We're Home!

No problems flying home today.

Flew from Vienna through Frankfurt and direct to Ottawa. Frankfurt airport was unexpected. We had to take stairs down from a huge plane due to major airport construction and buses to/from terminal, just like the old TO airport!

Here's Ida with a cute escort!

Biggest thrill was seeing Greenland for the first time.

In summary, I had some blog challenges with different computers and keyboards in each city. Every city had a different keyboard, English, Slovak, Czech, German, Hungarian. I now know several ways to find the "@" key! Was not able to upload pictures sent to me by email either, so have added a few more now that I am back home.

Hope you have enjoyed following trip!



Warm regards to all,
Ida, Paul and Anne

Schonbrunn, Tuesday Afternoon

We got some good advice from our Concierge today and spent a lovely afternoon at the Schonbrunn Palace and market near our hotel.

Took the subway out to Schonbruun and took a tour of the palace. Forty rooms in 60 minutes, that's my kind of HGTV tour!

Nice back yard as you can see, and quaint Gazebo with pond. Loved the loggia with purple flowers. Walked up to the Gazebo and got some nice shots of the Palace with city in the background. This was the summer palace of the Hapsburg family.

Took the subway back home and got off one stop before the Opera. The market was right there. Bought some fresh strawberriies and Indian Paprika to take home.

Morning in Vienna - May 11

Got up early again and headed our for a walk. Another pleasant morning, cool with a bit of sun.

I think I mentioned that our hotel is kitty-corner to the Hofburg palace. We walked through the gardens on our last visit here. Lovely palace and gardens, not! Actually we walked through their BACK yard. Here's a photo of the back and front. You can see the Hofburg's put a bit more money into the front of the house. Good curb appeal!

We walked by a monument dedicated to communist Russia when they occupied Austria. Accordng to our tour guide yesterday (we did learn a few things), President Putin was recently here and laid a wreath. If you look carefully you can see a ton of flowers at the base.

The last shot is that of another museum across the street from the Hofburg Palace and down a few doors from our hotel.

Stay 20 feet behind me!

During our trip I've been taking most of the pictures. Quite often, I have had to wait for someone to get out of the way of the picture. Several times I have had to advise this guy to stay "20 feet behind me" - don't want him wandering off and getting lost do I?

Wherever I go, whatever city I'm in, he seems to appear in at least one shot. I've tried to lose him just about every day, but he always seems to find me. Maybe it's my hat. I might not wear it tomorrow.

Oswald Family Crest

Did you know the Oswald family has a crest?

Peter Vira has been doing some research on the Oswald family and found this crest. He's not sure what the symbolism is, but will continue researching. I think I mentioned previously that he has a story about the Oswald family dating back to the 1500's. Maya says it is in story format, a bit convoluted, but Maya hopes to get it organized to make a clearer story. I think there is some confusion on names.

Anyway, we are not sure what the family motto is, but we think it should be, in Latin of course, "Leave your shoes at the door!"

Most Barrons that I know hate wearing shoes. They take them off in cars, they kick them off as soon as they enter their home, or any home actually.

As soon as I walked into the Vira home, I was greeted with a display of shoes at the door. Could this be a family trait of the Oswalds? Could this be another family mystery solved? They warmly greeted us and advised us to take off our shoes. When we went to the Krupka's house, we asked if we should take off our shoes, but were advised to keep them on.

So there is another family mystery solved. Oswald's don't like to wear shoes. It's in their soles!

Disappointing Day in Vienna

Well, the day started well. Paul and I walked the outer limits of the city, didn't see much, but got a good walk in.

We grabbed some lunch and got picked up at the hotel for a bus/cruise tour.

The city portion was just awful. No historic buildings, but the ones they showed did not seem to have any relevance. The tour did get interesting as we headed out of town and up into the woods. A small town there was quite quaint and Beethoven and Albert Einstein both lived there. Why they lived there or when, we'll never know! There was never any opportunity to get pictures, as the bus never slowed down.

The tour guide had no animation, spoke three languages, all in monotone. He never shared any information about what we were looking at. There was also an artistic community and many wealthy celebrities/politicians live in this area.

We stopped for 30 minutes at the top of the hill. We were surpised at the size Vienna. We reflected that we really could have gotten into a lot of difficulty trying to find our hotel on our last two visits here! So we really were never lost, we were always in the Centrum!

Headed for the cruise and that was the real disappointment. Nice interior of the boat, but no decking in order to take photos. Our cruise in Prague was much better. Grabbed this picture of the red roofed church. What church is it? I have no idea.

There was no tour guide on the boat either, just a recorded commentary on some of things we were looking at. Very short trip on the Danube and couldn't see much, except one hill. Then we went up the canal, through a lock (30 minutes) and couldn't see much, but graffitied walls. Trees generally blocked our view and not much to see really.

