Day 27 and 28 - Vienna: So It Turns Out They Do a Bit More Than Make Sausage

Hey Team,

Well the swing back west has begun as I made my way to Austria again.  I'm hopeful that there will be no more driving tickets like last time (mainly because I don't have a car), so hopefully, this visit will be much more pleasant.  As I said on my last post, Day 27 was a scheduled day of rest.  I hadn't really had one since Paris, so I took the time to get to Vienna and then to catch up on some blogging and administrative stuff regarding the trip.

It's really amazing how much time is spent on this trip setting up hostels, trains, activities, etc.  Good thing I'm not really anal or nit picky about stuff or it could take a really long time.

Well anyway, it was hard taking the day off, because I hated wasting the time, but truthfully I needed a break to recharge the batteries.  So Day 28, I was ready to go full steam.  I had a full day of activities planned and I'm glad to say I hit all of them.  Here's the rundown...

So before I could get started, I had this desire to look at table settings (my passion in life as you all know).

Unfortunately, Crate and Barrel is not big over here so I had to pay 10 euro to go find something suitable to my very refined tastes.

This is at the Hofburg Palace which was the home to the Hapsburg Rulers that we discussed in the Budapest posts.  Vienna was the main seat of their empire and they ruled this area for centuries.

This was all of the silver and plating for the palace.  In all seriousness, even I enjoyed looking at it.

So this is about 5% of the candlesticks that this room showed.  Pretty sure they didn't use all of them at once so it seemed a little overboard, but if there's ever a blackout, we all know where to go

Here's a shot of part of the Hofburg Palace.  Needless to say, this things a little bigger than your average house.

It was impossible to get the whole thing in one shot, so here's a model of the entire complex.  The picture above is that piece in the upper middle.

Here's how much of a snob I've become on this trip.  I took a tour of the rooms where the royalty lived.  I saw this and thought, "That's it?  This is what these people are bringing to the table?  They wouldn't let the serfs live in this place at Versailles."

It is a bit more plain, however, they made up for it in a different part of the palace.  So nobody panic.  Royalty still spends an inordinate amount of the lands they rule's money making sure their 4th personal toilet has a fresco painted on it or something similarly important.

So after the Imperial Apartments, I went to this other museum at the Hofburg, the Treasury.  It has a ton of stuff from the Holy Roman Empire including the crown jewels.  I thought this piece was most interesting though.  The spear to the left is The Holy Lance, which, it is quite possible, could have been the spear used to pierce Jesus' side at Golgotha.  There's no way to prove this definitively and when I read it, I thought, "Yeah right".  But I went and looked it up and they did some extensive studies that indicate it is highly likely that it is a 1st century Roman weapon.  Again, you'll never know, but it's been in the possession of the Holy Roman Empire and now Austria for over a 1000 years, so regardless, it's pretty cool.  What I thought was amazing is that it was just sitting in the corner of this one room.  No fanfare, just hanging out in this glass case.  I would have thought there would have been neon signs and a mime pointing the way or something like that.

Here's where the pretty part of the Palace is.  This is all marble and fine woods and stuff.  It's so white and bright you almost feel like you're walking in a cloud.  They totally redeemed their selves here as I thought this was better than anything I saw at Versailles

This area of the Palace housed the museums of the very similar antique instruments, armory, and Ancient Ephesus artwork.  As you may know, Vienna is the mecca of classical music.  Even before Mozart, Strauss, and Beethoven, traveling minstrels in the Middle Ages would frequent and be patronized by the folks of Vienna.  The music vibe in Vienna was my favorite part of this city (I went to two concerts while I was here).  This is a shot of the composition of instrument of a later Viennese orchestra.

Next was the Armory Museum which had the most impressive display of armor I'd seen on the trip.  This put Invalides in Paris to shame.

You can see from the shot here that torturing horses was a favorite past time in the Middle Ages.

If you remember from close to the beginning of the blog, I showed you a picture of a bunch of armored guys where one of them was way smaller than the others.  Well I found out what that was today.

