ was used for many years while they were rebuilding the main organ. Also notice that most of the window has clear glass rather than stained glass. That was the case in all the windows. The windows were also destroyed during the war and have never been redone.

The choir organ is now connected to the main organ by underground fiberoptic cables so they can both be played at the same time.
The baptistery.
Tomb of Frederick III, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1452-1493.
The Wiener Neustädter Altar just to the left of the main altar. The side panels open and close depending on the holiday being celebrated.

After spending about an hour in the church, I headed back to the hotel to ask for lunch recommendations. She sent me to a lovely restaurant just a few blocks away.

The Purstner Restaurant wasn’t decorated for the holiday but it was very pretty just the same.
I had pork medallions with a light mushroom gravy. But the star of this dish was the Spätzle… absolutely delicious.

I only ate about half the food but the server gave me the rest in a to-go box. That is very unusual in Europe but he said I was very friendly so he wanted to do something nice for me. There’s a microwave in the hotel so I may have it for lunch tomorrow.

My room was ready when I got back to the hotel and it’s adorable.

The bed is actually a reasonable height. So many of them in Europe are practically on the floor which makes them difficult to get out of.
There’s also a little sitting area.

It’s supposed to rain over the next 2 days so I decided to check out the main Christmas Market in the Town Hall Square which is about a 25-minute walk from the hotel. On the way I passed 2 much smaller, markets.

It was still light but I passed it again on my way back.
This is a different angle of the same market on my way home.
I love the way this statue is lit.

At the 2nd market I had a bit of a snack. These are Sicilian Arancini, a rice ball filled with stuff and fried. While I’m trying to stick to local food, I haven’t had an arancini since I was in Sicily in 2019 and couldn’t resist.

These have prosciutto and mozzarella cheese. While not as good as the ones in Italy (but then what is??) it was still pretty tasty.

A few minutes later I arrived at the Town Hall and the main Christmas Market. It was incredible!! Now I know why Vienna is always on the top 10 list of best Christmas markets in Europe.

There were entrances all around the square.
The Town Hall is in the background.

While the markets in Budapest and Bratislava were 75% food/drink booths and 25% goods, this was just the opposite which is what I expected at the markets. I saw a ton of ornaments, candles, woolens, wood, metal and even Harry Potter wands. I’m not sure how the wands got in there but it was fun to see them.

One booth had beautifully hand carved items made out of olive wood from Israel.
There were plenty of nutcrackers.
These are beautiful wooden candle holders.
The glass ornaments are beautiful.

In addition to the booths, the park area around the square was also beautifully lit.

There were lots of different nativity scenes, some traditional…

And some not so traditional…

This was my favorite of the non-traditional scenes. I think the bears are adorable.

The temperature was fairly mild but my feet were tired so after about 90 minutes I headed home. I had been looking forward to seeing this market and it did not disappoint.

Tomorrow’s itinerary will depend on weather as I’m not really interested in walking around in the rain. I’m here until Sunday morning so I have plenty of time to see what I want. Tomorrow night is the Mozart/Strauss concert at the park just a few blocks away. I’m really looking forward to that.

I want to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow. Enjoy!!

Bratislava Exploration

Today was pretty much wash, rinse, repeat of yesterday minus the nap. I didn’t need a nap because I got 7 whole hours of sleep last night!! I don’t usually get that at home so it was a special treat.

I was in no hurry to get out of the house so I had a leisurely continental breakfast and hung out around the house until mid-morning. Then I headed out of Old Town to see the Church of St. Elizabeth about 15 minutes from here.

For obvious reasons, this is more commonly called The Blue Church.
The beautiful medallion on the front of the church. I assume it’s the image of St. Elizabeth.

This was just a pass-by as the church isn’t open to tourists. But I did manage to peak inside through the glass on the front door.

The blue is carried on the inside as well. It looks like a really pretty church.

I only walked another 10-15 minutes before getting to Eurovea, a large mall on the river.

Not sure what the statues were all about but they looked like they were from the 18th century.

I had forgotten a couple of sundries (one at home and one in Budapest) so this was a convenient place to pick up replacements. Besides, it was a warm place to walk for a little while. In fact, I got so warm I had to shed one of my layers.

The place was pretty big, several blocks long and 3 levels high.

I read that there was another Christmas market here and I stumbled into it when I walked down the wrong wing to exit the mall after finishing my shopping.

There was a carousal and 6 booths, so a very small market.

