Budapest (August 15-August 26, 2011)

We liked Budapest so much that we quickly extended our stay here from six nights to eleven. Part of this was due to the perfect sunny weather during our stay, and part was due to the little studio apartment that we rented and made ourselves at home in. Mostly though, Budapest itself deserves the credit. There is something quirky and eclectic about the city, with its Magyar pride, Turkish-influenced thermal baths, never-used Habsburg palace, dilapidated Jewish Quarter, and lingering Communist influence. We never got tired of exploring some new aspect of the city.

Originally two cities, Buda (on the hilly west bank of the Danube) and Pest (on the relatively flat east bank of the Danube) were only united in 1873. The area was first settled by Celts and Romans before the Magyars emigrated from central Asia and called present-day Hungary home (interestingly, Hungarian is not related to the languages of any neighboring countries, but to Estonian and Finnish). Buda is home to one of the city’s most iconic sites: Castle Hill. Overlooking the Danube, Castle Hill (Varhegy) is divided in two parts, the Royal Palace (built, but never used, by the Habsburgs, and now home to two major museums), and a beautiful old town whose “Fisherman’s Bastion” provides an unbeatable view of Pest.

Also on the Buda side of the city, we visited Gellert Hill which provides the foundation for the Citadella, a fortress built by the Habsburgs to quell Hungarian insurrection, and the Liberty Monument, raised in 1947 to commemorate Soviet soldiers who died liberating Hungary. It is one of the few remaining Soviet monuments in the city, though the dedication has now been changed to honor all those who died for Hungary’s independence (the original Cyrillic inscription and several Soviet soldier statues have been removed). Further afield, we ventured into the Buda Hills for a long walk that included a stop at Szemlo-hegy, one of two huge cave systems here (if our tour had been in English we could tell you more about it).

Though we really liked old town Buda, we spent most of our time in Pest – our apartment was here, as are many of the city’s sights. Central Pest’s skyline features two prominent domed buildings: St Stephen’s Basilica (Szent Istvan Bazilika) and Parliament. The buildings are the tallest in the city, by law, at 96 meters, symbolizing the year (896) of Hungary’s unification. The Basilica is named in honor of the country’s first Christian ruler (and patron saint), and houses the relic of his withered right hand (deemed a miracle after his body was exhumed 500 years after his death and his right arm was found to be mummified). Parliament, which was across the street from our apartment, boasts 690 rooms and has its own slightly less creepy St. Stephen memorabilia on display: his crown (the Holy Crown of Hungary).

In Pest we also visited the House of Terror, a fascinating and sad museum devoted to the Nazi and Soviet occupations of Hungary, and spent a day at the City Park’s enormous Szechenyi Baths (it has 3 outdoor and 15 indoor thermally-heated pools), a cultural remnant of the Ottoman occupation. We also made a visit to Memento Park - the graveyard for all the Soviet statues not destroyed after the fall of communism in 1989. At night we enjoyed visiting the so-called “ruin bars” – nothing highlights the quirky side of Budapest quite like them. The bars pop up in old apartment buildings in the city’s Jewish quarter filling the courtyards, parlors, and bedrooms of these abandoned buildings with bright and strange artwork, neon signs, foozeball and lots of young people. Our latest night at the ruin bars started innocently enough, but developed into a pub crawl of sorts whose cast of characters included two ready-to-party Swedes, two curious Australians, a local drunk known as George from Wales, and one random, drunken Hungarian who could barely speak English (but joined us all for some reason).

We also happened to be in town on August 20^th, the Hungarian national day and found that from first thing in the morning until late at night, Hungarians celebrate their nation’s birthday with gusto. We followed the crowds to a military flag-raising ceremony at Parliament, Danube boat race and air show, a street fair at which we sampled some Hungarian birthday cake (something like apricot cheesecake), a mass (after which St. Stephen’s right hand was paraded around town to much fanfare, including Hungarian president Pal Schmitt), and then finally back to the Danube for the most spectacular fireworks show either of us may have ever seen. August 20^th exemplified what we loved about the city – its vibrancy and eccentricity – and it will remain one of our fondest memories of our stay in this fabulous city.

