Much of Munich is modern, very clean and rebuilt after WWll.  While many of the building have been designed to give the impression that they are older than they are, Munich just simply hasn’t “dazzled” us like Prague did.  The fact that Munich was the birthplace of the Nazi party is perhaps why we feel it has such an austere, cold feeling about it.  As a result, the Holocast & Nazi history is clearly visible throughout the city. We started our first full day, Tuesday, taking a 3-hour Old Town walking tour of “Munchen”.  We met at Marienplatz which is the most popular tourist destination in Munich.  The square has lots of bustling activity with several beautiful churches, nice shops and restaurants on the streets branching out into the square.

The imposing “New Old Town Hall” at Marienplatz sits on the square with the famed Glockenspeil.  The animated show at the Glockenspiel, with its “fantastical” tower, adorned by dragons and gargoyles offers up fabulous shows daily that draw huge crowds.  The almost life-size figures come to life with a spectacular 15-minute performance which recounts a royal wedding, jousting tournament and ritualistic dance.  The show occurs two or three times a day depending on the time of the year.  After watching this show, we wondered why the astronomical clock in Prague and its procession of miniature figures at the tower each hour for 15 seconds gathers such incredible crowds.  The Glokenspiel is so much more impressive compared to the tiny wooden apostle figures that come alive hourly at the astronomical clock in Prague.

One of our first stops, after the Glockenspiel, was St. Peter’s Church which is one of the most iconic sights in Munich.  The church is incredibly ornate inside.  What makes it sort of creepy (sometimes, we can’t stop using that word) is that St. Mundita is lying in a side alter.  The saint is a gilt-covered and gem-studded skeleton in a glass case with false eyes in her skull which is wrapped in netting.  In addition, jewels cover the mouth of this relic’s rotten teeth.  It was.  .  .  Yuch!

The Viktualienmarkt is Munich’s largest outdoor food market.  There is a ton of dried meats and cheese and a variety of animal parts including pigs snouts at one butcher shop!  Germans must have a high standard for fruits and vegetables because they were all perfect but at a very lofty price tag.  We decided to buy a small piece of salmon at a fish store at the market.  It ended being delicious but the most expensive piece of fish (about 1 lb.) that we have every bought in our life!

Lesley was in Munich 48 years ago when she was a teenager on a high school trip.  Her most vivid memories are visiting the Hofbrauhaus.   .   .   .  and drinking the mega-size beers at 15 years old! (The drinking age in Germany is now 18 years old).  The Hofbrauhaus is also where Hitler founded the Nazi Party in 1920.  Our tour guide really berated the Hofbrauhaus; but, we think the Muncheners are secretly proud as punch of this beer garden.  Our guide took us to the Hofbrauhaus and had lots of stories to tell and acted like a proud Papa about this famous place.

We made a number of other stops with our 3-hour walking tour but we think the above highlights were the most interesting, excluding some museums & churches, for our first day outing in Munich.


Saturday & Sunday we continued rambling around Prague & visiting engaging but sometimes amusing sites.  The “Dancing House” (aka Fred and Ginger) is quite a modern structure, which looks “drunk”, in a neighborhood of very traditional buildings.  Its design caused quite a stir with the locals because it did not accord well with the beautiful traditional Prague architecture.   The Dancing House was supported by a former Czech president who, at the time, lived next door.  The company ING wanted to create a symbolic building within the city; so they allowed noteworthy architects to have an unlimited budget with total artistic freedom.  This funky building still has “for rent” signs on the exterior, so maybe it is still unpopular.

We visited the St. Cyril & St. Methodius Cathedral museum and crypt around the corner from the Dancing House.  The story is truly fascinating.  During WWII, the Czech Underground assassinated Hitler’s #3 guy, the “Butcher of Prague”.  He was the highest ranking German soldier assassinated during the war.  This Greek Orthodox Church has a great memorial with detailed information in English about these 7 soldiers who parachuted into Prague after being trained in England.  Their story of a botched assassination that led to the eventual death of the butcher is riveting.  Their final fight was while they hid in the church crypt and held off hundreds of Nazi SS troops for over a day.  They eventually all committed suicide when all was lost.   It was a compelling story for us of heroism and bravery.

