Day 106 (June 20, 2013): Dresden, Germany

The Quick Facts:

* Made the relatively quick trip from Prague to Dresden
* The main sites include an impressive art museum with some of the world’s most famous works (Raphael’s Sistine Madonna and Vermeer’s Woman Reading a Letter By An Open Window among them), the Green Vault which contains a wonderful collection of jewels and other treasury items from the ruling Saxon king August the Strong (who made Dresden what it is), and a series of castles set up on the River Elbe that provide wonderful background scenery for a leisurely bike ride along the banks of the river
* Stayed at Lolli’s Homestay – a wonderfully run, and quirky, hostel right in the heart of Neustadt (where all of the bars and restaurants are).  We liked it, especially the location, free dinner on Wednesday nights, and the free bikes they offer (which is the best way to get around the city).

The Good:

* The so-called “Green Vault”, which houses the jewels and treasury items from the reign of August the Strong in the 18^th century, is eye-popping; most of the rooms are mirrored in some way to magnify the effect, but the collection of sapphires and diamonds and other precious stones are unlike anything I’ve seen and worth a look if you are in the area
* The art museum in the Zwinger is very good – not too big so it’s easy to get through in 1-2 hours, and there are five or six really famous paintings that you’ll be glad you saw in person
* The Frauenkirche, the main church in the heart of the old town square, is a triumph of the post-war, post-communist revival of the city: destroyed in the aerial bombings of 1945, the church was not rebuilt until the fall of the Iron Curtain, when the city decided to use many of the old stones.  The effect is a checkerboard appearance on the exterior.
* The bike riding – wonderful bike paths around the city, and a culture of bike riding which makes navigating the streets and sharing the space with cars extremely easy.

 

The Bad:

* Nothing really, we enjoyed Dresden a lot; the Neustadt area is where all of the action is, which is a lot of fun and very energetic, albeit if it has a 90s feel to it


We arrived in Dresden the night before to allow for a full day of sightseeing.  We set out on bikes and made our way from the Neustadt area to cross the river to the old town and where all the sites are.

 

 

As mentioned above, the Frauenkirche dominates the skyline and is a tribute to the determination of the people to regain their city's past in the wake of German reunification (note the aforementioned checkerboard pattern of the stones).

 

This is the only section of the old church that survived the aerial bombing campaign.

 

Moving on, we passed by what is claimed to be the largest mosaic in the world, made up of 23,000 tiles.  It shows the procession of Saxon kings, soldiers, noblemen from the 1100s through to the early 1900s.  Here is but a section of it:

 

We then headed over to the Zwinger grounds, which are impressive:

 

Our afternoon was spent on a bike ride, where we stopped at Lingner Castle for a drink before crossing the Blue Bridge (famous in these parts for being old) and getting really great views of the castles from the other side of the water:

And finally, I saw this mother and daughter on the bike ride and managed to get a picture.  Love.
 

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Days 103 - 105 (June 17 - 19, 2013): Prague, Czech Republic

The Quick Facts:

* Took the overnight train from Budapest to Prague
* Saw the main sites in Prague, including the New Town, Old Town, Jewish Quarter, and the Castle Area
* Stayed at Pension 15 – good for what is, it’s not in the center of town but they do provide clean rooms with nice showers and wifi; and, for about half of what we pay in other cities the price is more than right!

The Good:

* The Old Town Square is one of the most beautiful squares I have seen on this trip: teeming with life from both tourists and street performers, the square’s architecture and space are spectacular
* The Prague Castle area is quite nice, as is the Charles Bridge which connects the two parts of town over the Vitava River
* The beer is so cheap!  And, related, the town has a plethora of beer gardens which are very fun to enjoy an afternoon
* The architecture is wonderful – it’s an odd mix of Romanesque, Baroque, shappy communist, and modern, but somehow it all works and it’s lovely to look at.  A walk down just about any street offers this kind of variety, with the various small details or differences really showcasing the architects’ creativity.

The Bad:

* The people are a fairly grumpy lot.  And I don’t think it’s necessarily reserved just for the foreigners (like I experienced in Venice for example).  They respond to any request with raised eyebrows and a lengthy explanation of why they can’t do what you have asked them to do…before they turn around and do it anyway because what you’ve asked them to do is, you know, THEIR JOB!  In the end, they mean well, they just want you know that you are putting them out when you ask something of them.
* The food is nothing special, and forget trying to get a vegetable.  It’s just meat with meat and some more meat.  There may be a boiled potato involved, if you get the “health plate”.  The vegetarian option at most places is fried cheese.  Full stop.

We took what is probably our last overnight train trip from Budapest to Prague…here is the traditional picture of our sleeping cabin (which I have to say was quite nice, the best we’ve had on our trip):

 

Once we got to Prague at 6AM, we headed to our hostel at 7AM (reception hours start at 7AM) when we were told by the buy at reception “Check in is at 1PM; it is 7:20AM, so…..”  Thanks buddy, very helpful.  We know the drill, we want to drop off our bags!  And so it was with the Czech people for the next two days.

