Author:

Ms (Leigh) Bella St John aka Luxurious Nomad ~ https://ElegantisVitae.com/

River Danube Cruise to Slovakia for UNICEF

Cruising on the River Danube from Vienna to Slovakia, making new friends, and all in aid of a good cause – what a wonderful way to invest one’s day!

After leaving home and walking across the road to grab a taxi (and spotting yet another beautiful door!)…

…I arrive at the Twin City Liner jetty at Schwedenplatz (German for Sweden Square – although I have yet to look up why it is called that).

Today was the ceremonial opening of the Twin City Liner season 2018.

As part of the festivities, original “Pressburger Kipferl” were served at the entry point in Vienna.

The history of this delight apparently began at the end of the 16th century, when the first records from the former Pressburg of the sale of a pastry filled with poppy seeds or nuts appeared.

The Radio Wien-Band was terrific…

These shoes were on one coooool cat… 🙂

No, the sound guy is not blocking his ears from noise…

…he was attempting to warm them up!

Boarding time…

…through the main deck…

…and up to the captain’s lounge!

These rather peculiar looking buildings are fisher huts…

You can see from the water flowing around this buoy just how powerful was the current…

Some of the huts are quite decked out with solar, satellite dishes and more…

This (below) is my new friend, Michael – a retired computer engineer who grew up in Slovakia (or Czechoslovakia as it was at the time) and now lives in Vienna…

I always think these trees look like they have pom-poms on them…

…and while we were happily tucked away in the captain’s lounge, others found the going a little ‘breeeeeezy’…

Welcome (back) to Bratislava!

This city has only been the capital of Slovakia for 25 years… It’s amazing to think of such major history being so recently created.

…complete with UFOs…

Time for lunch – and since I didn’t have breakfast before I left, a very much appreciated break…

This photo does not do this meal justice – it was delicious!

…and back to Vienna…

This lady (below) was doing a ‘Titanic’ pose…

Hmmmm – so this light helps you see where you slipped?

Michael and I stopped in for a couple of glasses of wine…

…and a most glorious chat about all manner of things from places, to culture, to politics, to economy… and just as we were wrapping up, we discovered we could have continued on for several more hours on one of my favourite subjects, quantum physics!

…and home to enjoy for a late supper half a Viennese hot dog I picked up from a vendor at my front door… LOL!

An excellent day!

…and as I am posting this, it is the following day – and today I rest for tomorrow I am being picked up around 7:00am and am off to Prague!

It has been a huge week – including adding a new person to our team – and being delighted beyond delighted that they were up and running in basically o time at all… Feeling ever so blessed!

Stay tuned…

~ Bella

Magical Horse-Drawn Carriage Ride through Vienna

What a magnificent day! Slept in, then rugged up (it was minus 1 outside and lightly snowing), walked literally 3 minutes past the opera house where I stepped into a horse-drawn carriage and rode around Vienna for an hour, had a magnificent lunch, strolled home via a stop in a very cute clothing and accessories shop (hmmmm, pretend I didn’t say that! – and the bags (yes, plural) full of goodies I brought home from the store are a figment of your imagination – note to self: may need bigger suitcase!), did about seven or eight hours of work that I love, and now am curled up posting this! Magical day! and another thing checked off my bucket list!

(below) Fashion, cafe, lingerie, jewellery, Lindt chocolate, all within the magnificent Hotel Bristol building… and Coca Cola (I am a Coke Zero fan)! What more could a girl want!

I showed immense intestinal fortitude today – I walked past this beautiful bookstore without going inside…

This (below) is just one of the many bump in-out doors in the Vienna Opera House. It is fun to imagine all the stories they could tell…

…and literally about three minutes after I left home, here is my ride…

…der Fiaker!

“The term “fiaker” originates from the French and refers to the hackney carriage stand in the Parisian Rue de Saint Fiacre. In 1720, the carriages – which had previously been referred to as “Janschky” coaches in Vienna – were renamed “fiakers” (and numbered).

