Today Grandpa and I began our journey back in time to where Papa Chris was born and spent the first few years of his life before immigrating. As we made our way from Lviv, the city faded away into a very rural agricultural area. The land is flat with only a few rolling hills now and then. We saw fields of corn, wheat and hay. As we got closer to Bolechiv the trees became thicker and hills, valleys and rivers more apparent.
As we traveled we went through many villages and towns, all had their onion domed churches shining in the sun. The church roofs are covered in reflective metal sheeting, quite the sparkling effect. Every town had 3 things, the church, a small grocery store and a bus stop. All day we passed buses, small and large shuttling people from the little villages and towns to the bigger ones. Men, women, teenagers, mothers with strollers and children bumping along in crowded buses headed to get what they needed.
And boy were those roads bumpy!!! Once we got off the 4 lane road and onto the 2 lane road it was unbelievable. There were potholes that a small car could get lost in, roads that had been stripped for new asphalt but never completed. So we crawled along trying to not lose the transmission along with the buses, and 8-wheeler trucks. When we weren't bumping along we were busy playing kamikaze on the 2 lane roads. Here you can pass a car or two anytime you want, and if in the process of passing you just can't get over in time, no problem. The 2 lane road turns into a 3 lane and you just drive down the center. Hopefully you won't get the big rig squeeze. I forgot to mention that you also share the road with bikes, horse drawn wagons, and ladies herding cows down the road. It all makes for a interesting drive, one which is hard to get drowsy on.
We survived the bladder busting roads and made it to Bolechiv. The town sits in a valley with a little river running through the middle of the town. There's a church down at the edge of downtown and many little shops along the main drag. It was a busy afternoon and everyone was out shopping. Kids were playing in the city park and a trailer full of squeling pigs flew past me. The houses are small and fairly old. Everyone had a garden, including the shops. The men were chatting with a beer in their hands or smoking, the women were bustling around getting their shopping done and the kids were riding bikes or playing in the park. All a very typical scene. After walking around a bit we had seen it all. Nothing as we imagined but what I had in my head was about a 100 years ago.
We tried to find the town where the church was but mistook one that we were in, later Grandpa looked at a map and realized the error but it was a little town and everyone starred at us as we drove in and took some pictures.
We stopped in Stryi for lunch and took a gamble on potato pancakes with chicken and mushrooms. It was fantastic!
After lunch Grandpa wanted to head to the Carpathian Mountains but we realized after awhile that we had missed the turn off in Stryi somewhere and headed in the wrong direction. Tired, hot, and really hating the pothole filled roads we headed back to Lviv and our hotel.
We rounded out the day by watching on YouTube a 1965 movie with Yul Brynner and Tony Curtis about the Ukrainian Cossacks and the Polish empire.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Monday, August 19, 2013
Day 18 - We Are Definitely Not In Kansas Anymore
We flew to Lviv, Ukraine without a hitch, the tornado trip was good, served with a chocolate croissant and chocolate muesli.
The airport is new and clean, we went to the car rental and everyone spoke English, terrific! Grandpa handed me the partially printed google map, the car guy in broken English kind of explained the way with a promise a map was in the car. Ok here we go, how do we get out of the parking lot? First problem, manual shift, grandpa is a bit out of practice. Second problem, no visible street signs. Third problem, crazy drivers!! So we managed to get lost first try, double back to airport then Grandpa says the map is in glove compartment, well a third of it is. We go back inside airport to our new friends, they laugh, ok it is funny. Then manager asks if we want GPS, heck yes!! Find new map, doesn't cover hotel, fine we have Oz to tell us where to go. Try this again, only had to turn around twice this time. Hurray we found the Emerald City, aka hotel. And they speak English, mostly! Next adventure.
