Eastern Europe: On The Way Home

Since we had time before our flight I suggested we leave early and spent time at the airport in BA’s lounge.  Brenda assured me there would be no lounge in the small Budapest airport.  She be wrong. The airport is very modern and had a lounge.

Our friends Partice and Glenn had to be at the airport hours before us so they sent a text that their cab fare was 7,400 Hungarian dollars.  So we saved out 8,500 and used the rest of what we had to pay toward the hotel bill.  So we were more than surprised to find our taxi bill was over 9,000. Shit!  We don’t have enough money.  But the cab driver quickly calculated that 7,500 Hungarian dollars plus 10 Euros would pay the bill.  We were happy.

The pictures shown here are what I call “outtakes”.  They never made the blog but are (may be) worth showing.

     

One thing that has been nagging me: has this blog been properly named?  Have we really been in Eastern Europe?  As Peter, Paul and Mary noted, “Times, they are a changing.”  The world is  changing. The boundaries are changing. Does “Eastern Europe” still stand for what we used to think? Or should it be called Central Europe.  I did a little research and found that both the UN and Rick Steves still calls this Eastern Europe. However the CIA doesn’t agree.  Well I think it’s easier to ignore the CIA than it is to rename each of my blogs! BTW, the photo on the left below is of the group that cycled from Prague to Vienna.  On the right we discover Radler, beer + lemonade.

        

But the Eastern Europe we saw didn’t feel right.  We had pre cold war visions but this was not what we experienced.  Since the end of the cold war and with economic growth spurred by the European Union, Eastern Europe feels like Western Europe.  Prague or Budapest could have been Frankfort or Dublin.  The infrastructure is modern.  The buildings, or at least  the  inside of them, are modern.  Our hotel rooms, in fact, were usually larger than in Western Europe. The cafes are full and the food is good. And cheap.  Don’t forget beer cheaper than water!  Just looking at the people on the streets and in the subways, everyone seems content.  The young people are having good times.

No wonder Western Europeans take vacations in Prague.  It’s a one hour flight from Frankfort and two hours from London.  If probably costs half as much as at home; there is good food, good entertainment, even better beer and widely available recreational drugs. What’s not to like?

I read in today’s paper  that Rome had dropped our of competition for the 2026(?) Olympics, leaving Los Angeles, Paris and Budapest.  The  Olympics' in Budapest; who would have guessed!

On the left, Glenn and I buy Stetson hats in an underground station in Vienna

So with the vacation over, and this has been a very good vacation, it’s time for the Basically Boring Bicycle Blog to go  to sleep.  Tune in again next May when we  try to navigate our bicycles in Japan.

Eastern Europe: Budapest Day #4 - Evening on the Danube

No commentary; enjoy the photos.

           

I thought there were 6 bridges.  Why do I only have photos of 5?  Must have slept through one.

Eastern Europe: Budapest Day #3

So who is this big tour group in our hotel?  Turns out it’s Rick Steves “Best of Eastern Europe”.  We’ve been using Rick Steves guide books for almost a month now.

What do the retired people do in Budapest?  It looks like they all go to “the baths”.  There were hundreds of them at just one bath this morning, Szechenyi.  Although Rick Steves highly recommends the baths and so does my cycling and blogger friend Bob Lynn, I didn’t see much value in sitting in a luke-warm pool with a bunch of really old people. (Can a 75 year old really say that?) Sure, there were some young people but all on vacation.

For lunch, we had ice cream and coffee at the New York Cafe, “The most beautiful cafe in the world”.  And who can argue?  With live classical music, Starbucks this is not.  However Starbucks cappuccino is much better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the mid 1800’s when Franz Josef ruled the Austro-Hungarian empire, he donated $2,000,000 (well two million of something) toward building the Budapest Opera house on the condition that it be smaller than the Vienna Opera house.  But when he arrived for the first concert, he was pissed because the Budapest Opera House was much more ornate and better decorated than the one in Vienna.  Allegedly, he never returned to the Budapest Opera (although his wife did).

Tonight we’re celebrating the end of the trip with a night cruise on the Danube.

