"The best part about airports lies in what they symbolize. Airports are places of bookends: new beginnings and long-awaited endings, arrivals and departures, hellos and goodbyes. We start in one to end in another hundreds or thousand miles away. You enter from a desert and exit into a blizzard. In from winter, out into summer. In from familiarity, out into somethings completely foreign, or vice versa. An airport is a place of transit, and not just geographically. I wish there was some sort of time-lapse to show how people change between departures and arrivals. When I arrive back home from being away, I'm never the same person as when I left."
New adventure time!
Train to Amsterdam from airport
Holland (ham and cheese) pancake
So many canals with bikes
Beef Goulash
Grilled pork with the traditional Hungarian liquor, palinka
Somlo dessert
Sun, May 13 - Budapest: As the rest of our tour group was still arriving, we explored the city on our own.
Starting off at St. Stephen's Basilica with a Hungarian Catholic mass. In order to explore the Buda side of the city, we walked over Chain Bridge, took the funicular up the hill, and walked over to Matthias church, Fisherman's Bastion, and Trinity Square. A Hungarian lunch was ate at Pest-Buda bistro where I ate chicken paprikash. Then briskly, we explored the public transportation of the subway system and traveled to the Szenchyi baths. We just took a tour of the baths, didn't actually go into the waters as it was very crowded. It was then time to make the first introductions with our Tauck tour group at a welcome reception and dinner.
St Stephen's Basilica
Chain Bridge
Danube river
Buda castle
Funicular
Fishman's Bastion
Parliament
St Matthias Church
Stuffed cabbage rolls
Chicken paprikash
Stuffed cabbage rolls
Chicken paprikash
Szechenyi baths
Kempinski Hotel
Mon, May 14 - Budapest: Our guided tour started with the Opera house, where unfortunately some renovations were being made, so we weren't able to see the stage, but we could see the architecture inside. We were also treated with a small surprise opera performance! The bus then took us to Hero's Square for a group picture and Gellert Hill to overlook the city. Lunch was on a Danube river cruise taking in the entire city. The one memorial I wish I could have gotten a picture of was the Shoes on the Danube Memorial. Our tour then continued to the Dohany Synagoge. With the afternoon on our own, my family went to shop at the Central Market where I purchased some of Hungary's handmade items (puzzle box, paprika, and embroidered lace). Chimney cakes from Molnar's Kurtoskalacs Kavezo and gelato from Gelarto Rosa were our next indulgences before a dinner of langos and beer at Karavan. We met back up with our group for a Pub crawl, first starting at Siperl, and then moving on to one of the ruin bars, A. The ruin bars are definitely a must-see with my favorite type of atmosphere.
The Opera House with a private performance
The castle that Sleeping Beauty's castle was designed after
View from Gellert Hill
Lunch cruise on the Danube
Parliament building
Dohnay Street Synagogue
The Central Market Hall
Chimney Cake
Langos (cheese, sour cream, and fried dough)
Food truck area
One of the ruin bars - A
Tues, May 15 - Budapest/Vienna: We started our early rainy morning with a tour of the Parliament building which is the 3rd largest building in Europe. We were able to view the royal crown but not allowed to get any pictures of it. We then made our way back to St. Stephen's Basilica where we saw St. Stephen's hand (crazy Catholics)! For lunch, there was first a strudel making demonstration followed by a sampling. After hoping on the bus for a 3 hour ride to Vienna, we explored our stunning hotel, the Hotel Imperial. A wiener schnitzel dinner was awaiting us at Cafe Landtmann, along with a torte. We were then treated to a private orchestra performance.
Inside Parliament and the royal crown
St Stephen's hand at St Stephen's Basilica!