It comes at lunch, the hotel has a restaurant and we are the only ones dining or only ones in hotel, not sure. We ordered borscht, good Russian soup, but not enough for the day. So I spot sandwiches, I thought, not so it is slices of meat on a plate. Ok that works, some bread too please. Bread comes first, ok, wait wait, now meat. Hmm interesting, turns out bacon to ukraines is just the pig fat, thanks Grandpa for trying that! Not sure about others but seems ok, maybe. Then the borscht comes and a side of mustard please. Ok time to leave the safety of Emerald Ciry and explore.
We had a taxi take us to the city center, no seatbelts, car looks part of demolition derby. I want a refund on my ruby slippers please. Start your engines, aaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!! Crazy Ukraine drivers! We arrived safely but only because we got caught behind a bus. Now we try my Ukrainian skills, da and nyet (yes and no). Lots of souvenirs and by the time we circle around I'm noticing that they all look the same, great probably made in china. Surprise here are your presents!! Ice cream was partaken of, not as good as Europe, kind of like the chocolate. Now to find another taxi and maybe get back in one piece.
The end of a day and the first of many adventures I'm sure.
The airport is new and clean, we went to the car rental and everyone spoke English, terrific! Grandpa handed me the partially printed google map, the car guy in broken English kind of explained the way with a promise a map was in the car. Ok here we go, how do we get out of the parking lot? First problem, manual shift, grandpa is a bit out of practice. Second problem, no visible street signs. Third problem, crazy drivers!! So we managed to get lost first try, double back to airport then Grandpa says the map is in glove compartment, well a third of it is. We go back inside airport to our new friends, they laugh, ok it is funny. Then manager asks if we want GPS, heck yes!! Find new map, doesn't cover hotel, fine we have Oz to tell us where to go. Try this again, only had to turn around twice this time. Hurray we found the Emerald City, aka hotel. And they speak English, mostly! Next adventure.
It comes at lunch, the hotel has a restaurant and we are the only ones dining or only ones in hotel, not sure. We ordered borscht, good Russian soup, but not enough for the day. So I spot sandwiches, I thought, not so it is slices of meat on a plate. Ok that works, some bread too please. Bread comes first, ok, wait wait, now meat. Hmm interesting, turns out bacon to ukraines is just the pig fat, thanks Grandpa for trying that! Not sure about others but seems ok, maybe. Then the borscht comes and a side of mustard please. Ok time to leave the safety of Emerald Ciry and explore.
We had a taxi take us to the city center, no seatbelts, car looks part of demolition derby. I want a refund on my ruby slippers please. Start your engines, aaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!! Crazy Ukraine drivers! We arrived safely but only because we got caught behind a bus. Now we try my Ukrainian skills, da and nyet (yes and no). Lots of souvenirs and by the time we circle around I'm noticing that they all look the same, great probably made in china. Surprise here are your presents!! Ice cream was partaken of, not as good as Europe, kind of like the chocolate. Now to find another taxi and maybe get back in one piece.
The end of a day and the first of many adventures I'm sure.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Day 16 and 17 - Two for the Price of One
I'm going to combine the last 2 days because I need to catch up and Grandpa and I leave for the Ukraine tomorrow. We're not sure if there will be any internet access so the blog may end today.
Saturday we left the ship and hauled our luggage through the streets of Budapest to our hotel about 1.5 miles away. Once we checked in our next mission was to haul the dirty clothes to the laundromat I located on the internet across town. So we had our first adventure in the subway system. Our first impression was that it was cleaner than New York City. The car was really new and clean inside, they even have rules that you can't eat in the subway. But we then changed to a different route and that's when we had the chance to ride history. The subway cars were from the old Soviet era complete with the squeals, rumbles and rattles. Older inside but cleaner than expected. The laundromat was fairly easy to find once to figured out our direction upon leaving the subway station. But boy did we get there in time, we got there just before the mob and were able to finish up our laundry in 1.5 hours. I met some kids with their mom at the laundry mat and talked to the older girl, she was 9 and could speak english. She was really surprised when I said I was american.
