August 14, 2013

August 14, 2013

Today we start the long process of going home. This is the one part of international travelling I dislike. We are up early to take the train to the small Krakow airport. Four flights and a full day of travel, we arrive home safely.

We had a great trip but we are glad to be back. I am ready for free toilets and less pounding of the pavement. I don't know if my feet would have held out any longer.  We will be driving everywhere we need to go for awhile.

And we will be glad to be just speaking English and navigating only one currency. Even after visiting Eastern Europe, it boggles my mind that an area of the world smaller than our home state of Arizona can harbor so many different currencies, languages, and cultures. It is something that Americans can't appreciate.

I had trepidation going to Russia and Eastern Europe, not knowing what vestiges of Socialism were remaining.  I was pleased to see that in most cases they have shaken it off and are embracing capitalism wholeheartedly.  Unfortunately, I think they have shaken Socialism off too well.  For the younger generation, it is already some period of ancient history.  Those old enough to remember are happy to forget the pain and don't want to depress their children with the stories.  As the old saying goes, "those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it."  I can easily see this new generation getting lured again by the false hopes of Socialism in some not so distant future.

August 13, 2013

August 13, 2013

The movie, Schindler's List, was about a German industrialist who came to Krakow during WWII seeking war profits. Instead he lost his fortune aiding local Jews avoid being sent to concentration camp.  His factory is only a few miles south of our hotel.  A museum opened up in the former site a couple years ago.

We take the tram that runs outside our hotel south across the Vistula to Ghetto Heroes Square.  This was the site of the main gate into Krakow's walled Jewish ghetto and its only open space.  The plaza now is a memorial and is filled with seventy empty metal chairs eerily similar to the Oklahoma City bombing Memorial.  We walk east under the rail line to Schindler's Emalia Fabrika (Enamelware) plant.  All that is left of the pots and pans factory is the administration building easily recognizable from the movie.

Some people are disappointed by the museum because it has only a few exhibits directly related to Schindler.  We knew this going in.  It is rather about the whole occupation of Krakow by the Nazis and the suffering that occurred by all the residents.  Aimee and I found it fascinating and ended up spending four hours there.  For a new museum, it was well done. 

When Germany invaded Poland, their intent was to make it an extension of Germany as their Prussian predecessors did centuries earlier.  The Nazis systematically Germanified city names, moved out or killed the Polish and Jews, and settled German citizens in the area.  They went on to destroy any link to Polish history or culture.  Yesterday by the train station we saw a monument to the Polish defeat of the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410.  Today we were shocked by photos of the Nazis destroying it.

After four hours of walking the museum, our feet are sore.  We rested at a little Polish diner across from Ghetto Square.  We had a bowl of barley or rye soup and stuffed cabbage.  It was delicious.

Refreshed we walk down the street to find the last two remnants of the Ghetto Wall.  The wall is shaped like a line of tombstones, and strikingly one runs right by a children's playground.  We then walk north back across the river to the old Jewish district of Kazimierz.  Like many areas of prewar Eastern Europe, Jews made up a quarter of Krakow's population.  We walk by several old synagogues but don't go in any.  Instead we hear traditional Jewish music (think Fiddler on the Roof) being played at a restaurant and decide to sit and listen over a beer.  The musicians are pretty good and we end up buying one of their CD's to remember this rest break.

This is our last night in Poland and Eastern  Europe so we decide to try something a little more exotic for dinner.  Just off Old Town's main square, we find a traditional Georgian restaurant.  Georgia is a former Soviet republic in the Caucasus Mountains.  We had a hot pepper soup followed by stuffed red peppers.

August 12, 2013

August 12, 2013

This morning we walked to the main Krakow bus station hidden behind the train station.  There we caught a bus that took us the forty miles to the town of Oswiecim.  The road goes through pretty rolling Polish countryside, but since there is no highway, the trip takes two hours.

A lot of Polish towns also have German names because large parts of present day Poland were German territory.  Oswiecim is better known by its infamous German name of Auschwitz.  We arrive to a madhouse.  I tell Aimee that there must be considerably more tourists now than my last tour of Europe thirty years ago.

Auschwitz entry is free, but after 10 am, all entrants must be escorted by a guide.  It is just as well. With this crowd, it would have been impossible to navigate the buildings solo.  Even by Polish standards the guided tour is not expensive, and I have to say our docent was very good and added a lot of emotion.  So much so, that I thought she was going to burst out crying several times.

Auschwitz was originally a Polish army barracks that was commandeered by the Nazis for a concentration camp to house Polish prisoners who resisted the German occupation.  Since prisoners were used as slave labor on subsistence diet, most did not survive long.  If you ignore the barbed wire fences surrounding it, Auschwitz looks like a nice little community of brick buildings with lots of trees. Unfortunately inside the barracks, prisoners were packed in like sardines.

