For our last travel weekend (yes, you read that correctly: LAST), Jess and I pulled our coats back out of the closet to visit Budapest and Vienna. I thought these two cities would be pretty similar (you know, after the whole Austro-Hungarian Empire thing), but they were so different! I loved both, and I wish I had spent a full weekend in each city, but we only had 4 days total to enjoy a beautiful Easter in Eastern Europe.
Jess and I met up with some Auburn friends at the airport who were also flying to Budapest. After landing, we split a cab to our hostels, which were only a few minutes apart. The strange thing about Budapest is that, for a moment, it looked just like… America? Our drive from the airport was full of drive through fast food restaurants and signage that was 100% in English. Luckily, all of that changed as we got closer to the city center. For those of you that don’t know, Budapest is actually a combination of 2 cities: Buda (west of the river) and Pest (east of the river). Our hostel was in Pest, but we made our way to Buda later in the day.
Jess and I had a quick gyro lunch before heading out to explore the city. We strolled down one of the major streets until we came across St. Stephen’s Basilica, one of the largest churches in Budapest. We went inside, eager to experience the eastern orthodox church’s greek cross plan (meaning all four arms are equal, unlike Catholic churches that have one long arm). The church was beautiful, and smelled really strongly of incense in celebration of Good Friday.
Next we walked down to the banks of the Danube River, looking for shoes. The Shoes of the Danube is a memorial to the murdered Jews of WWII. The Jews would have to stand on the bank of the river, hands tied behind their back, and would be shot into the freezing water below. The memorial is very touching. Each shoe is filled with flowers or candles, and their rusted iron plays on the idea of the Iron Curtain (and brutality in general).
To lighten the mood, we walked across Chain Bridge, which provides beautiful views of the river. Upon reaching the other side, we found a group of armed knights on horses. The area was roped off, so we weren’t sure what the meaning behind the production was (maybe they’re filming a movie?). Any, we continued up the hill until we got to Fisherman’s Bastion. It was quite the hike to get to the top, but the views were really rewarding, especially those of the gothic revival parliament building across the Danube.
We descended the Bastion to visit Matthias Church, only to find out it was closed early for Easter festivities (my inner gothic lover wanted to kick and scream my way in, but I figured that wasn’t very Easter-ly of me). Instead, we continued along the top of the hill to the Buda Castle. This was pretty cool because you could see the ruins of the medieval castle around and underneath the 18th century palace. Considering we didn’t know that much about Budapest (or Buda… or Pest…), Jess and I went to the Budapest History Museum inside the palace. The palace was beautiful, and the ruins underneath added a nice rustic touch. They were preserved in a way that would make even the strictest Italian sing praise.
After the castle, we tried to go to the Budapest Synagogue, but alas, Easter strikes again. Closed. We wandered around the city until we came to a small park. We managed to find the US Embassy and… a statue of Ronald Reagan? That was unexpected. A few steps further and we found ourselves asking, “Is that Teddy Roosevelt?” As it turns out, there was a Hungarian Prime Minister that looked exactly like Mr. Roosevelt, so it wasn’t him, but hey at least the Hungarians like us enough to erect a statue of one of our presidents. Who knew?
Our wanderings led us to the Parliament building that we had admired from across the Danube earlier in the day. Because it was later in the evening, we were unable to go inside. BUT we did manage to see the changing of the guards and the lowering/ folding of the flag. We also found a small underground museum where they kept the remains of the original Parliament building that was bombed in WWII.
By this point, the sun had gone down so we decided to make our way back to the hostel so we could check in. Along the way, we passed the Budapest Opera House, so we decided to pop in and see if they had any tickets left for the evening’s performance. Sadly, they were sold out, but we got a sneak peak at the grand stair (which for architecture students, is good enough). For dinner, we found a delicious restaurant that served traditional Hungarian food. Paprika chicken is a big deal there, so I thought I’d give it a try after an appetizer of goulash soup. It was SO GOOD. Our meal followed with a dessert of apricot and coca filled pancakes (another traditional favorite), and somehow all of that came out to about 9 euros. Not to mention, the restaurant played Backstreet Boys and NSYNC all night. It was here, in the middle of my Hungarian and boy band feast, that I realized how little time I actually have left in Europe before this trip becomes a memory… just like jamming to the Backstreet Boys as a kid.
