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Concert Tour to Central Europe
June 23-July 3, 2005 Summary of itinerary Dulles to Frankfurt to Budapest, Hungary. Three nights there. Budapest to Eisenstadt to Melk to Linz, Austria. Two nights there. Linz to Prague, Czech Republic. Four nights there. Prague to Frankfurt to Dulles. We had a memorable trip to central Europe in late June 2005 and we would like to share some of the highlights. A group of 45, about half singers and half spouses ("groupies") left Dulles airport late Thursday afternoon June 23rd. After an overnight flight and a brief stop in Frankfurt, we flew on to Budapest, Hungary to be met by our escort, Yvonne, and bus driver, Karsten. Yvonne was Dutch and full of energy and enthusiasm. Karsten, our fearless German bus driver, was celebrating his 21st birthday that day. Budapest The weather was sunny and hot: in the high 80’s, not what we expected. To keep us from experiencing too much jet lag, we immediately went sightseeing to Roman ruins, Aquincum, dating from the 1st century AD. As we traveled across the city, we were struck by the amazing graffiti; it was colorful and everywhere, so bright and fresh that it could not all have been left over from the Communist era. Saying that our hotel was on a side street doesn’t really capture the experience. The main street went up at about a 30 degree angle and our side street went down off that at a 45 degree angle. We had visions of wheeled suitcases plunging down the side street into the city below. The hotel did have air conditioning and a great breakfast buffet. The Hungarians were celebrating the 15th anniversary of the departure of the Soviets and two of the main bridges across the Danube were closed for concerts, street fairs, and fireworks. Our sightseeing on Saturday morning involved detours and heavy traffic but we did get to see the outside of the Parliament building – a site of major fighting during the 1956 uprising - and Heroes Square. That afternoon we were taken by bus to Szentendre, a Baroque artists’ village, for lunch and shopping. We had our first of many lunches at outdoor cafés and explored the village. We cruised the Danube back to Budapest followed by a Hungarian dinner with live gypsy music. Sunday morning it was off to St. Matthias Church to sing in the Mass as well as afterwards. Then, sightseeing that included Buda Palace and the Great Synagogue. The Synagogue, the largest in Europe, is Byzantine-Moorish in design. We gave a full concert in the Synagogue that night, sharing the program with the Sabbath Song Klezmer Band. Our joint performance of Hava Nageela could not have been more authentic! But the concert went on forever- nearly 3 ½ hours of lively music in all. Too much! Linz Monday, we departed for Eisenstadt, Austria, where Haydn lived and worked for many years. After a tour of the Esterhazy Palace, we gave a brief concert in the Haydn Hall of the palace. From there, we went to the Melk Abbey where we performed a full concert in the Garden Pavilion. Back on the bus, we headed for Linz where we spent the next two nights. We had free time in Linz and some of the group went on an optional tour. Others toured the town on their own, did some shopping, found wonderful little places for lunch, wandered into churches during organ recitals, and generally relaxed. We performed a joint concert with a local choir, the Bachlchor, in the Minorite Church, on our last night there. Prague As we departed on Wednesday morning and headed into the Czech Republic, we encountered cooler temperatures and rain which stayed with us for the next three days. We stopped at the village of Czesky-Krumlov, considered one of the best-preserved villages in Europe with steep, narrow, winding, cobblestone streets. Since it was raining, we found a covered sidewalk café and had a leisurely lunch. The rain stopped long enough for us to take pictures of the village and castle. Our hotel in Prague was ultramodern, lots of glass and chrome. The breakfast buffet included miso soup in addition to the ubiquitous muesli, yogurt, cheeses and meats, hard rolls and eggs. We had a tour of parts of Prague on our arrival and dinner at a local restaurant. And then another, unexpected, tour of Prague as our driver tried to get back to the hotel. Prague has a lot of one-way streets and very strange traffic rules and patterns. Thursday it was still raining when we, and several hundred other tourists, visited Prague Castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, and Basilica of St. George where we sang briefly. In the afternoon, we went to Troja Chateau, full of wonderful art, great frescoes, and beautiful rooms. Friday we toured the Jewish Quarter including the cemetery and the Old New Synagogue before going to Old Town for lunch and the last concert. And it rained some more. The concert was at the Chapel of Mirrors in the Klementinum and yes, there are mirrors in the ceiling. We had a free day on Saturday, then a final farewell dinner. Sunday it was up early for a very long day, consisting of a 22-hour trip home that we all would like to forget. List of concerts Budapest: Mass at St. Mathias Church Informal concert in St. Mathias after Mass Formal concert, shared with Shabat Song Klezmer band, at Great Synagogue Eisenstadt: Informal concert in the HaydnSaal in Esterhazy Palace Melk: Formal concert at Melk Abbey Linz: Formal concert with Bachl Chor in the Minorite Church Prague: Informal concert at St. George's Basilica Formal concert in Chapel of Mirrors in the Klementinum |