Click on the photo below for our Budapest photo album.

Bratislava (August 14-August 15, 2011)

Just 65 kilometers from Vienna and more or less en route to Budapest, we couldn't resist a stopover in Bratislava. The city is split by the River Danube, and the compact but pretty old town sits on the north shore of the river surrounded in all directions by communist-era construction. This dichotomy makes for an interesting contrast that we both found fascinating, and we would have liked to spend more time here and in Slovakia (but had to get to Budapest where we had rented an apartment for the following day).

Bratislava served as the official capital of the Hungarian empire for about 250 years during the 16^th to 18^th centuries, and the old town is full of baroque palaces, copper-roofed towers, sidewalk cafes, and cobbled streets. The boxy Bratislava Castle, perched on a small hill just west of the old town, served as the royal seat during this period. Sadly, the castle burned down in 1811 and was not reconstructed until the 1950’s. St. Martin’s Cathedral also played an important role – eleven of the monarchy’s kings and queens were coronated here during this period.

The newer communist-era construction around town is quite a contrast to the quaint old town, including lots of concrete block apartment buildings to the south of the Danube that we viewed only from afar. Closer to the old town, Novy Most (New Bridge) dominates all views of the Danube. Certainly not the most eye-pleasing structure (it is known as “the UFO”), it is also a sad reminder of the city’s recent history. After the city’s Jewish population was decimated during the war, communist authorities tore down a significant portion of the old town, including most of the Jewish quarter and a historic synagogue, in the late 1960’s in order to build this bridge. Slavin, meanwhile, stands higher up in the hills above the old city. This monument for the Soviet soldiers who died during the Soviet liberation of Bratislava in 1945 is surrounded by the graves of 6,845 Soviet soldiers (the only military cemetery in the city).

Click on the photo below for our Bratislava photo album.

Vienna (August 10-August 14, 2011)

Vienna (Wien), with a population of about 1.7 million, was the largest city we had visited since Rome. In contrast to the succession of smaller cities we visited in Switzerland and Austria, Vienna is a modern sprawling city and it has something of a generic big-city feel to it. Still, the city has a beautiful old center, an enduring Habsburg influence, a variety of first-rate museums to choose from, and is noted for its excellent culinary and nightlife scenes. Our three days in Vienna were crammed full trying to take in all that the city has to offer. Between sights, we sampled local cuisine (in particular the city’s specialty – wienerschnitzel, and Nora’s favorite - cheese spaetzle), but didn’t make it out to partake in the nightlife (although it seemed most everybody else in our hostel was there for that reason only).

The historic city center (Innere Stadt) is surrounded by the Ringstrasse (Ring Road), a tree-lined boulevard built in the late 1800s on the former city walls. The majority of the city’s attractions are within or near the Ringstrasse. One of the highlights of this area is Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral), a 13^th century gothic cathedral with a beautiful brightly colored tile roof. Nearby are the Hofburg (Hapsburg Imperial Palace), Parliament and Rathaus (City Hall) buildings, the Opera House, and the Spanish Riding School. Just outside the Ringstrasse there is a heavy concentration of some of the city’s best museums. We chose to visit the Leopold Museum, with a fabulous collection of paintings by Austrian artist Egon Schiele (thanks for the recommendation Mike!), and the Kuntshistoriches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts), displaying a huge collection of European masters including Peter Brueghel the Elder, Rubens, and Velazquez.

Beyond the Ringstrasse, we also visited the Schloss Schonbrunn (Hapsburg summer palace), which was quite obviously modeled after Versaille, and the Naschmarkt a large open-air farmer’s market (and flea market - on Saturdays anyway), and strolled around town and along the Danube Canal. One evening we also went to a screening of Orson Wells’ The Third Man, set in a post-war Vienna divided into four quarters by the occupying English, French, Americans, and Russians. Neither of us had seen the movie before, and it was fun to watch it after having explored the city (we kept recognizing scenes and whispering things like “We saw that today!”). Because the movie was actually filmed in Vienna shortly after the war, it was also interesting to see how much devastation the city experienced during the war and how much rebuilding has been done since.

