If It Was Today...

A Quiet Day in Budapest

Posted on April 18, 2023 by If It Was Today

We took it easy today, mostly just walking around Budapest and enjoying the lovely spring weather. We began by heading up towards Hero’s Square. Along the way, we came across this, which certainly qualifies as an interesting use for a car.

After arriving at the Hero’s Square, we started walking down the boulevard heading toward the Danube. We stopped for a delightful light lunch, sitting outside in the sunshine. Lunch was delicious, and the price was amazingly reasonable. After lunch, we continued walking toward the Danube, eventually passing by the Terror Museum. It appears that the name is designed to be seen from the air.

We decided against spending the afternoon in the museum (you really need to be in the right frame of mind for that), but we did look at the installations in front of the museum. One was a piece of the Berlin Wall.

Continuing down the street, we came across many statues, most of them with swords. Here is a fairly typical one.

The buildings seem to have a mix of architectural styles that can only be described as “eclectic”. Here are two examples near each other, along the boulevard, that give a sense of what I mean.

On our way back to the hotel we walked through St. Stephen’s Square. I could show you a picture of the cathedral, but … a cathedral is just a cathedral. But the decorative paving stones in front of the cathedral were far more interesting (to me) so I’ll show those instead.

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Budapest – Day 2

Posted on April 17, 2023 by If It Was Today

We disembarked today and took a taxi to our hotel, since we will spend a few more days in Budapest. We considered walking – it was only 15-20 minutes to the hotel, but we had our luggage, and we thought there might be cobblestones, which can complicate things. Bad call. The taxi took us on a very scenic (and by “scenic” I mean long and roundabout) route to the hotel. In the end, what should have been a 5 minute taxi ride was more like 15-20 minutes. A lesson for next time. It was before noon and our room wasn’t ready yet, so we left our luggage and went for a walk around Margaret Island in the middle of the Danube.

Our guide yesterday told us that locals measure their fitness by how many times they run around Margaret Island – rather than kilometers they use “Margarets”. We completed one lap – almost 6 km. By the time we finished, our room was ready. We unpacked, and then went for lunch at a lovely Belgian pub just around the corner from our hotel.

After a short afternoon rest we went for a walk past the parliament buildings.

Yesterday I showed a picture of the Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial, but I missed this plaque providing more context.

The buildings in this part of the city aren’t as pretty as some of the areas we saw yesterday, but there are some interesting examples, though they do seem to be a mix of architectural styles.

It was rainy and cold for much of our river cruise, but today was sunny and hot. Our hotel has air conditioning, but we discovered that it hasn’t been turned on because it isn’t hot enough yet. Some of us beg to differ, but there isn’t much we can do other than open the hotel window (fortunately that was possible). We had eaten far too much on the cruise, so we had a light snack and wine in our room, looking out at the architecture on the Pest side of the city.

We also had a view of a theatre just down the street from our hotel, and as it grew darker, the scene was quite grand.

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Budapest

Posted on April 16, 2023 by If It Was Today

Our river cruise is coming to an end with our arrival in Budapest early today. We spent the day getting an introduction to the city and its history. And we learned how the city’s name should be pronounced. I’ll give you a hint – the name doesn’t rhyme with “pest”. The name ends with a sound more like “pescht”. Before we could see the city, we had to climb more steps…

One of the first things we saw on our walking tour was a building with a horse theme – a lot of the statues echo that theme, to be honest. But the most noteworthy thing about it was that it was entered into a “roof contest” and it won for the best roof. Who knew there was even such a thing.

And of course there was a cathedral. Tiled roofs appear to be a thing here. Very pretty.

The tower in the next picture is black, which is a bit unusual. Apparently there are two reasons for this. The first is that it is supported by the roof trusses, and if it was made of stone, the weight would make it collapse, so it is made of copper covered wood. The other reason is that the bell in the tower is rung at funerals, so black seems an appropriate colour.

From the castle heights we had lovely views over the city.

We had some free time to walk around so we went looking for a coffee shop. Along the way we spotted this roof. I was fascinated by the way the tiles curved over the windows.

And then it was coffee and pastries.

Our tour guide told us that Hungarians have a long history of picking the loosing side in wars, so they never win. This is apparently a statue honoring a battle that they “almost won”. There must be an interesting story there, so I’ll have to look into it.

