Goodbye

It's time to put an end to things when they become a duty instead of a pleasure. Of course you can't do that to most things in life (laundry comes to mind), but I am putting an end to this blog. Hasta la bye-bye to those few who have actually viewed it.

Budapest - Vacation's End

This is a city street in Budapest - a typical city street, you might think, with traffic, 24-hour supermarket, people, colorful signs.

Well, maybe not so typical - a few blocks over. This is Heroes Square, constructed in 1896, to mark the millenium of the Hungarian conquest of the area. And I think this is the Parliament Building, but these pictures were taken from the coach and the guide was a little difficult to understand. So many of these elegant buildings were damaged, whether from warfare or simple neglect (or both). We noticed bullet holes in many walls - you may be able to see one or two in this photo.The Hungarian language is amazingly complex - I think there are 42 different characters, and you can see most of them in this sign. The Danube flows between Buda (on the hill) and Pest (the flat side). Our boat is docked near the bridge connecting the two parts of the city, with Castle Hill on the far side.

One of the oldest streets in Buda. Castle Hill has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Here's part of the castle, with a statue of St. Stephen.

The ubiquitous church, undergoing repair. We were not allowed to go inside.

The beautiful tiled roof of St. Matthais Church.

Castle Hill at night. I'm quite proud of this photo.

The next day we flew home - a long tiring trip ending a wonderful vacation.

I'm going on another trip next week - this one to the West Coast to visit family (that would be D2, GD5, S1, GD1 and in-laws), and also do a 5-day program on the Queen Mary, which is docked in Long Beach. I'm not sure when the next posting on this blog will be. I hope you'll check back once in a while.

Traveling Through Hungary

Actually, this first picture isn't Hungary - it's Slovakia. We passed by this town around midnight, the only bit of Slovakia on the Danube, so I had to take a photo, even though it didn't come out at all. The boat was moving, and it was dark, so all I got was a blur of lights. Kind of pretty, though.

The next day, we took a coach trip to a farm about 20 miles from Budapest, and I snapped some pictures through the window, mostly fields and trees. This is a small Hungarian farm. And this is a street corner in a small town.

At the farm, we had a ride in a cart through the countryside - this is a small shrine by the side of the dirt road. This is a breed of Hungarian sheep. They always clump together tightly like this - it was funny to see them walk around their small corral. I never got to take a picture of a face.

And these are long-horn Hungarian cattle.

Lunch was in the restaurant at the farm (which was really just set up for tourists, but interesting nonetheless). We were treated to a concert of Hungarian melodies.

And folk dancing too.

The horse show was amazing - these young men and their horses worked as a team. The grand finale is below - he is riding four horses. He also did five at once, but I couldn't get a picture.

Vienna, My City of Dreams

The title of this blog is the title of a song I used to play on the piano when I was about 10 years old. I found myself humming it as we rode in the coach down the famous Ringstrasse in Vienna, looking at the beautiful buildings and elegant shops. (Much of Vienna was like every other large city, with its share of graffiti and clutter).
This is the renowned Vienna Opera House - the main entrance. It is so large it covered nearly a city block. I had to take a picture of the stage door entrance!

And this sight fascinated me - the men are pushing a huge truck (scenery, maybe?) into one of the back entrances of the Opera House.

And of course, here's the cathedral, covered with scaffolding as usual. This one was different, though. Can you see on the right where the scaffolding is covered with a tarpaulin with a graphic of what the restored steeple will look like?

Here's the interior of the cathedral, with the elaborate pulpit on the left, and most of our group on the right.

This is a different church - notice the wonderful tiled roof with the Austrian eagles.

This fountain pretty much captures the essence of old Vienna.

But Vienna is modern as well. This photo contrasts the old and the new.

This is one of the elegant hotels on the Ringstrasse - the Imperial. No, we didn't stay there.

