Vienna, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Vienna
Mom and Dad arrived in Vienna on April 7. They actually had been in Europe a few days at that point, and they stayed in Amsterdam. I am actually very jealous of that, as I have only flown through Amsterdam and have never seen the city (and I’m dying to see the city!!) I left my apartment nice and early (around 8:45) to meet their 10am arrival, but when I got to the airport (about 9:45), their flight wasn’t yet up on the arrivals board. I found this to be very confusing, actually, as the Vienna airport doesn’t usually make that sort of mistake. I decided to call mom’s cell phone to see if by chance their flight had been delayed. Actually, mom told me, their flight didn’t leave until NOON, and wouldn’t arrive until 2pm. Oops…so typical of me to make that mistake, and gosh I was mad I hadn’t double-checked their flight time before I left my apartment! Oh well, at least I had a book and my ipod with me to pass the time.Mom and Dad’s flight finally arrived, and it was wonderful to see them. We didn’t do too much that first day – just checked into their hotel and walked around the city a bit. I showed them my apartment, and we grabbed dinner. We decided that the next day we would see a bit of the countryside, so Mom and I headed to the Westbahnhof to get tickets for a Danube cruise and tour of Melk Abbey.
Saturday morning we set off early on a train that took us to Melk (left is a photo of the Abbey and below to
the right is a photo of both my parents and me on a terrace at the Abbey overlooking the Danube.) We somehow managed to locate the route up to the Abbey from the train station (which wasn’t as easy or as straightforward as we thought it would be, but luckily we ran into the local tourism board, and they pointed us in the right direction. We made it up to the Abbey, where we then took a tour through the place. Every time I go back, I’m reminded at how beautiful it is, especially on a beautiful sunny day. Th
e yellow buildings against the blue sky are always so cheerful ☺ And let me tell you, we had perfect weather that day. After the tour through the Abbey, we walked down to the village for a traditional Austrian lunch (by the way, we were pointed in the right direction by my handy Lonely Planet Vienna, which included good info on day trips outside the city – including to Melk…wow, this blog has totally turned into one giant advertisement for Lonely Planet travel guides…)After lunch we tried to locate the proper dock for our river cruise
(see photo to left), and we were one of the first groups on board the boat (which was good because we were able to get great seats on the top deck.) The cruise lasted about an hour, and it was fun to see all the castles and vineyards on the banks of the blaue Don
au (see photo to the right.) We arrived at our destination point, where disembarked, walked the two miles to the train station and grabbed some dessert to kill time before our train left to bring us back to Vienna. Including a slight detour on the train (they were working on the tracks and had to bus us around a certain point), we got back to Franz Joseph Bahnhof at about 4pm after a great tour. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing, which was nice after a busy day ☺The next day, Sunday, we went to Mass at the Jesuitenkirche to hear the choir. On Sunday after
noon we headed out to the Heeresgeschichtlichesmuseum (the military/war history museum), which is out by Südbahnhof in a bit of a sketchy area. It was worth the trip though, to see a great museum that I’d never been to before (the recommendation to see it came from my old boss at the State Department, by the way – Tom.) It covered Austrian military history from before the days of Prinz Eugen (who saved Vienna from the Ottomans) to post-World War II, and it was fascinating. We got to see the car in which Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot, and we even got to see his uniform with bullet holes. The shots that changed the world forever. If you can pinpoint one moment that decided the course of the twentieth century, you could make a good case for this one. God, I love history!!! (The building itself was gorgeous too - see above left photo of main entrance.)On Sunday we also took the Strassenbahn out to Billrothstrasse 26, aka my school, which was fun. It was locked, so we couldn’t go in, but at least my parents got to see the outside of it and the area in which I worked (the nineteenth district is actually one of the wealthiest/nicest in the city.) All in all, it was a fun day ☺
On Monday we took the train to Prague for the next leg of our trip. I absolutely love Prague – it has a completely different feel from Vienna. It is more mysterious, somehow, and it feels older. While in Prague we actually hired a private tour guide to take us around. Since we were only in the city for two days, really, we though the best way to see as much as possible was to have a small group of just the three of us led by a local who could drive us if necessary (as opposed to renting a car and driving ourselves…oh God the mere though of that is terrifying!!! And calls to mind some scary memories I have of my father driving our super-mini-mini-van through the Italian countryside…this way was much better.)
