Jewish Museums in Frankfurt, Germany

Posted on October 5, 2025 by Trudy

Day 36 Sunday, October 5, 2025

I have a much needed quiet day and Bob visits two Jewish Museums in Frankfurt. He is writing today’s post.

At the entrance to the Jewish Museum is a sculpture that symbolizes the uprooting of the Jewish community during WWII. Of the 30,000 Jews in Frankfurt at the start of the war, 13,000 died in German concentration camps, many were uprooted and only 150 remained after the war.

Amazingly most of the St. Nicholas Cathedral survived the bombings in WWII. 80% of the city was either destroyed or badly damaged.

In November 1938, 1400 synagogues were vandalized and burnt by the Nazi regime, including the Borneplatz Synagogue.

I was surprised to learn that Anne Frank and her family lived in Frankfurt before 1933. The grandmother moved to Basel, and other family members moved to Paris and London. Anne Frank’s family moved to Amsterdam. In 1942 the family went into hiding until August 1944 when the family was discovered and deported to Auchwitz.

The grandmother kept these treasures. For one of her birthdays Anne was given a gift certificate for 2 books. This was her favourite chair.

After WWII Anne’s father (the only family survivor of the war) published her diary (The Annex). He returned to Amsterdam in 1960 to view the family’s hiding place. This is the father’s copy of the book, later titled “The Diary of Anne Frank”.

In 1460, Frankfurt City Council set up the Jewish Quarter to house all Jews. By 1700 up to 3000 people lived here. The remains of 5 houses have been saved in the 2nd museum I visited. There were a number of artifacts uncovered. The most interesting is this 16th century wedding belt. The belts of the bride and groom were tied together during the wedding ceremony as a symbol of their eternal bound.

Mainz, Germany and Gutenburg Bible

Posted on October 4, 2025 by Trudy

Day 35 Saturday, October 4, 2025

It is a 45 minute drive to Mainz, and Bob has several items on our ‘must see’ agenda. First stop is the market. The flowers at these markets are always so beautiful and very reasonably priced.

The main sculpture in the main square (market) of Mainz is the Heunensäule, or Hay Column. It is a 1,000-year-old sandstone column with a bronze casing, depicting various symbols of Mainz’s history and culture like a fool’s cap and bishop’s miter. It is in the market square in front of the Mainz Cathedral.

I like this wishing well and we both toss in a coin and make our wishes.

We both like the interestingly shaped squash…we might have to try growing some next year.

We have seen these coloured eggs in the grocery stores and wondered what they were. Turns out they are hard boiled eggs that are coated in a tinted resin that keeps them fresh for months! The colour helps to identify them as being hard boiled.

Gorgeous sunflowers! I am definitely planting some of them in our garden next year. They are so cheerful. Next stop in the Mainz Cathedral. We are met at the door and told that there is a concert starting and if we enter the church we have to stay for the 45 minute concert. Sounds perfect as it is raining and cool outside!
We spend the next 45 minutes listening to an amazing organ concert to commemorate the new cathedral organ. The musician, Alexander Grün, is only 25 years old and has three Masters Degrees! He plays some traditional organ music and then music that is innovative. The 45 minutes absolutely flew by. I sketched for a bit while listening to the music. Loved it. I wish I had recorded more of the music, especially the finale of the concert…it gave me goosebumps! https://youtube.com/shorts/HykSsp-S-9E

There are fall foods displayed on the steps to the altar to remind people to give thanks for the harvest, and to share with those in need.

The Cathedral cloister has a beautifully tended garden,

Bob liked this statue statue of a man holding his head. This is probably Saint Denis, who was beheaded but picked up his head and walked some distance, preaching the Gospel.

The buildings surrounding the market square are tall, narrow and decoratively painted.
Next on Bob’s agenda is a visit to a small museum underneath a shopping mall. We see Roman ruins from before the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century. These ruins were discovered when excavations began for the shopping mall. The area was thoroughly excavated and recorded, but ultimately the mall was built and most of the ruins were destroyed.

This little museum has the reconstructed ruins of a temple, under a ceiling of constellations. Some of the items found when the ruins were excavated. Well endowed males were well represented.

Our final stop in Mainz is to visit the Gutenburg Museum, which is connected to a small Natural History Museum. This display in the entrance is quite striking.