Then the carriage trade really began to boom: more than 1,000 fiakers were on the road in Vienna between 1860 and 1900. The carriage drivers were often characters that were known throughout the city and also sometimes performed as singers. They were appreciated for their discretion, especially when one or the other fine gentleman was amusing himself in the fiaker with his paramour. Probably most famous among them was Josef Bratfisch, the royal coachman of Crown Prince Rudolf, who brought the prince’s lover Mary Vetsera to Mayerling in 1889, where both lives found a tragic end.” [from the wien.info site]

…and in case you are not up on your history, Crown Prince Rudolf was the only son and heir to Franz Josef I (who was Kaiser of Austria when the opera house was opened and whose name I read in gold every day as I look at the beautiful building). When Prince Rudolf died (how he died is a whole other story), the next in line to the throne when Franz Josef passed away was Archduke Franz Ferdinand – and if that name rings a bell, the assassination of he and his wife lead to WWI.

This little white four-legged fluffy wanted to eat the big white four-legged ones!

You will have heard of a schmuck, yes? Well this is where you buy old (antique) ones!

I love amazing doors – and Vienna is full of them!

…and I love reflections…

Even the patterns in the cobblestones are beautiful…

Coming around the edge of this building… this is what heaven looks like to me! You could transplant me back to anywhere from around 1840 to 1910 (when King Edward VII died and the world ended) and I would be a very happy pixie… To a large extent, I live elements of a Victorian/Edwardian life – long skirts, silk handkerchiefs, fountain pens, wax sealed notes and letters, my outlook, values… and as much as I adore my convertibles, give me a horse-drawn carriage any day…

Although, I am the first to admit, I could not live the amazing life I do without my technology…

Yes – this (below) is definitely what the world of my own creation looks like… Not a modernly-dressed person in sight.

Is it just me, or does this guy on horseback appear to be looking backward over his shoulder for something?

These girls must have a headache by now…

Re Pinocchio (below), did you know that the town in which it was set, of the village of San Miniato Basso, was originally named Pinocchio? …and that the inhabitants of San Miniato were called Pinocchi or Pinocchini? It’s amazing the useless information that is stored in my brain… 🙂 But then again, I guess I need to give the Hamsters that live in my head something with which to play every now and again…

…and in front of us is again, the opera house – back to where we started…

Time for lunch…

Then back home and back to work – only to hear a few hours later music coming from below…

…and another glorious day draws to a close here in magical Vienna…

Goodnight, all…

~ Bella

Vienna’s beautiful Hotel Bristol

Vienna abounds with luxury, elegance, and beauty – and they were all combined in my experience last night at the Hotel Bristol.

Opened in 1892, this beautiful hotel was named after the British town of Bristol.

The photo above is from their website – I wasn’t able to catch one of the doorman myself…

Former US President Theodore Roosevelt resided at the Hotel Bristol in Vienna´s city center in 1910. From the hotel he was driven to the audience with Emperor Francis Joseph I. At the Bristol he met the first woman awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize (1905), the resolute Bertha von Suttner. Six years before, she had visited him at the White House, where he told her about his mission to make peace between Japan and England. In 1906, he received the Nobel Peace Prize for that – as the first US American. But Roosevelt had ridiculed Suttner’s peace organization in the press, which led to a lively debate between them. [from Hotel Bristol’s website]

For me, no such high-stakes discussion… First, a drink in the bar…

…then into the dining room for dinner…

…and what was for dinner? (a huuuuge!) Wiener Schnitzel, of course!

~ Bella

PS: I decided to go back for lunch today – and it was surprisingly affordable! Only €26 for three courses… and there was more than enough food to provide an elegant sufficiency for the entire remainder of the day, without even needing dinner.

Beef Tartar

Salmon

…and Sacher Torte

Yum!

Listening to Strauss where STRAUSS played Strauss!

I booked this event weeks ago and have been looking forward to it ever since. Not only was the Kursalon on my bucket list, but the thought of going to a Strauss concert and listening to Strauss music being played where STRAUSS himself used to play his compositions… Bliss!

The website captures it perfectly: “In the very place where Johann Strauss himself used to direct his orchestra from the position of first violin, the absolute essence of Vienna’s classical music can once again be heard daily. The Salonorchester Alt Wien, one of the best-known interpreters of classical Viennese music, presents an evening full of Viennese charm with the lilting sound of waltzes, polkas, arias and duets, as well as operetta and piano concerto melodies. Accompanied by excellent opera vocalists and our enchanting ballet soloists, Vienna’s classical music reveals itself as a living firework display for all the senses.”