Outside our apartment is Wenceslas Square which is one of the main city squares.  We have a large deck overlooking Wenceslas Square.  Over the last two days, there has been lots of ethnic dancing & singing in the square with formal entertainment platforms and tents.  Clubs from various surrounding villages have come to sing & dance in their village costumes.  Their outfits are always colorful and the Czech music is utterly delightful.  The coordination between all of the dancers clearly took significant practice.  We really enjoyed having drinks and watching the performances every day in the late afternoon from our deck.

The Church of St. James in Prague Old Town is quite interesting.  It is one of the most ornate churches that we have ever seen; but, that is not what makes it interesting.  Several days ago, our tour guide told us the story; however, the church was closed and we couldn’t view the key element of the story.  Today,  we got to view the evidence!  There is a very “gross” mumified forearm, which is more than 400 years old, hanging on a chain high above the right side of the entrance.  It belonged to the thief who tried one night to steal some jewels from the Madonna which was on the high alter of the church.   Apparently, the Madonna grabbed the thief’s hand and would not let go.  The next day, when the Minorites came to the Church, they could not separate the hand from the Madonna.  They had to cut the thief’s arm off,  only then the Madonna let the hand go.  The monks hung the arm to remember this event and as a warning for other thieves!

We walked to the National Technical Museum on Sunday located in a picturesque park a couple of miles from the Prague Castle area.  It has quite an array of exhibits displaying the mechanical capabilities of Home Appliances, Astronomy, Mining, Architecture and much more.  The transportation exhibit was the most interesting with numerous cars that had been produced in Czechoslovakia or were relevant to the country for another reason.  The evolution of the motorcycle and bicycles was also fascinating with numerous models showing the changes throughout the 19th & 20th centuries.

We continue to be impressed with Prague.  As you wander throughout the city, the architecture is always impressive, incredibly detailed and often very unique.  Prague is a very lively city and clearly a favorite among the younger generation.  We are surprised at the large number of bachelor/bachelorette parties always occurring here.  We constantly see groups of 6-10 young tourists consuming beer in the cafes and bars.  Quite simply, there are a large number of tourists in Prague.   And, the tour groups are almost overwhelming.   .   .   . lots of individuals holding up umbrellas or paddles leading a group of 30 lost souls through the narrow streets!

We are off to Munich & Salzburg for a week on Monday.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



On Friday,  we spent time exploring Prague on foot. There are many curious “attractions” here; and,  we set out to find all of them!  The famous John Lennon Wall is a memorial that is constantly being updated with new graffiti.  In 1988, young Czecks would write grievances on the wall.   As a result, the wall was a source of irritation for the communist regime and caused riots between the students and police.  This movement was called ironically “Lennonism”.   The wall represents love and peace with the original portrait of John Lennon buried under layers of paint.   With lots of visitors milling around, two artist were feverishly working when we stopped by to view the wall.

Prague is a city with an abundance of statues.   Many are historic dating back hundreds of years, others are more symbolic; however, some are so odd they leave you thinking.  .  .what on earth?   On the way to the John Lennon wall, we finally found the GIANT alien baby statues, at the Kampa Museum entrance.  They were massive and with their smudged mechanical-looking faces, they were incredibly creepy looking.   Similar “Babies”, also by “rogue” Czech sculptor David Cerny, are  plastered up and down the 700 foot high, very ugly and weird “Television Tower”.  It is the highest structure in the city.  From afar, the babies look very tiny crawling up the tower; but, once you get closer they are well over six feet high!

One statue we strolled by was a ghostly-looking cloaked man with a hollow inside.   It sits outside the Estates Concert Hall.  We were told that local legend says that if you take a picture with a flash, an image of a face appears on the photo despite there being no facial features on the statue.  (We found out about the legend way after we took a non-flash picture.)

The Frank Kafka statue is located in the Jewish Quarter of Prague.  The statue is based on a vivid description of a short story he wrote called “Description of a Struggle”.  Kafka wrote about a young man riding on another man’s shoulders through the streets of Prague – interesting.

The hanging statue of Sigmund Freud, on a small, but busy, street, was alarming when we first saw it.  It looks like a real person attempting suicide.  Unfortunately, “Siggy” isn’t seen by many since he is hanging at the top of a building.  Then, there was  the man riding an upside down horse in an obscure local mall.  Like the babies, it was created by David Cerny.   It appears that Cerny is the creator of most of the crazy statues throughout the city.  The sculpture represents a mocking reference to the more famous equestrian statue of Saint Wenceslas in Wenceslas Square where we are residing.