Click on the photo below for our Vienna photo album.

Innsbruck: Blame it on the Rain (August 7-August 10, 2011)

In a generous gesture, Leon, a Welsh friend Nora met in Australia, invited us to stay with him and his girlfriend Johanna in Innsbruck if our travels took us to Austria. As luck had it, we were already planning to travel through this area, but we might not have stopped there if it weren’t for their hospitality. Leon and Johanna were wonderful hosts, making us breakfast and dinner each day, and we wish we could have spent a little longer with them in Innsbruck.

Innsbruck is located in the Tirol region of western Austria, where it sits in a valley surrounded by the Austrian Alps. It is a popular destination for mountain sports enthusiasts (it has hosted the winter Olympics twice).  Unfortunately, we did not have great weather during our stay and we weren’t able to explore the outdoors as much as we would have liked. Still, we were able to explore the lovely Old Town (Altstadt), including the Golden Roof (Goldenes Dachal), Imperial Church (Hofkirche), the Stadtturm (City Tower), and a folk museum where we learned all about “stube” (the parlors/social centers of traditional homes in this region that were decorated with wood from floor to ceiling and relied on ceramic-tiled stoves to provide heat). The poor weather also encouraged us to take shelter in cafes and restaurants, where we happily sampled Austrian cuisine (including strudel, knudle, and Austrian beer). One night we went with Leon to English-language trivia night at an Irish pub and ended up winning the entire thing (and a bottle of Jameson’s whisky each) thanks, in part, to being the only people in the entire pub (including the MC) who could recognize a photo of (or had even heard of) Rod Blagojevich!

On our last day in town, the weather improved and we set out for the Nordkette mountain range that towers over the city. At the lower reaches we stopped to visit the Alpenzoo (housing alpine animals) before taking two cable cars to the highest peak - Hafelekar (2256m) with a great view back toward Innsbruck. Sadly, we didn’t have time (or the proper clothes) to explore more before heading down the mountain to catch our train to Vienna.

Click the photo below for our Innsbruck photo album.

Gimmelwald (August 2-August 5, 2011)

We broke up our stay in Lucerne with four days in the Swiss Alps – no trip to Switzerland would be complete without a visit here. Gimmelwald is a village located above the gorgeous glacial Lauterbrunnen valley, which reminded us of Yosemite for its sheer cliff walls and waterfalls cascading from hanging valleys. After a scenic train ride to Lauterbrunnen, we hiked along the valley floor for about 90 minutes to Stechelberg where we caught a cable car up and out of the valley to the village. In addition to the gorgeous natural surroundings, the walk was made more interesting by watching BASE jumpers fly around the valley. We would usually first notice them from the flapping noise of their wingsuits or the loud clap of their parachute bursting open at perilously low altitudes. It was quite a sight to take in.

Situated high above the valley near the cliff’s edge, Gimmelwald has magnificent views of the Lauterbrunnen valley and up into some of the highest parts of the Alps (the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau peaks all loom over town). The village is small, only a couple hundred residents, and most make their living through traditional farming. The Swiss government subsidizes their work in order to preserve these old (but not particularly profitable) farming techniques.

We went to Gimmelwald primarily to hike and our first day we set out early for one of the lower peaks across the valley from Gimmelwald which was supposed to afford us views back to town as well as uninterrupted views of Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau. About 2 hours into the hike, however, storm clouds quickly rolled in and we began hearing thunder. We took cover under a tree as the sky turned dark, the thunderclaps grew louder, the wind picked up, and the once visible mountains on the other side of the valley disappeared. As the storm approached an unusual sound grew louder – at the last second we realized it wasn’t just a thunderstorm, but a hail storm. We huddled up against the tree trunk, curling into balls to protect our heads as grape-sized hail rained down on us. Eventually the storm subsided, the sun peeked out, and we decided to continue our trek up the mountain. When we got nearly to the top, however, we heard thunder and the skies began darkening again, so we decided to turn around. We reached the same tree that we had huddled under previously just in time for the rain to begin again. Ultimately, as we grew wetter and the rain didn’t let up, we decided to hike back to town in the rain. Of course, once we got there, the sun came out and stayed out for the rest of the afternoon.