We start with the Gutenburg Museum which shows the impact of Johahannes Gutenburg’s invention of a moveable type printing press in 1440. This press allowed for the printing of 3600 pages a day, compared to 40 by hand printing and only a few by hand copying. There were several beautiful ancient books on display. This Atlas of the World was printed in 1482.

The World Chronicle is from 1493.

An ornate Columbia Printing Press from 1824.

We are given a blank card that has a chip installed inside the paper when we entered the museum. We place this card into a machine that takes a selfie of us. Then we take the still blank card to a modern printer and this is what we received.

Entering a small room with dim lighting we see the Gutenburg Bibles. Only 49 of the approximately 180 printed Gutenberg Bibles have survived and the Gutenberg Museum owns two. The complete two-volume Bible shown in the bottom of this photo was added to the collection in 1978. The second Bible is incomplete, with only the second volume surviving. The book in the top right is a calligraphed manuscript.

The Bibles were only printed in black ink – two or more colors would have been too time-consuming and expensive. Spaces for colored ornamentation were left empty and the books were handed over to an illumination workshop. As a result, all surviving editions have different ornamentation.

The Missale Moguntinum, was hand written on parchment between 1453 – 1459.

I love that the guide lines are still visible. Imagine writing this huge book. Gutenburg’s press changed how books were produced and made them available to so many more people. Seeing these bibles in person is special but I am still in awe of beautiful hand written and illustrated books.

In the mid-15th century before printed books were readily available, the demand for books could not be met. One solution was to produce books faster. This was why copies of the “Speculum Humanae Salvationis” or “Mirror of Human Salvation,” were created in cursive and quick pen-and-ink drawings. The volumes are dated around 1450, making them approximately the same age as the printed Gutenberg bibles.

We wander through the Natural History Museum. I wonder how archaeologists are able to reconstruct skulls and bones from a pile of fragments. It must be a very difficult puzzle.

The Wooly Rhino had a huge head compared to the rest of its body. There are samples of real wooly rhino hair on view that were found preserved in permafrost.

I thought these fossils were really beautiful. The plants, insects and other animals are preserved in the finest detail. They are incredible.

We forgot to check what this prehistoric creature was.

There are a few more displays of stuffed animals. I thought this one of different types of rabbits was interesting. It is a small museum so it doesn’t take too long to see everything.

I know this is a strange photo, but this is the handicapped washroom at the museum. I’ve never seen a public washroom like this.

We walk along cobbled sidewalks with reminders that summer is over on our way to see the next sight on the agenda in Manz.

This huge fountain is the Fastnachtsbrunnen, or Carnival Fountain. It is almost nine meters high and has over 200 bronze figures from the Mainz Carnival Mythology. Every year on November 11, at 11:11 pm, people celebrating Carnival in Mainz gather here. When the clock strikes 11:11 pm the carnival officially begins.

Our last stop before heading home is St. Stephen Church. This is the only German church for which the Jewish artist Marc Chagall created windows.

In 1978, the first window by the 91-year-old Chagall was installed. Chagall completed the final church window shortly before his death at the age of 97! Although all the windows are beautiful, I didn’t find the blue light in the church appealing…it felt too sombre,

Time to drive home…this was a very full day!

Arras Market and Carrière Wellington. France

Posted on September 13, 2025 by Trudy

Day 14. Saturday, September 13, 2025

We visit the Arras market which is held in the Place des Héros in front of City Hall. It is packed with tables, tents and trailers selling a wide variety of goods. I adore these baskets, but they would be a difficult to take home.

Many shoppers are carrying beautiful bouquets of flowers. Two of these pink bouquets are only €5!

European markets often have an interesting assortment of mushrooms…

…and of course, many different cheeses.

We buy sausages, green beans, a baguette, a red pepper, bananas and two baskets of yummy Belgium strawberries.

This plaque with our shadows shows the Original Belfry survived from 1463-1914, and the City Hall from 1502-1914. They were both almost completely destroyed by German bombardment in October 1914. They were rebuilt in the 1920s, using modern materials but replicating their original style.

A view of the huge market in front of the Town Hall. The vendors were also located down the side streets of the square.

During our tour of the Boves on Wednesday our guide said that every building around the Grand’Place and the Place des Héros has underground cellars that are part of the caves that were dug under Arras. Each building has three levels of cellars, one at each of 4, 8 and 12 meters. Many restaurants and pubs are now located in these cellars. Each building’s cellars are “lined with metal” to prevent any thefts. Our guide’s English was fairly basic so we weren’t sure if she meant metal gates, or something else.