Eastern Europe: Budapest Day 2

Budapest has one of the best transit systems anywhere; Metro lines (subway), trams, buses, trolleys and boats.  It’s a thoroughly planned transit system – one of the best and easiest cities to zip around.  One ticket, such as the 24 hour ticket, gets you on any system, taking you anywhere.  We used the underground, the tram and busses today; Patrice and Glenn also used a water taxi.

First thing on today’s busy agenda was the Great Market Hall (photo on the right).  I’d commented, “Once you’ve seen a market, you’ve seen them all.”  Well pretty much.  This was a well organized and very clean hall.  But it didn’t compare in size to the Melbourne Market.  Nor did it compare in terms of products, particularly clothing and outer wear.

   

We next toured the parliament, 3rd largest in the world after Buenos Aires and London. Constructed from 1885 to 1904, the Renaissance style building is based on symmetry. Now a uni-cameral parliament, there are 199 members in the assembly.

 

Next stop was a quick look at Mathias Church and Fisherman’s Bastion.  We had a not so quick lunch where the waiter got 2 of our orders wrong then argued with us.

We next went to an exhibit in the National Gallery of the works of Modigliani.  I don’t get it.  Why would anyone be interested in paintings which made the subject look gross or deformed?  This was the two most boring hours I’ve spent in a long time.  In my (humble but always correct) opinion people only think this is great art because art critics tell them it’s great. A subjective opinion could rule otherwise.  Of course Brenda and Patrice and Glenn liked it but not me.

 

We had  another great dinner at the Strudel House.  Food here in Budapest has been really good.

Tomorrow is our last day in Budapest.  I’m ready to go home.

 

 

Eastern Europe: Day #1 in Budapest

On a tour of Budapest we learned many things. The 1896 celebration of 100 years (actually should have been 1895 but that’s another story) resulted in many construction projects of new roads and buildings. As maybe you can see in the photo below Buda on the right is hilly and green with gardens, Pest is more commercial and where the nightlife is.  Of course, today these are one city.

 

Hungry became a democracy in 1989; the parliament building is shown above.  From 70 % to 80% of the towns were bombed in World War II.   Today Budapest is known as Hollywood II because of the many movies made here.  One tradition still popular are “the baths”.  You can even play chess in the baths.

 

At St Stevens Basilica we came across another festival, “Edes Napok” or “Sweet Days” or “Chocolate Festival”.  It’s going on the same time as yesterday’s festival.  Apparently these people know how to party.

 

Riding a bicycle, even all day, is relaxing.  But not walking around town as a tourist.  I was exhausted today.  Skipped dinner tonight and was in bed at 8:00.

Eastern Europe: On to Budapest

So we’re been in the Czech Republic where the currency is the Koruna (100 Korunas = $4.00) and the language is Czech.  And Austria where the currency is the Euro (close to parity with the dollar) and the language is German.  We’re currently on an Express train to Budapest where the currency is the Forints (100 Forints = $.276.)  We can handle the currencies but, like most Americans, cannot handle the languages.  Fortunately, that is not a great handicap.

On the taxi ride to the train station, we again saw a lot of new construction.  And we’ve witnessed a lot of remodeling.  The economy must be good.  The Vienna train station is very modern and very efficient.

On the way home from my cross country ride (2009) I completed my blog on the plane.  (This was my first blog.)  But I believe this is the first blog I’ve written on a train.  And I just discovered we have free wi-fi on the train!

We’re staying in the K+K Opera Hotel, number one recommendation by Rick Steves.  It’s a nice hotel but doesn’t have the elegant service of Vienna.  We’re in the room, I’m looking for a restaurant in Rick Steves book and Brenda is looking at Trip Advisor.  We get a call from our companions, Glenn and Patrice telling us there is a festival 100 feet from our hotel.  This is “Automentes hetvege” or “Car Free Weekend” and 12 or more bocks in front of the  Opera House are blocked off.  There must be 100 food and beverage trucks and booths plus music, opera, ballet and events for kids.  We explore the event and find sufficient food and beverage.