Several of the Auschwitz buildings have displays about its concentration camp history.  Our guide adds a stirring account.  Auschwitz became really infamous when it was used to exterminate European Jews.  Our guide tells us about the process of transfer, stripping of valuables, gas chamber death, and removal of evidence through cremation.  The most stirring exhibits by far are the ones that show the items found in the warehouses.  Huge piles of eyeglasses, luggage, prosthetics, and shoes, especially kids shoes.  Every fifth person killed in Auschwitz was a child.

Across town is Auschwitz II, better known as Birkenau.  It was where most of the real action took place. We took a shuttle bus over to it for the second half of the tour.  Here most of the barracks were wooden structures.  Birkenau is enormous; the remains of barrack chimneys extend as far as you can see.  It was built as an industrial scale death camp.  A single rail line in, smoke and ash out the other end.  My feet hurt after walking one length and back.  Most of Birkenau has been obliterated.  The crematoriums were dynamited when the Nazis retreated.  A pile of rubble (and memories) are all that remains of them.

The level of human suffering and cruelty that took place here is so severe that it is mind numbing and unbelievable.  No wonder reports of the atrocities that leaked out were seen as propaganda even by Jews.

August 11, 2013

August 11, 2013

Taking the overnight train, while travel savvy, can be hectic.  It requires checking out of the hotel and hanging out late at night somewhere in town till the train leaves.  The train usually arrives at the destination at the crack of dawn, as it did with us here in Krakow, Poland, too early to check in. 

We dropped our bags off at the hotel and went to Krakow's nearby Old Town central square for breakfast of coffee and chocolate croissants.  At first glance Krakow seemed a little seedy, with trash everywhere and more than a couple drunks staggering home.  Then again this is the first time we have seen any of the cities this early in the morning. I bet Chicago is not much different.

Since it is still way too early for most tourist spots, we decide to take a short day trip to the suburb of Wieliczka.  Near the Krakow train station we find the city bus that heads in that direction.  While waiting, we check out the vicinity and find a private bus that will leave sooner.  It turns out to be perfect.  Not only is it a tad cheaper, it is much quicker with fewer stops.

We are in Wieliczka to see its salt mine.  We sign up for the English language tour. At first I thought the price expensive but I have to say the tour was well worth it.  This mine tour is fascinating on several fronts.  First is its history; it has long been a tourist draw.  Copernicus, the famed astronomer, visited five centuries ago. The mine first opened in the Middle Ages when salt was more valuable than gold. Salt was the only way to preserve many foods to last through the winter.  It could mean the difference between life and death.

The mine was owned by the king and produced almost a third of Poland's GDP. The mine is full of ancient wooden mining hoists.  Since wood doesn't rot in the salty air, here is the largest collection anywhere in the world.

The mine is also vast.  We walked for three hours and only covered 1% of its extent.  Many of the passages are lined with thick wooden beams, millions of logs, enough to clear all of Poland of forest. Fortunately they had seven centuries to accumulate this amount of wood.  Some of the chambers are enormous, big enough for cafeterias.

The last reason this mine is special is the carvings.  Over the centuries, miners had lots of time to add their mark.  There are dozens of chapels, statues, and wall art, all made of salt.  The largest chapel is church-size with even its tile floor carved from salt.  It is impressive.

Our tour lasted three hours with only a short rest in between.  We were the only ones on the second half of the tour;  all the others quit.  Our private tour was probably the best part; the quitters don't know what they missed.

After the tour, we were exhausted from all the walking, so we sat outside Wieliczka's castle and had a late lunch of White Borscht soup and Russian-style pirogi.  Both were delicious.  We were surprised to find a hard-boiled egg floating in the soup.

Back in Krakow, we retrieve our luggage, check into the hotel and then set out for a stroll through Old Town.  The Old Town is balloon-shaped and surrounded by a green belt park called the Planty, where the city walls once stood.  Only a gate and barbican remain on the north side.  The Old Town is nice with its winding streets and pretty central square.  While way above average, it does not have the architectural beauty of Prague. 

On the far south end sits Wawel Castle overlooking the Wisla (Vistula) River.  We walk through the castle and then cross the bridge to get a good photo.  Above us we see a hotel's rooftop restaurant.  It looks like a great place for dinner, but when we get there, we find they only have low slung deck chairs for seating.  So we opt only for a drink while enjoying the view.

August 10, 2013

August 10, 2013

Today we bought a 24-hour metro pass, so we can cover some ground in Prague.  Our first stop is Vysehrad Castle west of our hotel.  It is a large fortress sitting atop a hill on the east bank of the Vltava River on the opposite side from Prague Castle.  It is the legendary first settlement of Prague in the tenth century.   Vysehrad is mostly a large park now.  The extensive outer walls are intact but are relatively modern, from the mid 19th century.  There are a handful of buildings inside the fortress including a church, and a cemetery with some of Prague's famous. The fortress has a nice view of the Vltava far below.  I spy an  RV park on an island below and tell Aimee, that could have been us.