Once we returned with clean laundry we set off to find food. The hotel gave us the name of a local place that served hungarian food. It was a quiet little restaurant that looked like it had been around for awhile as a bar or dance hall. It had a little stage in the back and a wooden floor. The food was good, Grandpa had Hungarian Goulash and I had pork with ratatouille (without rats) and fried potatoes. It was really good.
We tried to visit some other places of interest in Budapest after eating but this weekend is a holiday for Budapest and Budapest was shutting down early. So we spent the rest of the night catching up on email and relaxing.
Sunday was terrific! Grandpa and I tracked down where one of the 3 wards in Budapest were and we took the subway to the Buda side and walked to the church building. But you can see from the pictures it's not like the church buildings we are used to. This building is stuck between apartment buildings and is in a small road away from any major traffic. The building is new and really nice inside and out. The chapel is small much smaller than our own but the people were fantastic. They even have ward members translate for us using translators that we listened through. The bishop spoke english and Grandpa and I think he was from America. The talks were fantastic, a young woman spoke of her young adult conference she had just attended in Slovakia with Romanians, Hungarians and Slovakian young adults. The next speaker was a man in his late 20s-early 30s who had been a member for only 9 months. He did a terrific job and the last speaker was I'm assuming a high counselor who had been a member for 10 years. Just looking around the room you knew that not many of the people in this ward had been members for very long. It was a terrific experience.
After church we decided to go back up to the castle hill, we were just 2 blocks away and catch what we missed on Friday. Today was the beginning of the Hungarian Folkfest. Artisans from all over the country as well as other countries came to show and sell traditional hungarian crafts. At the beginning were several cheese makers and there were even official cheese judges trying out the cheese. We found a booth selling huge cheese pretzels and yummy strudel so we of course had to get some and try it out. Enjoy the pictures of all the different kinds of crafts and people that were at the folk fest.
Sorry no stories to tell today, except that on the way back to the hotel from eating dinner we found 1 block away a laundry mat. So much for going across the city to do laundry.
Saturday we left the ship and hauled our luggage through the streets of Budapest to our hotel about 1.5 miles away. Once we checked in our next mission was to haul the dirty clothes to the laundromat I located on the internet across town. So we had our first adventure in the subway system. Our first impression was that it was cleaner than New York City. The car was really new and clean inside, they even have rules that you can't eat in the subway. But we then changed to a different route and that's when we had the chance to ride history. The subway cars were from the old Soviet era complete with the squeals, rumbles and rattles. Older inside but cleaner than expected. The laundromat was fairly easy to find once to figured out our direction upon leaving the subway station. But boy did we get there in time, we got there just before the mob and were able to finish up our laundry in 1.5 hours. I met some kids with their mom at the laundry mat and talked to the older girl, she was 9 and could speak english. She was really surprised when I said I was american.
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| Inside the subway train |
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| Old Soviety subway train still being used |
Once we returned with clean laundry we set off to find food. The hotel gave us the name of a local place that served hungarian food. It was a quiet little restaurant that looked like it had been around for awhile as a bar or dance hall. It had a little stage in the back and a wooden floor. The food was good, Grandpa had Hungarian Goulash and I had pork with ratatouille (without rats) and fried potatoes. It was really good.
We tried to visit some other places of interest in Budapest after eating but this weekend is a holiday for Budapest and Budapest was shutting down early. So we spent the rest of the night catching up on email and relaxing.
Sunday was terrific! Grandpa and I tracked down where one of the 3 wards in Budapest were and we took the subway to the Buda side and walked to the church building. But you can see from the pictures it's not like the church buildings we are used to. This building is stuck between apartment buildings and is in a small road away from any major traffic. The building is new and really nice inside and out. The chapel is small much smaller than our own but the people were fantastic. They even have ward members translate for us using translators that we listened through. The bishop spoke english and Grandpa and I think he was from America. The talks were fantastic, a young woman spoke of her young adult conference she had just attended in Slovakia with Romanians, Hungarians and Slovakian young adults. The next speaker was a man in his late 20s-early 30s who had been a member for only 9 months. He did a terrific job and the last speaker was I'm assuming a high counselor who had been a member for 10 years. Just looking around the room you knew that not many of the people in this ward had been members for very long. It was a terrific experience.