…but first, as part of the full VIP evening I had booked, a four-course, fine-dining meal at das Johann – the beautiful restaurant within the Kursalon…

…and in to the concert hall…

Front row seats, of course… 🙂

It was interesting when the double bass player brought his instrument on stage, to see all the wear on the beautiful piece of craftsmanship…

The musicians were outstanding! …and I don’t ever recall seeing an ensemble have so much obvious enjoyment while they perform…

The music from just these thirteen people sounded like a full orchestra… Glorious!

The music evoked in me thoughts of ballrooms full of elegant women in Victorian-era gowns, and dashing men who would whirl them around the dance-floor…

Tonight I felt like a princess…

…and it seems almost sad to see the concert hall empty after two hours of euphonious delight… but the notes are still dancing in my heart…

~ Bella

PS: while collecting my coat from the cloakroom, there was a young man near me wearing a LSU cap. I looked at him and said, “Geaux Tigers!” He beamed and gave me a fist-bump! I think that means I did good… 🙂

[sidebar: I actually went to an LSU game at Tiger Stadium with friends who I think have lifetime tickets – and we were only a few rows back from the field. It was an incredible experience – including tailgating with them in their huge monster buses (yes, that is plural)… The only drawback – Alabama won…]

Life’s Never Boring with 20,000 Protesters!

Curled up in my lovely apartment, and I begin to hear a thudding cadence approaching…

At first I thought, oh, it’s a small parade or something…

…and then they kept coming…

…and coming…

…and coming… For almost an hour they kept coming, despite the snow that was beginning to flurry…

…and somehow it just didn’t quite seem right to have a huge protest in front of the beautiful Opera House, but each to his/her own…

…and still they kept coming…

…and coming…

…and then the police kept coming…

…and coming…

…and still they kept coming…

…and the police kept coming…

…and they kept coming…

…and coming…

What were they protesting?

If you read the signs, it’s not just one thing… This seemed like a protesters’ catch-all march.

Some were protesting against the Austrian government, some protesting against the Hungarian government, some protesting against human rights abuse in general, some protesting against human rights abuse in particular countries, and just like the protesters, the reasons for protesting kept coming and coming and coming…

Well, after standing at the window for an hour or so snapping away, my frozen fingers and I are about to jump into the shower and get all glammed up for what I expect to be a marvellous night – I am headed to the magnificent Kursalon Wien for a four-course fine-dining meal, followed by an evening of Strauss, Mozart and more…

Such a contrast!

Well, life’s never boring… 🙂

~ Bella

Budapest to Vienna via Bratislava, Slovakia

Although I forgot to program fine weather into the holodeck for this trip, I had a marvellous time travelling by road from Budapest to Vienna, with a stop-off in Bratislava in Slovakia.

While there are no border crossings for passport checking and the like, one does need to have a sticker for the particular country’s highways on which one wants to travel – so there are what look like toll booths with kiosks from which such stickers may be purchased. This is the one going from Hungary to Slovakia…

…and then on to Bratislava (and apologies about the rain-blurred images…)

This part of the world certainly likes statues of military guys with no heads… Note to self: at some point, find out what that is all about!

The view overlooking the mighty Danube is impressive, even in the rain…

…and then down into the old town…

This (below) is the same fountain as you will see in an early photo a little later…

Bratislava is known for its quirky street art – and it seems Napoleon had a hard night…

…and misplaced his shoes…

This little guy is world-famous… Meet Cumil, the sewage worker…

This is where my driver and I stopped and had a delicious lunch…

…and then across the way to the patisserie…

This (below) is the photo of the fountain to which I alluded earlier…

A woman I find fascinating – Sisi, aka Empress Elisabeth of Austria…

This door is magnificent!

…then on to Austria…

…and buying another sticker – they are available both single journey and annual passes.

Welcome to the outskirts of Vienna…

…where if it doesn’t move, it is tagged (although thankfully, the street artists are very respectful of historic buildings)

…the beautiful River Danube…

…and finally…… THIS is the view from the apartment I have leased for a month!

Welcome to the world-famous Vienna Opera House…

…and as the sun sets, the lights come on, and it appears even more magical…

What a delightful day!