Apparently in the Middle Ages, instead of buying your kid football gear or a fireman outfit, you had a custom suit of armor made for them.  So if you're looking to one up that Mom at preschool who just won't zip it about how awesome her little Johnny is, buy your munchkin one of these.  That'll shut her up for at least 20 minutes, maybe even 30.

Come on dude.  Seriously?  This is too much even for me and you're talking to someone who was forced to wear an absurdly ridiculous baseball banana cup everyday of his life for about 15 or so years.

What I want to know is who let this guy out of the house looking like this.  He must have had no friends (which honestly, is anyone surprised) because if he did, they would have beat the crap out of him the second he walked into the room.

This was the look on everybody's face when the knight from above showed up (uninvited of course) to their house party ("Ladies. . Hot tub?  Hot Tub. . Ladies?")

Here's a shot of a relief from the Ephesus art exhibit.  Ephesus was in present day Turkey and was the home of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, The Temple of Artemis.  It was a major player in the Ancient World and is the city in Paul's Epistles to the Ephesians.

I want to tell you what building this is, but I honestly don't know.  I always get in trouble for not being in the pictures so I thought, "This looks important.  I'll take one here".

Mozart Statue Alert!!  While born in Salzburt Mozart did a lot of his best stuff here in Vienna.  This is also where he died.  Like I said, they love their musicians here and they know the tourists know it too.  You have to be careful when picking a concert here, because if you don't pay attention, you'll be watching some freshman music major and a couple of his buds in perfumed wigs playing a fifth hand version of the Marriage of Figaro for the low low price of 30 euros.

So here I am on vacation, just minding my own business, when some yahoo starts flapping his gums about tuna sandwiches at this place here in Vienna.  "They famous throughout Europe" and whatnot.  I informed this guy that he shouldn't be so careless with his boasting because he happened to be in the presence of a world famous tuna sandwich artist.  I went over to see what all the fuss was about and it will come as no surprise to all of you who have had the pleasure, nay the honor, of sitting down to a meal of my "Tuna Surprise" that this stuff came in a very distant second.  They tried so hard too, I almost felt bad for them..

So that night, I splurged a little and went to a classical concert at the Hofburg Palace performed by the Wiener Hofburg Orchester (Wien is how you say Vienna in German).  It wasn't my favorite classical music, mainly a lot of waltzes and polkas by Strauss and Mozart, but this is what Vienna is famous for.  I had a great time and really enjoyed the whole show.

Here's the Hofburg Palace at night.  Quite a sight.

This is the full orchestra at the Redoutensaal Room.  Beethoven, Liszt, Schubert, Strauss, and Mozart all performed in this very place.  Very cool.

Day 26 - No Thermal Baths (sigh), but a Good Day Nonetheless

Hey Team,

Like I said in the last post, weather was really bad on Day 2 so I had some ground to make up on my final day in town.  While it was still quite cold, I caught a break with the rain, so I got a full day in of sightseeing.  Here's the shots.

This is the Budapest Great Synagogue.  I had never been inside of one before and I picked a good one to go in.  This is the 2nd largest in the world next to the one in NYC.

This is the Hungarian Parliament Building on the Pest side.  In keeping with the theme from the last picture, this is the 2nd largest one in all of Europe next to Parliament in London.  This was really the only disappointment of the day, as I couldn't get inside.  691 rooms and they don't have room for me.  I don't get it.  Don't these people know who I am?

This is a national memorial for the 1956 Uprising I talked about yesterday.  If you look closely, you'll notice a big hole in the middle of the flag.  Under communist rule, an emblem was placed in the middle of the old Hungarian flag.  One of the protesters, during the uprising, hastily cut it out.  This symbolizes that here.  The one constant I've found in all of the former Eastern Block countries is their intense loathing of everything involved with Communism.  Young and old, they all get this really sharp glint in the eye when it gets brought up.  I'm not sure if they just dislike the movement or Russians, but if I was one, I'd think real hard before coming for a visit. . . or practice my Australian accent.  Seriously, I've met more Australians than all the other countries combined.  They are a ton of fun by the way.  Haven't met one yet who wasn't immediately ready to treat you like your best friend.

Here's the front of St. Istvan's Church.  Like everything else of note in this town, it was built for the 1896 Millennium Celebration. I was excited to see it for no other reason than it was not a Gothic design.

