Budapest for my Birthday

 I had originally planned on going to Rome to run the Marathon over my birthday. But, the logistics of the train and lodging, and actually finishing in time to shower and get back to the train in time to get back to work was just too much. So, I changed my plans. But, I had the weekend off. ITT was doing a tour to Budapest. I've never been to Budapest. Perfect.

So, Saturday morning at some ungodly hour, we departed from Aviano on the bus. I think this is about a 10ish hour drive, so we had to leave early. We stopped for breakfast, as usual, on the freeway. This trip we had a great tour escort. He gave us pointers on what to look for. Yay. I packed a blanket and a pillow and just slept until we arrived. Near arrival time, our tour escort also provided a lot of information regarding the history of Hungary and the details of the city.

Upon arrival in Budapest, we met a tour guide for a walking guided tour of the city. Our first stop was Heroe's Square and I immediately love this city. I love the symbolism here. But, one thing that stands out ... among the monuments to kings and saints is the focus on the people. The statues at the 4 points of the Colonnade represent the lives of people. Labor and Wealth, War, Peace, Art and Knowledge.

We bused to our next stop, along the Danube, and then we walked through the center of the Pest,  and past Parliament. Budapest is really 2 cities. Pest is on the eastern shore of the Danube. This is where most of the city activities happen. It's lower, flatter, and compromises about 2/3 of the area and population of Budapest. Buda is on the western shore. It's higher, and hillier. It's also where the wealth is located as it is where the wealthy desire to live. Work in Pest, live in Buda. Parliament is huge and has different looks from all sides. I was struck by the statue in one of the squares. The bronze doesn't celebrate heroes and generals. But, it's the common people that are memorialized and celebrated.

 

Hungary is very proud of its freedom. Even during Soviet days, they seemed to fare better than other countries with their freedoms to travel and study. Much of it is because of Imre Nagy who was Prime Minister in the 50s. His government led a revolution against Russia and he was executed for it. He is honored for his fight for freedom. And they love the Gipper, who took a selfie with me.

We went past St. Stephen's Basilica. We had a few minutes in the square, so I paid my 2 euro to go inside. I can't pass up a church. (In Europe, I have heard the term ABC--another boring church. I don't find any of them boring. Always something different.) Stephen I is the first king of Hungary. He unified Hungary and converted the pagan tribes to Christianity. His symbol is the double cross. Two interesting things about the Basilica. First is that it houses the mummified right hand of St. Stephen. People come here to pray at the hand. Odd. And the second is something that just was interesting to me. Again, the focus on the people. The statues here focus on the importance of common people. Not grand bishops and cardinals Their greatness is in what they do for the people. 

The hand is in there somewhere

From here we were back on the bus to the Market for lunch. The lower level is primarily food. The second level is products. We had time to grab a bite to eat at the only sit-down restaurant. Very heavy meat base here, so I had the fried vegetables. I did a little wandering and found a sweet Hungarian lace sweater. I took a leisurely and roundabout walk back to the bus and had a great view of the Liberty Bridge.

After lunch we crossed the Danube to Pest. We had views of Buda Castle in the distance.  

Then past St. Matthias Church and a little time to explore Fisherman's Bastion where we had some amazing views of Pest. 

 And for just 7 euro, I made a friend (for a few minutes) of a bird of prey. Boy, these guys are super heavy. The "knight" wasn't sure I could hold him up. Honestly, neither was I.

 

 Wow, it has been a long day since we left Aviano. From here, it's time to find the hotel and freshen up before dinner. Dinner was in the hotel, buffet style. So for me, it was some salad and steamed vegetables. Lots of meat in everything...even the things that are labeled vegetables, so I had to be careful. One of the people on tour heard it was my birthday and told the musicians (yes, there was a little Hungarian band) so I got a "happy birthday" serenade. In English and the right tune. I was a bit embarrassed.

After dinner we had the chance for 20 euros to take an evening boat ride down the Danube. With glass of Proseco, thank you very much. It was cold, but it was breathtakingly beautiful. We passed under the 7 bridges of Budapest. They each have a meaning and are built differently, but I need more time in the city to explore the reasons. The city was lit up beautifully.

 Back to the hotel. If I had written this sooner (yes, I am writing late, but pretending I'm writing on the weekend I went), I would remember the name and give a mini-review. Overall, though, it was nice. Clean. Breakfast was included so I had breakfast in the morning before we had to leave. Too soon. One thing I have decided I will have to come back and I will have to enjoy some of the hot spring baths here. Budapest is famous for the baths, but we didn't have time to enjoy them. Quick turnaround. On our way "home" we stopped at Szentendre. We had a few hours to explore this little village. I guess it's supposed to be well known for museums and artists as it sits along the river. Personally, I had seen just about all there was in about 15 minutes, but that's because I wasn't doing a lot of shopping. It's cute, but I would have preferred more time in Budapest.