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| Notice the steeple up top |
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| The sign in the door |
After church we decided to go back up to the castle hill, we were just 2 blocks away and catch what we missed on Friday. Today was the beginning of the Hungarian Folkfest. Artisans from all over the country as well as other countries came to show and sell traditional hungarian crafts. At the beginning were several cheese makers and there were even official cheese judges trying out the cheese. We found a booth selling huge cheese pretzels and yummy strudel so we of course had to get some and try it out. Enjoy the pictures of all the different kinds of crafts and people that were at the folk fest.
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| A candy stall, this one's for you J-man |
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| We found another one of those marriage lock places in a park in Budapest |
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| The white stuff is lard (pig fat), great piles of lard for sale at the folk fest |
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| This woman is making lace by hand, it was amazing how time consuming it is, making lace is just a series of well placed knots |
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| There were several of these tents at the festival, families were living in them while at the festival. The outside is made up of really thick wool like blankets. They might be from Khyrgyzstan |
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| Hungarian soldier at attention at his post on caste hill |
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| This man paints wood, beautiful painting work |
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| Check out this playhouse/castle, it is made of baskets. There were many basket weavers at the festival and the young man sitting next to this was one of them. |
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| This woman was in traditional dress selling clothing that she made |
Sorry no stories to tell today, except that on the way back to the hotel from eating dinner we found 1 block away a laundry mat. So much for going across the city to do laundry.
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Day 15 - The City of Many Heroes
Budapest is the capital of Hungary and until 1873 were actually two separate cities, Buda and Pest. Today they still refer to the Pest side and the Buda side when referencing an address. Hungary has known many rulers, the Turks, the Magyars, the Habsburgs, the Nazis and finally the Soviets. All have plundered and destroyed the city and it's people. But like Slovakia, in 1993 the people were freed from the last of the Soviets and have been trying to restore and rebuild their city the last 20 years.
Up on Castle Hill is a palace built in 1247, but as conquerors have come and gone they have added or sometimes subtracted from the palace. Castle Hill is also home to the countries main library holding some 10 million books on mostly Hungarian history, literature, etc. The church of St. Matthias is on the hill and is currently being renovated. There are museums, hotels and government buildings. There are even people who have apartments in the older buildings. Below in the hill are caves that were used for wine cellars but during World War II a hospital was put together in the caves.
Buda is mostly a residential area with homes being built along the sides of the hilltops and in the valleys below. On the Pest side is the Parliament building, and most of the business side of the city. There are mostly apartments on the Pest side and individual owned by people. Before the Soviets came, families owned the whole building as their house but when the Soviets came they took their homes away and told them they could live there but only in a portion of it. They took these great homes built in the 1700 to early 1900s and turned them into apartment buildings. People would have to pay rent to the Soviets but the Soviets didn't care if the buildings started to fall apart and neither did the people living there, they couldn't afford to spend their money on something that wasn't their own. When the Soviets left then people could buy their apartments at a really cheap price and that's why most people own their apartment rather than rent it. But to get a building fixed 70% of the owners need to approve the fixing of the building if not than they can't. The hard part are those who are older and don't want the noise and fuss despite the condition of the building. But slowly it is being renovated and there are some lovely buildings that have been fixed, but most are still falling apart and look sad and worn out.
The city built a Heroes Square in 1896 to honor Hungary's heroes. Each statue is of a person who had a significant part in Hungary's history. Originally 3 of the statues were of Habsburg kings, but when the Habsburg were kicked out so were their statues and were replaced with revolutionary figures. During the early part of August the whole square is filled with sand and horse races are watched.
Budapest was the home to over 250,000 jewish people at one point, most were from Germany who fled when they were kicked out of their homes. They have a large synagogue and museum now honoring those who died during World War II. The jewish people in Hungary were not sent to concentration camps until the very end of the war, but during the war they were made into slave labor to help build military fortifications and weapons. As the war was coming to a close many were sent to the river and killed and others were sent to concentration camps.
