Prague and Budapest

We have been so busy--and so tired when we haven't been busy--that it has been hard to find time to keep a record of our adventures.  We are spending this evening (Monday, May 25) in our hotel to catch up on rest and writing.

When I last wrote, we were getting to set out to see more of Prague.  When we left our hotel, we went directly to St. Nicholas Church in the Male Strana.  The green patina of the dome of this church can be seen from afar in many directions, contrasting with the red-tiled roofs of the buildings surrounding it.  Attractive on the outside, its interior is what astounds.  The columns, the ceilings, the interior dome, the statues, the paintings, the stained glass, the pulpit and all the decorations are perfect examples of the Baroque style.  Fine-grained marble of various hues, including deep carnelian and pale green, contrast with the gold-leaf covered ornamentation.  I'd take a photo and turn in another direction and be amazed again at the beauty.  I found it wonderful, Katya thought the Baroque style was overdone.

St. Nicholas Church in Prague

Pulpit in St. Nicholas Church

altar in a chapel of St. Nicholas Church

Baroque ornamentation and statuary in St. Nicholas Church

After appreciating the splendor of the church, we walked outside and along curving streets to the Wallenstein Palace and Gardens.  Tall hedgerows separate wide paths leading into the main areas.  One large section of the garden is designed to look like a large grotto.  Beside it is the great aviary, which houses four large owls--all sleeping and ignoring the gawking tourists.  Another section of the garden has a large pool with irises growing at the edges.  We were particularly enchanted with the peacocks, especially the albino ones.  The males seemed happy to spread their great tails and pose for the cameras.  (We took way too many photos of them!)

Katya in the Wallenstein Palace Gardens

Albino Peacock

Wallenstein Palace with Prague Castle looming behind 

The palace was built in the 17th century as the resplendant home of the Czech nobleman Albrecht von Wallenstein (Valdstejn).  The remains of previous structures, particularly the cellars of previous Gothic palaces can be seen beneath ground level.  One of these areas has an exhibition of gifts of state from various nations.  The array of ceramics, precious metal work, linens, ethnic crafts and other items--of the highest quality, of course-- was fascinating, and displaying them for the public seemed an appropriate use of these tokens of national friendship.

We also toured a few rooms of the palace, which now houses the Hungarian Senate.  The rooms we viewed were the duke's reception room and antechambers.  The main hall was the second largest in Prague, after that of Prague Castle.  The walls of the Knights Hall are covered with beautifully hand-tooled and colored leather with motifs of flowers, fruits and birds, something I've rarely seen.

Knights Hall in the Wallenstein Palace

Each day, we keep going until we are quite hungry.  After the Wallenstein Palace and Gardens, we found a place right outside where we enjoyed eating on a terrace; Katya had crepes with caramel and bananas, which was, according to her, delicious, and I had a much more healthful caprese salad.

We walked through part of Male Strana to the Charles Bridge, crossing over to explore more of the Old Town of Prague and to shop for gifts.  Along with the usual trinkets and kitsch, there were jewelers selling garnets and amber and shops displaying colorful and expensive crystal.  We wondered into a few shops, talking to the shopkeepers and clerks.  The kitsch was cheap and unappealing.  We had to shop around to find good quality items at reasonable prices, but we succeeded.  For us--and for every other tourist, I'm sure--they offered us discounts, which basically lowered the prices to reasonable levels.  Being no good at bargaining, I accepted the discounted price without haggeling.

After an hour or two of roaming through the pedestrian streets and alleys, admiring the facades of buildings and listening to street musicians, we stopped in front of the Horological Clock of Old Town Hall and sat down to wait for the hour to strike.  The Old Town Hall is four distinct buildings, connected on the inside and was used from the 14th century.  The gothic towers on the ends are ornately decorated.  The clock dates from the 15th century and has been in continuous operation, displaying the time in four manners; the phases of the moon; the times of twilight, sunrise and sunset; and the days of the week of the entire year, represented by numbers and the names of the patron saints of each day.

