Andrassy rd Budapest

We have done a lot of walking around many Europen cities and i must say walking the 2.5 km length of Andrassy rd in Budapest was a treat.. The whole road has been designated a Unesco world heritage site. Andrásy Avenue takes you through Budapest's major cultural hubs with the ornate State Opera House, and institute of ballet, many museums and exhibitions halls and every house and buiding is an example of fine architecture... After looking at our pictures of walking down one side we realised in order to get the full perspective we will have to walk down the other side when we return to budapest toward the end of november... so stay tuned for the flip side

home of print

We came to Vienna because we heard it was a great cultural place... the site that drew together the world’s great composers... we also came for the chocolate and coffee.... And just when we think we had heard, seen and tasted it all we discover the other side that also brought us Gutenberg ...Vienna a city with a crazy mix of culture and science...oh yeah and speaking of crazy mix how could we forget Sigmund Freud was from here too... although his shows don’t pull in as many people as Strauss... or do they?

Culture

We could not come to Vienna (Wien) without taking in an orchestra, a ballet or an opera... then we discovered the beauty of coming to a place in the off season.... for a fraction of the price we got to see a scaled down rehearsal of all three being prepared for the fancy New Years production... the Imperial orchestra performing Mozart, Beethoven and Strauss,..punctuated with soloist opera and ballet dancers... because it was not the real thing it was done without all the fancy costumes... but then again we were not really dressed for it either.. and during the intermission the performers walked around and had refreshments with the crowds...

Facade

Ok... not another cathedral you say,... but what was cool about this one was that it was covered with scaffolding as they were trying to clean off the centuries of coal burning smoke that had blackened the outer facade... what they had done, so as not to disappoint the local chruch goers or us off season travelers, was put large pictures onto the protective cloths draping the scaffolding to match the blackened sanctuary behind it... somehow there is some symbolism here... but in the home town of Freud I think it best just to repress the urge to talk about it ... at least in public.

Vienna Various

Some random shots around Vienna (Wein as they call it) or should i say ... some random shots around Wein (vienna as we call it).. either way it is way more fun to say it in the voice of Arnold Swartzinager...another national treasure... and when you do ... both ways of saying it sound quite similar.... voted one of the best cities in the world to live... so what more can you say but ‘I’ll be back’ (hope your still using the arnold accent when you say that)

C and C for R and R

We came for the music and culture but stayed for the coffee and chocolate... a very nice mix... we sat in many cool little cafe’s staying warm .. well i was... aja doesn’t seem to get cold... reading and writing post cards... did i mention that if you send us your address we will send you cards...

Vienna Haloween

Although in Europe halloween is not celebrated like it is back home... it is catching on in some ways... mostly the commercial ones... Aja is at that funny age where she does not really want to admit she is getting too old to trick or treat... but travelling she could avoid having to make up her mind if she should or not... so for halloween we bought and gobbled down some amazing local chocolate and were invited to a halloween party by some of the Baha’i youth in Vienna... and that was a definate treat...