Just for fun in Vienna

Two wieners walz'n

Comparing equipment

Delmer and I love food so much... even in our love of art

Having a great time

More from Vienna

It's our last night in Vienna. While we have been ready to move on from Berlin, Prague and Budapest, we have mixed feelings about leaving this city.

Food has been good here in Vienna, but not as good as Budapest. We have tried numerous schnitzel dishes, as well as potato pancakes, liver with onions and mushrooms, goulash and dumplings and street meat. The breakfast buffet at our hotel, the Hotel Regina, has been 10 out 10! The wiesbeer and Vienna white wine has been tasty too. The Viennese know how to make the most delicious desserts and have contributed to our ever expanding waistlines.

Here are some of the additional things we've seen:

Austrian Parliament

Vienna Film Festival at the Rathaus (City Hall)

Hofburg Palace

Churches of Vienna

Spanish Riding School in the Hofburg - We went to their show on Saturday morning. The show takes place in the most beautiful riding arena in the world, including three gigantic chandeleres. The riders and their horses were amazing. 

Busy in Vienna

What a beautiful city! In stark contrast with Prague and Budapest, the European recession is not visible here. The city centre is so majestic and appears almost unreal in it's perfect appearance. Vienna lives and breaths prosperity. There are beautiful buildings on every street of the old city centre, I for one can wander around for hours in it's maze. 

We've been busy, here are some of the places we've been.

Staatsoper - we attended a concert at this historic hall

Kunsthistorisches Museum - Delmer and my favorite art museum, although we haven't visited the Louvre in Paris as yet. Check out the priceless an Egyptian blue hippo. about the size of a guinnea pig. We also saw works from Rembrant, Ruebens, Monet and others.

  
The Belvedere where we viewed Klimp's famous paintings, The Kiss and Judith.

Schloss Schonbrunn

Vienna

We arrived in Vienna late this afternoon. I was boasting to Ron that Delmer and I never got lost in Vienna on our vacation in 2010. Well that all changed today when I missed the subway station on the way to the hotel... oops, sorry, sorry sorry. Then, the boys lost me while we were crossing the street on the way to find some supper...you had to be there. Maybe my batting average will improve tomorrow.

By the way, our hotel name is "Hotel Regina", so we shouldn't forget where we are staying. No surprises with this hotel, it is quite lovely.

Our plans for tomorrow include visiting the Kunsthistorisches Museum and an evening concert at the Staatsoper. 

Impressions - Week 4 and 5

The last 15 days have been spent in cities that were "behind the iron curtain" only a little over 20 years ago. The physical decay of city buildings and other infrastructure is very sad to see, especially in the historic cities of Prague and Budapest where you can only imagine the grandeur that once was. These two cities are also struggling through the current European recession. Tourist trade is most definitely down, and every day we witnessed empty restaurants and other tourist related businesses. As for Berlin, while the city seemed to have lots of hustle and bussle, the lack of old world charm is quite apparant. Hopefully the European Union's economy will turn around soon. 

On a brighter note, we have enjoyed the unique history, architecture and culture each city had to offer. I hope our photos and blog notes have helped to capture some of that. 

Parting photos

Berlin: I had no idea that Germans were such famous archeologists.

Prague:

Tourists come in all shapes and sizes:

Budapest:

The best views while dining:

What happens to you when there is too much dining:

Last day in Budapest

We split up on Monday to take in the remaining sights on our lists. Ron explored the area around the State Opera House and the Vaosliger Park with it's museums and water park. Delmer and I headed across the Danube to the the historic Gellert Hotel to soak in their hot pools for a few hours. We joined up for our last supper in this wonderful city, then picked up some tasty cinnamon buns to share with hotel staff on our way home.

Our favorite Budapest foods: Cabbage rolls, cabbage rolls and cabbage rolls, oh and yes... paprika chicken and dumplings. The strawberry marscaponi truffle I had in the park one afternoon was pretty heavenly as well.

Our photos:

Ron's route with State Opera and Vajdahunyad Castle:

Budapest's Margaret Island

We decided to spend our Sunday at Margitsziget or Margaret Island situated on the Danube and favorite spot for families in Budapest. We rented a cute little car (see below). The park is about as big as Wascana park and offers many activities for it's visitors. This includes a rubberized track along the shore line for joggers, swimming annd diving pools, track and soccer fields, flower gardens, and an impressive dancing water fountains. We travelled by boat from the downtown area. And, we finished our day off by eating at our favorite restaurant along the Danube. Delmer and Ron had the delicious cabbage roll supper and I had the veal stew and dumpings... all so good.