There were many statues, so I’ll give you a tiny sample. Starting with the first king, then the leaders of the seven founding tribes, and finally one honoring the common people.

On a more somber note, I’ll leave you with a memorial to holocaust victims. The shoes are from actual victims, though they have been bronzed. Each pair of shoes represents 100,000 deaths. It is hard to comprehend.

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Vienna

Posted on April 15, 2023 by If It Was Today

We had a brief tour of Vienna this morning, with the rest of the day free to wander at our leisure. There is so much impressive architecture in Vienna that I’m not even going to try to cover it. Instead, I’ll give you a single teaser.

And of course, Vienna was once a Roman fort, so I have to include a small picture of that.

We already saw one St. Stephen’s cathedral this week, but I like this picture because of the way it shows such a wide range of architectures existing side by side.

The roof was destroyed in the war, but the restoration is true to the original. I like the pattern detail.

It had been a while since breakfast, and there wasn’t a lineup, so we couldn’t resist.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in the Natural History Museum, where I barely scratched the surface. The exhibit that I found most fascinating was their very impressive meteorite collection. They had hundreds, but here you can see some of the larger ones – over 1,000 KG.

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A Rainy Day in Melk

Posted on April 14, 2023 by If It Was Today

We woke up this morning to find that it was going to be rainy (97% chance of precipitation) and cold (3 degrees Celsius).

We had been booked to take the Durnstein walking tour, but decided we weren’t all that interested in getting stuck walking in the rain. So we walked on our own up to the Melk Abbey. We still had to walk in the rain, but we had the option of heading back anytime we wanted.

We had the option of touring the abbey museum and chapel, but we opted instead to walk through the very extensive abbey gardens. I know, I know. I said we wanted to avoid the rain, but the rain was very light, the gardens looked intriguing, we didn’t have time to do the museum justice, and I’ve already shown you far too many pictures of chapels. And with the rain, we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

The gardens were a fascinating combination of areas for quiet contemplation, zen gardens, picnic areas, scenic views over the Danube, flower beds, and many, many pieces of modern art. These bird statues were amazing – equal parts mesmerizing and disturbing. Almost like something from an Edgar Allan Poe book or a Tim Burton movie.

Believe it or not, this was less than half of the statues. I found it difficult to stop taking pictures. There were also many other art attractions.

And of course, so many trees with quiet paths to walk along.

The tulips were just beginning to bloom. In a week or so, it will be gorgeous.

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Passau

Posted on April 13, 2023 by If It Was Today

Today we decided to take the Passau Castle hike which involved hiking through the old town, then up the side of the hill to the castle, which dates back to at least 1499. This picture gives you an idea of the scale of the hike up stone steps that snake back and forth up the side of the cliff.

We learned that most of the windows on the castle aren’t actually windows – they are painted onto the walls to add visual interest without compromising defense.

The view from the top is stunning. Passau is called the “City of Three Rivers” because … you guessed it … three rivers meet here. This pictures shows the three rivers meeting. The colour of the water is different for each river because of where they originate. Look closely at the water, and you should be able to see the three colours – black, to blue, to green.

It also provides excellent views of the old city.

In medieval Passau, the colour of a house told people the trade of the occupant. Fisherman houses were blue, butchers were red, green grocers were green … you get the idea. One reason for this is that very few people could read, so signs weren’t always useful. The colour coding no longer applies, but the owners still need to maintain the legacy colour of the house. This picture clearly shows the various colours.

To give you an idea of the hike up to the castle, here is a look at the steps on the way down.

We had almost an hour before the boat was setting sail, so we wandered through the old city to look at St. Stephen’s Cathedral. I know I said that I don’t often post pictures from inside cathedrals, but I once again, couldn’t resist. Passau is a city of about 50,000, but it has 54 churches, 51 of them Roman Catholic. So it seemed you couldn’t really say you’d seen Passau if you didn’t visit at least one church. The outside of this cathedral is interesting because even though it is Roman Catholic, it has “onion domes” typically associated with Easter Orthodox churches.

We went inside to see the organ, which is the largest pipe organ, in a church, in the world. Almost 18,000 pipes.

Once I was inside, I couldn’t resist showing a picture of the gold plated chancel, where the bishop would preach. Having been built at a time when the people in the parish were very poor, I will admit to being a little bothered by this display of extreme wealth.

I’ll close with a picture of the local wildlife, brought out by this week’s rain.

