2 weeks "sola" visiting Germany, Vienna, and Budapest

2 weeks traveling SOLA (July 31-Aug 13^th)

Drew had made the choice to stay in Spain for the rest of our time in Europe; we only had 6 weeks left.  He was in the groove to surf and study Spanish, while I had restless feet and decided to travel on my own for 2 weeks.  Luckily Drew understands my wanderlust and is totally supportive. 

First stop Germany…

Trier, Germany

Trier, Germany

I paid a visit to my friends Diana and Helmut in the German Eiffel, the hilly volcanic part of Germany that few Americans know.  They took me to Luxembourg for a visit to the scenic medieval town of Vianden, crowned with a castle.  This area is really popular with the English and Dutch for doing motorcycle road trips.  They love the winding roads and scenic landscape.  Two English guys behind us in line for the chairlift up to the castle had an animated discussion about rugby vs football, instigated by Helmut…“did you know that rugby players have 2 less letters in their alphabet?” I and Q…and on it went. 

archeology museum Trier Germany

More fun…we paid a visit to the fabulous archeology museum in Trier that I had been begging Diana to take me to.  Trier, first a Celtic settlement, then a Roman city (and the seat of a Holy Roman Emperor) has a fascinating history. The museum has an incredible Roman exhibit.  In 1993 construction workers dug up 40 kilos of gold Roman coins; there must be so much still undiscovered!

Other highlights:  A sunset swim in a volcanic lake, gelato in historic and totally adorable Bernkastle, and of course, a tractor ride through the forest and fields…I loved it all! 

Diana and me

Eventually Diana delivered me to the Saarland/ Rhineland region, only a few miles from the borders of France and Luxembourg, to visit my 3^rd cousins, Peter and Martina who I met for the first time last December.  Diana and I “discovered” them in 2013 while doing genealogy research literally by bumping into a postman and knocking on doors…one contact leading to another.  Now they are both on board helping expand the connections, and fill in the blanks.  Together we have made great progress.  I was surprised to find that Martina lives on the El Camino de Santiago…along the walk of St. James.  I didn’t even know there was a route in Germany.  Of course the northern route passes through San Sebastian…the El Camino seems to be a recurring theme in my life this year. 

Saarburg, Germany

The landscape in this region is beautiful and would probably look fairly unchanged in the last few centuries if not for the nuclear power plant on the French side of the border, and the many wind turbines punctuating the fields these days. 

Kirf, Germany

Peter and I went to the site of a Roman Villa in Nennig; where there is a huge fabulously preserved Roman Mosaic.  We also visited the Mabilon bell factory, that functioned for almost 250 years in Saarburg from 1770-2002…it has been left in sort of a state of suspended animation, unchanged since the last workman turned of the lights, and closed the door behind him.

Misty morning in Kirf

hilltops showing through mist

Martina found a book in her collection that indicated that kirf, the village of our mutual great great grandfather, was no longer on the original site.  The original settlement was built by the Romans (a few kilometers away), and was abandoned in the 1600’s when the plague, which was spreading like wildfire across Europe, hit the village.  This was not the only time the village was abandoned.  Peter’s father Edmund told me that during the war in 1939 the Nazis evacuated the villagers and sent everyone to a camp in the north…well, almost everyone.  At one time there were 12 Jewish families living in Kirf.  There was a Catholic church and a Jewish synagogue and all got on well together.  One Jewish family sold everything and immigrated to America in 1937…he saw what was coming.  The other 11 families were also evacuated in 1939 with the rest of the town, but were sent to a different camp, and were never heard from again. 
Sleepy little Kirf, I left it shrowded in a veil of early morning mist, as I headed to the Trier train station with Franz Josef, Martina’s awesome husband. He took me to a sunny hilltop, above the mist…it was an incredible parting site to see the highest hilly peaks rising like islands out of the white mist that filled the valley.

Vianden Luxembo

cows and turbines

Wind turbines and cows, Rhineland

Bernkastle, Germany

Trier, Germany 

Bell museum Saarburg, Germany

Vianden, Luxembourg

Second Stop Vienna…

Hapsburg Palace, Vienna

Vienna beach bars

Vienna for me was about catching up with old friends, and absorbing a little art and architecture in this incredibly beautiful city, once the powerful seat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  One train, one plane, and one more train/metro ride later I was in downtown Vienna getting my museum fix at the Kunsthistorisches Museum.  Later that evening my pal Peter picked me up at the train station in his village.  It was an almost tropical balmy night and we walked and talked non-stop as we made our way through the forest and vineyards behind his house with Noua, his giant Rhodesian Ridgeback.

