East European Tour 13.5.05 - 22.5.05

When we first booked the tour the date of departure was a different date. Two weeks later the tour agent rang us up and told us that the date had been changed to Friday, 13.5.05, and wanted to know whether we would mind taking off on that date. We thought we would be the rare few to defy the gods but on our arrival in Vienna we found that there were 30 other people who, like us, did not believe in that old wives' superstition. The direct flight from KL to Vienna by MAS took approximately 11 hours and the time in Europe is 6 hours behind Malaysian time. The temperature at this time of the year was between 12 and 14 degrees Celsius. A light jacket would suffice. There was a lot of walking to be done and a backpack would come in handy for the camera and a bottle of water. The days were long and the nights short, daylight was at 4.30 am and nightfall around 8.30 pm. We woke up early, around 5 am, and we could take a walk around on our own before it was time for breakfast and the day's departure. The tour took us to Budapest in Hungary where there was a city orientation tour, a Danube River cruise and visits to Heroes' Square, Matthias Church, Fisherman's Bastion and Gellert Hill from where we had a fantastic view of Budapest; Munich in Germany where we tried a pig's trotter with 3 tankards of German beer and the bill came to 45 euros or approximately RM225 (the exchange rate was actually RM4.98 per euro when we left, today it is about RM4.64) and we also tasted German sausages at a market square; Brno and Prague in the Czech Republic with city orientation tours and visits to Strahov Monastery, Konopiste Castle, Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral; Bratislava in Slovakia with a city orientation tour and visits to the Old Town Hall, Opera House and George Fountain and finally Vienna and Salzburg where apart from the city orientation tours we visited Schronbrunn Palace and a vineyard. The meals provided alternated between Western food and Chinese food and the hotels were good. From Prague, enroute to Munich, we were taken to the infamous Dacha Concentration Camp where we learnt of the horrors perpetrated to the Jews during World War II. In Salzburg of the "Sound of Music" fame, we visited Mirabell Garden, Hohensalzburg Castle Fortress, Music Festival Hall, Domplatz, Residenzplatz, Mozartplatz, the bustling Geitreidegasse and Mozart's birthplace. In Vienna apart from Schronbrunn Palace, we were also taken to Belvedere Palace with its beautiful Baroque terraced gardens, Ring Strasse with the Parliament Building, Burgtheatre, Voltif Church, the majestic Hofburg Imperial Palace, Pallas Athene Fountain, Town Hall Building, Opera House, OPEC Building, Beethovan Memorial and Hunderwasser House. We also visited Stadt Park to view Johann Strauss memorial and St Stephen's Cathedral. The palaces and cathedrals in this part of Europe are a sight to behold!