Three of the booths were hot drinks and three were food. I decided to finally try a giant sausage. I liked this one because it didn’t have a ginormous bun. It was served cut up on a plate… much less filling.

I thought it might be very spicy but it wasn’t. There was an interesting flavor and, because of the slightly orange color, I think it might have been paprika. Later I saw a different booth with blood sausage. Since I don’t even want to think about eating anything with “blood” in the name, I’m going with paprika.

After lunch I followed the river back to familiar territory. It was much colder on this part of the walk and I wished I had my long sleeved silk undershirt back on. Luckily it was only about 15 minutes before I got away from the river so it didn’t last too long.

A walk on the embarcadero of the Danube River.

When I got closer to Old Town, I found yet another market, this one several blocks long, but like the others it was mostly food and drink.

There was another giant tree.

This was the first market I saw wood crafts. I didn’t buy anything because I am now a woodcrafter myself.

I’m going to show the guys in the shop this picture. I would love to be able to make the small trivets with some of my scrap wood. I wonder how I would clamp it together to set the glue? Hmmm.

Then it was back to Old Town and my flat where I did one last quick load of clothes. There wasn’t much, just a few things I had worn since I did a load on Sunday. But since I won’t have another washer until I get to Brussels next week, I thought I’d wash what I had. I found the 20-minute cycle so it was a quick load this time. Hopefully, clothes will have time to dry before I pack up in the morning.

It’s been a wonderful 3 days in Bratislava. It’s a new city for me and it was fun place to explore. It’s much smaller than Budapest so it’s very walkable.

Friendly greeter at the “Original Slovakia Restaurant” just around the corner from the Main Square.

I’ve enjoyed the Christmas markets but have had more sweets in the last week than I usually eat in months.

These look pretty good.

I bought a cherry strudel for tonight after my pasta dinner. I can’t wait to try it.

This is a much smaller piece than some of them I’ve seen.

I just love all the old building with beautiful steeples.

I don’t know what building this is but I saw it this morning on my way to the Blue Church.

Tomorrow I head to Vienna, only about an hour away by train. I haven’t been there in 40 years so I’m very excited to see it again. They’re supposed to have one of the best Christmas Markets in Europe. I can’t wait!

Talk to you from Austria.

Old Town Bratislava

Today was an easy day. After a continental breakfast in my flat, I headed out to St. Martin’s Cathedral. I saw it from the outside yesterday but didn’t go in. Even after just one day in the city I’m beginning to understand the layout and the Cathedral is only about a 5-minute walk from the flat. It’s the area the cab driver first dropped me off yesterday.

The Cathedral, the largest church in Bratislava, is known for being the Coronation Church of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1563-1830. Until the end of WWI, what became Czechoslovakia was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1993, Czechoslovakia broke into two countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The entrance is up the stairs and around the other side of the building.

Of course, there are the beautiful stained glass windows.

And a pulpit and gorgeous side altars.

Let’s not forget the main altar.

It was very early and the church had just opened so I had it all to myself. Afterwards, I walked across the street to the river. On the far side of the New Bridge is the UFO Tower. I could have walked across the bridge and gone up in the observation deck…. I didn’t.

I had been out only just over an hour but was already tired and cold so I headed home. Michael’s Gate, the last remaining medieval fortifications and one of the oldest building in town, is my landmark to find the flat. It’s on a side street behind me.

Michael’s Gate in the background. This walkway is flat but around the corner towards my house is wicked.

For some reason I was super tired today so when I got home I indulged in a short nap. It was wonderful! I read for while than made a pasta lunch. Once I leave here on Wednesday I’m back in hotels for the next week so I thought I’d take advantage of the kitchen for a few home-cooked meals. It was pretty good.

I decided to visit the Christmas market while it was still light. I know my way back to the flat but the cobblestoned street/sidewalk is treacherous when I can see where I’m putting my feet. It’s a broken ankle waiting to happen if I do it in the dark. I have plenty more markets to visit over the next 2 weeks so I’ll see lots of Christmas lights.

The Town Hall is on one side of the square.
This is the other side. The square is about 1 block square so it’s fairly small.

This market is mostly food and drink. I tried a little bit of mulled blackberry wine but I didn’t like it. I’m not wild about red wine so it doesn’t surprise me but I thought I’d give it a try.

I did, though, love the chimney cake. They had these in Budapest but I didn’t get one so I’m glad I found them here.

