Artsy Geek

From Vienna we drove into the Alps.  It was fun watching the mountains growing in front of us. Even with a glare on the bus windows I tried to take some pictures of the experience of driving through the Alps and its fabulous lakes. The destination of our trip was Hallstatt.  A tiny town with absolute stunning views!  Our short visit to Hallstatt included singing at the Lutheran Church of Hallstatt which is a well known landmark with its tall picked roof rising above the town. We then continued our trip to Saltzburg.  Here are some additional mountain pictures that I was able to capture on the way. Hallstatt is one of the places I plan to visit again and stay for at least a week if not more relaxing, looking and hiking at the mountains and enjoying the peace and quiet of the place.

Vienna was fantastic with the great architecture and bright buildings.  We explored the city under a cloudless sky. The highlight of the day was a visit to the opera house where I wished I had a tripod to capture more of the magnificent interior.  Not sure why people in Vienna did not like it when it was re-built and redesign after WWII. In the evening we also went to a concert hall where we were seated at the orchestra seats for a Mozart concert.  The orchestra seats were placed on the stage right behind the orchestra which was a surprise to all.  It was a great experience seeing the animated face of the orchestra conductor throughout the performance. With the choir we also took a trip to Stift Geras for an evening concert.  We were treated to an excellent dinner of pork, beef, dumplings and salads.  Everyone agreed that it was the best dinner we had thus far on our trip.  After dinner we rehearsed in possibly the Abby's greatest rooms wi

Slovakia is a very beautiful country with language and traditions very close to my Polish roots.  Too bad our stay there was only couple hours on the way from Budapest to Vienna.  We only seen the old town of Bratislava with its opera house and many embassies, but I'm sure the city has more to offer and we should come there again to explore it in more detail. We had a delicious lunch in Bratislava that included a very tasty piece of bacon :)

After a long and tiring trip on Boeing 747-400 (The biggest airplane I had a chance to fly on so far) , transfer with 4 hours wait time at Frankfurt airport we finally arrived in Budapest. Boeing 747-400 We first stopped at the Heroes Square where we learned about the history of Hungary. The square features seven Chieftains of the Magyars and important Hungarian leaders starting with Saint Stephen.  The square was build in 1896 to commemorate the thousandth anniversary of the foundation of the Hungarian state.   Our quick city tour included visit to two magnificent churches.  The one on castle hill, The Church of Our Lady - known as Matthias Church, had a stunning ceramic tile roof that caught my attention.  Unfortunately I had some trouble capturing the dark interior paintings of the inside without a tripod.   We also had a chance to see the St. Stephen's Basilica where we later performed.  The interior of marble and gold was stunning! We could not b