As in Slovakia, Hungary is a hard place to earn a living. Most people have 2 jobs because they can't earn enough money from just one. Even doctors in Hungary earn between 300-500 euros a month and can't afford that so they leave Hungary to work in Germany, the US or other parts of europe where they can be paid for their profession. Many of the crew on our cruise were from Hungary and most had a college education. But unfortunately they couldn't earn enough money with their degree and so they took a job cleaning our cabins or serving food. That's how bad it is.
While some parts of the city are lovely, there are others that reflect the old Soviet empire still and hopefully in another 20 years things will look up for Budapest and the people.
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| Sculpture in a park |
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| The Buda side of the city |
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| The Pest side of the city |
Up on Castle Hill is a palace built in 1247, but as conquerors have come and gone they have added or sometimes subtracted from the palace. Castle Hill is also home to the countries main library holding some 10 million books on mostly Hungarian history, literature, etc. The church of St. Matthias is on the hill and is currently being renovated. There are museums, hotels and government buildings. There are even people who have apartments in the older buildings. Below in the hill are caves that were used for wine cellars but during World War II a hospital was put together in the caves.
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| St Matthias church |
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| Inside the church, painters are restoring the church wall decorations |
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| Inside the church |
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| Another view inside the church |
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| A falconer was up on Castle Hill with his Eagle (?) |
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| A paprika stand, paprika is a major spice used in Hungary |
The city built a Heroes Square in 1896 to honor Hungary's heroes. Each statue is of a person who had a significant part in Hungary's history. Originally 3 of the statues were of Habsburg kings, but when the Habsburg were kicked out so were their statues and were replaced with revolutionary figures. During the early part of August the whole square is filled with sand and horse races are watched.
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| Heroes Square |
Budapest was the home to over 250,000 jewish people at one point, most were from Germany who fled when they were kicked out of their homes. They have a large synagogue and museum now honoring those who died during World War II. The jewish people in Hungary were not sent to concentration camps until the very end of the war, but during the war they were made into slave labor to help build military fortifications and weapons. As the war was coming to a close many were sent to the river and killed and others were sent to concentration camps.
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| Jewish Synagogue, it even has a organ that a Christian woman plays for them |
As in Slovakia, Hungary is a hard place to earn a living. Most people have 2 jobs because they can't earn enough money from just one. Even doctors in Hungary earn between 300-500 euros a month and can't afford that so they leave Hungary to work in Germany, the US or other parts of europe where they can be paid for their profession. Many of the crew on our cruise were from Hungary and most had a college education. But unfortunately they couldn't earn enough money with their degree and so they took a job cleaning our cabins or serving food. That's how bad it is.
While some parts of the city are lovely, there are others that reflect the old Soviet empire still and hopefully in another 20 years things will look up for Budapest and the people.
Day 14 - The Other Side of the World
Today we woke up in Slovakia, a former Soviet country. For my younger friends you won't know what the Soviet is, after World War II the allies (good guys) divided up the countries that had joined up with the Nazis. Boundaries had changed and some countries were made a part of the Soviet Union (Russians). Slovakia was one of these countries as well as Hungary which we will visit tomorrow. The Soviets government was strict, they told you where to live, what to eat, what you were going to do and how. You couldn't leave the country without permissions and people were often spied on and if you said something against the government they would put you in jail. But in 1993 the government changed and the country Soviet Union was no more and the countries they had taken were given back to the people. Now people could live where they wanted to, be what they wanted to be and decide for themselves how to run their country. So for only the last 20 years have the Slovakians been able to be a country.
Slovakia was part of Austria-Hungary and ruled by the Habsburgs who ruled there until 1918. After the Habsburgs left Slovakia joined with several other local smaller areas to become Czechoslavakia. They remained joined until 1992 when the Soviets left. Today they have an elected President just like us and they elect parliament members, kind of like our congress. Bratislava is the city we were in and is the capital of the country.