The outside is crunchy but the inside cake is very soft. The inside of mine was coated with Nutella and rolled in cinnamon and sugar. What’s not to love!

Most of the food was the same type I saw in Budapest so I don’t feel too bad about eating at home.

Making potato pancakes. I imagine these are just as good as the one I had in Budapest.
These look yummy!
And of course, lots of strudel and candy. These are so stuffed with filling; I may have to try one tomorrow.
The tree was huge and I’m sure it looks pretty when the lights are lit.

After wandering the market I explored a few of the side streets and found Palffy Palace built by Count Palffy in 1747. Its claim to fame is that 6 year old Mozart supposedly gave a concert here in 1762. Not all historians agree but there is a plaque on the wall so the city is going with it.

You can see the plaque between the two windows to the right of the portico.

That was my day; much more relaxing than yesterday. Tomorrow will pretty much be the same but I’ll head away from the river to check out a few places that were closed today.

Have a great night (day) everyone.

Oh What a Day It Has Been

It started off well enough. I walked around the corner of the hotel, caught the tram and within minutes I was at the train station. A kind stranger helped me get my suitcase/backpack up the stairs and it was off to my train.

The station is pretty small. It actually took longer to get to my car (2nd from front) than it did to walk to the track.

After an almost uneventful (more on that later) 2 1/2 hour train ride, I arrived at the Bratislava Central Station, which isn’t much bigger than the one in Budapest. I was lucky to grab the last luggage locker and within minutes had my bags stored and was off to get a cab to the city center.

I have to admit that I wasn’t terribly impressed with where he dropped me off, especially when I saw the 6 or so Christmas booths. My first thought was, really, I came here for this??? It turns out this wasn’t the main square, just a place somewhat close to the city center but I didn’t know it at the time.

This was the entrance to the Christmas Market. Not very impressive.
Beautiful hand carved wooden nativity.
Cute little carousel.
There were a handful more just like this. I wasn’t too impressed.
They had several of these adorable little houses for the kids to play in.

It was only about 10:30 and I couldn’t get into my Airbnb flat until mid-afternoon so I decided to head up to the Bratislava Castle. But before setting out, I decided to have my daily hot chocolate. That’s when I had my first adventure.

I was rather surprised that it was served in such a tiny cup, but I didn’t think much of it until I tried to drink it. It wasn’t hot chocolate so much as it was a cup of melted chocolate. Seriously, think melted Hersey bars. I tried adding the cream but all that did was make the thick chocolate creamier. I even tried putting in a little water to thin it out but then all I had was runny chocolate. While not exactly what I had in mind (and it wasn’t even hot, just warm) it’s still chocolate so of course I ate every bit of it.

After paying for my melted chocolate bar, I headed out to the castle, way up the hill.

Yes, I had to walk all the way up there!

There were about a zillion stairs to the top, none of which had had rails. I took it slow but I finally made it.

The baroque garden behind the castle.
For you Harry Potter fans, the first thing I thought of when I saw these guys was the brothers from the Deathly Hallows.
These are just some of the zillion more stairs I climbed inside the castle. Notice there aren’t any handrails here either. Getting down was even more fun than going up.

The Castle is a combination of several museums. It’s an art gallery, an archeological museum, a Slovakian history museum and a Resistance Museum.

There was no signage explaining the chapel, but it was very modern compared to everything else in the building.
There were many gorgeous wood carvings. There were not a lot of signs so I don’t know how old they are but they were all beautiful.
This was one of my favorites.

Here are a few things from the prehistoric period.

These are in remarkable condition. You could see the tiny lines where the pottery had been put back together but only if you looked for them.
I prefer white gold jewelry but I wouldn’t turn this down if someone gave it to me. Beautiful!

The resistance museum had tributes to several of the resistance fighters. The items in the photo below belonged to Jozef Gabcik. He was part of the plot to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich in 1942. A quick history lesson….Heydrich was head of, among other things, the Gestapo. He also chaired the Wannsee Conference that outlined the Final Solution which aimed to deport and murder Jews in occupied Europe. On May 27, 1942, he was ambushed by a team of Czech and Slovak soldiers and died from his injuries several days later. Jozef was one of those soldiers. He and 6 other soldiers were tracked to a house in Prague where they decided to commit suicide rather than be taken alive by the SS.

As you would expect, the view from the castle was beautiful.

I’ll be following the Danube for most of the trip.