After our tasty vegetarian lunch (Lesley has turned David into a wild Vegetarian), we went to Petrin Hill to see the Broken Men.  It is a memorial to the victims of communism.  T here are 7 bronze figures descending stairs.  The statues actually appear more decayed, losing limbs and their bodies breaking open,  the further away you stand from them.   The statues symbolize how political prisoners were affected by Communism.  .  .  .another very sad memorial.

The Piss Statue, another David Cerny masterpiece, was only a few streets away next to the Kafka Museum.   It is the actual name of the statue!   Two men are facing each other and peeing.  We read that this statue is quite controversial since the bronze shape of the basin of the statue is the shape of the Czech Republic.  The men appear to be urinating into the country!!!!!  Very strange.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prague is absolutely awesome and very romantic.  It is a city that totally delights your senses and tickles your fancy.  Prague is absolutely awesome and very romantic.  It is a city that totally delights your senses and tickles your fancy.  On Thursday, we headed off to the Prague Palace for a tour.  It is the largest palace in the world but most of it today is comprised of government executive offices and some museums.  The crowds and tour groups were almost overwhelming – we would hate to be here in July & August.  The Palace Grounds have some interesting history.  Hundreds of years ago, the Protestants were protesting how they were treated by the Catholics.  This protest started a “tradition” that resulted in wars.  The Protestants would invade the palace & church and found that the Catholic officials were ignoring them so they threw them out the window to their death.  The first time the Protestants threw 7 Catholics out the window.  .  .  it started a 30 year war.  A couple of hundred years later, it all happened again with two Catholics thrown out the window. This time, it only started a 15 year war.

The Strahov Monastery next to the Palace was also an unlucky place.  If an invading army arrived and was unable to penetrate the palace, they burned down the monastery.  It was burned down 6-7 times over the years.  The Monastery also has a brewery which is the oldest monastery brewery in the country.  The reconstruction in early 2000 renewed a 600 year old tradition of beer-making at Strahov.  For years, the monks had the exclusive “license” to manufacture beer.  There is a special St. Norbert beer named after the founder of the order.

The large, impressive St. Vitas Church, in the middle of the Palace grounds, was started in the 1400’s but not finished until 1929.  The Gothic front of the church is impressive (and looks like it was hundreds of years old) but the surprising placement below the primary window of the 4 architects involved in the design of the church , dressed in 1929 suits, gives away the true age. The church also has a 15th century mural containing over 250,000 tiles that is still very impressive today.

One of the neighboring palaces was built by another wealthy European couple, the decorative outside of which took 29 years to finish.  Dark concrete is first placed on the wall and covered with a layer of lighter concrete.  The the lighter concrete is scraped away to create various designs.

We ended our day with a “Black Light” show.  These theater productions have become a specialty of Prague.  They have different performances all over the city.  The concept is that the actors perform various “mime” acts and the black light highlights various objects as they fly around the stage.  It was impressive but 1 1/2 hours was sufficient.  It was unfortunate that a large group of Chinese tourists were there in this small theater and on their phones constantly which was extremely distracting in the dark.


Everywhere you turn, it’s charm exudes relentlessly.  The details on the buildings are spectacular and the enchanting plazas are everywhere.   We think it is “the” city of architectural splendor.   The picture perfect Old Town, where we are staying in a lovely, totally remodeled apartment, has Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque churches, town halls and towers that make for wonderful photo opps.  Whether you visit Old Town Square at dawn, dusk, or any hour in between, you can’t fail to be impressed by its pristine beauty.  The city’s astonishing prettiness can make Prague resemble a toy town at times.   The Prague Castle, the most significant landmark and tourist attraction, sits across the Vltava River on its lofty hill.

The Czechs have done a wonderful job of embracing the West since the fall of communism in the 1989.   Prague has been able to maintain its character amongst the MacDonalds and H&M’s and the city really doesn’t appear to have the unfortunate side affects of the capital’s new Westernised identity.

Wednesday was our first full-day in Prague and, as usual, we took a walking tour.  We started out walking over to the beautiful Astronomical Clock in the magnificent Old Town Square.  Our guide said that it is the most overrated attraction in all of Prague.  Every hour, two doors open and the figures of the Apostles revolve around for less than 15 seconds.  Later in the day, we just happened to be walking in the square and couldn’t understand the huge crowd – it was because the clock was ready to open it’s doors!  It probably is overrated, nonetheless it was charming to watch.