A little north of the castle is the Dancing House, a modern art building that looks like two people swaying to music.  Nearby is the St. Cyril and Methodius Church.  Cyril and Methodius were Greek missionary brothers who brought Christianity to the Slavic countries in the 9th century.  Unfortunately we also have them to blame for the Cyrillic alphabet used by Russia. This church, however, is famous for being the last holdout of Czech patriots who had assassinated Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazi SS chief, during WWII.  Bulletholes can still be seen in the wall.

We then took the Metro to the eastern end of Old Town and stopped at the Municipal House.  This city concert hall is an Art Nouveau beauty.  We stop for desert in the cafe and admire the architecture.

Afterwards we walk the northern part of Old Town past the Jewish sector.  There are several synagogues and cemeteries that can be toured.  The ticket price is exorbitant but fortunately they are closed on the Sabbath so I don't have to make a decision.

We went on to the central square for a pizza lunch and beer.  Afterwards we sat on a park bench and people watched.  We suddenly remembered we hadn't seen the inside of some of the old town churches. We quickly peeked inside a few before they were closed again for organ concerts.  Aimee and I both read Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth, so when we see the inside of these highly decorated churches, we admire the massive columns and think about the medieval workmen who shaped the stones.

We still have some time to kill so we got on the tram that follows the river and took it for a while to see some of outer Prague.  Just south of the Charles Bridge, I spot a good view of Prague Castle so we get off and take a photo.  We then head for our hotel to have dinner and retrieve our bags.

Before we left for this trip, Aimee read that everybody should take a sleeper train once in Europe.  I indulged her sense of adventure and bought a private couchette ticket to Krakow. Since this leg of our trip is long it made good travel sense too.  Aimee got a little nervous when she saw the small bunk beds we have. Fortunately I ordered the honeymoon package that came with a bottle of water, a towel, and in the morning a cup of coffee and croissant.

August 9, 2013

August 9, 2013

Today we are going on an adventure taking a day trip into the Czech countryside.  From the main station in Prague we catch the next train going the fifty miles east to Kutna Hora.  During the Middle Ages, Kutna Hora was a very prominent and wealthy city in Bohemia because it was a major source of silver ore.

A short walk from the train station on the outskirts of town is the biggest tourist draw of Kutna Hora, the Sedlec Ossuary.  It is in the basement chapel of the cemetery church of an old Cistercian Monastery.  According to legend a small amount of soil was brought back from Golgotha in Jerusalem and was sprinkled on this cemetery making it a desirable burial site.  Because of plague and war, many thousands were buried here.  Eventually the graves were dug up and stored in this Ossuary.  Later a demented woodcarver organized the bones.   The basement is truly macabre, containing the bones of some 40-70 thousand skeletons.  Besides four gigantic pyramid bone piles in each corner, the ceiling is decorated with a chandelier and long garlands, all made of bone segments.  Bone decorations also adorn the walls.  One is in the shape of a coat of arms.  Based on what we saw the decorator had to be a member of the Addams Family.

From the Bone Church we walked over a mile into the old section of Kutna Hora.  The Old Town is a smaller version of Prague, without the crowds.  It definitely is a pleasure walking the narrow streets not dodging thousands of tourists taking photos.  We pass through the Old Town square, see a monument to Plague victims, and then stop for a pint and a bowl of Garlic soup. On the complete opposite end of town is Kutna Hora's Old Town gem, Santa Barbara Cathedral.  It is a Gothic medieval masterpiece with all its flying buttresses.

There are limited trains to Kutna Hora, so we cut short our visit and head to Kutna Hora City station.  We pass one of the old silver mines along the way.  They are just commencing a tour.  Fortunately it is not of interest to us.  We don't like caves.  At the city station we take an eight minute local electric train back to the other Kutna Hora station saving us at least a mile of walking.

Back in Prague, it starts to rain.  No problem, we are having dinner tonight at the hotel and it was great.  I had Schnitzel and Aimee had Schweinebraten with potato dumplings.

August 8, 2013

August 8, 2013

We were on our way out of the hotel early to find a cafe for coffee and croissant when we discovered breakfast is included in our rate.  That is a welcome benefit.  A large (free) breakfast means we don't have to stop for a big lunch in prime sight-seeing time.  A bowl of soup or something similar will usually suffice.

Today we are headed to the west bank of the Vltava River. We walk up the long ramp to the top of Castle Hill.  Since the weather is more conducive to touring the inside of old buildings we buy the short tour pass of Prague Castle.  Our first stop is Golden Lane, a narrow line of buildings tucked between the castle and the outer wall.  It used to be the home of goldsmiths, seamstresses and castle guards.  The buildings have been mostly restored to illustrate life in medieval times. Aimee finds it very cute; she likes learning about people's lives, plus it has a few shops scattered along.

We then toured the Old Palace built atop the old castle walls. It is mostly empty and uninteresting; although it did have a vaulted central hall which was enormous for medieval times.  The gem of the castle is St Vitus Cathedral that dominates and towers over the interior courtyard.  It is a Gothic masterpiece complete with flying buttresses and the interior doesn't disappoint either.