We saw so much of the city – the Jewish district, Hracany (we
watched a changing of the guard, which 
was neat - see photo to right), and St. Vitus and surrounding areas, the Charles Bridge area (see photo to left,) and other areas that have gorgeous buildings but whose names I can’t remember. We walked down the Golden Lane (see photo to right), which is this tiny and very old alleyway where all the palace craftsmen and artisans would live. These houses are sooo
small!! I couldn’t believe it actually, and my dad couldn’t even fit into most of them. They have all been turned into shops now. Probably my favorite part of the day was seeing St. Vitus’ cathedral. It is so beautiful on the inside, and Alphons Mucha, a famous Czech artist, 
actually painted one of the stained glass windows, which is just stunning (see photo to left.) We loved the Mucha window so much that the next day, after the conclusion to our tour in the morning, we went to the Mucha museum to see his body of work. I have always loved the Art Nouveau/Secession style of art, with Gustav Klimt having always been my favorite, but I have to say that Mucha has taken over. I absolutely love the way he paints and draws, and it was such a pleasure to see the Mucha museum. That night we decided to do a totally kitsch
thing and go to a “traditional” Czech dinner, complete with music and dancing. This could be called the Czech equivalent of a luau, and while it was totally cheesy, it was also very fun ☺ The food was decent, and there was of course audience involvement. Mom and Dad did the Mazurka and I got to waltz with a guy from New Zealand (see photo to right.) It was a fun way to spend our final evening in Prague ☺ On Thursday we traveled back to Vienna, where we would stay for a few
days before departing for Budapest. During these few days, Karl, Gertraut, and Antonia (Antonia lived with my family in Atlanta for six months in 1999 and is my age. See photo. Karl and Gertraut are her parents, and I lived with their family for two months during the summer of 2000) all traveled to Vienna to visit with us, and it was marvelous to see them all again. Karl is probably the best travel guide I’ve ever had. He is a dentist by trade, but he also has a degree in the history of architecture, and he loves looking at old churches and castles and explaining them to us. I always learn a lot when I’m with Karl ☺ While the Rezacs were in Vienna, we went to the Belvedere (my favorite m
useum in Vienna - see photo of our group on the grass we weren't supposed to walk on) to see the Klimt paintings, the Albertina, and the Leopoldsmuseum to see a fantastic exhibit displaying the works of Austrian artists. We had a nice dinner together as well. The Rezacs left for a family Easter celebration on Saturday, and Sunday (Easter), my parents and I went to church at the Votivkirche’s English Mass before catching a train to Budapest in the evening. Budapest is another of my favorite places…in fact, it may even be higher than Prague on my list! Unlike Prague (which I visited
when I lived in Germany the summer of 2002), I’d never been to
Budapest before – I’d only driven through it on the way to the Hungarian countryside, and it was such a treat to be able to stay in the city for a few days and really get to see it. Our hotel was in a perfect location – right on the Danube at the end of the Chain Bridge (see photo to right.) Our first night there, Dad and I went for a walk (while Mom soaked in the bathtub after falling down twice at the train station ☺) and took some gorgeous photos of the palace all lit up at night (see photo to left.)In Budapest, as in Prague, we hired a private guide to show us the city because we were only there for
really a day and a half. The first day, we saw so much around the city – the palace area (see photo to left), the Parliament (which is this crazy neo-Gothic building), monuments to the 1956 uprising, the m
ain Jewish temple, the delicious inside of a pastry shop, one of the hills overlooking the city (great views - see photo to right), several Trabis, a beautiful church, and part of the Hungarian National Museum’s fantastic art collection. It was an amazing day, actually, and I can’t believe how much we were actually able to fit in! It really helps having someone who knows what they are doing with you! That evening we had a delicious dinner at a nice restaurant and played some Quiddler in the hotel (I lost in a tremendous fashion) before heading to bed early (due to sight-seeing exhaustion!)
We left on Tuesday afternoon to go back to Vienna. Mom and Dad then flew out on Wednesday, after almost two weeks with me. It was such a fantastic trip, and I was able to see so many new things myself. I absolutely loved having them here, and I had such a blast playing tour-guide to them in my city ☺
posted by Carly Fowler @ 10:37 PM
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