Here's the inside shot.  More modern looking with domes and marble and everything.  If I see another gargoyle or flying buttress, I'm going to go have to temporarily become a Protestant I think.

So it's not easy to see, but this is the Holy Right Hand of St. Istvan. Yes, you too can come to Budapest and go check out the 1000 year old appendage for the low low price of $2.  And if you tip the nice old man who pushes the button to light up the box here, he'll go through a 30 second spiel telling you this is the Holy Right Hand of St. Istvan.

Apparently in an effort to make some extra cash, the church had to choose between this or renaming the church St. Macy's at the In And Out Burger Basilica presented by Citi.  Good call I think.

The cafe scene in Budapest is similar to Vienna.  I went to this famous cafe called Gerbaud's.  As you can see, I've been following a very strict diet on my travels.

Here's a detail shot of the Chain Bridge.  The Scarecrow still refuses to visit the city in protest for being passed over for this spot here.

I crossed the Bridge and went over to the Buda side of town.  This is a shot across the water of the Parliament Building.  As you can see, this is no joke of a building.  As you can see, Pest is flat as a pancake.  Buda on the other hand. . .

. . .is quite hilly.  Here's a look at the Buda Hills.  Interesting fact of the day.  The English word "booty" comes from the Hungarian word "Buda" which means "large and volumptuous".

I know what you're thinking.  "Kenny, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.  There's no way anyone is going to buy that . . no way.  These posts used to be ok, but now you're reaching. . . . . But it would be just like him to put that in and it actually be true.  No, no way.  But maybe. . . Crap, now I have to go look it up ($%!@? Jerk)".

This is St. Matthias which is a Gothic Church, but it's a different kind.  For one it's not absurdly huge, and secondly, the outside displays some Asian influences. Unfortunately, like most of Europe it's seemed, there's a lot of restoring going on.  Takes quite a bit away from the shot, but you can see the entrance on the left.  Very pretty.

These tower looking things may be younger than me, but I thought they looked cool so they made the blog.  This is right outside of the church.

So no post about Budapest would be complete without a shot of my new friends from favorite hostel so far, the Budapest Bubble.  You're looking at a regular international convention here with no less than 5 or 6 countries represented (and a ton of Australians of course).  This group was the first time I felt like I was hanging out with people I'd known for more than 2 or 3 days.  Very family type atmosphere and we had a great time together.

This shot was at what is called a "Ruin Pub", which are a few buildings thoughout Pest that were left to rot by the Communist regime.  After they left, some folks picked them up and turned them into these really cool bars.  These places are huge, like a whole building.  The best way to describe this one is to compare it to the best frat house you've ever been in.  Room after room of couches and chairs and good music and stuff like that.  Really good time.

All the best to all of yall and safe travels going forward.  I'll be in touch.

Tomorrow is a scheduled day of rest for me.  I haven't really had one in a good three weeks, so I'm going to catch a train to Vienna tomorrow and then do nothing else afterwards.  Next post will be for the next 2 days then.  Later. . .

Day 24 and 25 - Europe's Most Underrated City

Hey Team,

After a brief pause for some serious stuff we're back with our normally scheduled programming.  Left Poland behind and headed toward Hungary and it's capitol city of Budapest (Buda-Pesht).  This town is awesome.  And when I say it's awesome I mean it is probably #2 on the list of places I've been on the trip.  This is truly one of the great European cities on the continent.

Everything here is just a little different than everywhere else I've been.  All around is a sea of Slavic and Germanic people and then you have Hungary.  Their ancestors are descended from a nomadic tribe from the Central Asia steppes called the Magyars.  They speak Hungarian (obviously) which is not anything at all like anything else around it.  Speak German, French, Spanish, and English.  Great, won't help you at all.  You're more likely to understand someone from India (Indo-European language) than you are somebody from Hungary.  While the original inhabitants are thoroughly integrated with Europe (very little physical differences between everywhere else I've gone) there is just a different feel to the country.