On our second day we stayed on our side of the valley and hiked up toward Schilthorn (the highest peak on our side of the valley - which we were never able to see) to visit a waterfall and ascend one of the lower peaks while staying below the clouds that shrouded the upper reaches of Schilthorn. The weather stayed nice most of the day, and we spent the day hiking along the mountain ridge, stopping for lunch at an Alpine hut (where cows are brought from the village during the summer to graze and produce milk for cheese), sharing a cheese plate and a slice of homemade chocolate cake. We then hiked down into a tributary valley and followed the river to a huge open meadow at its headwaters.

On our last day, we hiked back down into the valley with our packs on, and then along the valley floor until we got to Trummelbach Falls. These falls are the run-off from the largest peaks in this part of the Alps, and as such, dump up to 20,000 liters of water per second. The falls have carved a corkscrew tunnel into the mountain, and the Swiss (excellent engineers that they are) have carved a route for tourists to walk along the falls inside the mountain. Neither of us had seen anything like it. The water thunders around you as you gape at the tunnel it has carved out over time. Unfortunately our photos didn’t do this place justice.

Click the photo below for our Gimmelwald photo album.

Lucerne (July 24-August 2 and August 5-August 7, 2011)

Lucerne is a beautiful city on Vierwaldstattersee (Lake of the Four Forested Cantons, aka Lake Lucerne), with spectacular views of the Swiss Alps. We went there to visit the Mallonee family’s former exchange student David (who is German but now lives in Switzerland). David was an extremely generous host and we really felt at home while staying with him.

On days when David had to work at the KKL (Kultur and Kongresszentrum – a modern concert hall), we relaxed and discovered the city at a leisurely pace. We explored the beautiful medieval old town and its most famous attractions: the covered wooden bridges (Kapellbrucke and Spreuerbrucke), the Lowendenkmal (the dying Lion Monument), and city walls (Museggmauer) and towers. We also took in a few free concerts at the Blue Balls Festival that happened to be going on during our visit.

On David’s days off, we went further afield. One day the three of us took an all-day cruise around the lake, making it far enough to see Rutli Meadow – the place where Switzerland was born in 1291. Another, we made the trip to the top of Mount Pilatus, along with David’s girlfriend Olivia. Mount Pilatus, at 2132m, normally towers over Lucerne but was, sadly, mostly shrouded in dense fog when we ascended via the world’s steepest cog railway. On August 1, we celebrated Swiss National Day by relaxing in a lakeside park, swimming in Lake Lucerne, and sampling some Augustweggen (a type of bread made especially for the holiday).  On most evenings, the three of us cooked (we made Nora’s dad’s enchiladas one night, David made us fondue another), drank beer, and chatted.

We really appreciated David’s hospitality and relished being in the company of a good friend. We enjoyed our time here immensely (so much so that we returned for a couple more nights after three nights in the Swiss Alps), but we happened to be visiting during the strongest Swiss franc in years. Without David’s generosity, we wouldn’t have been able to afford to stay in Switzerland as long as we did.

Click the photo below for our Lucerne photo album.

Lugano (July 21-July 24, 2011)

We made a stopover in Lugano, Switzerland on our way from Venice to Lucerne. Located in the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland, it’s a small, picturesque town situated on the shores of beautiful Lake Lugano in the lake-dotted southern foothills of the Swiss Alps (famous neighbors include Lake Como and Lake Maggiore). We spent our short time here exploring the town, swimming, and hiking back to town after taking a ‘funicolare’ to the top of Monte San Salvatore (912m) for fabulous views of the lake and surrounding mountains (we could even see as far as Milan).

Click the photo below for our Lugano photo album.