At noon on the way out of the castle, we try and see the Changing of the Guard, but it is way too crowded to see anything (unless I grew a head or two taller).  We keep walking uphill to Strahov Monastery.  We spy a terrace restaurant overlooking the monastery vineyard and orchard (and Prague in the distance), so we stop and snag a front row table.  We order a few appetizers so we can enjoy the view for a while.

After lunch we enter the monastery to see the library.  The hallway has a variety of illuminated manuscripts on display but the star of this site is the two library rooms.  Both are spectacular with ceiling frescoes which even photographs can't do justice.

From the monastery we head back down the hill crossing the Charles Bridge again.  We linger quite a while watching several artists painting portraits.  All are quite talented.  Back in the main square of Old Town, We can't resist sitting and having another glass of beer and doing some people watching.  Somehow time flew and it was six by the time we left.  Just in time to watch the Astronomical Clock on the Town Hall go off.  All the apostles parade by an open door, while a skeleton rings the church bell.

August 7, 2013

August 7, 2013

We are up early to catch the morning train from Bratislava to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.  It is a long but pleasant journey.  We arrive at our hotel before check in time so we have the fixed lunch menu in the hotel restaurant.  It is delicious.

After getting our room we decide to take a short stroll through New Town to Wenceslas Square.  The weather is finally cooler.  I am full and not sweating.  At this point I can't ask for more.  Wenceslas Square turns out to be a very long rectangular mall lined with shops and food stands.  We stroll checking out the merchandise. We find lots of unique items.  We are liking Prague a lot.  I can't pinpoint why, but I am sure the weather is a big factor.

The square (and Christmas carol) is named after a famous tenth century Duke of Bohemia (who never was a king, but he was good) who was later canonized a saint. Wenceslas Square has been the traditional site for historic demonstrations of Czech independence.

Wenceslas Square leads into the narrow streets of Old Town Prague.  I can tell immediately from the uniform and well maintained architecture that this is one of the nicer Old Towns in Europe.  But I am not prepared for entering the main square.  It is exquisite.  In every direction is a beautiful building, church or tower.  This is why all other Eastern Europe cities want to be the new Prague. Unfortunately Prague is not a secret and it is jam packed.  In the center of the Square is a monument to Jan Hus.  Hus was a Church reformer long before Martin Luther.  He was ex-communicated and burned at the stake as a heretic, but the Czech people continued to follow his beliefs for a century.  The pope even sent several crusades here trying to restore Catholicism and Papal supremacy.

Prague's Old Town is huge.  We stroll for the rest of the evening through the narrow streets and I am amazed at the extent and beauty of the architecture.  Clearly Prague was a rich city for a long time and it fortunately escaped the WWII damage that razed most other large cities. The town fathers also deserve credit for renovating every building and preventing the intrusion of modern structures.

Eventually our stroll takes us over one of the bridges spanning the Valtava River.  There we run into more than sixty White Swans congregating by the shore.  They are huge and very comfortable with all the people. It is rare to see more than a half dozen swans together.

We cross back over the Valtava on the medieval Charles Bridge.  It deserves its fame.  This pedestrian span is lined with dozens of statues and has a guard tower on each end.  It would make a great photo if only I could lose the thousand people walking it with us.

We make our way back to Wenceslas Square where we have a Bratwurst for dinner.  This is my first sausage meal and it is delicious.  For some reason I assumed sausage would be a part of every meal in Eastern Europe.  It has rarely been on the menu.

August 6, 2013

August 6, 2013

Europe is suffering through a brutal heat wave so we need to move north.  We go to the Budapest train station and board the one going upriver. This train is the exact opposite of the high speed train we rode here from Vienna.  This one is the old style European train.  It is slow, the seats are in compartments and nearly empty.  Exactly what I remember from thirty years ago.  But thankfully with one new important addition, air-conditioning.

Three hours later we arrive in Bratislava, capital of Slovakia.  This country is the former eastern half of the post WWI Czechoslovakia.  Our hotel is right around the corner from the station.  Since we are not in the old section of town, this hotel is ultra-modern, and euro-chic.  I have stayed in hotels like this before on business and while it looks very stylish (and has great air-conditioning), it leaves something to be desired from a practical standpoint.

After checking in, we head towards the old town.  We are hungry and try to find a restaurant that takes credit cards.  For only one day I don't want to get any local Slovak money.  I am pleasantly surprised to find Slovakia has recently adopted the Euro.  The first restaurant we come to is a buffet.  It looks good but leaves a lot to be desired.  Oh well, it fills us up.

We walk around the old town, but find little to satisfy our curiosity.  It is very small with almost no walls left and a lot of the buildings are on the newer side.  Additionally, it is very hot and I admit my natural curiosity is at a minimum.  We make our way to the Danube where there is a modern bridge with what looks like a flying saucer atop it.  We walk out onto it to get a good view of the Bratislava Castle that sits high on a hill above. It consists of a modern palace within some older walls around it.  The Hungarian kings retreated to Bratislava and made it their temporary capital when the Ottoman Turks overran Hungary.