The Danube River, one of the major rivers in Europe, cuts this city in half.  In fact Budapest is actually two cities put together.  On one side of the river is hilly Buda and on the other is flat Pest.  I about a 20 minutes walk from the Danube on the Pest side.

Budapest is the second capitol of the later Habsburg Dynasty or the Austro-Hungarian Empire along with the main capital of Vienna.  I don't know if I was sleeping during this portion of History class but I remember very little being discussed about these guys.  I know we talked about them, but it took up about a half a page and then we went back to talking about England or something like that.  This is what they did though:  From Wikipedia

Their principal roles were as:

• King of the Romans
• Holy Roman Emperors
• Rulers of Austria (as Dukes 1282–1453, Archdukes)
• Kings of Bohemia (1306–1307, 1437–1439, 1453–1457, 1526–1918),
• Kings of Hungary and Croatia (1437–1439, 1445–1457, 1526–1918),
• Kings of Spain (1516–1700),
• Kings of Portugal (1580–1640),
• Kings of Galicia and Lodomeria (1772–1918), and
• Grand Princes of Transylvania (1690–1867).

Other crowns held briefly by the House included:

• King of England (1554–1558)
• Emperor of Mexico (1864–1867)
• King of Lombardy-Venice (1815–1867)
• King of Poland (1916–1918)

 They were major players for 600 straight years until Franz Ferdinand (not the singer people), who was next in line for the throne,was assassinated, which set off WWI.  Like I said, they were a big deal and Budapest was a major hub for a lot of it. For centuries empires have often considered Budapest to be the barrier between East and West, and you can see the influences of both in their architecture.  

My only disappointment with the town was the weather.  It was cold.  For all the northern folk it probably was not a big deal (39 degrees) but for someone who doesn't need all of his fingers to count how many times he's seen snow, this was not comfortable.  On top of that, Day 2 was that temperature and raining which really put a crimp on my sightseeing plans, which is why I've combined the two days instead of doing just one.  Here's some shots of my walking around.

This is a shot of the Hungarian Royal Palace in Buda. It's apparently a shell of it's former self as it has been destroyed and rebuilt several times over.  Today it houses a museum instead of the Royal Family.

This is a shot of the Chain Bridge, the prettiest bridge spanning the Danube in town.  I'm on the Pest (flat) side looking at Buda (hilly).

Here's a shot of St. Istvan's (Stephen) Basilica in Pest.  I'll have a better shot later, but I wanted to include a picture that had some blue in it rather than the cold cold cold (did I mention cold) clouds that I've been seeing for the last week or so.

This was my first stop, The Hall of Terror.  As I said, Hungary has had a very colorful history.  Because it's at the crossroads of abutting empires, it's been destroyed and rebuilt more than any other place I've visited.  This used to be the home for both the local Nazi and Communist strong armers.  If you didn't like the government, often times you were taken here and "taught a lesson".  Unfortunately, that lesson often was torture and death.

It has now been turned into a museum that shows what kind of atrocities where committed against the populace.

They wouldn't allow pictures but I snuck this one. These are the actual gallows that were used after the 1956 uprising against the communists.  Hundreds were killed or executed after the Russians came into the main square of Budapest with tanks to face off against the populace who were armed with home made bombs and simple rifles.  The year 1956 is a big deal in Hungary and we'll see several other shots that deal with remembering this unsuccessful resistance to communism.

This is a shot of Hero's Square which celebrates the 1000th anniversary of the Magyars inhabiting Hungary.  Half of the beautiful buildings in Budapest were built to commemorate this anniversary which was in 1896.  All of the statues in the monument are the key players in the Hungarian Hall of Fame.  Unlike Cooperstown and Canton, requirements for admittance requires that you've been dead for at least 100 years and look good riding a horse.

Here's a detailed shot of the original leader of the "Hungarians".  This is Arpad in the middle everyone.  He's not considered the founder of the Hungarian Kingdom, but he is thought of as the originator of the Hungarians, thus why he is assuming the top spot on the monument.

This is the backside of the monument.  I just liked this shot.

