So I'll try to break my trip down into digestable chunks for all you curious people.
The first 4 days we spent in Budapest, Hungary where my grandfather was born and immigrated from when he was eighteen fleeing from the Nazis. The city was more beautiful than I expected. It's split in half by the Danube river, with many beautiful old bridges connecting the hilly Buda side with the metropolis of Pest. First couple days we spent in Pest, where we visited the first recreational park ever in the whole world, the lavish Turkish baths, Hero Square with its huge statues of gladiators, the Synagogue where my grandfather used to attend and my great-grandfather was the cantor, the Jewish ghetto were they lived, and finally the Opera house. The Opera house was spectacular, all the boxes in the auditorium were leafed with gold, the ceiling was muraled with Greek gods and naked babies, and the chandelier was spectacular. My great-grandfather was the tenor here as well, and director of the Opera House for 40 years. While we were touring the lavish rooms, there were lots of busts and words about the other directors who didn't serve nearly as long, but none on my great-grandfather. We thinks it's because he's Jewish, and Hungary is still very anit-Semitic. The people there, according to our native friend Adri, often try to forget about the horrors done there and the Jews who were killed. Seeing the ghettos and visiting the cemetery in the courtyard of the synagogue definitely made it real for me. Below are pictures of the interior of the Opera House, the courtyard cemetery of the Synagogue, Heroes Square, and the Turkish Baths, respectively.
The last few days we toured Buda, which is all hilly and at the top is Castle Hill. It's called that because it is literally full of Medieval castles and beautiful views of the city. But the most beautiful thing on Castle Hill was the Matthias Church with its grand spires and colorful tiles that patterned the roof. Also, the little cobble-stoned streets and painted buildings were very reminiscent of downtown Disney. We also toured the Hospital in the Rock, which was made from underground caves and used during World War II. Below are pictures of the palace on Castle Hill in the background and the Chain Bridge in foreground, a street in Castle Hill, the Matthias Church, and a room in the Hospital in the Rock.
Next we went to Vienna, which is a beautiful city, but a few bad experiences made me not like it as much. First on the train ride there, when we got to our stop, my sister got off but my parents and I didn't get off in time (it goes quick) and the doors closed and Sarah was left on the platform and we went on to the next stop on the other side of Vienna. So we had to take the metro (subway) to the other train station, search for Sarah (no such luck), then went to the hotel where she was sitting waiting. She'd gotten herself a cab, checked us all in, and gotten herself a drink. Good thing she knew what she was doing, at least. Also, my mom left her camera with the pictures from our trip and a few other memory cards of graduations, etc. on the train. That was a bummer. Also on our way home my sister left her iPhone in a restroom in the airport in Vienna and as we were boarding the plane my sister and father were turned away because there passports didn't match up with the boarding pass, so they had to go re-print them last minute, which was stressful. Shaws just do not belong in that city. So anyway, we spent two days there. The first day we went to Vienna's Opera House and saw the first 70 minutes of the opera Tristan and Isodale. The orchestra was beautiful, but I thought the rest was boring and we were in standing room so we weren't going to see the whole five hours. The next day we took a bus tour that rode us all around and told us about the history. We saw a really beautiful building designed by an architect who was the first ecologist, and designed his buildings in such a way to resemble nature, so it had all soft corners and none of it was leveled and instead it rolled with the natural Earth. I think that was the coolest thing I saw in Vienna. We also went on the world's first ferris wheel which provided another great view, and went to St. Stephen's Cathedral. Another cool thing about Vienna I didn't know before we got there is that it is basically the music capital of the world. Mozart and Beethoven were from there, and they had a lovely rose garden and park with their statues in it. Below are the ferris wheel, the cool building with trees and plants on the roof by the ecologist, St. Stephen's Cathedral, and the rose garden and statue in Vienna.
