What was originally planned as a cruise through Budapest, Prague and Vienna turned into a family holiday by train. My sister in Germany booked the train tickets and accommodation, I, as usual, searched for good places to eat and sights to see, and my mother invited her friend from Houston to join us. This trip had been on all our bucket lists for years, so after a few days in Munich we were very excited to board the train and head for our first stop, Vienna. As we were travelling by train, the luggage had to be small and light. I was quite amazed that I managed to pack for 3 weeks in just a carry-on roller case! The good thing was that we had booked small flats for accommodation which were fully supplied with all mod cons including washers and coffee machines. We decided to use the SplitWise app for our expenses, so no need to calculate who paid for what, it was all shared equally.
I will let the photographs do most of the talking for this story.
Munich
There are many walking tours throughout Europe which are led by local residents so we chose one to walk us through the city of Munich, which included the bustling Viktualienmarkt. As it was a Saturday it was extremely busy and we lost our tour guide a few times. We made plans to return on another day to purchase the herbs and cheeses displayed so invitingly. We took note that walking tours were not really recommended for a 90 and 82-year-old, so decided it would be a better idea to book private tours by car in the next 3 cities and use Uber or Bolt services. We would also use the city train networks, as tickets had already been purchased. There are many special deals on trains so it is best to do some research before you travel.
Vienna
I had booked tickets for 2 musical concerts. The Wiener Musikverein is a traditional concert hall in Vienna. The building opened in 1870 and is the home of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. I chose a concert performed by the Vienna Mozart Orchestra with the musicians all dressed in costumes of Mozart’s time. Little did we realise that our seats were actually on the stage right next to the orchestra! In fact we walked to our seats with the musicians themselves. This was the first time we would be seeing the face of the conductor and not his back. The concert was absolutely marvellous with singers and even audience participation, of course, enthusiastic clapping for the Radetzsky March and even for a little Strauss thrown in.
The second concert, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons was held in the Karlskirche, the last large work of the baroque architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. We walked through a small park into this beautiful church and took our seats on which a blanket was placed in case we were cold. The interior was breathtaking.
Our Texan friend had a friend who lived in Vienna so we took the time to visit him. Not only had he lived in the gorgeous apartment since he was a child, it was now owned by the Sacher Hotel and had a view of the Opera House right opposite. Prime real estate indeed! We walked past the long queue for the famous Sacher Torte and our breath was taken away by the beauty of the apartment, including the over 100-year-old genuine crystal chandeliers. Our host served us delicious Viennese coffee and pastries and then recommended where we should go for the Kaiserschmarrn that all of us were dying to eat – Demel, a famous pastry shop and chocolaterie established in 1786. We avoided the queue for takeaway and waited for a table in the packed salon. Of course, we could not resist browsing through the fantastic chocolate shop downstairs.
We had booked a Hop-On HopOff bus to tour Vienna but made the mistake of not checking that it was May 1st, not only a holiday but many streets were blocked off for large workers’ demonstrations. We walked for what seemed like hours looking for the bus and no one answered their phone. I was glad I had ordered a collapsible stool before I left Malaysia, it came in very handy indeed! Eventually, we found the bus and boarded it for The Belvedere, not only a baroque palace but home to the largest collection of Klimt paintings in the world, including The Kiss. What a beautiful palace, and we appreciated all the descriptions of the original rooms and what they were used for centuries ago.
We definitely could not miss the Albertina Museum which was celebrating the 100th birthday of the master of Pop Art, Roy Lichtenstein with a comprehensive retrospective bringing together over 90 paintings, sculptures and prints. Alongside Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein is one of the founding figures of Pop Art.
We had many superb meals in Vienna, with breakfast at Haas & Hass Tea Salon being outstanding, including a shop filled with confectioneries and teas from all over the world. Since we were travelling light, we could only look and admire. The Tea Salon is immediately off Stephansplatz, where stands the landmark of Vienna, the St Stephen’s Cathedral, one of the most significant Gothic buildings in Austria. It was a highlight of the many churches we visited, and we made sure to light a candle for peace.
The beauty of Europe lies in its many historical centuries-old iconic buildings and it is fascinating to stand in the rooms and imagine life all those aeons ago.
On to Budapest, the Pearl of the Danube, where none of us spoke the language! Currency also was in Forints, not Euros so our mental arithmetic skills were truly tested. Here we had booked a private tour by car as the Buda section of the city is surrounded by beautiful hills. As we were only in Budapest for 3 nights we had to be very selective on our list of things to see. So a day at the spa which everyone told us to do, and a visit to a cave bar, had to be left out.
We spent some time visiting the Buda castle, part of the Budapest World Heritage Site, so declared in 1987. King Sigismund, as a Holy Roman Emperor, needed a magnificent royal residence to express his prominence among the rulers of Europe. He chose Buda Castle as his main residence, and during his long reign, it became probably the largest Gothic palace of the late Middle Ages.
We made a sombre visit to Shoes on The Danube Bank, a memorial erected on 16 April 2005 to the memory of the victims shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944–45. Conceived by film director Can Togay, he created it on the east bank of the Danube River with sculptor Gyula Pauer to honour the 3,500 people, 800 of them Jews, who were massacred during the Second World War. They were ordered to take off their shoes (shoes were valuable and could be stolen and resold by the militia after the massacre) and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away. The sculptor created sixty pairs of period-appropriate shoes out of iron that represent their shoes left behind on the bank.
An evening walk down Váci street, one of the main pedestrian thoroughfares and perhaps the most famous street of central Budapest, brought us to a Korean restaurant, one of many we saw in Budapest. Being typical Asians, of course we wolfed down our first rice meal of our holiday!
A cruise down the Danube is a must-do in Budapest and brought us past many beautiful buildings and bridges. We could not miss a visit to St. Stephen’s Basilica, Budapest’s neoclassical cathedral, the most sacred Catholic church in all of Hungary containing its most revered relic: the mummified right hand of the church’s patron, King St Stephen. And yes I took photos.
We couldn’t miss a Mucha exhibition which brought back old memories of favourite posters during school days. We also bought tickets to an organ and soloist concert at St Nicholas church where most of the performances took place above and behind us next to the organ! The interiors of all the buildings we visited simply took our breath away! We could not miss the world-famous Prague Castle and ended our visit with a walk across Charles Bridge and of course, we all rubbed the dog’s nose. Under St John’s statue are two bronze plaques. One shows his death and the second is of a knight and his dog. If you rub the plaque showing John being thrown into the Vltava, you will return to Prague. The one that depicts the dog and knight will give you a loyal and long-lasting relationship or good luck. We did stop along the way down to have free samples of amazing hot chocolate.
Then it was time to watch the astronomical clock. We were extremely lucky to find a table in the Mozart Café with a prime view of the clock while we had lunch. We then discovered a small wooden boat tour of the Prague canals and enjoyed that very much.
It was time to take the train back to Munich and this time we made sure we got our supplies of cheese and spices from the Viktualienmarkt. We even found a stall selling mangosteens!
