Eastern Easter Adventures

This Easter holiday I took the train east from Frankfurt. The first two stops on the trip were with two of my colleagues, with Prague being first. It was a lovely city, however my visit was a bit overshadowed with getting sick. Here are some pictures of what we saw:

The Municipal House. Some of the insides were designed and decorated by Mucha.

The Old Town Square

You can see the Astronomical Clock on the left in the picture above. We lucked out in arriving once just as it was about to chime. It has windows that open and figurines that move. In the background is the Church of Our Lady of Tyn and the square had an Easter market on.

St. Nicholas

There are two St. Nicholas churches. One is on the Old Town Square, and the other (above) is on the other side of the river below the castle. This church was very beautiful, and was unexpectedly ornate inside. 

St. Vitus Cathedral

We spent one morning visiting the castle. This is St. Vitus Cathedral which is right inside the castle. We also visited St. George's church, one part of the actual castle and the Golden Lane. Golden Lane is an area of the castle where various people working or associated with the castle lived. Now they have a row of small houses preserved from different eras. It is very cute.

Taking the tram!

View from the tower above the Astronomical Clock

Wenceslas Square, with a view of the National Museum at the end (unfortunately closed)

We then took the train from Prague to Budapest. 7 hours later we arrived at Budapest-Keleti. We stayed in the same hostel that I stayed in last time with Dad. I was impressed with how well I remembered the way to the hostel from two years ago.

First walk around Budapest after a day on the train. Back to my favourite bridge!

We spent the next day taking the hop on hop off bus, as Ceilidh was having trouble with her feet. They drove us up above the city, and we could get off to take pictures. After that we walked up to the Castle District. From there we got great views over to Pest, and the Chain Bridge and Parliament.

Managed to get me, the Chain Bridge and Parliament in the photo!

As part of our bus ticket, we also got to take a boat tour up and down the river. We decided to do that in the evening, and watched the moon rise as we went. 

Parliament and the moon

Another picture of my favourite bridge! This time at night.

The next morning we went to the Gellert Baths, one of the thermal baths in Budapest. We spent a few hours going from warm pool to warm pool. The old baths are so ornate that it reminded me of an ancient Roman Baths. Especially the part with different temperature baths across from each other, and a cold bath nearby. It was too cold for me ... I only managed to dip one foot in!

The entrance to the baths

Another new sight for me, the Market Hall. I had a nice wander round. It was a nice mix of tourist souvenirs, places to eat Hungarian food, and the local grocery stalls.

Potentially a perfect picture, with the bridge, castle and blue sky at dusk. Stupid tree was in the way.

Next stop was on my own. I took the train to Bratislava and had about 5 hours there before continuing on to Vienna. Bratislava was an interesting experience. I am getting a bit too comfortable travelling, and I showed up with no map, no idea how to get to the old town, and no clue about what kind of transit system there was. I tried to go to the information office, but the lady there kindly told me "no visitor information." She did at least tell me "kiosk" when I asked where to find a map. After purchasing a map I went out the front of the station to find a tram or bus. I bought some kind of ticket (it was only 70 cents!!) and got on a bus I hoped went in the right direction. The terrible map by the ticket machine did indicate this. Unfortunately it did not show the stops, and I got off one too late. I ended up across the river, on a highway overpass, with no obvious way to go anywhere. I finally managed to go under the road and back up on the other side to get a bus back one stop. After that my wanderings around the old town were fairly boring.

Arrival in Bratislava

The bridge that I ended up on the wrong side of

A beautiful church - The Blue Church. I was only able to peek inside the window, but the inside looked pretty blue too.

After a thorough wander of the old town I made my way (early) back to the train station, and on to Vienna to visit Claire, Felix and Theo. They have just moved into a brand new apartment in Seestadt. 

The Naschmarkt

My first day visiting we walked through the forest near them and went for lunch at a typical Austrian place. The next day Claire and I went into Vienna with Theo to go to "Babykino", an early movie for parents to bring their babies too. After we walked around Vienna to Mariahilferstrasse, the Naschmarkt and finally over to Belvedere. The Naschmarkt was one long outdoor market with lots of food stalls. Many had dried fruit candy, and Turkish delight - definitely had to get some of that!

Me and Theo :) I had such a lovely time playing with him.

After that it was back to Frankfurt, and a last few days of holiday before heading back to school.