When Slovakia was part of the Austria-Hungary empire they had a castle on the hill overlooking Bratislava a major city even at that time. The palace was damaged quite a bit from fire, wars and neglect but in the last few years has been renovated.
Our guide told us that most Slovakians don't earn very much, only about 200-400 euros a month and they are heavily taxed. So only the very rich can have houses in the city and usually live on the hill by the parliament and palace. A house on the hill is around 1 million euros and they aren't very big. The rest of the people live across the river in buildings that were built by the Soviets and families live together. So it's not unusual for grandparents to have at least one kid and their family live with them in a tiny apartment that is old and run down. In Slovakia going to college is free, you just have to pass the entrance exam. But there are alot of people without work so many are leaving the country to find work elsewhere.
After a short tour of Bratislava we returned to the ship and set sail for Budapest.
Budapest at night is amazing, there are lights on all of the bridges, lights on all the major churches and monuments and even lasers shooting around in the night sky. Quite the night show as we pulled into port.
The story tonight is how Grandpa and I had to fight off a thousand bugs. As I was about to go to bed, had my face washed and jammies on, I stepped out onto the balcony for a quick look. Not to far away I saw the first of the lighted bridges as you come into Budapest. Grandpa joined me and we watched the lights as we came into port. After docking we went back inside and to our horror we had accumulated more than a thousand bugs in our room. Buzzing around our ceiling, in our bed on the lights, everywhere bugs. We had no bug spray and tried to turn off the lights and lure them away but that didn't work. Apparently Grandpa and I haven't learned the fine art of bug herding. So we grabbed towels and began to swat. We killed a few hundred but the numbers were just to great. So I got into bed and pulled the covers over my head. There was some buzzing in my ear a few times but I just swatted and fell back to sleep. I hope they will be gone in the morning.
Slovakia was part of Austria-Hungary and ruled by the Habsburgs who ruled there until 1918. After the Habsburgs left Slovakia joined with several other local smaller areas to become Czechoslavakia. They remained joined until 1992 when the Soviets left. Today they have an elected President just like us and they elect parliament members, kind of like our congress. Bratislava is the city we were in and is the capital of the country.
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| Slovakia's Parliament building |
When Slovakia was part of the Austria-Hungary empire they had a castle on the hill overlooking Bratislava a major city even at that time. The palace was damaged quite a bit from fire, wars and neglect but in the last few years has been renovated.
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| The castle on the hill |
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| View of the Danube from the castle and over into the other side of Bratislava |
Our guide told us that most Slovakians don't earn very much, only about 200-400 euros a month and they are heavily taxed. So only the very rich can have houses in the city and usually live on the hill by the parliament and palace. A house on the hill is around 1 million euros and they aren't very big. The rest of the people live across the river in buildings that were built by the Soviets and families live together. So it's not unusual for grandparents to have at least one kid and their family live with them in a tiny apartment that is old and run down. In Slovakia going to college is free, you just have to pass the entrance exam. But there are alot of people without work so many are leaving the country to find work elsewhere.
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| Apartments in the older part of downtown Bratislava |
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| Old gate into the city |
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| Plaza in Bratislava |
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| Skinniest house in all of Europe. You had to pay taxes on the width of the house, so the man who built this house only made it as wide as his door and 3 stories high. Not sure how far back it goes but the family would have to sleep in bunk beds. |
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| Skinniest house |
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| Old Soviet housing across the river |
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| US Ambassador to Slovakia's home, the Slovaks call it the Little White House |
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| Trams still being used today from the Soviet era |
After a short tour of Bratislava we returned to the ship and set sail for Budapest.
Budapest at night is amazing, there are lights on all of the bridges, lights on all the major churches and monuments and even lasers shooting around in the night sky. Quite the night show as we pulled into port.