The next morning, Jess and I got up early to visit the Vajdahunyad Castle. Along the way, we passed Heroes Square, which has an awesome obelisk and colonnade arms. We didn’t know the meaning behind it, but it was pretty. We continued on to the castle, only to find out the interior was an agriculture museum. I love architecture, and will do almost anything to see the inside of a pretty building, but we were running out of time and we felt that going to the Thermal Baths was more important than learning about Hungarian agriculture.
Well we definitely made the right decision because the Thermal Baths were SO COOL. We hear about these all the time in class, because the Ancient Romans were obsessed with going to the baths, but this was our first time to visit. You’re supposed to submerge yourself in the baths in order of descending temperature, starting with the hottest water and gradually making your way to the cold pool. But seeing as it was around 40 degrees outside, we just stayed in the hot pool… for two and a half hours. We happened to run into Taylor and Ward from Auburn, so the four of us enjoyed our steamy bath in freezing Budapest.
Getting out of the baths and back to the locker room was painfully cold, but we had a train to catch, so we headed out. We had just a few minutes to spare before our taxi arrived, so we visited a place down the street that boasted of foot-long ice cream cones. Needless to say, we weren’t disappointed.
Our train ride to Vienna lasted about two and a half hours, and we were lucky enough to sit by a screaming toddler the whole way. We were thrilled to finally arrive in Vienna, even if it was colder than Budapest. I immediately noticed how German it was. Vienna felt like the perfect mix of Prague’s aesthetic with Berlin’s food and culture (though perhaps not quite as international). Also, just like in Germany, everything in Vienna is platz. Platz platz platz. No matter how big or small the plaza is, it earns the title of platz. This makes navigation pretty confusing, but all the words are fun to say.
We made it to our hostel, but found out we were in different rooms since we had booked separately. Jess wasn’t feeling well, so she had a quiet, early night in. I made friends with my roommates, which were two guys my age; one from Switzerland and one from Argentina. The three of us were pretty hungry, so we went searching for a place to eat. I was pretty impressed when the Swiss said, “Well you’re from Texas, so you probably want some beef right?” I laughed and told him that the stereotypes are true, but we all agreed on traditional Austrian. We found a cozy restaurant called Mozart’s that served Austrian food, so we all ordered schnitzel and a delicious Austrian beer.
My new international friends interviewed me for my opinions on Donald Trump and told me I could come live with them if he gets elected. They told me that they liked how I said I was from the U.S. instead of immediately saying my state (a tip for all you future travelers out there). They marveled about the idea of spending four months in Rome and how they would love to visit sometime. I hope they will.
The next morning we got up early. After all, we only had one day in Vienna, and that one day happened to be Easter, so there would be a lot of restrictions regarding when things would be open and closed. We took the subway to Stephansplatz (there it is again) so we could visit St. Stephan’s Cathedral before mass started. Unfortunately, most of the church was closed off for the whole day, but we got to stand at the back and still managed to get some pictures.
Our next stop was the local post office, which I’m sure sounds incredibly anticlimactic to any non-architecture student. But if for some reason you’re into post offices, go ahead and give Otto Wagner Postsparkasse a Google, because it’s probably the coolest one you’ll ever see.
The problem with it being Easter Sunday is that pretty much every bakery and restaurant was closed. We wandered around the city looking for food, but with no luck. We saw the Opera House, so we decided to see if they were open, and they were! We figured we could hold off on food for another hour if it meant getting a tour of one of the prettiest opera houses in Europe. Most times, architecture students hate taking guided tours because we think we already know everything about a building. But we didn’t have much of a choice, so we hopped in with the English group. Come to find out, there’s a lot we didn’t know about the opera house (shocking, really), like how the opera house hosts an annual ball that costs 300 euros to get in (at minimum). The seating ranges from 300 to 25,000 euros, and suddenly I found myself wishing I could meet some Austrian prince so I could attend this fabulous event. Anyway, the Opera House was beautiful, and for once I was glad I took a tour.