From the river bank we hike the long stair case up to the castle.  It is a hot climb but I am glad we did it.  I like the view of the bridge and the multitude of Soviet apartment buildings that fill the opposite bank of the Danube.

This climb took all our energy so we descend back to the old town, and we each have a small pitcher of European style lemonade before we head back to our hotel.  There we take cold showers and sit in the air-conditioning while drinking some really good Slovakian red wine.

August 5, 2013

August 5, 2013

With our 24-hour Metro pass of Budapest expiring in the next hour we take one last ride to the bottom of Gellert Hill.  Gellert is on the Buda side and towers over the Danube.  At the foot of the hill is the Gellert Hotel and Spa.  Hungary, apparently is geologically active, because hot springs abound here.  Many have been turned into spas.  Gellert Spa looks inviting but I can't see lounging in hot water in this heat.

After a sweaty hike up Gellert Hill we arrive at Liberty Statue.  It is a large monument built by the Soviets to memorialize those who died liberating Hungary from the Nazis.  I think we have run into one of these in almost every Eastern Europe city we have visited.  Hungarians have removed any reference to the Soviets from this one. Around the statue is a small citadel built by the Austrians but used by Soviet tanks to shell Budapest during the insurrection of 1956.

From Gellert we strolled downhill and across the bridge to the Vasarcsarnok Market, where we ate lunch and bought some hot paprika to take home.  Close to our hotel we stopped at the very Moorish Great Synagogue.  We don't go in the interior but we see the attached graveyard and Holocaust Memorial.  They have a memorial to Raoul Wallenberg, the Hungarian version of Oskar Schindler.  He was a Swedish ambassador who issued passports to Jews to get them out of the country.  The Synagogue was part of the Jewish Ghetto during WWII.

We liked our cheesecake and music in the hotel restaurant last night so we decide to eat dinner there. We love our Astoria Hotel.  Not only does it have a great location but it is so old-world elegant.  The walls are all granite, marble and gold leaf.  The hotel opened in 1914 on the eve of WWI at the height of the Austro-Hungarian empire when Budapest was one of the twin capitals of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

August 4, 2013

August 4, 2013

Budapest is the modern combination of the two cities of Buda and Pest that sit on either side of the Danube River.  We are going to explore Pest first.  Surprisingly we have local guides today, two young Hungarian girls that are the friends of our neighbor in Tucson.  I wonder how much he had to bribe them to spend their day with two Americans old enough to be their parents.

We start with a metro ride out Andrassy Avenue to Heroes Square.  In the middle is the Millennium Monument which has bronze statues of all the early kings of the Hungarian Empire starting with Arpad, the chieftain who led the Magyars to this area in 896 AD.  I love that the statues look like long-bearded barbarians from the East.  Much of the epic buildings and monuments of Budapest were built by the Austro-Hungarian Empire circa 1896 for the 1000th anniversary of this founding.  In the adjoining city park are lots of other attractions including a circus, spa, castle and nice walking park.

From there we return to central Pest for a visit to the Opera House and then St Stephens Basilica (Istvan in Hungarian).  Istvan is the king famous for bringing Christianity to Hungary in 1000 AD and is now a canonized saint.  His likeness is everywhere.  The interior of the basilica is quite beautiful.  Just as we enter, a Hungarian mass begins.  In the days of my youth, it would have been in Latin, understandable by all Catholics.

We then walked to Vorosmarty Square, one end of the pedestrian Vaci street we strolled last night.  Since my escorts eat Hungarian food every day, we take them to lunch at the iconic American restaurant chain, Hard Rock Cafe.  As a big bonus, it had air-conditioning.

With our energy restored, we walked along the Danube River passing the Chain Bridge which when built across the wide Danube in 1847 was considered an engineering wonder.  Farther on we come to the Parliament building.  It is a stunning Gothic Revival landmark, but like many of the buildings we have encountered, it is shrouded in scaffolding.  I guess that is the testament to the ongoing modernization of Eastern Europe.

From Parliament, we took a tram along the river and then stopped for ice cream at McDonald's where we bade good-bye to our young hosts.  Since we bought a 24-hour Metro Pass, we decide to continue on to the Buda side.  Since Buda is on the setting sun side, I figure we need to go there in the evening for a chance to have a decent photo.  Buda, unfortunately is at the top of a hill, and the metro doesn't reach that high.  So we have a little bit of a climb.  I am so glad we went, as the views of Pest and the Danube River are stunning. We walk along the ramparts of old Buda to Fisherman's Bastion.  (It takes its name from the guild responsible for defending this stretch of the city walls).  Much of the terrace is filled with tourists snapping photos amid a bunch of restaurant tables that line the edge.  The prime seats in the shade are reserved. Somehow I manage to find an open table hidden behind a round wall, where we have a couple beers on our own private terrace graced with awesome views of the Danube River, Parliament and St Stevens.