Horological Clock on Old Town Hall Tower

House with white on black Renaissance decoration

Katya and I learned a great number of facts about this clock and the Old Town Hall as we began a two and a half hour walking tour of the Old Town, which we joined spontaneously after the clock struck 7 p.m.  The well-informed and garalous tour guide led us through the streets and alleys and into some buildings, explaining in great detail the architecture and history of the buildings.  We learned that many of the buildings with Renaissance or later edifices hid earlier construction.  We learned about the use of the Italian technique of white on black sfigilio painting on edifices and the use of symbols--such as the blue horse, the three carp and the golden ring--which are found as ornaments above doorways to designate the address.  This practice dates from the time when most people were illiterate and the posting of house numbers and street names was of little value.  We  viewed the imposing 15th century Powder Tower, one of the remaining parts of the Old Town forticiation, considered the royal route even today; walked through and admired the Art Nouveau design and decorations of the Municipal House; strolled through Tyn Yard and learned of history as a place where traveling merchants paid customs, received protection, set up shops and stalls and found accommodations; and viewed the facade of the Cathedral of Our Lady before Tyn, with its various architectural styles, including Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque.  Along the way, we learned a bit of Bohemian and Czech history, particularly about the King Charles IV.

Tired and hungry after the long tour, we made our way back to the hotel, admiring the castle on the hill at night and stopping to eat food from the bakery beside our hotel.  We had a taxi scheduled for 10:30 p.m., which took us to the main train station, where we caught an overnight train to Budapest.  In retrospect, we should have paid the small amount of money which would have procured us berths in the couchette car, because we did not sleep well at all in coach, mainly because it was chilly in our cabin.

Prague Castle at night

We arrived in Budapest at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 24.  Despite our fatigue, we managed to find an ATM and get Hungarian florins and purchase tickets for and ride the Metro to our hotel off Andrassy Ut (Street), the K+K Hotel Opera, a place of sleek design and understated elegance.  (I rather splurged on accommodations because they are so much cheaper than the U.S.)  We left our luggage and began our exploration of Budapest.  Our first stop was St. Stephen's Basilica (so named because his right hand is in a reliquary there!), but mass was being held, so we left after listening to the organ and choir briefly, to return later.  Of course, we were hungry and Katya had been craving a sandwich from Subway.  Serendipitously, we came upon one at the end of the square in from of the church.

After fortifying ourselves, we walked to the Danube River, a wide, silt-filled waterway flowing swiftly through the city.  (It looked like about 5 knots.)  We strolled along the waterfront away from the famous Chain Bridge, encountering the moving memorial to Budapest Jews who were told to take off their shoes on the quay before being shot by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944 and 1945, their bodies dropping into the moving water.

Shoes on the Danube, Budapest

Next, we came upon the enormous and imposing white House of Parliament.  There we found the memorial to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, which was violently suppressed by the Soviet controlled government, resulting in the death of 2500 Hungarians and the exodus of 200,000 refugees.

As we walked beside the flower gardens in front of the House of Parliament, we unexpectedly encounted the Changing of the Guard, where the men showed off precise formation, marching and displaying of arms.  After taking the opportunity to have a photo with one of the guards, we walked back to the church, where another mass was being held, so we walked on.

flowers by the House of Parliament

Changing of the Guard on the steps of Parliament

Katya with one of the guards

We found the famous Synagogue closed because of the Pentacost holiday, so we made our way back to the basilica for a third time, where another mass was being performed but was almost over.  We waited and then were able, finally, to walk around the santuary.  The gleaming marble surfaces, deeply hued paintings, stained glass and gold ornamentation are a visual delight, although Katya found them, once again, focusing more attention on wealth than on spirituality.

dome in St. Stephens Basilica

We walked the short distance back to our hotel to check in and collapse on our beds, having purchased tickets for an evening performance by the Hungarian Folk Ensemble at the Danube Palace.
We wanted to eat before the performance, so we set out to find some place before 8 p.m.  We ended up in Erzsebet Ter (park, I think), where we enjoyed watching dozens of couples dancing to Latin music around a fountain and locals relaxing throughout the area.

