ROCS 3 - Days 3-5 (Hungary, Slovakia)

13 Nov '10

Interesting points:

-Hungarians are related to Attila the Hun

-Buda is Attila's brother

-Budapest was originally known as Pestbuda. They changed the name simply because Budapest sounds nicer.

After breakfast, we headed for Budapest, Hungary. We were supposed to stop in Gyor, but Katka decided that there was no time for that, so we headed straight to Danubius Hotel, which is a nicer hotel that the first.

We had lunch, then went to Momento Park, which was filled with many statues from the communist era. We also went to St Stephen's Cathedral to admire the grand interior. The nearby souvenir shop which these gorgeous but super expensive carved and painted eggs - gorgeous but super expensive. I got Mum 2 embroidered doilies.

After dinner, we went for the Chopin recital at Palace of Art. I sat between Ms Chuah and Mei, both of whom kept falling asleep. Everyone was falling asleep actually. I felt pretty dead myself, except a sweet I took during the interval kept me awake in the next half. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't exciting and I guess we were all jetlagged.

14 Nov '10

Our first stop today was a synagogue. Or as our local Hungarian guide Maria Gabriella pronounced it, zynagogue. Within the area of the synagogue, which had been inside a ghetto, there lay the graves of many Jews who had died during WWII. We also saw the remains of the ghetto wall.

We then went to a church, beside which sat a statue named Anonymous who is supposed to give you fortune in love when you touch her pen. 

After that, we headed to Hero's Square.

The next stop was House of Terror, which was about life under the communist regime in Hungary. 

We then headed for lunch. While leaving the restaurant, the bus got stuck at a dead end in a road and tried to turn, but a car was in the way. Martin, our bus driver, went out and literally lifted the car onto the curb! Funniest moment ever! (And Maria Gabriella said that a Hungarian's favourite pasttime is to park wherever he wants.)

We then went to the Holocaust Memorial Centre.

After that, we went to a music museum, then Mathiass Church, and then the Fisherman's Bastion. Gorgeous fairytale-y towers! I bought some marzipan for the family there.

We went back to the hotel for dinner, then went for the Gone With the Wind ballet. I was falling asleep during Act 1 (jetlag) but after catching a nap during the interval, I remained wide awake for Acts 2 & 3. Intervals are amazing. If they had them earlier, I wouldn't have missed so much. Anyway, it was good, but it seemed like a ballet-mime meshed together, than a pure ballet. There was so much acting too - slapping, and gosh kissing, which I've never witnessed in a ballet.

It's funny how Hungarians clap in synchronised rhythm. They all fall into the same beat after a few seconds.

15 Nov '10

We went to a cave today. It was perhaps a shade colder than the Australian cave our family visited last year. Also very wet - humidity level 98%. They played a "concert" for us, which was basically music and lights, while we enjoyed the cave's acoustics.

Outside the cave, there stood a playground made entirely out of wood and rope, the old-fashioned sort you might imagine children running about in in storybooks. The swings had a back, like a chair, so you wouldn't have to worry about falling backwards, only that made it hard to push yourself off the ground, so you needed someone else to do it for you.

We spent the rest of the day on the bus because we crossed the border to Slovakia after the cave. Slovakia is really hilly and we took all the small roads. We've still got our tour task to finish: Write a short composition entitled 'One Day in Paradise' about a regular day in communist Budapest. Kim, Moon and Abigail are bunking over.

Subsequently, I neglected to write about the following days as they got busier. I merely noted that we later got into trouble over the bunking over, and that the John Williams concert we attended was marvelous, albeit I fell asleep during the Harry Potter part, again due to the jetlag. This resulted in Ms Tsien frowning at me and everyone beside me giggling. It was nevertheless a wonderful experience - hearing the movie music of John Williams being performed live is thrilling to say the least.