Refreshed we continue south along the ramparts closer to Buda Castle discovering one great view after another. In front of the Castle we stumble upon a statue of Prince Eugene of Savoy.  We visited his palace in Vienna and he is honored here because he liberated Budapest from the Turks.  I love it when I run into connections with other places we have visited.  It ties together our trip and helps us remember the history we learn.

Back at the hotel, we hear some musicians playing in the restaurant so we decide to stop in and have desert.  A nice finish to a long day of sight-seeing.

August 3, 2013

August 3, 2013

Today is another travel day.  Our feet are sore from all the walking we did yesterday so we spend the morning resting. We have a train reservation for noon.  Vienna was always considered the gateway to Eastern Europe and it is for us also.  The Hungarian Plain stretches east from here and that is where we are headed.

Our train arrives right on time and we have only a minute or two to load before it begins to roll away from the station. Unfortunately when we board we find almost no empty seats, let alone two together.  This is not what I remember from my Eurail adventure thirty years ago.  After searching all the cars I find Aimee an empty seat and then I go backwards looking for another.  I luckily convince two Munich ladies to move their bags so Aimee and I can sit together.  One of the bonuses of this train is air-conditioning.  It was worth riding just for some relief from the heat wave.

Three hours later we arrive in Budapest.  Aimee looks at me and says, "We aren't in Vienna anymore".  The Budapest station is a little bit of a disorganized madhouse with all the college-aged backpackers mobbing the ATM, Currency Changer and ticket lines.  Eventually we get some local currency and take the Metro to our hotel.  It turns out to be steps away from a metro stop and is a beautiful old Victorian hotel.  We love it and as a special bonus we find air-conditioning in our room!

We worked up an appetite so we search out the pedestrian esplanade of Vaci street for dinner.  We have a bowl of Goulash soup and the Hungarian version of Pigs in a Blanket.  Both are a little spicy with Paprika, a Hungarian pepper.

Even though Hungary gets its name from the Huns who rolled through here on their way to conquer Rome, the people are not Huns but mostly Magyars who settled here ostensibly in 896 AD. Apparently some of their relatives went to Finland instead because the Hungarian language is only related to Finnish.  Both are completely different than the Indo-European languages that now predominate Europe.  I can attest to the language difference.  You can generally get a beer almost anywhere in Eurasia (even China) by saying a version of "beer" or "pivo".  Here it is "sor" (sounds like "sure").

August 2, 2013

August 2, 2013

Today we are going to explore the city center of Vienna.  We are following Rick Steve's walking tour.  It starts by hopping on and off the main shopping street.  Aimee keeps getting side-tracked looking in stores so we have to backtrack more than once.  Our first major stop is St Stephan Cathedral.  It has a beautiful colored tile roof but it's interior is unexciting.  We continue up the pedestrian Graben Street past the Plague Monument to St Peters Church, which has a magnificent interior.  From there we continue on to the Hapsburg Palace, which was the winter quarters of the Monarchy.  We are palaced-out so we don't bother with the tour.  Instead we make our way back to where we started for desert at Cafe Sacher.  It is famous for its torte desert.  It is a nice chocolate cake, but we have had similar.

Europe (west of Russia) is suffering a serious heat wave and air-conditioning is pretty rare.  We pop in and out of stores and museums looking for a hint of cool air.  No place has American style cooling.  The heat is sapping our energy.  We don't feel like doing any of the many fine museums in Vienna.  Instead we stroll past many wonderful monuments and beautiful old buildings.  Vienna is full of them and we stumble upon several unexpected gems.  My favorites are Parliament, Karlskirche (a church with a pair of Trajan's columns astride it) and finally a Soviet War Memorial dedicated to their "liberation" from the Nazis.  Wieners (people of Vienna) felt violated instead but they surprisingly haven't torn it down.  We liked it mostly for the big spray of water that gave us a short respite from the heat.  We ended at a Vienna food court called Naschmarkt where we ate a late lunch. Some delicious Thai food and a cold beer seemed to hit the right spot.

Feeling a little renewed, we took a wide detour back to the hotel to visit Belvedere, the former home of Prince Eugene of Savoy.  Eugene is a military hero of Austria famous for driving the Turks out of Budapest and Belgrade.  We are surprised by the size of his house.  It is a royal-size palace with equally grand garden.

I must say, I never knew much of the history of Eastern Europe.  So before this trip, I read a couple books and watched a few movies.  Spain drove the Muslims out of western Europe in 1492.  Little did I know the Austrians were fighting Ottoman Muslims far longer.  Vienna barely survived several sieges, the last in 1683, long after the Italians were having their Renaissance.  The Ring Road that circles the city center is where the city walls once stood.  When the Ottomans were finally forced to retreat in the late 1600's Austria scooped up the Hungarian lands greatly enlarging their empire.