Hungarian strudel making demonstration
Pike
Apple and sour cherry stroudel
Wiener schnitzel
Landtmann's fine torte
A private orchestra performance
Wed, May 16 - Vienna: After a small breakfast in the morning, our group took a drive along the city's Ring Boulevard and viewed the Prater amusement park with the world's oldest Ferris wheel and the Danube River. We then got off the bus to walk around the Hofsburg's palace grounds including Hero's Square where sadly Hitler announced the Anschluss. We grabbed a quick lunch on our own at a local cafe and snacked on a variety of sausage and apple strudel. After meeting up with the large group again, we traveled over to the Belvedere Palace with one of the world's greatest art museum, followed by a Viennese Waltz lesson from the Elmayer dance academy. Dinner was a the hotel and then my family went to a local micro-brewery to sample the local beer.
Sachertorte
Mozart memorial
Hero's Square at Hofburg's Palace
Holy Trinity plague column
Viennese coffee
Various types of sausages
Apfelstudel "A strudel a day keeps the doctor away"
Belvedere Palace
"Judith" by Gustav Klimt
"The Kiss" by Klimt
"Changing Faces" by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt
Viennese Waltz lessons
Four course meal at hotel
Micro-brewery -1516 Brewery
Thurs, May 17 - Vienna: A visit of the gorgeous Schonbrunn Palace and gardens was the first stop of our early morning. Our large group then broke off into two smaller groups, one that went on a tour about the Cold War, the other that went on a tour about architecture and monuments. The rest of the afternoon was on our own, so my family had a small lunch at a local sandwich shop, then went onto the St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna Opera house, and then the Albertina to see works of art from Monet, Picasso, and Keith Haring. We were craving Italian food, so we grabbed some pasta over at the Naschmarkt and then finished the night with some Imperial torte and champagne in the room.
Schonbrunn Palace and garden
Karlskirche Church
Naschmarkt
Vienna Opera House
Trzesniewski open sandwich shop
Monet's Water Lilies
Picasso's Woman with Green Hat
Imperial Hotel torte
Fri, May 18 - Prague: The next day was our long but beautiful 6 hour drive to Prague. The countryside was flowing with wildflowers and adorable cottages. We had a quick lunch at a rest stop in order to make it to our private cruise with desserts along the Vltava river. Our walking tour of the Jewish Quarter made up the rest of the afternoon. The tour included the Old New Jewish Synagogue that survived the wars, as well at the Old Jewish cemetery that has numerous graves, some stacking 12 high. Our dinner that night was at our hotel the Augustine hotel. The dinner was so long as I was anxious to get back out and explore this magnificent unique city! My family walked off our dinner across the Charles Bridge, making a wish at one of the statues along the way. We found the Lennon wall and explored some of the local shops before grabbing a beer at our hotel since Prague is known for its large variety of beers.
Charles Bridge
Old New Synagogue that survived the war
The Old Jewish cemetery
Hotel Augustine dinner
The city at night from the Charles Bridge
John Lennon Wall
Sat, May 19 - Prague: Our tour of Prague started with the Prague castle, which isn't actually a castle at all, but more of a complex that includes the Royal Palace, Belvedere Palace (yes another one of the Habsburg's residences) and St. Vitus cathedral. We had a small amount of free time for lunch were my family went to see the Infant Jesus of Prague and shopped. I bought a Bohemian glass set which Prague is known for. The afternoon walking tour was of the Old town with the Astronomical Clock which was unfortunately under repairs! My family then headed over the UFleku brewery/beer garden - Prague's oldest brewery, dating back to 1499, and of course indulged in a refreshing beer and sampled the pork knuckle and dumplings. That night was the farewell reception at the hotel with a St. Thomas Brewery beer tasting.
Prague Castle
St. Vitus Cathedral
Panarama of Prague
Prague castle gardens
Cobblestone walkways all throughout town
Monk library
Infant Jesus of Prague
Architecture of Prague
Open air market
Astronomical Clock under repairs
Old Town Square
Gorgeous streets of Prague
U Flecku brewery
Hotel dinner
Sunday May 20th - Back to the US with a layover at JFK.
Overall, I would have to say that Prague was my favorite city of the three due to it's uniqueness and beauty. The trip was a huge success - we saw everything we wanted to see, ate everything we wanted to eat, and bought want we wanted to buy. There was never a shortage of food or drinks, so I will have to detox and eat extremely healthy for the next few weeks. And as you may assume - I'm already planning my next trip!
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