 

 I did check out a few museums. How about Marzipan? Some of the details of the sculptures are pretty incredible and these can take hundreds of hours to create. But, really, I wanted to eat them.

 And, really, who doesn't want to make a quick stop at the potty museum? Double decker porta-pottie anyone? Entrance to the museum was free, after you paid to use the public toilet.

 I had heard about a popular snack in Hungary called Langos. It's fried dough. The line at the Market was long and packed, probably because this location is mentioned in several guide books. But, in an alley in Szentendre, I found a place selling it. My first thought smelling it was "funnel cake." Traditional way of eating it is with sour cream and cheese. Well, that's not going to work for me, so I had it with vegetables. OK ... once was enough. Funnel cake was right, but without the powdered sugar. Super greasy. And the vegetables I think were canned peas & carrots. It sat in my gut like a rock and I didn't finish it.

From here, we were back on the bus. Made a stop for dinner at a roadside supershop. It was amazing actually. They had a salad bar to die for with beets (not pickled) and chick peas and jicama and a vegetable soup that was really vegetables. I chowed down. For part of the ride it was light outside and I was awake. Pretty scenery. It was late when we got home and I had to get to bed fast so I can work tomorrow.

Bavarian Castles, Munich, Dachau, Salzburg

Since I didn't feel like I got a really good look at Munich when I went with ITT and was kind of not happy with the organization, or lack thereof, I asked around at work and was told about Nikki Travels. Nikki is a former wife of a former Air Force member who was assigned to Aviano. She started organizing tours with her girlfriends and ultimately turned it into a business. On the advice of a co-worker, I looked up her tour list. She had a weekend tour planned to see some Bavarian castles, Munich, Dachau, and Salzburg. That's a lot for a weekend. The flyer advertised 4 guided tours, wow. So, I emailed her and asked and she said that she spends time showing us around and all the important sites. Awesome!!! Well, I should have known it was too much for a weekend.

The weekend started out at 0030 on Saturday morning. Meeting at the parking lot of a bar near base. That should have maybe been my first sign of things to come. Turns out not many people had signed up so the usual bus was not rented. Nikki herself did the driving. Loaded the 6 of us (one in the front seat) into her own minivan for the drive. She had cancelled 2 people for lack of room. I wish she had cancelled me. As I learned who I was spending the weekend with ... I was the only female (other than Nikki), the only officer, and I have been in the military longer than some of these boys have even been alive. Yikes. Even the oldest of them was young enough that if I had started young, I could have been his mother. Oh boy!!!. 

I'm glad I'm not squished in the three-seat backseat with the teenaged boys

We drove through the night and arrived at Neuschwaunstein and Hohenschwangau Castles at 0630. Unfortunately, the ticket booth doesn't even open until 0830. So, more sleeping in the car. It was pretty, though, but very very foggy. The views were limited.

Although at the same location, Nikki informed us that our tour included only Neuschwanstein Castle and that if we also wanted to see Hohenschwangau that it would be an extra 11 Euros. She recommended it because it was more authentic. We all agreed. At 08:30, she got in line for tickets and found out the schedule. You can only go into the castles on tours and the next English tour for Hohenschwangau was at 0945 and Neuschawnstein at 11:30. So, we did a little more waiting. I climbed the stairs and hill to Hohenswangau and looked around a bit. 

We had our guided tour. This was actually a liveable castle. Yes, very nice inside, but not crazy extravagant the way I imagine Castles. This is a 19th century residence built by King Maxmillian II of Bavaria. He seemed a good king and had a wife and 2 children. The most famous of which is King Ludwig II. Ludwig is known as the castle builder. That was his hobby. He never married and from the stories I heard, he seemed like perhaps he had schizophrenia. After squandering his money on building castles, he mysteriously drowned one night on a walk around a lake. One of the castles he built, but was never finished, and never lived in was Neuschwanstein. This is the castle that Disney based his Cinderella castle after. He also built the Residenz in Munich that I saw from the outside last time I was in Munich.

After Hohenschwangau, I did a little looking around at the gift shop. Apparently, the guys and Nikki were looking for me. Nikki had taken it on herself to buy us 2 euro tickets on the bus up the hill to Neuschwantstein. I was actually planning to hike up myself, but she rushed us into the bus and I thought that maybe we were short on time. When we got to the top, we had to wait awhile for our tour to start and she took us partially down the hill so we could get food and drinks at a bar. But, we eventually went to the castle and had our tour. It's really hard to get a great picture of the huge building from close. And the bridge that allows you the best view is closed for renovations. But, the way we were being rushed, we wouldn't have had time to cross the bridge to see it anyway. And, I'm not sure we would have had a great view with the fog. It was beautiful, but eerie. 

