Munich is a picture-perfect city with an English Garden
that spans almost the entire length of the city. Tony and I bought a Frisbee
and tossed it in the garden while drinking some local beers we picked up at a
specialty shop nearby. Apparently in the
summer you can see nudests walking along the garden, but we didn’t stumble upon
any that day. It was quite warm though and Tony encouraged me to participate in
the culture (: We stayed with Ruth and Thomas in their beautiful flat in an
ideal part of the city. The Lenbachhaus Museum was the highlight of Munich for us.
Unlike the other art museums we have been to, this one was recently remodeled and
it was done in such a way that there was open space everywhere, even in the
rooms where there were more people in didn’t seem crowded. In addition to
beautiful paintings by artists such as Kadinsky and Munter, among others, the
museum also had a wonderful collection of installations and interactive art
exhibits. While in Munich, we also visited The Hoffbrau House, a typical
Bavarian pub with traditionally dressed wait staff and live Umpa music every
night. Crowds of patrons stomp along while pounding their HUGE beer mugs on the
tables - fun times indeed!On the train to Munich we met an Australian couple who convinced us to change our plans and go to Budapest next. I had already felt compelled to go there given my Hungarian roots. We are so glad we did - Budapest is budaful (: Budapest is divided by the Danube River with Buda on the west bank and Pest on the East. The culture feels more Eastern European, many people do not speak English, and the city is less pristine and has more of a raw sincerity than the other places we have been. There are many crumbling dilapidated buildings, each adding their own uniqueness to the city’s landscape and rich architectural diversity. Talented violinists can be found playing gypsy music at every other street corner. We even met a very talented Hurdy Gurdy player who took some time to explain the instrument to us.
While in Budapest we had our own private apartment in
Buda. It was located at the base of the castle and Fisherman’s Bastion, two of the
most beautiful buildings in the city. In our 4 days in the city we stumbled
upon two festivals; The International Wine Festival, located at the castle in
Buda, featuring wine from the four different wine regions of Hungary, and The Szürkemarha Vigadalom
Festival, or the Festival of the Hungarian
Grey Cattle, held at the other castle in Pest. The highlight of the festival
was the traditional Hungarian gypsy music, dancing, and dress. It was
incredible! We also came across a live performance of funky local music
accompanied by a little breakdancing. We found some dancing expatriates in the
crowd from America and France, and ended up joining them to go see a live jazz noise
band, followed by the best DJ of all time. We danced for hours!
On our last day there, we treated ourselves to a day at
the Gellert Baths, a traditional Turkish thermal spa located in an art-nouveau
palace. Our muscles had been achy from carrying our heavy packs and after only
a few hours in the baths we were healed. We spent the evening walking the city
streets. The city is gorgeous at night; The Chain Bridge, Parliament Building,
Fisherman’s Bastion, Heroes Square, the castles and churches are all lit with
glowing white light.
The whole time we were in Budapest Tony was looking for people who looked like my father, John Magyar. We never saw any, although I did see people that reminded me of my cousins and we did find a Bill Ericson doppelganger on the bus one day :) We have since been informed that they are not very rare, roaming the earth like the superhuman clones they probably are. (Comment inserted by Tony)
From Budapest we travelled to Vienna. We stayed in a
traditional turn of the century Viennese flat. We were supposed to be renting a
room but the owner left town and we ended up having it all to ourselves. We
only had one full day in Vienna which we spent walking the streets and seeing
the major historical landmarks including Stephansdom Church, Peterskirche, and the
Hofburg Palace. We stopped for coffee and Sachertorte in a traditional Viennese
café. In the evening we experienced a performance of Carmen at the Wien State
Opera where some of the greatest composers of all time debuted their works. We followed it with lovely traditional
Viennese dinner of delicious Pikeperch fish, local white wine and Wiener
Schnitzel. It was one perfect day in Vienna!
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