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| The first bridge into Budapest, the Arpad bridge |
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| The second bridge is the Margit bridge |
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| The third bridge is the Chain bridge with the palace on the hill |
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| The Erzbet (Elizabeth) bridge |
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| The lights of Budapest |
The story tonight is how Grandpa and I had to fight off a thousand bugs. As I was about to go to bed, had my face washed and jammies on, I stepped out onto the balcony for a quick look. Not to far away I saw the first of the lighted bridges as you come into Budapest. Grandpa joined me and we watched the lights as we came into port. After docking we went back inside and to our horror we had accumulated more than a thousand bugs in our room. Buzzing around our ceiling, in our bed on the lights, everywhere bugs. We had no bug spray and tried to turn off the lights and lure them away but that didn't work. Apparently Grandpa and I haven't learned the fine art of bug herding. So we grabbed towels and began to swat. We killed a few hundred but the numbers were just to great. So I got into bed and pulled the covers over my head. There was some buzzing in my ear a few times but I just swatted and fell back to sleep. I hope they will be gone in the morning.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Day 13 - Dining with the Queen
Vienna, often called the city of music, was more like the city of noise. Like any big city, this one was full of cars, buses, trams, people, and subways. All making noise and not any music. But there are some beautiful buildings in the center of the city where Queen Maria Therese and her family ruled their empire from. She had a large family 16 kids, she had lots of people working with her and she liked pretty things. They told us at the Melk Abbey that when the Queen came to the Abbey she would have 300 people with her.
One of her palaces is in the middle of the city with a park for her family right next to it, large stables for the Spanish Riding School and it's famous Lipizzan horses, museums and opera house. The center of the city is shaped like a horse shoe because at one point the city center was a fortress to keep the royalty safe from outside groups. Eventually the fortress became to small and the walls came down to expand around 1857. The palace is at the center of the town and the streets kind of look like rays of the sun out from there.
Lots of famous musicians and composers lived and made music in Vienna, this is why it is the city of music. Some of them are Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, and Johan Strauss. Grandpa was able to attend a concert where a small group of musicians, singers and ballet dancers gave a concert of Mozart and Strauss. He really enjoyed it.
After taking a bus tour around the center of the city our guide took us on a walking tour to see some of the more important sites. We visited St. Stephens Cathedral, the stables for the Lipizzan horses, outside of the palace, the opera house and down the roads of a few streets to see buildings that were once very rich peoples houses. Funny enough our tour guide was american, he was born in the midwest and went to Austria for a Study Abroad in college. He met a girl there and they were married. He's been in Vienna for 32 years.
Grandpa and I spent the rest of the afternoon looking at rooms and rooms of paintings from lots of famous artists in the Queens own art museum. She had an art museum and a natural history museum built right across the street from her palace, she liked art and her husband liked science. After a few hours I was getting google-eyed from looking at all of the pictures and we found a cafe on the sidewalk with apple strudel. Guess what we had. ;)
Story of the day is about cake, the Sachertorte. Prince Wenzel von Metternich was having important guests over and asked his chef to come up with a new dessert for the occasion. The chef became ill and so had his 16 yrs old apprentice Franz Sacher come up with the dessert. He created a chocolate cake with an apricot jam between two layers of cake a chocolate frosting on the outside. The guests loved it, but nothing was mentioned about the cake again. Franz finished his training and opened up a store of his own and made his sachertorte. His son, Eduard, went on to be a chef and trained at another shop The Demel Bakery, while there he perfected his father's recipe. He made the cakes at the Demel but eventually left and opened up a hotel, Hotel Sacher. At the hotel they served the cake as well. It became a famous Vienna treat. But when the son died the family lost the hotel and his son, Eduard Jr., went to work for the Demel bakery making the sachertorte. The hotel was bought by someone and they started making the sachertorte and calling it the original recipe. The Demel Bakery was upset because they had the son and the original recipe so they were the original recipe. For 7 years the battle raged in court as to who had the rights to say original recipe. Eventually they decided both could have their way, Hotel Sacher would advertise that it was the original recipe but Demel Bakery could decorate the cake to say it was from Eduard Sacher's original recipe. All that fuss over a chocolate cake.