Next we took a train to Florence where we stayed in a cozy little apartment for a week. The building was built in the 12th century, which is pretty crazy that it didn't crumble beneath our feet. Our apartment was two blocks from the river and the Ponte Vecchio which is a beautiful bridge with apartments and shops built into it. Our first full day in Florence we spent in Siena, which was just a short bus ride away. There we walked around a bit and went into their Duomo Church (Duomo means Dome). We also just so happened to be there during this huge festival in prepartion for these horse races which are a big deal there, like the Super Bowl. There were huge groups of men marching around with the colors and flags of their districts, singing and chanting loudly and parading around through the tiny streets. The next few days we spent in Florence, visited the Duomo church there which was even more spectacular than the one in Siena. But most of the time we spent in museums full of famous art by people I've heard of, but didn't know much about. I was really kicking myself in the butt for not taking Art History last year. The most spectacular one though I knew all about already, and that was Michaelangelo's "David", which was huge and perfect and way better in person. We also saw the Museo Galileo which was filled with his old machines, telescopes, and instruments. In a glass case was also Galileo's thumb and two fingers. Bizarre but very cool. We also toured a few palaces and ate lots of pasta and gelato. Below are pictures of the Ponte Vecchio, a view of Florence with the Duomo, and Michaelangelo's "Pieta", which I will talk about more.
Then on Wednesday we took a day trip to Rome via train. Trying to do all of Rome in a day was a huge task, but we pretty much saw everything we wanted to see thanks to Sarah who figured out the metro system, so we got to all the sites very quickly. First we went to the Vatican, walked around St. Peter's Square where in the center was an obalisk from 37 A.D. Everything there was so old, I couldn't really fathom it. We then walked around the Vatican Museum which was full of old Byzantine art and some carvings from the Middle Ages. The museum then led into the Sistine Chapel, which is definitely indescribable. The only part I recognized was the God touching man, which was amazing to see in person, but that was only a tiny part of the whole mural. We then snuck out the side door, blending in with a tour group, and were led right into St.Peter's Basilica, which was huge. It was made of colorful marble, pinks, greens, blacks. Inside the church was Michealangelo's "Pieta", which is a very famous marble statue of Mary holding Jesus after he died. The alter was ornate, and just below the alter was where St.Peter, the apostle, the first pope, was buried. On the left of that was the site where he was crucified (fun fact, he was crucified upside down because he didn't want to be like Jesus, out of respect). Also, on the right side of the church, was the much beloved Pope John XXIII who led Vatican Council II and made lots of reforms in the church, in a glass casket, completely in tact. Not decomposed at all, no preservatives, completely organic. He's being canonized currently, one of the red flags that someone should be a saint is that their body is incorrupted. Pretty cool to see with my own eyes. We then went below the church into the crypts were most of the other popes, including St.Peter, are buried. Below are pictures of St.Peter's Square with the Obalisk, the interior of St. Peter's Basilica, Pope John XXIII in his glass casket, and St.Peter's tomb below the altar.
We then left the Vatican and went to the Trevi fountain, which was just as grand as the Lizzie McGuire Movie depicted. It was in the middle the city, seemed to pop out of no where, and it takes up the whole side of a building. So of course, I made a wish, and threw a coin in over my shoulder. Just like in the movies. Then we went to the Colosseum, which was awe inspiring, again I couldn't believe I was really there and it was really that old and gladiators used to roam those halls. We also walked around some other Roman ruins, and saw this huge memorial to some guy whose name I can't remember. It was a whole building with statues and the tomb of the Unknown soldier. Looked like the friggin' White House. It was a long day, lots of walking, but worth it. Below is the fountain, and the memorial.
We then spent one last day lounging in Florence before we went home. We went to the top of this mountain (by bus, we weren't about to walk that thing) which had a beautiful view of the city. Then we went back to the apartment, arose at 3 a.m. and embarked on our 24 hour trip home. We had a few layovers, overall not too bad. But the last flight was terrible, lots of turbulance, crying babies, and I was dealing with terrible nausea. Barely made it off the plane, plopped into bed at home and stayed up for another 3 hours, exhausted, waiting for sleep to free me from the terrible, soon to be discovered, food poisoning. I didn't even get to enjoy being home until I woke up this morning, stomach pain free, thank God.
It was an overall wonderful trip. But I definitely missed my homies, and not to mention my home. I'm glad to be back.
Much love to you all
~Kat
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