August 1, 2013

August 1, 2013

This is our first day in Vienna, capital of Austria. Austria once was a major empire ruled by the Hapsburg Monarchy.  Their summer home was Schonbrunn Palace.  It sits on the outskirts of Vienna.  It is a 1400-room grand country estate. There are a lot of ticket options, but since we have seen many palaces on this trip we opt for the shortest with the English audio guide.  It is the perfect length.  On the tour we learn a little about the history of the Hapsburg monarchs, especially Maria Theresa.  Like other palaces, this one is richly decorated.  I really like the Great Gallery where they held their balls and banquets.  It is stunning with its ceiling frescoes.  Unfortunately no photography is allowed and the matronly guards are pitbulls.  Alas, we settle for a photo of a postcard.

I have to say the best part of Schonbrunn is actually free.  There is no charge to walk the palace grounds. And they are great.  The first view is superb with beautiful flower gardens and a Gloriette set on a hill in the distance.  I know I have seen this setting on famous paintings.  We walked the tree-lined side grounds and stumbled upon a Roman ruin.  It looks really cool and authentic, but it is completely fake.  I guess royals all thought they should have a relic from Rome in their backyard.

We bought a 24-hour metro pass, so we decided to concentrate on sights away from the city center. Compared to Moscow, Vienna's metro system is a dream; it is new, quiet, simple and full of signage.  From Schonbrunn, we travelled to Augarten, a city park on the other side of Vienna.  It is full of trees with little open space.  In one corner is a monstrous concrete structure.  It is called a Flak Tower and is an anti-aircraft gun emplacement the Germans used to protect Vienna from US bombers during WWII.

Our next stop was the Danube River.  It is lined with cruise boats docked for the day.  Danube River cruises are very popular.

The streetcars of Vienna are also very modern and easy to use. We took one north up the foothills of the Vienna Woods to the little hamlet of Grinzing.  Vienna has grown right to its doorstep. This is a charming tourist area that has lots of cafes that specialize in the wines grown on the slopes north of town.  Since we had lunch in the Augarten, we opt for apple strudel and a white wine. Delicious.

Vienna is famous for classical music.  The streets around our hotel are even named for various composers like Strauss, Brahms and Mozart.  One can't come to Vienna and not see a concert. Unfortunately the Vienna Orchestra is on summer holiday but we found a suitable substitute.  The city erects a huge screen next to the Town Hall and shows free taped performances.  Tonight is one by another Austrian favorite, Gustav Mahler.  In the adjoining park, vendors serve food and beverages.  Shockingly, it is all served on china and in real glassware.  In America, it would have to be plastic and paper.  For dinner we tried Wiener Schnitzel, along with beer and sangria.

July 31, 2013

July 31, 2013

We only have the morning left in Moscow, so we head back to the Kremlin area for some quick last minute stops.  First is a colossal statue of Peter the Great.  It sits in the Moscow River and shows an oversize Peter atop a sailing ship.  It is a little tacky and Muscovites deride it.  I have to say it looks to me like a monument more representative of Christopher Columbus.

Next door is the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.  This is a famous church that was rebuilt in 1994.  It is an exact copy of the one that Stalin had destroyed in his anti-religious campaign.  It has a beautiful exterior but unfortunately the interior will have to wait; it doesn't open till 10 am.

We then walk up the east wall of the Kremlin looking for the Tomb of the Unknown soldier.  The next changing of the guard is also at ten.  We pass and instead head into Red Square.  I would rather see Lenin,  the man who caused all of Russia's modern problems.  His tomb opens at ten also.   Unfortunately one look at the enormous line to get in tells me this was a wasted trip.  We are going to have to skip it and head back to the hotel.  I don't want to cut it too close and miss our shuttle to the airport.  We don't want to overstay our visa.  In the US we would be eligible for food stamps, but here you could get sent to Siberia.

Our transfer delivers us to the Domoedovo Airport.  It is not very big, but it is mobbed.  Evidently Russian air travel is growing faster than its airports.  We are flying S7 Airlines to Vienna.  This is the former Siberian Air, so I am a little apprehensive about their legitimacy.  The ticket agent gives us a scare when they can't find any S7 flight going to Vienna.  Fortunately, ten minutes and a couple agents later, we have success.

After standing in several lines, we make it through security and onto the plane for an uneventful flight.  We land in Vienna, which is significantly warmer.

I was pleasantly surprised by Russia.  We had a great time.  I must admit, I brought memories of Soviet Russia with me and had heard stories of corruption and police harassment.  I saw none of that.  Instead the Russians were nice and friendly.  The country is still backward in some ways but has made major strides in a short period.  Construction is booming.  Russia has a bright future.  Too bad they live in such a cold northern climate.  But I guess that makes them a resilient people.  And they need it.  Over the centuries Russians have endured occupation by the Mongols, invasion by Napoleon, two devastating wars with Germany, a Civil War, terrible purges by Stalin, and decades of social and economic decay under Socialism.  The Russians deserve a good break.

July 30, 2013

July 30, 2013

Today is a free day for us in Moscow.  Aimee and I decide to do some exploring using the Metro system. For an English speaker it is a little intimidating.  We are the only ones in our tour group attempting it. Moscow being the largest city in Europe has a huge complicated network.  I need to constantly pull out my reading glasses to even read the station names on the map.  And unfortunately it is all in Cyrillic.  Even though I try translating for fun, it is not really necessary.  You only need to match the Cyrillic letters at the stations to those on the map.