It was not a clear day. 

We had our tour and were taken through amazing extravagance. I can see why the political leaders thought Ludwig was a madman. He spared no expense for a castle that he was not going to live in. He had a massive throne room, but no  plans to actually hold court. He had a music theater built, but only planned for private concerts (he was a particular fan of Wagner, so he did have good taste in music), no guests. He hated having any people around him.

After the tour, we ate lunch at the bar and after I finished, I decided to walk down the hill to the parking lot. Had a decent view of one of the sides of the castle, but not the full front with all the towers and spires.

We were then given the option of going to see the next castle or going straight to Munich. This castle tour was included in our tour and the guys had no strong opinions. I wanted to see the castle that Ludwig II designed after Versailles.  So, we made the drive to Linderhof. And what a beautiful drive it was.

Ludwig II lived at Linderhof part time. Much has been maintained as it was originally, or restored. It's still winter, so the fountains were off and the trees and statues were covered. Still quite impressive. Different than Medieval castles which were really fortresses, these castles were what I imagine when I think of castles ...royalty and opulence and excess.

We had to wait here also for the English tour at 3:30 PM. So, by around 4:45, we were heading to Munich and arrived around 6:30. We checked into our hotel and I was bunking with Nikki to save some costs for a private room. Also, because not enough rooms had been reserved. Around 8 PM, we piled into a couple of cabs for our 20 euro ride to the city center. This was not included in the weekend tour price. It was already getting dark and we were hungry. So, off to the crowded Hofbrauhaus. I did manage to find a vegan salad and the pretzels were huge and amazing. Service was slow because it was super crowded. And surly, but I think that's just the German way. One thing I did not know was that began his rise to infamy by his speeches on the second floor.

 

 Well, it's about 11 PM now, so our "guided" tour of Munich was really a quick walk to the Marienplatz. Turns out I know more facts about the city than Nikki, who did know where to direct the boys for the nightlife. They stayed out. I paid another 20 euros to cab it back to the hotel for sleep.

 We were meeting the next morning at 8:30 to head to Dachau. Had some snafus as some of the guys didn't even get back to the hotel until 3:30 or 5:30 or 7:30. One was sound asleep in his room and we had to wake him up, or leave him behind. Apparently this happens on Nikki tours ... and then you have to figure out your own way home. All the guys were tired, hungover, and not very excited to start the morning.

We were told at the beginning that our seats might change on the way back.
I was not about to give up my seat and be squished between hungover teenage boys.
So, I took my seat and let them crowd in. No one said anything.
I did hear about the strippers, though. Talk about uncomfortable.

 We drove to Dachau. Now, I have just been to this evil place a few weeks ago and was willing to miss it. But, I went along. Nikki routed us through the museum and then back out. We didn't even walk the grounds. If I hadn't been there before, I would have been pretty disappointed. I know more about Dachau than she does also. Since I have been there, I wasn't disappointed about our less than an hour stopover.

 

 Back in the van and we are heading to Salzburg. We arrived at Salzburg shortly after  noon. This was supposed to be our 4th guided tour (2 castles, Munich, and Salzburg) as one of the castles was "extra." Anyway, Nikki hustled us through Mirabelle Gardens
 

 Across Mozart's footbridge

 And through part of the old town. We didn't go to the fortress. And, no way to stop for many pictures. She kept walking. At one point, I wanted to stop at a kiosk for postcards (since they always have the best pictures) and she told me that I could get something later, we had to keep moving. One interesting sight was the grave of the only American buried in the old cemetary. That's kind of cool.

The primary focus was to get in and out fast, find a place to eat ... Sushi ... and get back on the road. The guys were zombies so I don't think they cared. We had a grand total of about 3 hours in Salzburg, including about an hour for lunch. And we were back on the road. Honestly, I just want to get home at this point. I do admit, though, that nowhere else in the world will you find random castles on hilltops as you are driving the freeway.

 If you haven't figured it out, I'm unimpressed with Nikki Travel. I have since learned that she is known for being unorganized and that it's all about the party. Not just the party, but getting s#!^faced drunk. Even young Airmen I work with won't travel with her. It's all about just finding another bar, the location doesn't really matter. When they heard I went on one of her tours, even the young ones were like ... whoah, really? We would have told you not to. I had thought about getting refunds on a few upcoming ITT trips and going with Nikki. Glad I haven't done that already. I will keep my previously scheduled trips. What I did get out of this was that I do want to really go to Munich one day. And I do think Salzburg has a lot to offer and would like to spend more time.