It is a short 10 minute drive to the Carrière Wellington. We don hard hats and we are soon 20 meters underground.

Tunnellers from New Zealand connected the town’s medieval chalk caves and tunnels to create a network of underground barracks to accommodate 24,000 soldiers in the First World War. Images and films are projected onto the cave walls throughout our tour. These are the NZ tunnellers.

The tunnels we visit today housed 1,500 soldiers in the weeks up to the surprise attack against the Germans on April 9, 1917. Film of British troops arriving in Arras

Images of individual soldiers were projected here. I wonder how many of them died in the coming battle. These ancient caves were used as building stone quarries for Arras in Medieval times. They are very large with high ceilings.

This projection showed some of the NZ tunnellers who volunteered to come to Arras. In front of the image are pick axes and shovels used to build the tunnels. No sledgehammers or explosives were used as the noise could have been heard by the Germans. The German front line was very close to the town of Arras.

Bottles found in the caves, included everything from Perrier water bottles to beer, liquor, cream and HP sauce bottles.

A facsimile of the bunks that were made for the soldiers. It was damp and cold and water dripped onto the men as they slept.

This underground ‘city’ included running water, electricity, kitchens, latrines, a light rail system, and a medical centre with an operating theatre.The stoves used small wood fires, and the soldiers smoked while they were underground. I imagine the air quality would have been awful.

We hear a recording of a church service that plays while we view this projection of a soldier’s drawing of the service given just before the battle. 1,500 men crowded together in this part of the caves to attend the service.

This is Command Headquarters.

A view down a long tunnel towards an opening where the soldiers will exit onto the battlefield after an underground explosion opens the way.

This last part of the tour was very moving. Projections of men writing their letters home before the battle. The contents of some letters are read aloud and we hear if the writer was injured or died in battle. Then we see these steps leading to an exit. There is a film with shadows of soldiers charging up the stairs to exit a doorway that flashes bright with loud explosions. We can hear the soldiers yelling and breathing hard. It is so difficult to watch…so many died to launch this surprise attack on the Germans. In a theatre after the tour we watch a film about what happened after this battle and I am shocked to learn that the British advance slowed in the next few days and the German defence recovered. The battle became a costly stalemate for both sides and 4,000 men a day died in the days after the surprise attack. The British had 160,000 casualties and the Germans about 125,000. Up until hearing this I thought this Arras surprise attack was at least a success. I really hate war!

On a lighter note…for dinner tonight we have a salad and an order of Arras’s world famous frites. Yes, this is one €6.00 order of large frites. More than the two of us can eat!

Life drawing and Exploring Paris

Posted on November 19, 2023 by Trudy

Day 83, Sunday November 19, 2023

I have two life drawing sessions planned for today. One at the Montmartre Life Drawing Studio in the afternoon and another at an artist’s studio from 5 to 7 pm this evening. Bob goes out exploring while I am drawing. Today there is some sunshine, and no rain!

The Eiffel Tower is visible on the skyline.

This interesting exterior belongs to Stade Jean-Bouin. The 19,904 capacity stadium is used mostly for rugby, but is also used for American football and association football matches.

Pont Mirabeau was built at the very end of the 19th century and is adorned with four bronze sculptures representing the City of Paris, Commerce, Navigation, and Abundance.

A clever shot through the tree branches.

Can you take too many photos of this iconic structure? I don’t think so.I attended sessions with the Montmartre Life Drawing group in September so no problem finding their location even though I was coming from a different starting point. The first thing I see when I leave the metro is this impressive statue in the centre of a traffic circle.

There is a flea market on the median.

There are lots of interesting items but I don’t have time for more than a quick look.

Next I cross a bridge that goes over the top of the Montmartre cemetery rather than cutting it in half… again no time to go exploring. Life drawing awaits! I later read that Nijinsky, Degas & Zola lie in this tree-lined burial ground that opened in 1825.

We have a male model for the afternoon, Guiseppé. We start with five two minute poses

followed by three five minute and a 10 minute poseA 25 minute pose…

and a 15 minute one,

then we end the session with a couple 10 minute poses. Guiseppé was an excellent model, and fun to draw.

During the break I was checking out Google maps to make sure I could find the second session and I discovered that I had no internet! Panic!! A very kind young lady lent me her phone so I could write down some instructions, but I was worried about being able to find the next life drawing location. Luckily when I was ready to go to the evening session the internet was back! I was very relieved that I didn’t have to rely on my hastily drawn map.