We take the Metro to Novodevichy Convent.  It is a very old walled compound.  It looks like the Kremlin fortress only smaller and white instead of red.  It is supposed to be closed on Tuesdays but we find it open anyway.  It must be still in use as we come across a few nuns and priests.  We mostly walk around the grounds peeking in a couple churches.  Aimee enjoys the visit because it played a part in the book she recently read about Czar Peter the Great.  He made his half-sister take the vows here after he discovered her plotting against him.  He hanged her co-conspirators outside her window. The convent also has a special exhibition with a film on the Soviet destruction of churches during Stalin times.  It was a sad period of Russian history.

Leaving the convent grounds we walked around a nearby lake that had beautiful views of the convent walls and the golden domes of its churches.  Tchaikovsky lived nearby and this lake was supposed to be the inspiration for his Swan Lake ballet.  We ate our sack lunch soaking up this idyllic view.

Adjoining the convent is a cemetery that is famous for containing the graves of Moscow's elite, like Yeltsin and Khrushchev.  We are not interested in seeing their graves so much as seeing the style of gravestones.  Most are decorated with some expensive statuary of the deceased.  It would be deemed overtly egotistical in America, but apparently common in the land where everybody was equal.  Well, there are always some that are more equal than others.  One of the many hypocrisies of Socialism.

From Novodevichy, we traveled to Poklonnaya Hill. It is the highest point in Moscow and provides the best views of the city.  It is also the location of Victory Park, a huge expanse and obelisk dedicated to Russia's victory over Hitler in WWII. There is also a museum about this Great Patriotic War but Aimee nixes seeing it.

Nearby in the middle of the street is a Triumphal Arch dedicated to Russia's defeat of Napoleon in 1812. Down the street is the Borodino Museum about the war. We go through it primarily because I learned about it watching the movie, War and Peace, a couple weeks ago.  The highlight is a huge circular panorama painting of the battle.  When Napoleon attacked, the Russian army kept retreating and burning fields as they went.  The Russians finally made a stand at Borodino just west of Moscow.  It was a bloody draw and the Russians retreated again.  Napoleon entered Moscow in triumph just before the Russians burned it to the ground.  Napoleon was stuck.  He couldn't stay in Moscow with no food or shelter.  As he trudged home in the cold, the Russians picked his army apart.  The Russians followed all the way to Paris.

Our feet are tired from all the walking so we head back to the hotel to rest.  Tonight we have a farewell dinner with our tour group where we say goodbye to our travel mates.

July 29, 2013

July 29, 2013

We start our day with a driving tour of Moscow. Our local guide tells us humorously how great Russia and Moscow are.  He starts off relating that Russia is the largest country on earth (by far!)  Russia stretches across eleven time zones, almost half the world. Vladivostok on the Pacific is just as close to Chicago as it is to Moscow.  Moscow is the largest city in Europe and has the biggest (and worst) of everything. He provides some entertaining examples.

We then depart the coach and travel by the Moscow Metro system a few stops to see different styles of subway stations. Many are decorated richly with marble and chandeliers.  This was Stalin's doing.  He considered them to be the People's palaces. The last one I like the best.  It is decorated with dozens of statues of happy Communists living an idyllic existence.  It took amazing propaganda to convince Russian people that they were happy.

Our Coach bus then dropped us off in Red Square where we got our formal orientation.  During our free time we went inside St Basil's Cathedral.  It was disappointing.  It is not an ordinary church.  It is a maze of interconnected chapels and corridors.  We then went next door to the GUM department store for an inexpensive lunch of Borscht in an upper floor cafeteria.  Even though Moscow is one of the most expensive cities in the world, there are ways to live cheap.

The Coach then dropped us on the other side of the Kremlin.  Kremlin means fortress in Russia and many old Russian cities have one.  Moscow's Kremlin has thick red walls with two dozen very tall towers.  Inside is the present seat of government along with a half dozen medieval churches in one plaza.  We get a tour of two churches.  The first contains the burial crypts of all the ancient Czars before Peter the Great, (e.g. Ivan the Terrible).  The other church is the seat of the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.  Our guide gives us a rundown of the differences between Orthodox and Catholicism.  He said they are very similar with most of the differences being just cultural.  If we understood Russian, we would recognize the Mass.

Outside the churches are the largest bell and largest cannon ever built.  To emphasize that Russia has the biggest and worst he relates how neither was ever functional.

From Cathedral Square, we went in the Armory for a tour.  This museum holds the national treasures of Russia.  Most of it is the former property of the Czars and Orthodox Church confiscated during the Revolution.  Looking at all the gold and diamonds, you understand why the Russian people revolted.  Some of the more interesting items are the royal carriages, the royal crowns and scepters and the strangely popular Faberge eggs.  Aimee not surprisingly really likes the royal ceremonial gowns on display.