It took quite some time to walk back down the hill and going down the stairs without a handrail was very scary. I was able to use the wall as a guide some of the way and yet another kind stranger gave me his arm to hold for the last of the very steep stairs that didn’t even have a wall. But I made it down in one piece.

I found another cute place for lunch.

It was a tiny place with only 3 inside tables but the decorations were adorable.
Even though it was cold out, the beer looked so good. It actually was pretty tasty and I’m not that fond of beer.
For lunch I had gnocchi with cheese and pancetta (Italian bacon). It was delicious and the portion was perfect.

After lunch I headed back to the train station to get my luggage and took the cab to the flat. That’s when the real adventure began. It turns out that my Airbnb flat is in a building in the pedestrian only zone. The cab dropped me off as close as he could and pointed me in the right direction. I walked about 4 blocks uphill (of course it was) over the cobblestones (they were the small round top kind that are very hard to walk on) dragging my carry-on size rollaboard and backpack. I did okay until GPS said “you’ve arrived” except there was no door and none of the addresses matched the one I was looking for. Very, very, very long story short it took over an hour to get into the apartment. Complicating everything was that my phone was running out of juice and my Airalo internet connection kept disconnecting. So, I had very little juice and no internet. Once again, the kindness of strangers was plentiful. There is a small hotel just a few doors down, so I popped in there for help. One of the women checking in let me hook up to her phone internet so I could message my host. Then, Adrianne, the desk clerk left the desk, locked up the hotel and came out to help me with the lock box. I know how to use a lock box, but I couldn’t get the code to work. The bottom line was…. there was no address on the building; the lock boxes were in the building across the walkway and on the ground and behind a bike rack. Gee, I wonder why I had trouble finding them. There were two lock boxes. The key in the box that opened with the code I was given, was not the key to my flat. It was truly a nightmare. The flat is lovely but…. OMG!!

When I went out to get groceries, I stumbled into the main square, where the actual Christmas market is located. The one I saw earlier was just a tiny one. And it turns out that the main square is only a few blocks from the flat so it will be fun to explore tomorrow.

These were in the window of a Christmas store I have to check out tomorrow.
The square is fairly small but there are quite a few booths packed on it.

I didn’t really walk around the market because I wanted to get home before dark. And, it’s just as well, because when I set off to get groceries, I didn’t pay attention to how I got to the store. So, on the way back, I didn’t remember which way I had turned and had no idea where the flat was. REALLY?!? Once again, the kindness of strangers saved the day. I went into a restaurant and asked if I could hook up to their WiFi so I could get GPS to work. I was only a few turns away from my street and now I’ve memorized the landmarks so I should be good to go.

Oh, wait, there’s more. When I got home and unpacked, I realized that I had accidently thrown away the beautiful hand-made ornament I bought yesterday. Remember when I said the train ride was mostly uneventful? Well, while on the train I threw away what I thought was garbage but it was actually my ornament. I thought I had put the ornament in my suitcase so didn’t even look in the bag. It wasn’t until I got to the flat and unpacked that I realized I still had the garbage but not the ornament. My heart is broken!!!

Oh, and I’m on hour 3 of washing one load (probably about 6 items) of laundry. There’s supposed to be a 20 minute cycle but I didn’t find it. Why does one load of wash need 3 hours?? And, that was the shortest cycle. There’s one that’s 12 hours. Seriously!! I have more laundry to do and have messaged the host about which button is the 20-minute cycle.

Is today over yet!!!

A Day in Buda

It was another cold day but it was sunny; at least once the rain stopped. Since I wasn’t interested in going out in the cold while it was raining, I had a late breakfast and hung out in my room until about 1000 when the sun came out.

I walked to the river and crossed the Chain Bridge to the Buda side. As I crossed the bridge I could really feel the wind and it made a cold day even colder but the view was beautiful.

Chain Bridge up close and personal from the Pest side of the river.
The Parliament building with the countryside in the distance.

Since I had no desire to walk up who knows how many stairs to get to the top of Buda hill, I got in line for the funicular. I could have taken the bus for free but what the heck, I thought the funicular would be more fun. It took about 30 minutes to get my ticket and the ride was about 90 seconds long.

See the glass building on top? That’s as far as it went. Truthfully I’m not sure it even took 90 seconds.

Once on the top, there was an overlook with a beautiful view of Pest.