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Regensburg

Posted on April 13, 2023 by If It Was Today

We had a couple of options for tours today. One of them involved beer tasting, so guess which one I picked. We started with a local Sausage shop where we had a sandwich made with Regensburg sausages. Apparently every town and village in Germany has their own distinctive type of sausage, and every one of them claims that theirs is the best. For a bit of added character, the back wall of the sausage shop is part of the medieval city walls.

And then we visited one of Regensburg’s breweries. We were told it was one of many in the city.

For the record, these weren’t full size beers, just tasters. After our beer tasting, we were treated to pralines – very tasty. On our way back to teh boat we passed the old stone bridge, which is one of the Regensburg landmarks

We had excellent views from the bridge.

I get the definite sense that work, order, and timeliness have been very important here for some time. It seems that one is never far from a clock tower where you can check the time. I did find it interesting that even though Roman numerals were used on the clocks, the number four was shown as IIII rather than IV. I’m sure there is a story behind this, but I haven’t found it yet. If anyone knows the reason, please do let me know.

We are on a river cruise, but the first two days the boat was more like a floating hotel – it hardly moved at all. But this evening things finally got underway, and we sailied along the river during dinner. There will be a lot more over the next few days.

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Kelheim

Posted on April 12, 2023 by If It Was Today

Our river cruise wasn’t able to start in Nuremberg. One of the canal locks was under repair, so we boarded in Kelheim. AMA Waterways took advantage of this change, and offered us an alternative tour – a boat ride through the Danube river gorge and a tour of a Benedictine monastery, established in the 7th century.

The church in the monastery is famous for its interior decorations. I try not to post many pictures of church interiors – they more or less all look the same – but I couldn’t resist this picture from the inside of the monastery. Not your usual altar…

But the real reason that I enjoy visiting monasteries is that they often brew very tasty beer.

As part of the tour, we were offered a pretzel and a glass of the abbey ale. I felt it would be an insult to the monks … and perhaps even to God? … if I refused to drink the beer. So even though it was before noon, I felt pressure to enjoy the beer. (It didn’t take all that much pressure, to be honest.)

While walking on the tour, we spotted some of the local flora and fauna.

After lunch back on the boat, we took a hike up the hill to Liberation Hall, a monument celebration victory in the Napoleonic wars, and liberation of the Germanic Federation.

After hiking up the hill to the monument, we climbed up the narrow circular staircase to the top of the monument. It was a significant additional effort, but well worth it with stunning views of the inside of the monument, and of the Danube river.

And then it was back down the hill to the boat.

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Last Day in Nuremberg

Posted on April 10, 2023 by If It Was Today

We had a couple of hours to kill before boarding the river cruise, so … of course … we went for a walk around Nuremberg old city. All the stores were closed because it is Easter Monday, but there was a huge market in the square by the Beautiful Fountain, so we checked it out and even bought a few small items. We had a gelato too. It seemed the least we could do. And of course, we enjoyed the architecture, as we have done every other day here.

Spring is well underway here, and the magnolia trees are in full bloom.

The Grand Hotel had “bunny” art in the windows. No idea if these are a permanent installation, or a temporary exhibit to celebrate Easter. Maybe we’ll find out on our next visit.

I’ll leave you with a picture of a monument (apparently celebrating the end of the Napoleonic Wars) visible from the cruise ship. More to follow.

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Nuremberg Trials

Posted on April 9, 2023 by If It Was Today

It was a lovely sunny day in Nuremberg and about 13 degrees celsius – perfect for walking. Earlier in the week we had tried walking around the old city walls on the inside, and on the outside. I was surprised to discover that outside the walls, walking through the old moat, was far nicer. So we started our day by walking around the outside of the walls, stopping along the way to make a reservation for dinner at the restaurant we had enjoyed on the first night here.

View from the moat outside the old city walls

The old moat around the city walls has effectively been turned into a park with walking/biking paths and community gardens. Lovely.

Somehow it seemed wrong to visit Nuremberg and not see the site of the Nuremberg Trials, so we walked out to the museum and spent the afternoon immersed in history. Not a light topic, but fascinating and well worth the time.

The walk to the museum took us along the river, with parks on either side. I could get used to this, and I suspect I’d be in far better shape if I could walk here every day.

After dinner, we treated ourselves to a final walk through the old city on the way back to our hotel. The cathedral was dark, but we could clearly hear organ music coming from inside. Very eerie.