And now we get to the really awesome part of the day folks.  What's this you ask?  Could it be a nice church?  Maybe some government building?  Nope.  This is what the entrance to their swimming pool looks like.  Actually it's a bit more than a pool.  These are the world famous Szechyeni Thermal Baths.  Inside of here is basically an Olympic Pool sized Jacuzzi.  Apparently, Budapest is sitting on top of these huge thermal springs that supply therapeutic baths to the populace.  It was the coolest thing I did in Budapest.

Here's the pool.  Remember, it was below 40 outside and there are 50 people out here just hanging out.  There are three different pools and they are all at different temperatures getting up to a little over 100 degrees or so.  I stayed in the hottest pool.  While I was there I ran into two girls from DC who were over the age of 20 (this has been a rarity.  Surprisingly, I have found that not a lot of people at my point in life are not taking seven week vacations).  We chatted for a while and ended up going to dinner and hanging out.  They had to leave the next morning but I had a blast hanging out with some American folks for a change.

Here's a shot of Alyssa, who was one of the girls I hung out with.  The other was Alice who unfortunately was behind the camera instead of in the shot with us.  This is a picture of my first round with the drink Absinthe, which was outlawed in the USA until 2007 apparently.  As I said, we had a great time and I was sorry to see them leave so soon.

By the way, there is no chlorine in this thing so no peeing in the pool people.  Actually they don't use chlorine because the water is not recycled.  It is replaced continuously from the underground bath.  They do put certain therapeutic agents in the water, and you can actually subsidize paying to go to the pool for medicinal purposes.

If you go to Hungary, this is the thing you absolutely have to do to live like the locals.  Young, old, male, female. . .  I saw everyone here.  So if you're ever in Budapest, go to the Baths. . .

Just think, this too could be you one day. . .

Day 23 - "Forgive But Never Forget"

Hey everyone,

Today we are going over the Holocaust Museums that I went to in Dachau, Germany and Auschwitz, Poland.  As I hope everyone is at least vaguely aware, the Holocaust refers to the intentional attempts by the Nazis to eliminate not only the European Jewish population, but many other ethnic and social groups as well such as the Roma and people with disabilities, among others.  In total, over 6 million Jews and somewhere between 11 and 17 million people in total lost their lives due to this terrible chapter in human history.  Most of the pictures are of the structures and just some commentary, but a couple toward the end are a bit more graphic so just be aware as you go through the images.

Scott and I visited Dachau, which is about 20 or 30 minutes outside of Munich.  Dachau was the first concentration camp built by the Nazi's and served as the model for all of the one's to follow.  In total, over 200,000 people were interred here, with 2/3 being political prisoners and 1/3 being Jewish.  A little under 40,000 people lost their lives while this facility was active.

Auschwitz, arguably the most recognizable and notorious of the many concentration camp sites, was the site responsible for the deaths of over 1.1 million people, 90% of whom were Jewish.  Most of these were killed in the gas chambers using Zyklon B, a cyanide based poison.  Auschwitz was split into two separate camps, Auschwitz I, the original and smaller of the two camps, and Auschwitz II or Birkenau, the newer and many times larger site which killed and cremated 20,000 prisoners a day at one point.

Here's a comparison of both of the entryways to the prisons.  The top picture here is Dachau and the next one is Auschwitz I.  As you can see both of them have the perverse statement written in German:  "Arbeit macht frei" which means "Work brings freedom".

It's important to realize that most of the site that is seen for the tour is a small fraction of the actual facilities.  Large portions where destroyed by the Nazi's in order to cover up what they had been doing.  The hope was that the Allies would fail to see the extent of the crimes of war and against humanity that had been conducted.

It's hard to see, but these concrete outlines are all that is left of most of the Dachau facility.  In total there were 32 of these barracks, each at least 50 yards long and each filled beyond capacity with prisoners.  It took us 5-10 minutes to walk past all of the places where the building where.  The amount of people the camp could hold was immense, but as it turns out was nothing compared to the Auschwitz II which held over 100,000 people at once.  You'll see the size of the facility in a few pictures.

This is the entry gate to Auschwitz II.  If it looks familiar it's because Steven Spielberg used it in the movie Schindler's List. Looks innocent enough from the outside, but inside was beyond your worst nightmares.

