Welcome to Vienna

Hello Everyone! 

Sorry I fell a bit behind on blogging, but the good news is I’ve been really enjoying myself in Vienna!

This was our final morning in Budapest and I felt like a total princess. If you told anyone today I was a shrinking wallflower during my childhood, they absolutely would not believe you. After only four days at our hotel, I had multiple waiter friends, the omelette guy knew my name and order, and I basically didn’t have to wait in any lines anymore. Mom couldn’t stop cracking up and said I was definitely my father’s daughter. Honestly the staff was absolutely lovely and interesting; so I genuinely was curious about them and their lives. But the best part of this morning send off was that there was cake for breakfast! And not just any cake, a passion fruit cheesecake. It was so light and airy, it hardly tasted like a cheesecake at all. I absolutely am going to miss it being perfectly acceptable to eat desserts for breakfast here.

Then off we went to the train station! It was a bit of a faff trying to figure out if we were on the right train or not because the sign board had the platform but the train itself didn’t have any of the car numbers or seat assignments and the porters spoke absolutely no English. Thankfully I found Spanish tourists and a very kind older German gentleman who helped us try and figure it all out. Turns out they did post a little paper sign on the window that said this was the correct train, but failed to mention that because of technical issues we’d be changing trains in Tatabanya, Hungary. I basically had Google maps open and was using my very rudimentary German to try and figure out if we were even going in the right direction! It did help that everyone else looked equally lost and confused. Thankfully alls well that ends well because we eventually got on a very nice train with the quiet car we requested and successfully made it to Vienna! 

The next morning we woke up early to make our way to Schonbrunn Palace. I immediately struck this pose and mom replied “Yes, yes, welcome to your palace.” It’s almost like she knows that if there’s a palace, I’ll immediately and automatically pretend to be its princess lol. While it would be much too stifling and boring to be a real princess, it’s fun to dream. 

Turns out that’s not the only predictable thing about me. Mom also immediately knew that if there’s horses, I will get very excited and want to take a picture. It was actually really funny because all the other little girls lined up with their parents too. And here I was, a thirty something with her mom just as excited waiting my turn for my picture. I guess some things never change! These horse and carriages are called Fiakers and they have very strict laws in Austria regarding them. That’s why all the horses are so immaculate and well cared for, they even have mandatory rest days! 

The palace itself was the summer home of the Hapsburg rulers and the buildings we see today were built and remodeled in the 1740-50s. Maria Theresa was the empresses who received this estate as her wedding present, and boy did she earn it. She had 12 children and was a strong leader of the empire for almost 40 years. She was also the only woman Hapsburg to lead the empire in her own right. Although we quickly learned that having lots of money doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve got style lol. Some of the rooms were immaculate like this wood and gold one. 

However most of the rooms were like this one, where they picked one print of silk and then used it on every single piece of furniture, wall, bedding, drapes, etc. I guess you can’t argue that anything didn’t match.

I particularly enjoyed all the chandeliers and ornate gold work.  

Not to mention that the ballroom was absolutely beautiful! I can easily imagine all the ladies in their fancy dresses waltzing the night away.

Apparently Maria Theresa had a fondness for Chinese art so you can see multiple rooms like this one that are paneled with gold inlay all with various Chinese drawings and decorated with porcelain. It was so strange how much Asian art there was, sometimes it almost felt like an Asian museum instead of an Austrian one. 

After exploring the palace mom and I decided to try and tackle as much of the 435 acres of gardens as we could, but first we had to fuel up on coffee and pastries. I decided to combine mine this time and ordered and iced coffee with ice cream! This is actually a traditional drink called Wiener Eiskaffee and we already know I’m all about trying the local food, especially when it combines two of my favorite things. 

After our break we began to wander the gardeners. It was  fashionable at the time to have fake Roman ruins, so these were intentionally built as one of the many attractions in the gardens. 

Mom and I quite enjoyed the broderie parterre, which is just a fancy way of saying they planted the flowers to make shapes and designs that could be viewed from above in the palace windows and balconies. 

We also did two of the labyrinths. The first one was pretty easy and mom and I played the various lawn games we passed that were hidden in the alcoves. However the second labyrinth was much harder and even I got panicked for a bit that we wouldn’t find the exit again. After trying twice, mom gave up but I told myself I would try one last time. I mean, you don’t finish law school unless you’re particularly stubborn. And my tenacity paid off! I made it to the center where they had a giant tree walk and you could see below and out as well. Mom is the tiny figure in the first photo in purple waving to me. 

We then headed off the the organerie, which ironically had no oranges (they were in the privy gardens). But it did have this Myrtle tree from 1736 that was a wedding present to Maria Theresa from the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud I, who ruled Constantinople. I can’t believe this tree survived so long! I can’t even keep succulents alive, but I guess that’s the benefit of being a royal, I’m sure they’ve had expert gardeners through the years. 

While this is nothing on the blooming bushes I found in Jersey, I particularly liked this bougainvillea. 

Mom and I wanted to do one final section before we left the palace and we decided to pick the privy gardens. They were supposed to be beautifully manicured, however they were completely wild and overgrown. It did give the shaded tunnel a particular charm though, I loved how the vines hung from the trellis. 

We were quite exhausted by the time we made it back to our hotel so we dined in and had a lovely curry dinner. The best part of the meal was a Herrentorte cake! It was delicious with layers of marzipan and nougat chocolate and paired nicely with homemade raspberry sorbet. 