We were so close to some of the famous Lipizzaner horses that we could have touched them.
They were being taken out from their stables for exercise and practice.

This is the house where Richard Strauss lived and wrote his beautiful waltzes.

And this is where Hubster and I had lunch, dining under the umbrellas at the Cafe Mozart. Orson Welles' film "The Third Man" was filmed in Vienna - about a month after we got home, I happened to discover a vintage sheet music of the "Cafe Mozart Waltz", which was played in the movie and had photos of the stars on the cover. A very exciting find!

And here's another outdoor eating spot, not quite as elegant as the Cafe Mozart, but great if you're homesick. I had to take this photo for D2 Diane, who can't go a day with a visit to Starbucks. Now she knows she can get her fix in Vienna. And I got my casino fix here. The single room was dark and gloomy, with only two poker machines, in German of course. But I won 10 euros! I think there was another back room, but I didn't dare go in there.

So that was Vienna, not exactly the "city of dreams" of days gone by, but there were remnants of glory if you knew where to look.

Memories but no Pictures

I just bought a book online, a collection of essays by Linda Ligon. I bought it partially for the title "This is How I Go When I Go Like This", but mostly because I remember her most fondly from my weaving days. I had a lovely loom and was crazy-happy about weaving in the 1980s-1990s, and Linda was the editor of Handwoven magazine, my favorite of all magazines at that time. When I sold my loom three years ago, it was a little hard to let go (I still have an inkle loom down in the cellar for weaving someday again). And I was also left with boxes and boxes of weaving yarn - some I sold, some I gave away, and some was suitable for knitting (the basis of my current stash). I also sold all my copies of Handwoven. I remember that I loved the way Linda thought and wrote, and I'm looking forward to reading her work again. And such a great title!

Passau, Cobblestones to Steeple

We are on the wider Danube now, traveling toward Passau. This was early in the morning, with a touch of fog.

The old gate guards the entrance to the city. The town hall is decorated with beautiful frescoes on pink stucco.

One of the many churches - this one is a rather playful pink and white.

This is one of my favorite pictures - it illustrates the birth of cobblestone streets. In the foreground you can see the completed cobblestone pattern, while behind it are the stones and the sand. I love these patterned streets and alleys - so much prettier than asphalt!

Here's a typical town square.

And as usual, the cathedral is undergoing repair. There was scaffolding on almost every church we saw.

The inside was fabulous. This is St. Stephen's Cathedral, which has the largest church organ in the world - 18,000 pipes. You can see a part of it in this picture.

Here is another picture of the interior of this glorious cathedral. The ceiling was magnificent.

Next, we visit Vienna, and then our trip ends in Budapest. Almost done!

Straubling and Knitting

We had a short time in Straubling, which turned out to be one of my favorite towns of the trip. Here is a view of the town as we approached it, taken from the window of the coach. It's surrounded by farm fields, mostly flat as we went inland from the Danube. Here's the reason I liked the town so much - the beautiful wide promenade, lined with shops and outdoor cafes, and filled with buckets of flowers. It was a lovely warm late afternoon, and we walked up and down, looking in windows and enjoying just being there.

And Mickey D's was there too!Lest I forget this is supposed to be a knitting blog, this is what I'm currently working on. It's a sleeveless vest, and I'm hoping I have enough yarn. I've shortened it a little from the pattern measurements and will eliminate the pockets, so I think I can scrape by. The pattern looks easy, doesn't it, but I can't tell you how many times I've ripped back because I did a purl instead of a knit or vice-versa. I've finally learned I can't do this pattern while reading a book! This is a project that I had put away for a while, but I'm going to finish it for a friend who has been diagnosed with extensive cancer. There are many knitting projects around for prayer shawls, which are made for and given to people will illnesses or other unhappy events, but I think my friend would rather have a prayer scarf. It will be bright and warm for the next two months of winter, and I will hope she has good healing thoughts when she wears it.

Next town up on the trip - Passau.