Life Drawing Montmartre posts on their Instagram page…Here I am!

Screenshot

The second session was at the photographer J R Franco’s studio/apartment. These two photos are from his instagram site. You can just barely see part of my knee and sketchbook in the bottom right corner of this one…

and the top of my grey head I this one.

We started with two 5 and one 10 minute pose of our lovely female model…seems I forgot to note her name. I like having that information in my sketchbook.

I loved this 13 minute pose, draped over a couch and chair with her torso hanging in the space between them

It was going to be a session with two models but the male model had to cancel at the last minute, so Jean Robert modelled for us. We started with two 5 minute poses. I concentrated on his face…he had an interesting face.

two 3 minute and one 5 minute pose. Then we drew both models together in a 10 minute pose,

then one more 10 minute pose.

During the break we had goodies upstairs in a loft area and a tour of Franco’s studio which was also his apartment.

It was a wonderful, full day, and I head home in the dark, but the metro is close by and when I get home Bob has supper waiting!

Dijon, Musée Des Beaux Arts

Posted on November 10, 2023 by Trudy

Day 74, Friday November 10, 2023

This is day five since I got Covid and I am feeling better today so we go explore a bit of Dijon. Bob has been out and about but I haven’t seen anything yet. When we are around other people I wear a mask. I shouldn’t be contagious anymore, but just in case…I wouldn’t want to make anyone else sick.

I love these geraniums growing on the landing windowsill.

First stop is the indoor market which is only a couple blocks from our apartment. I have never seen such huge lettuces or cheeses! The chrysanthemum plants were a bargain, only 5€ each. There is also an outdoor market along the streets around the indoor market. It is a busy place.

This floral display on the side of a building caught our eye.

Next stop is the Musée Rude. This is a tiny museum, just one room with casts of sculptures created by Francois Rude who was born in Dijon. Below are Mercury Fastening His Heel, Joan of Arc Listening to Her Voices. and Napoleon Awakening to Immortality. These casts were ordered by the Dijon museum between 1887 and 1910 to study and promote the work of François Rude.The cast of The Departure of the Volunteers of 1792 , commonly called La Marseillaise , was made in 1938 by the French government, when it was feared that the Arc de Triomphe in Paris might be destroyed during the war. It is huge!

Here is the original in Paris.

Dijon has its own Arc de Triomphe. At one time this was one of the gates in the ramparts that surrounded the city in the 1700’s. Now only the gate remains.

We visit the Moutarde Maille shop to buy a jar of Dijon Mustard. In ancient days verjuice, or the juice from unripe grapes, was used to make Dijon mustard. Dijon was recognized as a producer of mustard by the thirteenth century and it is now regarded as the mustard capital of the world. We can’t visit Dijon and not buy some mustard.This fabulous Art Nouveau building was built in 1907. It reminds me of some of the buildings we saw in Barcelona.

There is a well in the courtyard to the Musée of Beaux Arts that seems to be a wishing well, so I take the opportunity to make a wish.

The Musée des Beaux Arts is a nice size. It isn’t so big that it is overwhelming yet it still presents collections from antiquity to the 21st century. It opened in 1787 and it is one of the oldest museums in France. We saw portraits like these years ago when we were in Egypt.

I had to have my picture taken next to this mummy. It is cold outside today and I am happy I have lots of layers to wear but when I see this picture it makes me think of the poem, When I am old I shall wear purple…

I thought this cat mummy looked rather like a child’s toy.

Journey of the Magi was completed in 1475 but it is so much brighter and more modern looking than other paintings from this time.

These fifteenth century wooden statues still have their original paint!

I absolutely fell in love with this beautiful little Angel of the Annunciation!

And then there is this 16th century statue of Death…it made me think of a zombie!

Looking back into this room I noticed the strange optical illusion that makes it look like the display case in the middle of the room is floating.

There are rooms with very large paintings.

This 1748 portrait of the Queen Maire Leczinska caught my eye because of the casual pose…women were not portrayed sitting with their knees apart, especially queens.

I quite liked this small painting by Honoré Daumier. Don Quixote is popular and we have seen several paintings of this subject.

The museum is in a wing of this palace which was the home of the Dukes of Burgundy in the 15th century.

There is a huge open plaza in front of the palace, which I am sure is usually busier than it is on this cold and wet day.

