Hungary trip, days 1-3

I'm not going to bore you with all the details, but here are some highlights from our trip:

Day 1: Arrive in Hungary late Monday afternoon (after having our connecting flight reservations cancelled in Chicago because our layover was too short, and getting moved to a later flight). Explore the streets around the Kelleti palyudvar (Eastern train station), have dinner in the station in a faded old restaurant that still somehow testifies to the glamour and grandeur of late 19th century Hungary, on the eve of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Train to Sopron stops for two hours on the track. Arrive at our destination at 11 pm somewhat frantic because the nice little pension where we were staying closes at 10. But our gracious host, having gotten my last minute email, waited up for us and everything was fine.


Day 2: Feeling absurdly proud of myself for managing to navigate the bus system with my rusty Hungarian: an hour long bus that stops twice in every  hamlet finally brings us to this: Eszterhaza (initially a hunting lodge owned by the Eszterhazy family, later upgraded into what is sometimes called "The Hungarian Versailles" in the 18th century.)

Haydn composed here--the Eszterhazy prince (Miklos) who enlarged the place invited the entire Hapsburg court, and empress Maria Theresa, to stay for weeks on end: they'd have balls and concerts and plays in the puppet theater.

Dan took pictures of the china for Bubby--this is Hungarian-made Herend porcelain: the spiky flower was designed for the Eszterhazy family.

We spent the afternoon wandering around Sopron, inspecting the medieval center of town and the fire tower.

Day Three:
Boarded an early morning train to Vienna. Crammed as much of the Hapsburgs into one day as we could stand, starting with Schonbrunn palace, then the Imperial Residence in the heart of Vienna, the Royal Treasure chamber, and the Imperial furniture museum. (Note: I'm glad we started with Eszterhaza. It's central to my novel, but I might have been disappointed if we saw Schonbrunn first). We couldn't take pictures inside the estate, so you get the palace and the grounds.

Hofburg imperial palace: on the right (facing) were the imperial apartments; on the left is the famed Spanish Riding school. 

Some of the treasures: the imperial coronation regalia.

Dan was fascinated by a group of men trying to move a piano out of one of these Baroque palaces.

 For dinner that evening, we wandered through Prater Park (a sort of Hyde park equivalent in down town Vienna, but with a crazy, colorful theme park on one corner of the park. You just pay for rides, so it was free to walk through all of it and take in the magnificence, like this "mountain" covered in dinosaurs.).