Tomorrow we will be in the country of Slovakia, specifically the town of Bratislava.
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| Queen Marie Therese |
One of her palaces is in the middle of the city with a park for her family right next to it, large stables for the Spanish Riding School and it's famous Lipizzan horses, museums and opera house. The center of the city is shaped like a horse shoe because at one point the city center was a fortress to keep the royalty safe from outside groups. Eventually the fortress became to small and the walls came down to expand around 1857. The palace is at the center of the town and the streets kind of look like rays of the sun out from there.
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| Front of the Imperial Palace |
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| The back of the Imperial Palace |
Lots of famous musicians and composers lived and made music in Vienna, this is why it is the city of music. Some of them are Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, and Johan Strauss. Grandpa was able to attend a concert where a small group of musicians, singers and ballet dancers gave a concert of Mozart and Strauss. He really enjoyed it.
After taking a bus tour around the center of the city our guide took us on a walking tour to see some of the more important sites. We visited St. Stephens Cathedral, the stables for the Lipizzan horses, outside of the palace, the opera house and down the roads of a few streets to see buildings that were once very rich peoples houses. Funny enough our tour guide was american, he was born in the midwest and went to Austria for a Study Abroad in college. He met a girl there and they were married. He's been in Vienna for 32 years.
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| Lipizzan horse stables |
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| One of only 2 horses in the stables, during the summer they are at their summer home enjoying the fresh green grass away from the city. |
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| This monument was built by the King in 1680, a big plague (illness) came to Vienna and was killing alot of people. The King prayed that if God would take the plague away the King would build a monument to God and Jesus Christ to honor them. The plague left killing 1/3 of all the people of Vienna. The King fulfilled his promise. |
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| St. Stephen's Cathedral |
Grandpa and I spent the rest of the afternoon looking at rooms and rooms of paintings from lots of famous artists in the Queens own art museum. She had an art museum and a natural history museum built right across the street from her palace, she liked art and her husband liked science. After a few hours I was getting google-eyed from looking at all of the pictures and we found a cafe on the sidewalk with apple strudel. Guess what we had. ;)
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| The art museum |
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| The stairway in the art museum |
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| Under the rotunda in the art museum |
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| The rotunda in the art museum |
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| Apple Strudel with vanilla creme sauce |
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| Apple strudel |
Story of the day is about cake, the Sachertorte. Prince Wenzel von Metternich was having important guests over and asked his chef to come up with a new dessert for the occasion. The chef became ill and so had his 16 yrs old apprentice Franz Sacher come up with the dessert. He created a chocolate cake with an apricot jam between two layers of cake a chocolate frosting on the outside. The guests loved it, but nothing was mentioned about the cake again. Franz finished his training and opened up a store of his own and made his sachertorte. His son, Eduard, went on to be a chef and trained at another shop The Demel Bakery, while there he perfected his father's recipe. He made the cakes at the Demel but eventually left and opened up a hotel, Hotel Sacher. At the hotel they served the cake as well. It became a famous Vienna treat. But when the son died the family lost the hotel and his son, Eduard Jr., went to work for the Demel bakery making the sachertorte. The hotel was bought by someone and they started making the sachertorte and calling it the original recipe. The Demel Bakery was upset because they had the son and the original recipe so they were the original recipe. For 7 years the battle raged in court as to who had the rights to say original recipe. Eventually they decided both could have their way, Hotel Sacher would advertise that it was the original recipe but Demel Bakery could decorate the cake to say it was from Eduard Sacher's original recipe. All that fuss over a chocolate cake.
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| Hotel Sacher version of the sachertorte, and no I did not try it |
Tomorrow we will be in the country of Slovakia, specifically the town of Bratislava.
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| Austrian Navy ship at the Vienna dock with us |
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| Vienna pickles for my pickle girl |
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