       

Eastern Europe: Belvedere Palace and Vienna State Opera

Yesterday morning we visited the Belvedere Palace; actually the Oberes Belvedere or Upper Belvedere.  The lower Belvedere was built first from 1714 to 1716.  Then the much larger Upper was started in 1718.  Today there are multiple museums in both of these buildings.  In the pond out front is an art exhibit made from life vests from refugees.  I took one photo in the gallery before being told that was a “no no”. The one I took was a 1914 painting “Havswand” or “House Wall” by Egon Schiele. Then, when the guard was in another room, I took one by Monet, “The Cook” (1882).

 

       

After lunch we toured the Vienna State Opera building; fortunately we did not have to sit through an opera. The building took 8 years to construct; it opened in 1869 with Mozart's “Don Giovani”.  The building suffered fairly major damage during the second world war; it took 10 years to rebuild it.  All sets and costumes were destroyed as well.  I didn’t find the hall attractive but the back stage operation is very interesting.   The Opera House season lasts 10 months during which time they put on 60 different operas plus some ballets.  The hall holds 2200 people of which 1700 have seats and 500 are standing seats.  The Opera House has a 98% occupancy rate.  The sets are stored offsite, about a 10 minute drive.  At least 1 opera requires 21 truck trips to gather all the required sets.  It takes 80 to 120 staff building sets and running a production.  Each year between 4-6 new sets are built.

 

We’ve made good use of the Vienna transit system, particularly the Underground.  But in going to the Belvedere this morning we took the wrong tram in the wrong direction and ended “who knows where”.  Getting back was a challenge.  So I wasn’t excited about a trip for dinner which took an underground train to it’s end and then a bus to its end.  We were looking for a restaurant way above the town, one with  a good view. We ended up with a good view and a good meal with good friends.

 

Eastern Europe: Misc Musings

The Europeans are quite keen on identifying substances in foods which may cause problems to certain individuals.  The Czech used numbers and the Austrians apparently use codes to identify the substances. Check out the menu to the left. The codes are:

A: Gluten-containing grains

B: Crustaceans

C: Eggs

D: Fish

E: Peanuts

F: Soy

G:Milk or lactose

H: Edible nuts

L: Celery

M: Mustard

N: Sesame

O: Sulphites

P: Lupines

R: Mollusks

 

 

In spite of all of the codes on this menu; the food was very good.  Fortunately, I personally don’t have to worry  about any of this.  Brenda, however, is on a gluten-free died and on this trip the restaurants did a good job of giving her gluten-free meals.

Last night, Thursday, the day  after  our bike ride officially ended, was the highlight of the entire trip for me.  We, actually 17 of us, went to a Mozart concert at  the Musikverein, one of the greatest music halls on the planet.  It wasn’t the music I went for.

• A classical music concert with humor to keep tourists engaged.
• The orchestra was “well rehearsed”; they play the same thing every night.
• I surely could have done w/o the operatic music, particularly the soprano (worse than your fingernails on a blackboard, in my opinion).
• I went  there to hear the concert hall.  It was almost 30 years ago that the Dallas Symphony Association decided  to build a new hall.  The chairman, Mort Meyerson (Chairman of EDS, Chairman of the  DSA and a singer  in the symphony choir) and his committee wanted the best possible acoustic hall.  They went around the world trying to find the best halls and then trying to figure out what made them great. The two best halls to their ears were the Musikverein in Vienna and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. Acoustics of concert halls is complex but two important characteristics of great music halls is their shape (a shoebox) and size (approximately 2,000 seats).  Meyerson, along with Russell Johnson and his company Artec Acoustic Consultants, achieved their goals. According to Wikepedia  “The Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center is a concert hall located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, ranked one of the world's greatest orchestra halls.”  I enjoyed the clear and rich sound of the Musikverein.  Having been a subscriber to the  DSO and enjoying the Meyerson Center for over 25 years it was a treat to be able  to enjoy it’s predecessor.  Now, I think we need a trip to Amsterdam.

The design and building of the Meyerson (pictured below) is documented in a book by Laurie Shulman, “The Meyerson Symphony Center – Building A Dream”.