Goodnight, my Friends… Sweet dreams…

~ Bella

Hungarian Etyek Wine Country Tour

Until this trip, I had no idea Hungary had wineries – let alone over one hundred of them just in this region only thirty minutes from Budapest! …and if you think that is a lot, consider that once there were over 1,000 wineries in Etyek.

Crossing the beautiful River Danube once more (you will be familiar with many of these sights from my other posts)…

…and this (below) shows the statue on top of the Citadella…

…we head out of town only about thirty minutes to our first of three stops…

By the way, this bridge looks upside down, don’t you think? 🙂

…and we enter the Etyek region where grapes have been grown since Roman times.

Although the snow in Budapest melted days ago, up here there are still the remains of the major snowfall we had last week…

…and this is our first stop – and yes, it looks just like a house with a lot of vines in the back yard – primarily because that’s what it is…

…and the red-coloured building next door – another house with lots of vines in the back yard…

…but this house has been converted into a tasting area for this winery that has about three hectares of vines, if I remember correctly, that are scattered in various places through the area.

The winery is run by a husband and wife team – and they both also hold down full-time jobs – and they have a young family! She is a teacher and he sells wine-making equipment for a large company.

The wines we tasted in each of the three places were all very ‘clean’ and ‘fresh’… I guess another word that comes to mind is that most of them tasted very ‘pure’ – like mountain spring water – but with a kick! 🙂 I bought a bottle of this one to bring back with me.

Also, all the wines we tasted bar one were all blends… They were all delicious!

Oh, and our tour was conducted by City and Wine, and they could not have been more lovely. Initially, I had booked on another day but since I was the only person booked, Eszter contacted me and asked me if I would like to change to go with a group – and so I ended up with a most delightful small group consisting of Eszter, our wonderful guide, Joseph, two young men from Finland, and two young women from … the Scottish Highlands!!! Remember where I spent a glorious week or so over New Year’s in Scotland? That’s where they live! (well, not in Ardoe House, but in Aberdeen).

After a fabulous tasting – and fascinating conversation about the impact of WWII on the area, we head off…

No, it doesn’t all look like this… Little by little they are laying paved roads, etc…

…and on the way, we drive by the Korda Filmpark. Named after Sir Alexander Korda, this site is fast becoming one of the busiest film studios in the world.

Korda has one of the biggest sound-stages in the world with an area of 6,000 square metres and an interior set buildable height of 20 metres.

While (below) they may not look like much from this side, the Filmpark has ten HECTARES of backlot sets, including (thanks to Wikipedia for this next bit):

New York/Brooklyn Set

Built for Hellboy II: The Golden Army, the backlot includes a full Brooklyn street block with four-story facades on sides, a movie theater, bank, restaurant, repair shop, freight loading docks and fire escapes. The length of the main street is 120 meters which runs into 60 meter long side streets at each end. The width of the paved road is 14.5 meters, with 3-4 meter sidewalks on each side. The large backlot area makes it possible to extend the set on all sides. The street façade can be modified to suit production’s needs.

Renaissance Set

The backlot was designed by Francois Seguin & Jonathan McKinstry for The Borgias TV series . It portrays numerous regions of historical Italy, from The Vatican to Florence. The more than 1 hectare renaissance city has various styled buildings and gates, courtyards, alleys, interiors, prison cell, a piazza and Vatican façade.

Medieval Village Set

Built for the World Without End miniseries, the 12,000 square meter set is situated in a natural environment next to a lake and forest. The set portrays a village from the 13-14th century with various houses, fortress wall, central square and ambulatory. Most of the houses include interiors.

…and we continue on to collect our Finnish friends…

…who (below) have been to – you guessed it, yet another house – only this one houses one of Hungary’s most famous chocolate makers! They did a chocolate tasting… Note to Self: how on earth did I miss that one?! 🙂

…and to our next stop…

They even made freshly churned garlic butter for us… Yum!

…and note the size of this cellar – that is the entire cellar for this winery!

…and again off and on our way… although by now we were all much more jovial and strangely louder… 🙂 The Hungarians certainly believe in giving value for ‘tasting’ – make it more like ‘drinking’, since no glass was ever just poured with only a tasting-sized amount. So, now about six or seven glasses of wine later…

…we continue on…

…to our third and final winery, where we had more ‘tasting’ and a delicious dinner…

…and about twenty minutes later we are again crossing the River Danube and back to home sweet home to my magnificent hotel… which I discovered was the Nazi headquarters in Hungary during WWII.

