We had such a great time in Europe. Our rental car for the week was a black hatchback Skoda. A Skoda is a Czech-made vehicle that is now owned by Volkswagen. It was slightly larger than our Fiat the last time we were in Europe.
We bought a Europe map card for our GPS and man did it make all the difference, even though on more than one occasion, it told us to drive on "Trail". It always got us where we were going though.
My conference was at the Budapest University of Economics and Technology in their brand new Computer Science and Information Technology building. My talk and book launch went great, and there is much enthusiasm about the book. Although most of my week in Europe was spent inside this building, most of the pictures in this blog post will be of the things we were able to fit in at night and on the weekend, because frankly, those things are more interesting.
Here is me at one of the many bridges across the Danube. All of the bridges in Budapest are no older than 60 years, because every one of the old ones were destroyed in World War II.
Budapest is made up of two old cities: Buda and Pest. Buda, on the west side of the Danube is built on a hill, and Pest, on the east side is built on a plain. This is a view of Parliament (Pest side), taken from the hill on the Buda side.
This is the church at the Fisherman's Bastion. Joanne was standing at this church when she took the picture of Parliament above.
This is the Fisherman's bastion fortress.
I saw this car while walking at the university one day. It was so teeny I had to take a picture. It's an Enzo, which is often associated with Ferrari, but there's a big difference.
On the Buda hillside, there is a very cool church, monastery and convent, built and carved into the rock. At the top of the hill stands Hungary's Statue of Liberty, which was erected after Hungary's emancipation from the Nazis. One very beautiful evening, Joanne and I spent some time touring the various attractions on this hill, then had and outdoor patio dinner at a restaurant near the statue, overlooking the city. None of my moonlight pictures turned out, but it was amazing.
We took a Danube river cruise and I got this picture of the full moon rising over Parliament. Often, photos just don't do justice...
After the week in Budapest at the conference, we drove back to Vienna by way of Bratislava, Slovakia. It was a very interesting experience to see the city since the fall of Communist rule and the break up of Czechoslovakia. Bratislava has remnants of the old world, but the evidence of democracy and capitalism are everywhere, and most of the city has been built or renovated in the last 20 years. Many of the churches show a mix of old and new.
I wanted to drive on up to Prague as well, but time simply didn't allow it. After a few very rainy hours in Slovakia, we headed for Vienna. We had flown in and out of Vienna because airfare was a good bit cheaper, and because I had hoped to see a few cities on this trip. I was not disappointed. The drive from Budapest to Vienna is only about two hours, and Bratislava is in between the two. We were able to spend the weekend touring Vienna. This is Joanne in front of the reflecting pond at Karlskirche, one of several prominent cathedrals in Vienna.
Inside the sanctuary at Karlskirche. there is an elevator that takes you to the cupola. From there, you can climb a breathtaking (in more than one way) staircase to the very top of the rotunda. This is Joanne's camera looking off the top of the platform back down. It was a little nerve-bending, even for folks not afraid of heights.
This is St. Stephen's Cathedral in the very heart of the historic district in Vienna. Although it was still summer, the weekend we were there was very rainy and quite cold, so St. Stephens is soaked and cloaked in gray here. Unfortunately it makes it harder to see Eagle's Powers symbols laid in tile on the roof. You could easily spend an entire summer in Vienna and not see all there is to see.
We took a tour of Mozart's house, right around the corner from St. Stephen's. I got yelled at for taking this picture of his bedroom ceiling, so I figured I ought to put it on the Internet.
This is Hofburg Palace. This photo is essentially the equivalent of standing in front of the White House in Washington D.C, only everything's way older. It's where the president lives, and it's surrounded by things like the parliament building, national library, etc.
This is Joanne at Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna's attempt at matching Versailles in Paris. It's not Versailles, but it's no slouch either. In fact, I found Schloss Schönbrunn to be preferable to the gaudy, over-the-top extravagance of Versailles.
One of the very cool things about Schönbrunn is the hill that goes up behind it. This is a view of the palace after our hike up the hill.
This picture of Joanne and me is from the back terrace of the palace, looking up toward the hillside. The structure at the top of the hill behind us is called the Gloriette, and the picture above was taken from the reflecting pond in front of the Gloriette. The terrace we're standing on in the photo below is visible at the center of the palace in the photo above.
After a full day of touring Vienna, we attended a show at Schönbrunn Orangery. It was comprised of symphony orchestra, ballet and opera, and even if you're not a fan of those things, it was really cool to experience them in the place where Mozart, Strauss and Bach once played. The show was made up of pieces from Mozart before intermission, and pieces from Strauss afterward. It was awesome.
After a very full and very busy week, it was time to come home. We arrived home late Sunday night after traveling for nearly 18 hours to get home. Totally worth it.
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