The culture of Vienna

Our next stop after Budapest was the lovely cultural capital city of Vienna, Austria. Vienna for many years has been known for it's art and architecture. Andy and I took a local street bike tour around the tourist aspect of the city visiting many landmarks and famous monuments of Mozart and Strausse. During one day we spent a whole day and visited the Museum of Technology which was the home of well known inventions and gadgets throughout history. The coolest gadget that should be noted here was the hearing aid collection showing from previous decades. There was one hearing aid that I should have gotten was the one that was located in a suitcase and the cables ran outside of the box to the ears. Can anyone picture me with this?

Click here to view the Passionate Traveler's photos from the city of Vienna...

For those who don't know much about the city of Vienna, here is a description from Wikipedia:

Art and culture have a long tradition in Vienna, including theatre, opera, classical music and fine arts. The Burgtheater is considered one of the best theatres in the German-speaking world alongside its branch, the Akademietheater. The Volkstheater Wien and the Theater in der Josefstadt also enjoy good reputations. There is also a multitude of smaller theatres, in many cases devoted to less mainstream forms of performing arts, such as modern, experimental plays or cabaret.

Vienna is also home to a number of opera houses, including the Staatsoper and the Volksoper, the latter being devoted to the typical Viennese operetta. Classical concerts are performed at well known venues such as the Wiener Musikverein, home of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Wiener Konzerthaus. Many concert venues offer concerts aimed at tourists, featuring popular highlights of Viennese music (particularly the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johann Strauss).

In recent years, the Theater an der Wien has become widely known for hosting premieres of musicals, although it has recently devoted itself to the opera again. The most successful musical by far was "Elisabeth", which was later translated into several other languages and performed all over the world. The Haus der Musik ("house of music") opened in 2000.

Many Roman Catholic churches in central Vienna also feature performances of religious or other music, including masses sung with classical music and organ.

A variety of architectural styles can be found in Vienna, such as the Romanesque Ruprechtskirche and the Baroque Karlskirche. Styles range from classicist buildings to modern architecture. Art Nouveau left many architectural traces in Vienna. The Secession, Karlsplatz Stadtbahn Station, and the Kirche am Steinhof by Otto Wagner rank among the best known examples of Art Nouveau in the world.

The Hundertwasserhaus by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, designed to counter the clinical look of modern architecture, is one of Vienna's most popular tourist attractions. Another example of unique architecture is the Wotrubakirche by sculptor Fritz Wotruba.

In the 1990s, a number of quarters were adapted and extensive building projects were implemented in the areas around Donaustadt (north of the Danube) and Wienerberg (in southern Vienna). The 202 m-high Millennium Tower located at Handelskai is the highest building in Vienna[citation needed]. In recent years, Vienna has seen numerous architecture projects completed which combine modern architectural elements with old buildings, such as the remodelling and revitalisation of the old Gasometer in 2001.

Most buildings in Vienna are relatively low; there are currently (early 2006) around 100 buildings higher than 40 m. The number of high-rise buildings is kept low by building legislation aimed at preserving green areas and districts designated as world cultural heritage. Strong rules apply to the planning, authorisation and construction of high-rise buildings. Consequently, much of the inner city is a high-rise free zone.

Source: Wikipedia

Communist Terrors

One of the reasons why Andy and I choose to see Budapest was that the city was under Soviet Communist occupation for numerous years before it broke down into today's democratic rule. As both of us have been born, raised and lived in a democratic country, it was important and carious for us to see the other side of the political spectrum.

There were two famous places within the town that both domestic people and international tourist can visit to remind themselves the horrors and terrors that the Soviet regime did for many years.

House of Terror is a museum located at Andrassy ut 60 in Budapest, Hungary. It contains exhibits related to the two dictatorial regimes in 20th century Hungary, fascism and communism. It is also a memorial to the victims of these regimes, including those detained, interrogated, tortured or even killed in the building.

With regard to communism and fascism, the exhibition contains material on the nation's relationships to Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. It also contains exhibits related to Hungarian organisations such as the fascist Arrow Cross Party and the communist ÁVH (which is similar to the KGB in the Soviet Union). Part of the exhibition takes visitors to the basement, where they can see examples of the cells that the ÁVH used to break the will of their prisoners.

Much of the information and the exhibits is in Hungarian, although each room has an extensive information sheet in both English and Hungarian. Audio guides in English and German are also available.

The background music to the exhibition was composed by Ákos Kovács. The scoring includes the work of a string orchestra, special stereophonic mixes, and sound effects.

Source: Wikipedia

The last place that we went to was the Lenin Statue park which was located just outside of the City (go figure) and hosted numerous figures & Communist monuments dating back to the Lenin era. Click here to view the Passionate Traveler's photos at the statue park...

Relaxing in Budapest

Taking the overnight train from Praha to Budapest was fairly quick as Andy and myself were quite tired from the friction and travel tension we experienced on the last day in Czech Republik. Arriving at 8:00 am at the main central station was the perfect time as we were caught in the lively morning traffic of locals heading into work and watching them buy their fresh pastry and coffee on the way. Surprisenly, the metro system in this old communist occupied Budapest was quite efficient and was easy to follow all the way to the hostel.

We stayed at the Green Bridge hostel (ja... next to a Green Bridge!) which was one of the only hostels that we stayed at did not use bunk beds. This certainly gave the perception that we were sleeping and socializing in such high ceiling rooms.

This was the only place on my European circuit that we got a chance to watch new DVD movies on such comfortable pillowed couches with butter popcorn and drank the local brewed beer. There was about 7-8 guys from different countries and we all watched Sin City and the first movie of the Matrix series. It was an awesome kick ass night as it was the only "guys night" we both participated in and that any women who was there or tried to talk with us got shut out very fast!!! It was quite hilarious because half way through the movie, a Canadian woman from Toronto wanted to hang out and drink with one of the guys from England at the end of the couch. She started talking "What sup, how was your day today?" and immediately, the guy grabbed the remote control from the table, pressed "mute" and told the girl to "shut up" and said to her that this is a guy's night only "so bugger off"!!

After she left the room, all of us laugh so hard and continued to watch the gruesome and stomach twisting Sin City which most of us never seen before.

The next day, we did a little walking tour and visited Europe's biggest Jewish Synagogue which was a few minutes away from the hostel. It was a nice building with lots of artifacts and history but the main chamber hall was the most breathtaking spiritual and religious Jewish place I ever been in. It was also my first time wearing the Jewish Yamuka (Spelling?) as it was part of the traditions for all men who are entering the Synagogue.

Other activities such as a rented bike tour (with a fellow Canadian from London, Ontario who is currently studying for his Master's in Philosophy) and visited many landmarks throughout the city. One cool unexpected event was watching a local river moving company moving a frigging huge concrete industrial component up the Danube river. The whole process took 4 tugboats and a crew of more than 100 workers to move this large part through the center of Budapest. During one hot afternoon, the three of us found a cool and refreshing water park in which we just relaxed, swim and drank the local beer until all of us turned into baked red Canadian potatoes.

Click here to view the Passionate Traveler's Photos from the city of Budapest...