I followed the crowd away from the funicular to the main street and headed toward Matthias Church. The outside of the church is prettier than the Basilica, which rather plain. The official name is the Church of the Assumption of the Buda Castle.

The inside, though, was much less ornate than the Basilica.

St. Emeric Chapel. He was another saint from Hungary.
The tomb of King Bella III and his wife, Anne de Chatillon.
Main altar

The pulpit is much less ornate than the heavily carved ones I’ve seen in other churches in Europe, but it’s still beautiful in its simplicity.

The hand paintings are beautiful.

Back outside, I walked across the courtyard to Fisherman’s Bastion. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and has amazing views from the terraces.

I took my hat off for 30 seconds to get the picture; it went right back on.
I assume this is St. Matthias.
Part of Fisherman’s Bastion.
Gorgeous view over the river. It was too cold to take off my hat.
The church from the side.

Then it was time for my daily hot chocolate and a little snack so I popped into this adorable cafe.

The inside was multi-level but luckily they had a table on the main floor so I didn’t have to climb the steep stairs.
I thought Santa’s sleigh was appropriate for the season.
European restaurants make the best hot chocolate, rich and creamy, especially when I mix in the cream. Oh, so good!
The chicken soup was delicious but it was very difficult to work around the carrots….they were everywhere!

Then it was time to head back to the funicular and the short ride down the hill. I was tired and cold so instead of walking back across the river, I hopped on the #16 bus. Actually, it was more like I held on for dear life. There was just enough room for me to get on the bus, but barely enough for the driver to close the door behind me. When he opened the door at the next stop, I practically fell out. Luckily, there was a small handle to hold on to so catastrophe was averted. Enough people got out so I was able to get myself deeper into the bus until my stop. Then it was on the Metro #1 and home to my warm, cozy room.

After a short nap, I headed back out to the Christmas market but not before we had a little excitement. As I was putting on my shoes, the fire alarm went off but it stopped after just a few seconds. When I went downstairs to get directions to the market, I asked about it. Apparently a woman on the 5th floor took a super hot, super long shower and the steam set off the fire alarm. Of course, the alarm shut down the elevator so the desk clerk had to run up 6 flights of stairs (counting starts at ground floor) to make sure everything was ok. It was, excitement over.

The market I went to today is at the end of the #1 Metro, only 4 stops from my hotel. It is a small market, so it seemed much more crowded as people were in a much smaller space. My first stop was dinner as I wanted to be able to walk it off before I came home. While there were plenty of giant sausages, there were different choices than I saw last night.

I think these are foot long sausages on a ginormous bun. That’s way too much bread, even for me.

I saw someone eating a giant dumpling with gravy and someone else with chicken and gravy over spätzle. I opted for beef and gravy (noticing a gravy pattern?) over a potato pancake. I saw someone eating one and asked about it. She told me the name, but of course I don’t remember. It’s a very traditional Hungarian dish.

It was very rich but, oh so good. I only ate about 3/4 of it. That’s cheese sprinkled on top.

Then I strolled the market. These booths had more handicrafts than the market at the Basilica.

Hand made wooden miniatures.
Woven scarves that were gorgeous.
Silver and glass angels. I’ve made something similar in stained glass.
These are hand carved out of macadamia nuts.

The vendor told me that he and his family started doing these to keep busy during Covid. Now they make them full time. They’re beautiful and very unique.

I bought this small mother/child ornament. I can’t remember the type of shell it is. HUF 6000 is about $16.00. Every vendor and restaurant I saw also took Euro.

I saw quite a bit of jewelry, but once again, I resisted.

These aren’t hand made but they’re still pretty.
These are hand made.

And let’s not forget the sweet treats. The chimney cakes are very popular. You can see the molds on the wall. These form the cake shape, then the inside is coated in whatever you’ve ordered. This one Nutella.

They look delicious but I took a pass as I’d already had too many sweet treats. I bet that’s a sentence you never thought you’d hear me say/write.
There were a zillion types of fillings in the strudel. I think I’ll wait until I get to Vienna to try that tasty treat.

This is one of the treats I bought yesterday. It’s a traditional Hungarian Jewish cake called Flodni with four layers of fillings. From the bottom it has poppy seed, walnut, apple and plum jam.

I ate it this afternoon and it was delicious.

The market wasn’t quite as decorated as yesterday, but it was still pretty.

Some of the handicraft booths.
Looking towards the food booths.
I’m not sure if this statue is always in the bubble or if it’s just for the Christmas market. The sign was wood and surrounded the statue so it probably comes down fairly easily.