Dancing in the park

Just off the park, we chanced upon Jack's Burgers, where we purchased good pizza slices and sat outdoors to eat them.  We strolled around with other tourists plus many locals enjoying the beautiful Sunday evening before going to the theater.  The evening included pieces performed only by the eleven member all-male orchestra, including seven violinists, one bass player, one clarinet player and two men playing two cimbaloms (traditional Eastern European hammered dulcimers).  Interspersed were fantastic and lively dances by ten performers, half of them women and half of them men, in colorful costumes.  We recognized several of the instrumental pieces, including Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5 and Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody.  In one piece, the women danced with wine flasks balanced on their heads; the structure of the dance coupled with the anxiety that one of the glass containers would fall and crash on the stage kept us riveted.

After the performance, we walked past St. Stephen's beautifully lit in the night and happily reached our hotel and, more importantly, our comfortable beds.

St. Stephen's at night

This morning, Monday, May 25, we began by enjoying the abundant variety of food at the breakfast buffet in the hotel, elegantly and colorfully arranged in the large wood paneled room, and then set out for Buda Castle.  A fine rain was falling but it was not cold (although Katya was).  We put up our umbrellas and made our way to and across the Chain Bridge.  On the other (Buda) side of the Danube, we rode the funicular to the top of the hill where the castle complex sprawls.  Because of the rain and the fact that we arrived before the museums opened, the castle grounds were nearly empty, and we strolled around outside, purchasing a hand-woven cloth from a vendor just setting out her wares.

Buda Castle Palace

At 10 a.m., escaping from the rain and (according to Katya) chill, we went to Castle's Budapest History Museum.  There, we learned quite a bit about the history of the palace and the royalty, as well as the earliest inhabitants dating back to the Stone Age.  We were able to explore the maze of rooms in the old Gothic cellars and see the medieval Kapolna Chapel.  There were displays about the history of the famous Matyus Church on Buda Hill, which peaked my interest in visiting it. ("Not another church!" complained Katya.)

Kapolna Chapel

When we left the museum housed in part of the palace, we walked through the courtyards and along the walls of the castle before reaching the main streets of the castle complex, lined with lovely edifices housing shops and restaurants.  We were hungry but too tired to make a decision about what and where to eat, so we kept going.

Katya on the street at Buda Castle complex

After a few blocks, we made it to Matyus (Matthias) Fountain in the square in front of the church.  Gothic spires and the tiled roofs in colorful geometric designs delighted our (or, at least, my) eyes.  Katya was pleasantly surprised by the vast interior, which, unlike the Baroque churches we had seen, included painted columns holding up the high vaulted ceilings and more muted, although still vibrant, colors.  Once again, I seemed to take photos every time I turned around.  The play of light and the new perspectives offered among the arched nave, chapels and apse continually attracted me.

Matthias Church

Matthias Church, chapel of the Black Madonna

geometric and flora designs on the colomns in St. Matthias Church

Stained glass window in Matthias Church

floral designs on vaulted ceilings

Colorful tiled rooftops of Matthias Church

After walking through the museum in the upper levels of the church tower, we left the castle area and made our way down the hill to the river, where, against Katya's will, we glanced at a couple other churches.  We enjoyed looking across the Danube toward Pest.  The House of Parliament looked even more grand with its Gothic Revival architecture from across the river.

House of Parliament from across the Danube

By this time, nearly 4 p.m., we had totally missed lunch, and the known goodness of the pizza we had eaten the day before drew us back to Jack's Burgers.  Sated, we walked back to our hotel to spend the rest of the day resting and catching up on photo captioning and blogging.

Tomorrow morning, after breakfast, we are going to one of the famous bath houses to soak in the hot pools.  In the early afternoon, we catch a train to Zagreb, Croatia.