Vienna

The next day back in Vienna, I met my lovely friend Geraldine at the United Nations Center for lunch for a nice little catch up session. The cafeterias food selection was as international as the people eating it.  I know both Peter and Geraldine from my trip to East Timor in 2006/7 when they were both on UN missions posts at a precarious post war period in the newly formed country.

Vienna

Later that day Peter and I rendezvoused in the city center and he gave me a little tour…and pointed out places to see and be seen in Vienna (so “not my world”). The channel of the Danube that runs through town is lined with bold, colorful, graffiti and funky little bars with “giant sand boxes,” complete with beach chairs (more “my world”).  He took me to his favorite gelato place where I had my first ever scoop of poppy seed gelato, before heading off to pick up Keanu, his incredibly adorable “almost 5 year old” son.

But our fun was just beginning…did I mention it was 40C in the shade in Vienna (104 F), so Peter planned a day trip to a little sand island on the 

Me, Peter and Keanu

Geraldine and me, UN Vienna

Danube near the village of Greifenstein.  We had an air mattress to transport Keanu, and our few belongings we wanted to keep dry.  Noua joined us as we swam to the island. The tiny island was enjoyed by swimmers (like us), and boaters…it was pristine.  No litter, and no trash cans.  People knew the right thing to do, and did the right thing (cleaned up after themselves) without needing to be policed.  We left our duffle with clothing, shoes etc on the shore; Peter said, “no one will touch it in Austria.”  We had plans to swim back to shore and go to a funky restaurant that we could see from the island, called the African Queen.  It was a floating restaurant attached to the shore by a gangplank.  It was so kitchy-cool; every square inch was decorated with large figures of gorillas, elephants, colorful birds, tiki torches etc.  I lamented that it was a shame we hadn’t planned to camp…it was another perfect balmy starry night.  Peter got a twinkle in his eye. “Really, you want to? It means swimming back in the dark after dinner and we don’t have proper camping gear.”  I was 100% on board…after dinner we swam back in the dark.  Keanu never complained.  Peter (aka MacGyver) rigged the sun-shelter with an old sheet, and we shared a thin blanket scrounged from his van (I’m pretty sure it was Noua’s dog blanket, but I chose not to ask!).  While the boys slept I stayed up identifying constellations and listening to the rhythm and blues music being played by a band on shore upstream.  Was I really in Austria?  This was not what I had imagined.  Pink light and bird songs enticed me out of the shelter at dawn the next morning.  After more swimming, and hours of playing on the beach (including a rambunctious game of tag with ever changing rules dictated by Keanu) we made our way back to Vienna. 

In the afternoon Peter dropped me at the train station…next stop Budapest!

Third stop Budapest…

Parliament building, Budapest

Parliament at might

I made myself comfortable sitting cross-legged, leaning against the concrete wall of the platform in the Vienna train station, where I was to catch my now very late train to Budapest.  Occasional indecipherable announcements were blared over the loud speaker in German and English.  Oliver, a young Austrian guy sitting next to me who was meeting his girlfriend in Budapest, took me under his wing.  Using an app on his phone, he informed me as to what was going on with the train and where; it was now 2 hours late…now cancelled…now putting together 2 trains…etc.  When it finally came, I followed him into a train car.  The whole train was packed to the gills.  He told me it was the weekend of the Sziget Music Festival in Budapest, held on an island in the Danube.  It is one of the biggest music festivals in Europe.  Many people boarded the train with full backpacks strapped with camping gear.  Budapest is known in general as a cheap place to party; I was told that many English people come to celebrate bachelor parties in Budapest because even with flights and hotel, it’s cheaper than partying in London.  Oliver and I parked ourselves, and our luggage in the space between 2 train cars with 2 French fem

Hero Square, Budapest

ale backpackers.  Each time the door opened we had to squoosh to the side to allow people to pass between cars.  The ticket agents did not seem to mind at all, and would smile reassuringly as they passed.  I have to admit, it was all good fun for me.  I grabbed a sandwich in the café car for myself, and a beer for Oliver.  For the first time, I was wishing I were 21 instead of 51!!! 