Old Town Square is bursting with tourists, horse-drawn carriages and loads of Segway riders.  The center is a wonderful mixture of cobbled lanes, courtyards, cathedrals and countless churches.  The medley of stunning architectural styles represents Czech’s long history.  This afternoon, we did our favorite past time in Old Town Square-sitting at an outdoor cafe with drinks and people-watching.  Our tour guide mentioned that Czecks love their beer as it is usually cheaper than water.  She also said that we should pay no more than two dollars for a large beer (except if you are having drinks in touristy Old Town Square).  David is currently experiencing beer ecstasy!

Connecting Old Town and “Lesser Town” over the River Vltava is the 600 year old Charles Bridge.  It is a pedestrian bridge with a myriad of vendor stalls and musicians. The bridge is Prague’s most iconic landmark.  While it is quite striking with its 30 Baroque statues, most of these statues are quite blackened from age thus making them rather difficult to photograph.

One of our last stops was the Jewish Quarter in Prague, known as Josefov.  It is located between the Old Town Square and the Vltava River.  Today, the area is full of Prada, Gucci and other top designer shops.  The most heartrending, tragic visit today was to the Pinkas Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter.  There is a permanent exhibition that displays children’s drawing which were created by children deported to the Terezin ghetto between 1942 and 1944.  These drawing were made during art classes that were organized by a woman painter named Friedl Dicker-Brandeis.  The pictures the children drew depicted everyday ghetto life, holiday celebrations and the dreams that the imprisoned children had of returning home.  Terezin served as a way station to the concentration and death camps where the children finally ended up.  Another very emotional experience for us.


On Monday, our last day in Vienna, we decided to go the the Wachau Valley to cruise the Danube and visit the largest and most famous Benedictine Abbey in the country.   Melk, where the Abbey is located, is about 1 1/2 hours outside of Vienna.  The trip to the Wachau Valley took about an hour+ and then we boarded a river boat in the adorable town of Spitz.  The scenery along the Danube River was nice with a number of small towns, medieval villages, ruins and castles along the river; and it was also dotted with lots of grape orchards.   Along one section, there were a number of nude Austrian couples enjoying the river bank and the warm temperatures – it was a sight to behold!   It was a beautiful day but it did make us realize (as we watched at least 5 large river cruise ships on the Danube) that the slow pace of a “sleep-on-board” river cruise is not for us.  The scenery was lovely for our 1 1/2 hour cruise to Melk but could get quite monotonous if one was on board for a week to ten days on these very popular river cruises.

The monastery towers over the Danube and is located along one of Europe’s ancient trading routes in the Wachau Valley.  The Melk Abbey is a very large, stunning structure; an historic beauty and still houses about 20 monks and a secondary school for 900 children.  The abbey is over 900 years old and has been beautifully restored.  It is immense; however, only a small portion of the Abbey is available to tour due to the monastery and school.  We were very surprised to discover that at the Abbey’s peak, it only housed 100 monks.  The Abbey was a gift from one of the Hasburgs that ruled Austria for 650 years.  There are 8 libraries; however, we were only able to see two.  The main library was quite spectacular with its 16,000 ancient books, richly-decorated galleries and the ceiling covered with awe-inspiring frescoes packed with precious leather-bound volumes.   It clearly would be overwhelming to any book-lover.  Actually, the library is still in use where a few gaps in the bookshelves showed.  The church inside the Abbey is a masterpiece adorned with frescoes and ornamentation.  The church itself made the visit worthwhile for us. The tour was informative but the church was much more decorative than we expected from Benedictine monks.

The Benedictines’ lifestyle is ascetic.  Living in this splendor, no doubt, has to lift their spirits.  You can’t help pondering about the monks’ extraordinary housing, gorgeous domed towers, baroque sculptures, gold-plated wood carvings, fine marble columns, a library packed with precious leather-bound volumes and a spectacular view across the Danube!

Overall, we had a very pleasant time on a very warm day.  Tomorrow we are off to Prague for 6 days.


The streets of Vienna today are not quite as busy due to an important Presidential election today, Sunday.  It will indeed be interesting to find out if the “far right” gets elected due to the increasing frustrations from the Austrians with immigration issues.  The opposition is the “far left” green party.  The historical “moderate” party candidates were eliminated in the elections last month.