Here's a shot of the barbed wire fencing that lined all of the Concentration Facilities.  While escapes occasionally happened, they were very difficult and few and far between.

For one, the prisoners were forced to work 10-12 hours of hard labor and given barely anything in the form of basic human necessities.  Food was in small supply and living conditions were beyond reprehensible, so most people were physically unable to try and leave.

Secondly, attempts at escape would often mean the punishment and possibly death of not only the person who tried to leave, but tens of others in the same bunker as a warning to everybody else.  Many choose almost certain death instead of putting others lives at immediate risk.

This is part of one side of the Auschwitz II facility.  Again, most of the facilities were destroyed by the Nazi's before the Allied liberation but we see where they once stood.  To get an idea of how much they tried to erase, we only stayed at this facility, which again held up to 100,000 prisoners at a time, for about 25 minutes.

This is Auschwitz I.  These facilities were already here before the camps began which is why they were made of brick.  In many of the camps, the prisoners were forced to build the barracks after the numbers of prisoners exceeded capacity.

This is the "Death Wall" at Auschwitz I.  Not everyone was sent to the gas chambers.  Many thousands were sent to a place just like this and shot. The gas chambers were designed to expedite the number of people who could be killed at a time.

These are the bedding conditions inside the barracks where the prisoners where forced to stay.  This one is Dachau.  They were similar looking at Auschwitz but in worse condition.  The roofs leaked, grown men and women were forced to sleep 2 to a twin bunk, and again, people were worked to the point of death so they were often unable to leave their beds to go to the bathroom, so you can imagine the living conditions.  Often there were barely any types of covers.  Furnace would not burn in the winter (remember, these are located in the Canadian latitudes) and the barracks would become greenhouses in summer.  If you were not immediately taken to the gas chambers and were forced to work, you were often just as likely to die of a disease such as Typhus, as you would be some other way.

This was a tough one to see.  These are the toilet facilities at Auschwitz II.  No privacy, no sanitation, just a hole in concrete along with 100 others right next to each other.  Prisoners were often forced to use the facilities at the same time during the work day so you can imagine what it was like in there.  Sadly, survivors said this was the best time of day, because often the German SS guards would not come in there due to the stench.  So this was really the only time you could talk freely to someone else.

This was the most difficult thing for me to see from both places.  This is a glass case about 2-3 meters wide and 20 meters long.  It's hard to fully grasp what this is, but all that you see inside is the shorn off human hair of 40,000 of the female prisoners who were forced into the camps.  I don't remember the number but I know it's at least 2 tons in weight. To see this and to see it on this scale was when you really felt the magnitude of the atrocities that were committed here.  This is only 5% of the number of prisoners who came through the Auschwitz gates. They had several other cases just like this one filled with glasses, pairs of shoes, prosthetics, suitcases with the names on them, and children's toys.    Some estimates put the number of murdered children at 1.5 million during the Holocaust.  Most of them were taken off the train and immediately sent to the gas chambers.  The rest, especially twins and triplets, were used for medical testing before being killed.

These are two of crematoriums that were actually used to burn the bodies of the murdered victims at Dachau.  To realize that at some point actual people were put in these devices is hard to believe.  To realize that the SS made other prisoners take the bodies of their former colleagues from the execution grounds and load them onto the platforms is equally as disturbing.

While not fun, I think it was important to go see these sites.  It's easy to gloss over what really happened when you're at a desk in some classroom 6,000 miles away and 50 years after the fact.  To see it up close helps to make sure you fully get what happened.  "Those who don't know their history are destined to repeat it" which is why the phrase always associated with the Holocaust is "Forgive but Never Forget".  We shouldn't live in the past but we'd be wise to heed it's lessons.

Unfortunately, the world is still experiencing mass genocide, even today.  Since this tragedy several other outbreaks have occurred all over in places like Cambodia, the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Darfur.  Millions more have died needlessly and unless it's stopped millions more are doomed to follow in their footsteps.  It's everybody's problem, and if nothing else, I hope this might make everyone who reads this a little more aware or maybe think what it would be like if it was you or a loved one instead some stranger from a far away land.  Hope everyone is doing ok and thanks for reading.  See you next time. . .