It was the perfect way to end the day!

Sending you lots of love,

Carolyn 

Castle Hill

Hello Everyone! 

It's our final day exploring Budapest and it seems like we saved the best for last. Today we hopped over the river again to explore Castle Hill, which is a World Heritage Site. This is the oldest part of the capital from 1247 onwards, except during occupation. Even today the State's Presidential Office is still here, along with the National Gallery and Buda Castlee.

First, we went to Matthias Church, which was the second largest church of medieval Buda and even briefly became a mosque during the Ottoman empire occupation. Matthias Corvinus was a military king, and he seemed to be the star of the show in this district. Often we'd find sculptures of ravens holding rings that represented him. Apparently there's a famous legend that Matthais' mother sent a raven with a ring when he became king. The raven flew nonstop from Translyvania to Prague to notify him. Afterwards the symbol of a raven with a ring then became their family crest and Matthais was crowned King of the Ravens. It became a fun game to try and find the ravens around the district. 

Mom and I really enjoyed walking around the entire district, even the government buildings like the ones below were beautiful. If I basically went to a castle every day for work I just might work a government job too lol.

Then we stopped for some coffee and cake. My barista even made a bird (possibly a raven?) in my cappuccino. The cake was another traditional Hungarian torte, but this time it was spiced, almost like a Christmas cake but not quite. 

We had panoramic views of the city for most of our walk which was amazing. Unfortunately we couldn't take any photos inside the National Gallery, so you'll just have to view the outside. But, if you ever look up their art, you'll see that their paintings are particularly dark. I thought it was because it was exposed to too much smoke, but actually, artists painted the canvases black before even beginning their painting. Hundreds of years later and the black has mixed in with the pigment on top of it making the colors very dull and dark, so now the portraits and landscapes all look quite sad and dreary. 

We then stopped for a quick snack but could only eat two things on the menu, fries and langos. Langos is fried dough topped with sour cream and cheese, it was interesting to try but not my favorite. Also, their sauce on the side was basically thousand island dressing! Isn't it so strange how cultures and communities can be so different and yet exactly the same?

Since the stables is no longer functioning the guards transport their horses onto the hill with a trailer. Then they proceed with the changing of the guard ceremony in front of the President's office, and then transport the horses back to the stables in a trailer. The horses have the easiest job ever!

We also passed by King Matthias' fountain on our way back to the church for our concert! 

Every morning mom and I have really been enjoying the artists that come and play at breakfast. So, after a quick google search I found out there was a small concert in Matthias Church that night. Mom and I bought tickets that morning and the show ended up being phenomenal. These musicians have traveled all around the world and the soloist has won multiple awards for his skills. They played pieces of almost twenty different famous classical songs. After having spent so many years listening to classical music with mom and playing classical instruments during my childhood, it was a new experience to listen to these pieces live knowing their background and history. The church was beautiful and the acoustics were great. Mom and I couldn't stop smiling the entire way home!

Tomorrow we'll be traveling to Vienna, I can't wait to update you then!

Lots of love, 
Carolyn

A bit of Buda and a bit of Pest

Hi Everyone!

Today we got to explore a little bit of both sides of the Danube river, aka Buda and Pest. Did you know that Budapest was originally two independent cities (Buda and Pest). Buda on the west is known for being more hilly and aristocratic, with the royal capital and castle district. While Pest on the east side is known for being more artsy, urban, and commercial. It wasn't until 1873, when both sides were unified, that this city became what we now know of today as Budapest. 

After crossing the Erzsebet bridge we got to the other side and were greeted by this beautiful green hill, aptly named Gellert Hill. The statute at the top is the Hungarian statue of liberty. and to get to it you have to take a million stairs and pass by this waterfall. Mom and I enjoyed the views quite contently from the park below whilst we ate our snacks. 

Then we crossed the bridge back to the Pest side and explored the Palace District. The buildings all around us were quite fancy and palatial but were basically apartments, boutique shops, and restaurants. I really wanted to go check out the library but they were closed for the entire  month of July! Europeans and their holidays. So instead we stopped for some coffee and cake and just enjoyed our surroundings. I even found a really cute watercolor for mom and a pink and purple pen print of the parliament for myself. 

Mom and I then stopped by the National Hungarian Museum to check out their gardens and have a little picnic. It was so peaceful and breezy we spent quite a bit of time on the bench before we realized it was already 4:30 pm! Since it was much later than we intended, we decided to head back into the upper part of town to do some shopping and maybe go to a concert. instead of going into the museum like we had originally planned 

The buildings here are quite spectacular and fantastical. Our walks always take us longer than the gps says because I keep stopping to admire all the artwork on them. They are also usually full of random creatures, like this satyr holding the street lights. 

As we walked home this restaurant called Vak Varyu cuaght my eye. Thankfully it was a bit early for dinner for Europeans so we were able to walk right in and snag a table. And by early I mean 6 pm, I was starving! I have no clue how people here don’t eat dinner until 9 pm or so. I’m so glad we took a chance walking into a random place because this was seriously the most amazing dinner we've had in town. The whole restaurant is farm to table and we ordered dishes that were 100% from Hungarian farms. Mom said these were the best tomatoes she's ever had. We left the restaurant totally satisfied and headed home for the night. 

Stay tuned for tomorrow's updates on Castle Hill. 

Sending lots of love, 

Carolyn