The street I walked yesterday was adjacent to the market and is beautifully lit.

The street was filled with these gigantic hanging, brightly lit objects.
This is just one of the shops that were lit.

Since the market isn’t very big, I was done walking around in just about an hour. The metro entrance is right in the square so once I decided to leave I was off the train at my stop in less than 10 minutes; much easier than last night when I couldn’t find the station.

Tomorrow I have a 7:30am train to Bratislava so I’ll leave the hotel around 6:45. The station is only a 15-minute walk or 1 tram stop away but I prefer to leave early in case I have trouble finding it. I’ll miss breakfast, so they’re going to put together a food box for me. It’s about a 2 1/2 hour train ride so I’ll have plenty of time to relax and eat my breakfast. I’ve never been to Bratislava so I’m excited to add a new city/country to my list. I’ll report in tomorrow night. Have a great weekend everyone.

A Day in Pest

Originally Budapest was two separate cities on either side of the Danube River….Buda to the west and Pest (pronounced Pesht) on the east . They were unified into one city 1873. My hotel is on the Pest side so I hung out there today.

After a delicious breakfast, I bundled up and headed to St. Stephen’s Basilica which is only about a 15 minute walk from the hotel. On the way, I passed the Opera House.

Budapest Opera House

The Basilica is just a few blocks from the Opera House.

Nativity outside the Basilica.
The front of the Basilica.
In front of the main altar.
The right hand of St. Stephen.
One of the beautiful side altars.
The organ was magnificent.

After about 30 minutes in the Basilica, I headed back out towards the Parliament building. On the way I passed Liberty Square. I didn’t know it at the time but the U.S. Embassy is located on the square. I didn’t know to look for it so I didn’t get a picture. But, I did see a monument to the Jews killed in WWII.

Memorial Statue.
This is one of many individual memorials.

On my way out of the square there was a statue of Ronald Reagan. I assume it was erected in thanks for his influence in bringing down the Soviet Bloc.

You can see the dome of the Parliament Building in the distance.
In front of the Parliament Building.

The Parliament is right on the river so after getting a few pics, I walked along the river. At first I had a sidewalk but after a short walk, the sidewalk was gone and I was walking in a muddy mess. The view of the west side of the river was very pretty, though.

Buda side of the Danube. I think the steeple is the Matthias Church. The Buda Castle is also on that side.

On the bank of the river, I found a bunch of bronze shoes. This memorial was erected in 2005 and honors the Jews massacred by the Fascist Hungarian Militia in Budapest during WW II. They were ordered to take off their shoes (shoes were valuable and could be resold), and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away by the current. The memorial represents their shoes left behind on the bank.

Shoes on the River Danube.

The main bridge across the Danube is the Chain Bridge which was the first permanent bridge to span the river. It opened in 1849.

Szechenyi Chain Bridge. I’ll walk across that tomorrow when I explore the Buda side of the Danube.

By this time I had been out for about 2 1/2 hours and I was cold and hungry. So, I stopped at a restaurant I found on a side street. It had adorable Christmas decorations and just happened to be Italian so it was a win.

The pizza was good and the hot chocolate delicious and, well, hot. It’s just what I needed.

Mercatino Ristorante. It was so pretty on the inside.
Delicious hot chocolate with cream.
Pizza wasn’t the best I’d ever had but it wasn’t bad.

After a relaxing lunch I walked just a few blocks to the underground and headed for Hero’s Square.

Not exactly the London tube but as a senior I ride all public transportation for free. Fun fact….the underground in Budapest was the first underground system in continental Europe.
Part of the monument at Heroes Square. The Obelisk with all the statues was under scaffolds.
Heroes’ Square

Then I headed back to the hotel to warm up and rest my feet before going back out to visit the Christmas market at St. Stephen’s Basilica. While resting, I spent over 2 hours trying to get my Airalo eSim card to work. It took an hour to get out of the chat waiting room and then another hour for Jacob to not get it fixed after which he put me back in the chat waiting room. After another 30 minutes (2 1/2 hours total), I decided to delete the eSim card I got for South Africa and that did the trick. Next summer when I come back to Europe, I’ll try just topping off this card rather than buying a new one. That’s 2 1/2 hours of my life I’m not getting back, but on the other hand, it kept me awake.

I spent the evening at the Christmas market and had a lovely time. It was crowded but not too crazy. The Basilica was beautifully lit and the booths were very festive.