Our first stop was the Old Town Square, which includes a unique astronomical clock that puts on quite a show (for a 600 year old clock) every hour that includes a skeleton pulling on a string, the appearance of every apostle plus the big man himself (Jesus, not Clarence Clemons), and a golden goose squawking along with the bell chimes, the Tyn Church that has two spires of different sizes to symbolize Adam and Eve (the women really seemed to really like that idea), as well as a number of other classic medieval, gothic, and baroque buildings that make the square really awesome to be in:

 

After watching the clock, we hooked onto a free walking tour which took us through the old town, the new town (which is now the main shopping district of Prague), and the old Jewish Quarter (which once was where all the Jewish people were forced to live in a ghetto in the days of the fascists and communists).  What’s amazing, as I mentioned, is the many different styles of architecture that co-exist within the city, including the old medieval, Romanesque, and Baroque lumped in with communist blah crap and modern structures as well.

 

 

 

Prague Castle, found across the river in another section of Prague, is where the President lives and has a number of museums and churches.  Our first stop, however, was the Royal Gardens, which are beautiful in their own right and have very nice views of the city:

 

Next stop were the main gates to the palace complex, which are apparently quite the tourist attraction!

 

 

Behind the palace gates is St. Vitus’s cathedral, which to be honest is nothing that special:

 

After we went to the Old Royal Palace, which is where new Presidents of the Czech Republic are sworn in (in the main hall seen below) as well as a couple of other rooms which are pretty cool:

 

Then there is the Basilica of St. George, followed by the Golden Lane, which has these cute little (almost miniature) houses where tradesmen used to live, including Franz Kafka for a short while during World War I. 

After the palace, we walked across the famous Charles Bridge…which contains many statues along the way and was the sight of a saint being thrown off in the 1300s for making the king angry.

We then checked out a beer garden in a park, which was lovely because it was in a park, had panoramic views of the city, and was full of people (locals and tourists alike).  We even ate dinner there, here is Carrie coming back from the food stand with her chicken kebab (which, as she points out, is not a kebab but rather a shwarma…her Czech wasn’t quite good enough to convey this nuance to the people working the stand).

 

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Days 101 - 102 (June 15 - 16, 2013): Budapest, Hungary

The Quick Facts:

* Took the short ~3 hour train ride from Bratislava to Budapest
* Budapest is divided by the Danube River into two parts: Buda and Pest; Buda is on the west bank and is comprised mostly of Castle Hill, while Pest is on the eastern bank and contains many parks, shopping, restaurants, bars, etc.
* We spent time in both parts of the city, even devoting a few hours to the bath scene that Budapest is famous for (more on that later, you can already imagine my take on this!)
* Stayed at Art Boutique Hostel – very centrally located at St. Stephen’s cathedral, extremely friendly staff, clean rooms, good wifi and shower; definitely recommend if you’re in the market for the hostel level of accommodation in Budapest

The Good:

* The Castle Hill area is beautiful – not only the castle complex, but the views of the Danube and the riverbank of the Pest side of the city (especially Parliament) are quite nice
* The people in Budapest are, for the most part, very friendly and a lot of them speak English
* It’s quite the party scene!  Granted, we were there on a Friday and Saturday night, but there were seemingly endless bachelor and bachelorette parties roaming through the streets either on foot, “beerbike” (a contraption whereby 8-12 people sit in a group, pedaling a square structure around while someone in the middle serves beer), or limo/party bus
* The Hungarians know how to dance!  We found ourselves at a beer garden in Varosliget City Park where a band was also playing, and everyone was out on the dance floor (especially the older parental set) flashing their moves.  Very impressive.

The Bad:

* A lot of the city seems to be under construction, including the area in front of the Parliament which makes the entire building inaccessible

We packed a lot into our short stay in Budapest.  Carrie had been looking forward to the Hungarian Bath scene for a while, so we put that to the top of our list.  As we walked toward the park (where the outdoor bath is that claims to have the hottest pool in the city), we stopped at the "House of Terror" on Andrassy, a museum that converted the old headquarters of the Nazis and Communists into a memorial of Hungary’s occupation under both the fascist and communist regimes.  It’s a gruesome story to tell; the museum’s exhibits are sometimes a bit meandering and disjointed, and other times quite impactful.  I’m glad we stopped…although, no pictures allowed!

Eventually, we made it to the Szechenyi Baths, which is fronted by an impressive structure and contains numerous pools, both inside and out, at varying degrees.  We did find the hottest one – 40 degrees Celsius (~104F).  And so here’s what I saw as we walked out from the changing area, on my way to sit in pools of other people’s filth all in the name of “fun” and “relaxation”.  Woo hoo.

 

 

The next day was a busy one, starting with a walk through the old Jewish Quarter and a tour of the Great Synagogue.

 

 

 

We then tried to check out the Parliament building, but apparently it’s under construction until the next ice age…they ripped up the ENTIRE front courtyard.  Some GC better have a good explanation for the mess!

 

Next up was Castle Hill, which is comprised of a series of churches and museums, most notably Buda Palace (which is now a museum) and Matya’s Church.  The Fisherman’s Bastion, which looks like a wall of a castle, provides an excellent viewpoint for views of the Pest side of the city.

 

 

 

 

We then went back toward our hostel to check out St. Stephen’s cathedral, which included a walk over the city's Chain Bridge:

 

And even made it to a square where there was a dance festival going on, mostly of children of all ages, who were quite good!

 

 

After that, we made our way to the train station for our overnight trip to Prague.

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