As we are walking towards Saint Michel church the sun peeks out and lights up the front of the church.

We are constantly amazed by the number of churches in France…and we are talking huge churches and cathedrals that sometimes took centuries to build. It is astounding and at the same time rather sad because the congregations of these churches are getting smaller and smaller. I wonder what their future will be?

We head back to our apartment. I am tired and now Bob is not feeling well and we are pretty sure he has Covid too. Bob sleeps the rest of the afternoon and evening and I am wondering if I will need to navigate and drive tomorrow!!

The Lyon Zoo

Posted on November 5, 2023 by Trudy

Day 69, Sunday, November 5, 2023

We are going to visit the Lyon Zoo today. We haven’t been to a zoo yet this trip and I love zoos. I’m not sure what this one will be like as it is free. Usually zoos are quite expensive…it takes a lot of money to take care of all those animals.

These beautiful Passion flowers covered a wall right beside our bus stop.

We find an outdoor market on our way to the indoor Lyon market. This is the first time we have seen the produce arranged in these metal bowls. Only 2€ for a big bowl of lemons or tomatoes. We bought a bowl of plums for 2€…they were good but it did add a couple pounds to Bob’s backpack for the rest of the day!

There are a lot of people shopping today. The prices are very reasonable and the produce looks amazing.

This pedestrian street lead us to Les Halles de Lyon,…the indoor market.

I thought this was an interesting combination of buildings…old and new.

Inside there are many types of poultry, all with heads still attached. This is so that it is easy to tell what type of bird you are purchasing. Apparently in “old times” people were being sold “this meat” as “that meat”, not getting what they paid for… so butchers were told to start leaving the heads/feathers/feet on birds they sell so that customers will know exactly what they’re buying. This is still in practice today. The spotted birds are guinea fowl and the brown gathered birds are pheasants!

We grow peas in our garden and shell huge bowls full when we harvest. I never thought about how much it would cost to buy shelled peas…almost $60.00 a kg!

But that doesn’t even come close to the price of truffles! WOW!! That is over $2000 a kg!

French pastries are getting expensive too. I sure notice the difference from when I was here nine years ago. The big raspberry one is €59.90….or $86.00!

Even these little pastries are 8.90€ each.

These micro macarons are the cutest, tiniest I have ever seen. They are the size of a nickel…barely a mouthful!

The candied fruits look delicious. I think we will have to try some before we leave France.

I have no idea how they make whole candied fruits?

I had to laugh at these monkey lamps! I didn’t notice our reflections until I was editing photos for this post.

We arrive at the park and find a bench for our lunch and realize that we are in the zoo already. The deer enclosure is huge with lots of grass and trees. No fence, just a ditch to keep the animals in. So far I am impressed.

The flamingos are always fun and they can be very noisy!

This is an old bear cage from many years ago. It is left to show how zoos have improved the way animals are housed today. I am so very glad that they are no longer in use…it is terrible to think of a bear living in here its entire life.

This Watusi, or Ankole cow shared an enclosure with the giraffes.

I love giraffes, and there are four beautiful ones in this zoo, including this young one.

They are just as interesting looking coming…

as they are going!

They have impossible necks that simply do not look strong enough to hold up their heads! An interesting giraffe fact, they have seven vertebrae in their necks …exactly the same number of vertebrae as we have!

I don’t know the name of this cute little bird, but it ran around on the ground and it didn’t mind being close to people, even when some children tried to pet it.

One more flamingo photo…loved their reflections in the water.

The pelicans are amazing and their fathers have hints of pink and yellow.

The zoo has over 300 animals in 66 species. We also saw many other animals including leopards, monkeys, and gibbons, but they weren’t in the mood to pose for photos! The whole zoo is very well maintained, the animals look in great condition and their enclosures were clean and spacious with lots of trees, shrubs and grasses…it is all funded by the city of Lyon. We were very impressed. It is a small zoo but just right for an afternoon visit.

There is a play area for kids and we had fun watching children try their hand at harness racing…with reins that actually worked to steer their horses. Then it looked like it was going to rain again, so we head of home. There was a downpour when we first arrived but we found shelter under the roof at a puppet theatre so we stayed dry.

Our metro station on the way home is not busy at all.