Parliament Square, Budapest

View of Parliament building from Buda side of Danube

Just another relaxing day in the Park, Budapest

I arrived at 8pm and leisurely walked a km to my AirBnB apt.  My host, Karcsi, met me, showed me the ropes, gave me excellent tips…all I wanted to do was sprawl out on the bed and read in complete peace.  I had not yet gone to a cash machine.  I was no longer in the Eurozone.  300Huff=1euro. And it just didn’t seem worth the effort to pursue dinner.  Somehow I managed to forget about food till supper the next day when I met up with Katja and Gabor, who live in Budapest.  Drew and I met them on our trip in January to Sorrento, Italy.  They were so enthusiastic about their hometown I vowed to visit.  They insisted on buying my dinner despite my protests, gave me a mini-walking tour of the center, and some good tips.  The best nightlife is found in the old Jewish quarter on the Pest side of Budapest.  It is thick with trendy ruin-pubs, established in the “gaps” between buildings.  I was immediately in love with Budapest.  It has the gorgeous architecture and history of Vienna, with more of an edgy eclectic artsy feel.  As an English-speaking visitor, Budapest is totally a breeze; most people speak English, and often signage is in English.  The Hungarian language is so unique and difficult that no locals seem to expect anyone else to speak it.  It has 42 letters, with vowels that are nearly impossible for a native English speaker to discern from each other, much less pronounce.

synogogue, Budapest

I did a free walking tour the next day, which was totally awesome.  These are becoming trendy in Europe (maybe elsewhere?).  This was a 3 hour tour; guides get all their pay through tips.  Our guide was just great.  After the tour I did the usual “touristy things”, all of which I enjoyed and would recommend.  I visited St. Matthias Cathedral in the Fisherman’s Bastian. I toured the “Hospital in the Rock”, once a WWII hospital, and later a nuclear bomb shelter in Soviet times.  It was built by modifying a natural cave system. Budapest is known for its vast cave networks, and healthy mineral springs and spas.  

A trip to the Budapest museum gave me the history lesson I was looking for.  Budapest was a Celtic settlement, before the Romans arrived.  It seemed to have major players (like Atilla the Hun and Charlemagne) and other Germanic and Slavic tribes fighting for a foothold from the time of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, around 400AD till about 900AD when it ultimately became ruled by the Maygar tribes (the original Hungarians).  In 1000AD King Stephen (St. Stephen) Christianized it, and even changed the alphabet to a Latin alphabet.  The kingdom of Hungary became officially part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire as part of an agreement with the Hapsburg Emperor Francis Joseph in 1867.  As a result of its role in WWI Hungary lost 2/3 of its land, and 50% of its population.  The Hapsburgs were stripped of all power and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was no more.  Hungary’s role in WWII is really complicated…the government ultimately sided with the Nazi’s and lost.  It became part of the Soviet block 1949-1989.  In 1956 there was a student uprising that escalated into a national movement for democracy (sound familiar?) and independence from the soviet block.  It failed.  It was not until the end of the Soviet Union that Hungary transitioned to democratic rule.

St. Matthias (per locals)

A spontaneous decision that ended up being the perfect way to end a perfect day was attending a concert in the awe inspiring St. Stephen’s Basilica.  There are concerts all over town on any given night in Budapest, just like Vienna, so it’s easy to just wing it without planning ahead. 

My last day was spent on the Pest side of town.  I visited Hero’s square and the gorgeous adjacent city park, the stunning Parliament Building, and the Terror museum, which is a powerful high tech museum that covers the period from WWII thru the time under heavy-handed communist rule.  It is both enlightening and sobering.  I’m glad I went. It is housed in the building once used as a prison, torture/interrogation chamber by the Hungarian equivalent of the KGB.

New Argentinian friends

I had a “hankering” for Thai food that night…something I have not been able to find in San Sebastian (Spain).  I had eyed a restaurant earlier in the day that I went back to for dinner.  As I waited for my food I overheard the maître di having difficulty communicating with an older Spanish speaking couple, so jumped in to help interpret.  In the end they sat next to me, and I helped them choose what to order (they were so cute…86 and 81yo, from Argentina having Thai food for the first time ever).  We discovered we would be on the same flight the next day from Budapest to Madrid!  Her family’s roots were in northern Spain.  This coincidence was doubled when I boarded the plane, only to find that we were randomly seated next to each other! 

San Sebastian, "Big Week" Fiesta

Drew surprised me late that evening by being there to greet me when I finally arrived at the airport in Hondarribia.  Together we took the bus back to San Sebastian, arriving just in time for the fireworks competition that goes on during San Sebastian’s famous “Big Week”.  We sat at an outdoor café, enjoying the spectacle.  It was the perfect ending to my perfect little adventure.

Central Market, Budapest