The first place we visited today was the Imperial Crypt at a Capuchin Church where there is still a cloister run by the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin.  The crypt is intended for members of Austria’s former Habsburg dynasty, who have been laid to rest in the crypt since 1633 (149 Habsburgs to be exact).   Today, the Capuchin friars continue their customary role as the guardians and caretakers of the crypt along with their other pastoral work in Vienna.   We were very surprised that the burial place of emperors is down under a church that is very modest, located on a side street with traffic, shops, restaurants and cafes surrounding it.  Walking past the church, one would never think that the Habsburgs were down under!

Once inside, the crypt (aka Capuchin Crypt) is certainly not grandiose.  As we passed among the sarcophagi, some were incredibly intricate works of art, some were fairly simple.  It was like walking through history.  The extraordinary details on these burial vessels in unreal.  It was well worth the visit to see the last resting place of the Imperial family.  One Habsburg member was interred as recently as 2011.

Our next stop after lunch, was a 2-mile trek to the Belvedere Palace.  The Belvedere Palace consists of two Baroque palaces, the upper and lower Belvedere, lovely gardens with decorative tiered fountains and cascades, Baroque sculptures and intricate wrought iron gates and the Palace Stables.  It also houses the Belvedere Art Museum.  The palace complex was built as a summer residence for Prince Eugene Savoy.  The prince never lived at this magnificent palace; but just used the palace to store and display art!  We thought this palace was far more impressive than the Schonbrunn Palace that we visited yesterday; and, we could easily move right in!  The palace has a wondeful display of artworks, especially Klimt, Gustav and Picasso.  Klimt’s famous painting “The Kiss’ is also on display here.   All in all, the Belvedere is a beautiful place with extraordinary architecture.   We think it is one of the “must-see” places in Vienna.


The KunstHaus is a museum in a former furniture factory in Vienna and was designed by the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser.  His philosophy, paintings and architecture clearly do not correspond to any of the other numerous “traditional” museums in Vienna.   The museum is fairly traditional on the outside with irregular elements of colorful glass, metal, bricks, wood plus enameled, checkerboard mosaics on the facade.  It is reminiscent of Antonio Gaudi’s house in Barcelona, Spain.  Down the street, there is the so-called “HundertwasserHaus” which is Vienna’s most original public housing complex.  Only the museum is open to the public.

Interestingly, in 1983, Hundertwasser started with a public housing unit complex and converted it into a bizarre looking colorful patchwork of materials and varied window shapes on the fascade.  Apparently, once it was completed several years later, it created quite a stir with the locals.  This complex is situated in a lovely, traditional neighborhood; so this building really shouts out at you.  Apparently, after completion, this oddity became an instant hit with the general public.

On display in the museum was a model of a local garbage incineration plant actually located in Spittelau (not far from downtown Vienna) where Hundertwasser changed the plant’s fascade into a psychedelic looking castle with bright colors and a tall tower crowned with a metallic sphere.

The museum is designed with wavy undulating floors, tree tenants growing out of the windows and a notable lack of straight lines.  Bright, glaring colors are used throughout the museum and foliage abounds.  An unevenly winding staircase leads to the main part of the museum on the upper floors.  To keep the rooms flooded with daylight, Hundertwasser, fond of sunlight, had a glass frontage built into the front of the building.  Both buildings do not follow the usual design standards and are an adventure into creative architecture similar to Gaudi’s quest.  We were anxious to compare Hundertwasser’s work with Gaudi’s talent but felt that Gaudi’s abilities were far superior.

After lunch at the delightful museum cafe, we did the 6-mile round trip trek to the  Schonbrunn Palace.  (Although most summer palaces seem to be in the middle of nowhere, this is not the case for the Schonbrunn).  It was the summer home of the Habsburgs, Austria’s royal family for 650 years.   If you have seen Versailles, the castle is not particularly impressive from the outside.   Many reviews of the interior of the palace stated that palace rooms were quite modestly decorated; so, we opted just to view the outside and gardens.

Quite simply, Vienna is spectacular.  We arrived in Vienna Thursday afternoon and wandered around the city in absolute awe.  The central district of Vienna is full of palaces and gorgeous, detailed buildings, most of which are now museums. Vienna is similar to Budapest as to architecture due to the fact that after WWI, Hungary & Austria were one.  Vienna has so many more magnificent buildings than Budapest that we have aptly named it “Budapest on Steroids”.