When we get home this notice is on the door to the building. The bedbug sniffer dogs are arriving tomorrow morning to check out nine apartments and returning on the 30th to recheck another 6 apartments. There are 34 apartments in this building and looks like 14 of them have bedbug problems. So far so good, there is no sign of them in our apartment….but I think it is a good thing we are leaving tomorrow morning

Vienna Christmas Markets, Austria

Posted on November 24, 2019 by Trudy

Day 91, Sunday, November 24, 2019

Today is our last day of holidays! After packing our suitcases this morning we go out to visit Vienna’s Christmas Markets and see some of the Christmas lights. The first market we visit is near the Parliament Building. There are 150 booths here but I was a bit disappointed as the majority of them sold Christmas decorations and there were very few other handcrafted items. I was hoping to find something special as a souvenir for us.
We were pleasantly surprised though to find that food here was reasonable. I bought a cone of yummy hot roasted potato slices for just 3 euros. There were lots of other affordable food options as well as hot chocolate and hot alcoholic drinks and mulled wines for 3 to 5 euros. There are so many people here that sometimes it is difficult to get to the front of a booth to see what is for sale.We enjoy wandering around and as it starts to get dark the Christmas lights come on.
Near the booths is an area with beautifully decorated trees and …. a skating rink! There is a 3,000 m² artificial ice rink with skating paths throughout the park. We watch the kids learning to skate, everyone is having a good time. This all takes place under a canopy of the most beautiful trees, all lit up with thousands and thousands of white lights. Just take look at the size of this tree! It is enormous! A special attraction is the tree of hearts, and we see couples taking selfies here.I love all the lights and there is Christmas music playing, children laughing and everyone is enjoying the evening. I am beginning to feel Christmassy! As we leave the market, I take one last photo looking back towards the Parliament Building…then we walk down a tree lit path to the next market a few blocks away.
This is a smaller market, only 70 stalls, and the only decorated trees are the man-made ones. We see a booth with goods from Bomo Art, the little handmade book store we visited in Budapest. There are also some pretty crazy animal candles, cute stuffed gnomes, blue and white pottery and wooden boxes and cabinet with drawers. The tall one with six drawers is ‘only’ 350 euros! That is about $500.00 Canadian. Still nothing I really love to take home with us though.These little pink snowmen were kind of cute… and a tree decorated with bird ornaments is different. Only at 10 to 15 euros a bird this would be a very expensive little tree! There are at least 150 birds on this tree, so it would cost between 1,500 and 2,250 euros, which is $2000.00 to $3,200.00 Canadian! No bird trees for me! The booths are centred around this big fountain… and there are lights projected on a nearby building, adding to the festive feeling. It isn’t very warm, the high today was only 9° and it is colder now that the sun has gone down. We want to walk and see some of the streets lit up for Christmas … but we are both getting chilled so we head home to finish getting ready for our trip home tomorrow.

Our Last Day in Budapest

Posted on November 16, 2019 by Trudy

Day 83, Saturday, November 16, 2019

These fellows on stilts are drinking alcohol which doesn’t seem like the best combination of activities to me. This is the pedestrian street near our apartment. We visit the Buda side of Budapest today. First stop is the Matthias Church, located in the Holy Trinity Square in front of the Fisherman’s Bastion. It has a beautiful tiled roof and a 60 metre tall bell tower. There are a lot of people here.This is the Fisherman’s Bastion. One theory is that it got its name from the fisherman in the city that was located just below the Bastion. It is also said that the fishermen defended the Bastion in times of war. The Fisherman’s Bastion was built between 1895 and 1902 to celebrate the 1,000th birthday of the Hungarian state.