The Christmas market booths are to the left of the Basilica.
Just a few of the many booths.
I’m going to have serious hat hair for 3 weeks.

There was a duo entertaining the crowd.

And a light show on the Basilica.

As you know, I love my Italian food but I also enjoy trying the local cuisine. One of the booths was cooking salmon on cedar planks over an open fire. The fire felt wonderfully warm but it should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that I did not have the salmon.

Salmon roasting on an open fire. They had chestnuts too but they were being cooked in a barrel.

I did, though, have Hungarian Goulash.

Does it get more local than this? It was delicious and the bottom of the bread bowl got just soggy enough from the juice of the goulash.

There were all kinds of sweet treats.

The macarons looked delicious but since they’re French, not Hungarian, I took a pass.

I didn’t try any of these either.

They look good, though.

I did get a few of the traditional Christmas cakes but I haven’t eaten them yet. I’ll post pictures once I open them.

After about 90 minutes at the market I was starting to get really cold, so I got a hot chocolate to go and headed to the Metro. I couldn’t find the entrance closest to the Basilica so I just kept walking. On the way I found a Ferris wheel.

And a pretty walking street.

It looked like a nice shopping area. I would check it out tomorrow but I’m not sure I could find it again.

It was almost 7pm when I got home and I was very cold. Even my feet, which had been fine all day, were like blocks of ice. But a nice hot shower took care of that.

All in all it was a wonderful. Way too much food and lots of walking. I had almost 17,000 steps which is just over 4 miles. Maybe I walked off some of that food.

Tomorrow I head to the Buda side of the city and visit St. Matthias Church and the castle. I may take a one-hour ride on the Danube but we’ll see.

Long Travel Days

Good morning from Budapest, Hungary. The last two days (Wednesday/Thursday) were long travel days. The car picked me up at 5pm on Wednesday for my 8:30pm flight. After an uneventful wait in the Business Class lounge, I boarded the plane for the 10+ hour flight to London.

All snuggled into my Club World class cocoon. It’s going to be hard to switch back to coach. This is a great (albeit expensive) way to travel.

I had read that British Airways was stopping dinner service in Club World class for flights leaving after 8pm, but we did get our 3-course meal.

First course was roasted tomatoes with goat cheese. It was delicious.

Then the main course of spare ribs, potatoes and veggies.

It should come as no surprise to most of you that I left the carrots on the plate.

Dessert was a yummy chocolate, caramel mousse.

The thing on the top was made of chocolate.

It wasn’t long after finishing dinner that I laid my seat flat, snuggled in my blanket and slept for over 6 hours. Given that I won’t get to Budapest until after 11pm on Thursday, I’m so glad I got some sleep.

Breakfast was fresh fruit and waffles.

The strawberries and pineapple were especially delicious.
I only at a little of the waffles as they were a bit soggy and the compote was very sweet, even for me.

We got to Heathrow on time so after going back through security, I headed for the lounge where I hung out for almost 5 hours before heading to my next gate for my 7:45pm flight.

After having so much room in the Club World class on the big aircraft, the business class seat on the smaller aircraft felt very cramped. The amount of leg room was about the same as in coach but the middle seat was blocked off with a tray so it was still a bit roomier than coach.

We ate, again. This time I had a mushroom/leek pie accompanied by tomato and mozzarella salad, cheese and a tiramisu mousse. Even though I don’t like coffee, the coffee flavor was so mild that even I couldn’t taste it. It was actually very good.

Dinner on my London to Budapest flight.

After only 2 hours, we landed in Budapest. I was 2nd person off the plane and through immigration in about 30 seconds. I only had carry on so I was at the meeting spot for my pre-arranged car about 5 minutes after deplaning. And then I waited for 20 minutes in the cold for my car. I’m not sure where he was hiding but I wasn’t very happy. Then it was a 25-minute drive to the Hotel Oktogon where I will spend the next 3 nights. I got here at midnight, exactly 24 hours after the car picked me up at home in Arizona.

My room at the Hotel Oktogon. I was so tired when I got here last night I didn’t even notice the lobby. I’ll get pictures of that today.

It’s 8:00am and I had a good night’s sleep so I’m looking forward to seeing the sites. I was in Budapest the summer of 93 so I remember almost nothing of the city. It will be fun to explore.

I’m off for some breakfast so I’ll report in later today. Love to all.