Vienna’s District 1 is the central district and and a large part of it is recognized by UNESCO.  As a result of the UNESCO label, there cannot really be any architectural changes to any buildings within this district.  The streets are spotless, most of the buildings are cleaner than similar buildings in Budapest and the shops are numerous.  Vienna clearly has more wealth; as, all of the very high-end retailers & designers have large stores here.  Prada, a few blocks from us, has the largest store we have ever seen.  All streets in District 1 are overflowing with fabulous small restaurants, antique stores, clothing stores, bakeries and a surprising number of flower shops.  Even Vienna’s City Hall is comparable to the nicest churches in exterior design.

We were reminded on our walking tour today that the Austrian empire once controlled the better part of Europe and only shrank back to today’s size after Austria lost WWI. (We often forget that the Austrian archduke’s (heir to the throne) assassination was who really started WWI).  It is interesting to us that in 2016, Vienna is celebrating the 100th anniversary of King Franz Joseph’s death.  We don’t understand “Why”?  Franz Joseph was the king that made the fateful decision that lead to WWI and the end of the Austrian empire.  How different the world would be if Franz Joseph had made some better decisions!

On Friday night, we had the great pleasure in going to a Vienna Boys’ Choir concert.  It has been a long-time wish for Lesley to see the Vienna Boys Choir in person.  This performance did not disappoint.  What a magnificent experience to listen to this choir in a small venue that only holds 400 people.  The boys operatic voices and solos brought tears to our eyes.  One cherub-looking boy, probably around 10 years old, played a spectacular solo violin piece with orchestra accompaniment and the choir.  Such incredible talent from someone so young.  That same boy sang a solo of Ave Maria.  It was unbelievably impressive.  The Vienna Boy’s Choir consists of 4 choirs of 25 boys each ranging in age from 10-14 (or until their voice changes).   The boys all live at the VBC boarding school and annually travel throughout the world.  It was so much fun hearing them and watching the interaction between some of the boys while they sang (“boys will be boys”).  We were so fortunate that Lesley happened to stumble across this regular Friday night concert on the internet; as, these concerts are not advertised anywhere in Vienna.  There are competing classical concerts every night in Vienna with the tickets being sold on the street by young men in period dress.  Clearly the sales commissions must be substantial because they are at least a dozen of them in each of the larger tourist gathering spots.

Vienna is the city of museums.  It is quite overwhelming to us.  The challenge is trying to decide where to spend our time in the next few days!

On Wednesday, we walked the Danube to a memorial, “Shoes on the Danube”.  This was a memorial to the Budapest Jews who were shot by The Nazis between 1944 & 1945.  The victims were lined up and shot into the Danube River.  They had to take their shoes off, since shoes were valuable belongings at the time.  This memorial was truly touching and very powerful .  .  .  especially the children’s shoes.  Once again, sometimes there are not words to describe this experience-this is another one of them.  The memorial really must be seen to appreciate the impact it has on you.


We then hiked up a long somewhat steep hill on the Buda side of the Danube to the Gellert Hill and Budapest’s “Statue of Liberty”.  The Liberty Statue can be seen from all parts of the city.  She was erected during the Communist era, commemorating the liberation from Nazi rule.  (Also, at the top of the hill is the Citadel, a fortress built by the Habsburgs after defeating Hungary’s War of Independence in 1849.)  Gellert Hill also became a strategic military position in the WW II when Soviet tanks bombarded the city from here.  The Liberty Statue was originally constructed by the Soviets with a sentence underneath the statue reading: ” To commemorate the liberating Soviet heroes erected by the grateful Hungarian people in 1945″.

One of our tour guides told us the story behind this imposing statue.  After the fall of communism in 1989, the Hungarians wanted to remove all symbols of the Soviet rule. (This included the large red star on the top of the Parliment dome which we saw on our Parliament tour).  Obviously, the Hungarians felt the need to remove the “Liberation” statue that overlooks all of Budapest.  The “lady” was immediately covered while the new government figured out what to do with it.  Since the Liberty Statue didn’t have any symbols of communism on it (red star, hammer & sickle, Russian soldier, etc.), the government removed the covering and “repurposed” the statue.  You certainly don’t want to put a good memorial to waste!  We viewed the new inscription carved at the base of the statue which read:  “those who sacrificed their lived for the independence, freedom and prosperity of Hungary”.  The previous Soviet inscription had been erased by the Hungarians.  The views from this memorial are dazzling.  It is clearly the best viewing point in the city.

On Thursday, we are off on a 3-hour train ride to Vienna.  Budapest is a beautiful, dynamic city; and we had a very enjoyable time viewing the many impressive historic sites.  We did not expect to see so many classic, gorgeous buildings within the city that still exist today.