By this point we were so desperate for food that we stopped at a McDonalds for a late breakfast. We did some chocolate shopping afterwards, and decided to treat ourselves since it was Easter and we didn’t wake up to a basket full of chocolate bunnies. We then continued our wandering and found a huge fountain. Luckily the weather had warmed up enough to ditch our coats and enjoy the mist a little bit.
The best thing about Vienna is how green it is. There are entire districts devoted to beautiful parks which are full of live music and trees… something we don’t get a lot of in Rome. We casually strolled through the parks and noticed the trees blooming with small white buds. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and the grass was SO GREEN. During our stroll, we ran into several sets of two men playing accordions… with horse masks on. We weren’t sure why this was such a trend, but it was funny and we thoroughly enjoyed their music.
Our next stop was Belvedere: an old palace that now serves as an art gallery full of Austria’s most famous works. The Palace was magnificent. It was not nearly as big as Versailles in Paris, but it was along the same lines in terms of time period and style. My favorite part was the white grand staircase that leads you up to the galleries. Belvedere was hosting an exhibition of Gustav Klimt, who is one of my favorite painters. I may have gotten yelled at for taking a photo (I swear I didn’t see a sign), but it was so exciting to see all of his glowing gold work. The next room in the gallery was full of busts making funny faces. This was such a refreshing change from the seriousness of most art gallery sculpture, and they even encouraged taking silly photos next to the faces.
We walked across the gardens of the palace, but unfortunately the fountains weren’t running because March is still pretty chilly in Austria. The landscape was lovely and lots of people were laying in the grass. If I were a local, I’d be here every chance I got.
We returned to the city center where we ordered some sausage to eat as we wandered some more. Things were beginning to close early because of Easter, but that didn’t stop us from exploring the city. After buying another round of chocolate, we headed back to the hostel.
For dinner, I took Jess to Mozart’s to experience the delicious schnitzel I had the night before. Our waiter told us about a popular college bar down the street, so we decided to check it out. Well, there was literally no one in the bar, so at risk of looking incredibly sad and lonely, we went back to our hostel’s bar for Happy Hour. We had an early flight the next morning, so we called it a night early.
If you forced me to choose, I think I would say that I liked Vienna better, but I would have liked to stay in both cities for much longer than I did. With it being Easter weekend, we missed out on a few opportunities that I would have loved to experience on my last travel weekend. This weekend was European daylight savings time, but I don’t think that’s the only thing making time move faster. I think about the next month, and how I only have a few more weeks to squeeze in everything I want to see in Italy, all in the midst of classes and school trips. So here’s to 4 weeks of crazy, uninterrupted, fast-paced, happy Italian travel.
I’d also like to say how truly lucky I feel for getting to see the world amidst the horrible recent events. I was going to spend this weekend flying solo because most of my friends were going places I had already been. After the attacks in Brussels, I’ll admit I was a bit nervous to go out on my own, but I knew it was something I had to do (especially after spending hundreds of euros on airfare). Jess was supposed to visit Brussels and Paris this weekend, but things changed after last Tuesday’s attacks. Much to the joy of my mother, Jess decided to tag along with me instead, and I am so glad she did. Traveling with friends is an experience I’ll cherish for the rest of my life, and my heart goes out to the citizens of Belgium that lost their friends, family and travel companions that day. That easily could have been me, just like Istanbul could have been me or Paris could have been my friends last semester. Events like Brussels really put things in perspective, and I am nothing but thankful for the safe experience my friends and I have had on this trip.
Number of Columns Hugged: 9
Days Since Mexican Food: 99 (almost to triple digits and in desperate need of fajitas, though I will admit schnitzel is a nice substitute)
--
Read more from Haley at https://haleywalton.wordpress.com/
To find out more about the U of A Rome Center semester program for Architecture, visit http://studyabroad.uark.edu/romecentersemester/