It is a beautiful panoramic terrace that serves as a lookout point, and also to enhance the beauty of the Matthias Church. One of the many great views from the Bastion.We had to wait a bit to find an arch not filled with other tourists. It often takes a while before I can get a decent photo, which involves deciding where I can get the best view and waiting until vehicles and other people are not in my picture frame. Bob is very patient, waiting for me to take photos. I probably take at least 5 or 6 photos for every one I use in this blog. The Bastion was inspired by the architectural style of the early medieval times. It has many towers and was meant to feel like a fairy tale castle, as it wasn’t built for defence. I am always happy when I find a dragon! These medieval church ruins were built into the modern Hilton Budapest Hotel.The Black Plague caused the death of 30-60% of Europe’s total population in 1691 and 1709. People believed that erecting a column would protect them from the plague. The carving on the top of the column represents the Holy Trinity. Below this the whole column is decorated with smaller statues depicting angels, and saints. The central sculpture shows King David praying to God to let his people avoid the outbreak of a plague. Residents believed the Holy Trinity Column did its job, as the plague never returned after 1709. On our walk to the nearby Buda Castle we pass these Medieval ruins. Beneath some of the ruins there is a wine cellar which offers wine tastings. It is located below the remains of a 13th century Dominican Cloister, which is part of a huge labyrinth system underneath the Castle Hill. King Matthias (1457-1458) adopted the crow as his heraldic emblem after catching one of them stealing a ring, and killing it to get his ring back. These gates are topped with a crow with a ring in its mouth. The gates are very bizarre, almost creepy looking. This is the back side of the Buda Castle… and here is a close up of its fountain. Too bad the water in all the fountains in Budapest has already been turned off for the winter.The front of the Buda Castle with lots of tourists… and a bride and groom taking their wedding photos. I wonder if the photographer has to photoshop out all the tourists? We see a large river cruise ship o the Danube. There are walkways high above Medieval walls. We walk down a flight of stairs below a statue of the Madonna and baby Jesus. When we walk across this bridge we can see these same stairs on the far left side of this photo.It is hard walking on these cobblestones along the river. The sidewalks in Budapest are often uneven, with loose stones and ridges or holes. It would be easy to twist an ankle if you don’t pay attention.
We are walking to this little bookstore that sells handmade journals. Bomo Art is a tiny store, less than 2 metres wide! It didn’t have any larger sketchbooks with good paper for drawing. Too bad, or maybe it was good. My suitcase is already pretty heavy with the two sketchbooks I bought in Linz, and the huge Dürer book I got in Vienna. We watched this street performer for a while and wondered how he was able to hold this difficult pose. We later saw him in a different position but when we walk by again we see a guy lean heavily on him and to our surprise he crumples! Turns out he is a mechanical man! People were putting lots of coins into his can, trying to get him to move. They had no idea they were being tricked into thinking this was a man in costume. It is quite cool at night but it doesn’t stop people from sitting outside drinking beer. One last walk down the decorated street towards the Christmas Market. There are so many more people out on the streets tonight.

We pass a store that has very colourful electric kettles and matching toasters. We stop at one of the stalls and I buy a couple small gifts I have been eyeing every time we walk by. I also took photos of the food stands. Pork hocks are a big item here! We were going to buy a meal here a few days ago but quickly changed our minds when we discovered that one cabbage roll, albeit a big one, would cost us 5,000 Forints, the equivalent of $25 Canadian! A small plate with a sausage and two small helpings of side dishes was $35.00! We were rather shocked at how expensive it was. We saw other tourists change their mind and refuse to purchase what they had ordered when they realized the price. I saw lots of these sparkling balloons and thought they were so pretty. They were even nicer in person than in the photo. We spend the rest of the evening tidying the apartment and packing for our drive to Croatia tomorrow. Oh, and the puppet show we saw ws ‘Coraline’.

Gellért Hill, Budapest

Posted on November 13, 2019 by Trudy

Day 80, Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Yesterday was a quiet stay at home day. I didn’t even take one photo!

Today we are going to the Citadella which is the fortification located upon the top of Gellért Hill in Budapest. On our way there many of the store windows have Christmas displays. I laugh watching these two guys. They are dressed the same, stand the same and both are smoking and looking at their cellphones. They even both take a drag on their cigarettes at the same time! Budapest has very pretty manhole covers. Bob tells me we are going to the top of that hill across the Danube River on the Buda side of the city. I am quite happy to hear there is a bus that will take us most of the way. The metro stations in Budapest are very deep underground. They were built so that they could be used as bomb shelters. I wonder what would happen if a bomb fell above a station full of people. How would they get out…would they be trapped by all the rubble? Then I decide that they could walk down the tracks and maybe get out at another spot. Bob says I think too much! We are on top of Gelléert Hill and it was only a short climb from the bus stop. There are great views of Budapest looking to the East… and the West.