ROCS 3 - Days 1, 2 (Vienna)

11 Nov '10

We were supposed to leave at 11.35pm on 10 Nov '10, same day as our O's, so we met at the airport at 9.30pm. The plane took off late though, so we took off after midnight. 13h flight to Munich and 1h transit to Vienna. When we arrived, we'd "gone back in time" as Singapore is 7h ahead of Austria. It was pretty cool but today ended up being really tiring, lunch felt like dinner and I wasn't hungry for dinner. At 6pm Austria time, it was as dark as Singapore 9pm.

After touchdown, we boarded the bus to a certain area, then got off to stroll down streets and visit a nearby market. I didn't buy anything, though I craved cheese.

We had lunch at a restaurant called Bettelstudent. Appetiser consisted of an egg with its yolk mashed up with mustard, which was actually pretty good. The main course was chicken, but my stomach was crying for what would have been dinner in Singapore, so I ate it. Anyway, it was covered in bacon and served with cream sauce and tasted like carbonara. Apple strudel was served for dessert; Abigail and Mei didn't want their cream so I got extra cream:)

Following lunch, we walked some more and got fascinated by a clock made of flowers in the park.

We then got to see an Opera House. Its name escapes me, but it's the most renowned in Austria and it belonged to the Emperor. The auditorium is 25m long, the stage is 25m long, and the backstage is also 25m long. The stage is 12m tall and has a hydraulic pump to lower it down 12m. There is an empty room below the orchestra, which is also lowered, and the inside is mostly constructed from wood for acoustic purposes. The curved shape of the theatre allows the high society people who own them to look over at other boxes for social purposes, not to actually watch the opera or occasional ballet. We saw the emperor's tea room, and more modern rooms, all containing beautiful gold chandeliers.

Our guide's name is Katka and she told us that in Austria, teens aged 16-17 are sent to ballroom dance classes and there are 400+ balls that take place in a year, the most famous being the Debutante ball. You must audition to be a debutante, and if you dance well enough, you earn the title. I can only dream of how romantic and old-fashioned the balls are.

We later went to Schonbrunn Palace, which is the emperor's summer palace.

Subsequently, we returned to the hotel for the night. Mei's brought a book for learning German in a week.

12 Nov '10

It seems that a lot of food here is pretty hard. The eggs were overboiled at breakfast and peeled off in layers like an onion. (I took away 8 little containers of nutella.) 

Our first stop was the Central Cemetery, where Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Strauss are buried. Mozart's bones could not be found, so they could not transfer him there. It started to rain so we had to rush back to the bus, and I found out that my pink jacket isn't waterproof after all.

We then went to the House of Music, which was very interesting. It was like a sound-related science centre for the first part. As you walk further, it became more like a composer museum, which a room dedicated to each composer, like Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss, and Schubert. They even had Schubert's spectacles on display. There was also this section where we could pretend to conduct a virtual orchestra. I got a music box that plays Somewhere Over the Rainbow as a souvenir from the gift shop.

After that, we walked to Stephensplatz, this amazing gothic cathedral which towered over us. It was so beautifully intricate. We were given free time here, so we had lunch at a subway deli and wandered around the souvenir shops (but didn't buy anything).

We then went to Mozart House, where Mozart lived for the longest period of time during his stay in Vienna, 2.5 years, which actually isn't very long at all. During his stay there, he wrote The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute. The different floors were dedicated to his operas, his life, etc. And here I discovered that Mozart was a Freemason. Anyway, he lived on the second floor of that apartment. Haydn, who is Mozart's father's generation, visited him there and said that Mozart was the greatest person he ever knew. Beethoven, who is younger than Mozart, visited him there too. I guess it was pretty cool to retrace the steps of 3 composers. We found out that most composers start off in their home country, then make their way to Vienna. 

Following that, we took a round trip through Ringstrasse -  this central set of roads in Vienna. Viennese buildings are gorgeous and they've got loads of statues of great people around.

We then went to Kunsthistorisches Museum, an art museum which is so intricately carved in and painted on and set with marble that it could be an art piece in itself. I like the paintings of Babel and the Art of Art - the concepts behind them are pretty interesting. 

We headed back to the hotel for dinner - pork and chips. Then devotions, then Mei and I went to Don and Kim's room to play random games and music and paint our nails.