It was a glorious afternoon – and thank you to all my new friends who made it even better!

~ Bella

Urania time machine…

Entering through these reasonably ‘normal’ looking doors of the Urania – pronounced oo-RAY-ne-yah – of this theatre / cinema, one has no idea they are actually a time machine, transplanting one back to the late nineteenth century…

…even the previews were of old movies, and of theatrical productions…

Oh, and the movie I saw was “The Shape of Water” – an astonishingly crafted piece of work!

I headed back to my lovely hotel, and was greeted by each of the staff, and even the musicians all nodded hello to me – I felt like a celebrity!

…and then discovered that the maitre’d (who reminds me of Carson in ‘Downton Abbey’) had organised the staff to move furniture for me – seriously! He had noticed that I was never truly comfortable on the chairs – and the tables with sofas were all set for multiple people. So, he arranged for a table for one to be set at a sofa – just for me!

…and in the elevator going up to my room, there was a man in the elevator with a bunch of roses – and he gave me one! He said very shyly, “your smile deserves a rose”.

I kissed him on the cheek as I exited the elevator and he blushed a bright red…

What a delightful day!

~ Bella

PS: It is Sunday as I am finishing and uploading this post, and after a big day yesterday, I decided to stay in and read, watch some documentaries on my laptop… and so ordered room service.

The man on the other end took my order and then said, “do you have any sparkling water in your room?” – turns out, they all now know I love to have sparkling water with dinner..!

“No, I don’t,” I replied laughing. “I will send you some,” responded the man on the other end of the phone.

Did I mention I love it here? 🙂

PPS: When the lovely waiter brought my lunch, he asked if I was going to be down in the restaurant later this evening. I said I wasn’t sure, and he replied that the maitre’d had asked him to inquire so that they could make sure they reserved “my table” for me…

Needless to say, I will be going downstairs later…

Bliss!

My first “ruin pub” (romkocsma) experience in Budapest

There is a first time for everything – and today was my first ‘ruin pub’ experience in Budapest, and also my first visit to the magnificently beautiful cinema here!

The day started with me going off exploring… OK, so I wasn’t able to go far, but one doesn’t need to here. There are cool venues, oddities, sculptures, almost everywhere one looks…

…and THIS, my friends, is a ‘ruin pub’…

What is a ruin pub/bar?

Once the site of the Nazi Jewish ghetto, the historic Jewish Quarter of Budapest became dilapidated after WWII. Even as recently as the early 2000’s, there were still a number of abandoned buildings scattered through the district – when some enterprising people decided they would make excellent sites for bars and pubs!

…and here is where I am sooooo happy I have begin experimenting with 360-degree photos! Here is what it looks like as a flat image…

…and this is your chance to kinda-sorta see what I saw [just use your mouse/fingers to move around the 360-degree space]

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Brunch of champions…

…and then off to find the cinema… and just wait until you see the cinema!!! Oh – my – goodness!!!

~ Bella

Budapest Citadella and Historic Central Cafe

[Simply use your mouse or fingers to move around this 360 image]

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Overlooking the beautiful River Danube, the Citadella (the English translation of the Hungarian word for citadel) is perched on the top of Gellért Hill in Budapest. My first intention was to stop in at the restaurant part way up the hill for lunch, but the owner (at least he seemed like the owner) was very abrupt when telling me that they didn’t open for another 20 minutes, so I decided to give that a miss, and head to the top of the Hill.

The views from up here are amazing – and I have sooooo overused that word during my stay here, but it fits so perfectly!

By the way, it is sobering to compare the photo below to the magnificent bridge over which I have travelled so many times during my visit…

This below gives a whole new meaning to losing one’s head… or the song, “I……. ain’t got no boooooody…”

Their mulled wine was the PERFECT thing to cast off the cold… (and as I write this, the snow has now melted away already, and we are into two-digit temperatures…)

…then back down to ground level for lunch (no, I didn’t partake in any of the other goodies above)… My destination – the historic Central Cafe. Founded in 1887, it is one of the oldest surviving continually operating restaurants and cafes in Budpest (and my hotel in which I am staying is another!)