The Statue of Liberty on Gellert Hill was a communist statue erected in 1947 to commemorate the liberation of Budapest and Hungary from the Nazi rule and to celebrate Hungary’s being part of the Soviet Union. Hungarians liked the statue enough not to remove it in 1989 when Hungary became a democratic country, so they added the inscription to read “To the memory of those all who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom, and prosperity of Hungary.” Bob called me over to watch an older man operating a shell game near here. He had a cardboard box and three shells, and people bet on which shell a pea was under after they were shuffled. We were astounded that he was able to convince people to bet 400 or 500 euros. Of course once they made such a large bet they always lost! 500 euros is $750! It was crazy! Once he made a couple big scores he got up and left. Not a bad day’s pay! I can’t believe how gullible and arrogant people are. Of course they neverstood a chance…they were going to lose their money. It is getting windy so we start down the hill. We are walking down…
through a park with lots of trees… and a couple playgrounds. This one takes advantage of the hillside. We tried this slide too. This cross is about halfway down the hillside and marks the location of the Cave Church directly below it. This statue of St. Stephen is near the entrance to the Cave Church. For more information and photos about this curious church check out this link. A bit further down the hill we peek inside the Gellért Hotel… which houses one of Budapest’s thermal bath houses. It looks very fancy. Here is a view of the cave entrance from the street below… and the Liberty Statue at the top of the hill. We walked back across the bridge to the Pest side of the river… and visit the Indoor market. I thought these kohlrabi were huge but the radishes were enormous, about the size of an egg! I’ve never seen radishes that big! We have supper here but unfortunately the food wasn’t really all that great. On our walk back home we pass through the Christmas Market and I notice these teapots. I would have loved to have bought one but worried about getting it home in one piece.
These necklaces are made with seed beads! Imagine how long it would take to make each one.

Walking Tour of Budapest

Posted on November 11, 2019 by Trudy

Day 78, Monday November 11, 2019

I posted part of today on Remembrance Day, and now I am adding the rest of our day’s activities. Here is the rest of our November 11 walking tour.

Bob has organized a walking tour of Budapest today. As we started our walk I noticed lots of people hanging out on this balcony.
We are staying in the Old Jewish Quarter and the roads are very narrow and crowded. As we leave this area, the roads widen and there are many pedestrian-only roads and big plazas. This large ornate building is the first large building I see on the main Street near our apartment. We walk towards the nearby Christmas Markets. There are lots of small wooden ‘cabins’ filled with beautiful crafts. I loved these dried fruit ornaments, but I am sure that I wouldn’t be allowed to bring these through Canadian Customs. Too bad, they are lovely and smell wonderful.There are several stands with all sorts of candies… beautiful felted hats, that are priced starting at $150.00 CAD.
This our first Christmas tree of the year. This ‘Little Princess’ is the first of many statues we see on the streets of Budapest. Another ferris wheel, but we decide to pass on riding this one. St. Stephen’s Basilica is in the centre of Budapest. The inside off the church has lots of gilded ornamentation and a beautiful dome.The main attraction in this church is the thousand year old mummified right hand of King Stephen. If you want to see this relic, deposit a coin and a light comes on to view the hand.
These two borzoi dogs looked like they needed a bath and brushing. There are lots of dogs here and they live their lives on pavement. I kind of feel sorry for them.
The Fat Policeman Statue represents how hearty the Hungarian foods are, and rubbing his tummy is supposed to bring good luck. There are many ‘good luck’ statues on the streets of Budapest.The Hungarian government erected the ‘Memorial for Victims of the German Occupation’ statue in the middle of the night in July 2014.

A ‘Living Memorial’ was added in front of the statue as a protest against the government’s message that it was only the Nazi’s who committed crimes of genocide, ignoring the wartime Hungarian governments involvement and responsibility for the Nazi’s occupation.

This ‘Living Memorial is a collection of photos and newspaper clippings about the victims of the war and the Hungarian government’s collaboration with the Nazis.

It is believed that this statue is part of the government attempt to ‘revise’ history. The war may have ended 74 years ago but it is still very much a part of life here in Eastern Europe. Some seed pods from one of the trees near this statue are interesting. There is a statue of Ronald Reagan in this plaza as well because of his efforts to end the Cold War. There are so many ornate buildings here… like the Parliament Building! It is so big I can’t get it all into one photo.
Across the river we can see the Buda Castle. Bob takes a moment to sit with the Hungarian poet Attila József… and then we walk onto the Chain Bridge with its guardian lions for a view of Budapest from the river. This is the Pest side of the river, the side our apartment was on… and this is the Buda side. These two cities were united in November 1873, and the name ‘Budapest’ was given to the new capital. I don’t know what this building is but it had delicate golden trim that sparkled in the late afternoon sun. We find a statue of Roskovics Ignác, a famous Hungarian painter, on our walk along the Danube River. Walking through the Christmas Market on our way home I notice this jar of pickled onions! They made me laugh!