They did seem to be very proud of their sewage treatment plant. That's the picture with the blue/gold ball. I must say it is the most attractive and impressive sewage treatment plant I have seen!

Towards the end of the tour, it poured. We had been told we would be dropped off at the Opera which is right across the street from us. Unfortunately, that did not happen, so we ended up taking the subway back to the hotel.

Maps?! We don' need no stinkin' maps!!

Years from now, some may want to speculate on how the Barrons managed to navigate through Europe without GPS, Mapquest, detailed city maps or Zuzanna. (Note to future travellers, Mapquest does not yet provide driving directions or maps for central Europe.)
If they were the detectives from Law & Order, they would question how we arrived in cities at 2:30 pm, but arrived at our hotel at 4:00. Or if we left the hotel at 9:00 a.m., why did it take more than hour to actually leave the city?
Did we stop to shop? Perhaps someone needed to find a bathroom? Perhaps someone was hungry? Or indeed, were the Barrons lost in Europe?
We would say 'No', at all times we knew we were in Europe! We knew when we were in Vienna! We knew when we were in Prague!! The only time we MAY have been lost was attempting to reach our hotel in Bratislava. There were times we were not exactly sure if we were in Austria, Slovakia, or indeed Hungary, but we were confident we were nearing Bratislava and the centrum (city centre).
Today, May 9, Mutterdag in Vienna, we departed Budapest with no problems and arrived in Vienna with a few more detours to get to our hotel. Paul and I then dropped off the car (took a little longer than we expected to get back out of town) at the Airport and took the CAT back to the city and walked back to our hotel. Tour buses and walking will be our mode of transportation for the next few days. Paul can finally relax knowing he doesn't have to drive the standard anymore. By the way. we learned today that there is a European website that provides driving directions and we are'nt going to tell anyone how to get to it.

Gyor, on our way back to Vienna May 9

Drove back to Vienna for our final few days.
Stopped at the town of Gyor, about halfway between Budapest and Vienna.
The town was founded by the Celts, the Romans took over. The Magzars and Turks were also here.
Quaint square that has been recently refurbished. Lots of charming streets.
Photos of Carmelite Church, Benedictine Church. Is it me, or are these churches all starting to look alike!

Ahhhh, the Spaaaa

Paul and I got up early, had breakfast and walked about 30 minutes to the Szechenyi Baths. The building is fabulous inside and out. There are three large outdoor pools heated at various temperatures. One pool has a jetted current that spins you around. It also has powerful jets sending water up from the bottom of the pool. Here's Paul enjoying a water massage.
Inside, are several more pools varying from 18- 38 C.
Built in 1879 on the site of thermal springs.
On our way back to the hotel we caught a Fireman's parade at Heroes Square.

Mystery solved

Ida knew that three Oswald children had died in Theodore's family. She finally got the details. Two children, Jozef and Jan died within months of each other due to typhoid. One was just a baby. A third child died the same year from a tooth infection.
This is a picture of their grave site with Magda placing red tulips from her garden.

Peterborough. Centre of the Universe

Paul is always telling me that so and so was born in Peterborough, or played for the Peterborough Petes, or drove through Peterborough.
When we arrived at our hotel in Bratislava, the Operations Manager, Mario, greeted us and asked where we were from and we indicated Canada.
He indicated he had been to Canada. Had relatives there and took many summer vacations there. My aunt's cottage is there, near Peterborough, Ontario, do you know it?
We all laughed, we couldn't beleive we met someone in Bratislava that had been to Peterborough!
This is a view of the hotel hallway. Brand new hotel, lovely, and attached to a mall!

Budapest WOW!

What a great city!
We had a leisurely breakfast and signed up for a "Hop on-Hop Off" tour of the city. Ida hopped on right outside our hotel and didn't get off until we were done. That's OK, we dropped Ida off back at the hotel for R&R and we headed out on foot and hopped on and off the bus as needed as our pass was for 24 hours. We got our walk in. We cleverly took the bus UP to the Palace and walked DOWN to the Chain Bridge and back home for a swim and hot tub before heading out for dinner.

It was a nice morning and we had an open-air bus, but the driver rarely slowed down for pictures. Some highlights from top to bottom:
The Parliament Buildings - newly restored, from this view taken from the Palace, the other side is quite black.
Szechenyi Baths, interior shot at front entrance and part of the spa from outside. We hope to go there tomorrow morning to "try the waters".
Vajdahumyad Castle, built temporarily for the milleneium (the other one), it was so successful they built it with brick. Showcases 4 - 5 major architectural styles throughout the history of Budapest including, medieval, gothic and barocque.
The Square of Heroes, the Basilica and Fisherman's bastion.
Buda Palace was amazing. It is basically a small town up there and most buildings have been turned into museums. There are a few hotels and restaurants.
My camera battery was dying so I had to forego taking many pictures.
Next trip: 2 batteries and more memory!!

Presov & Kosciece May 7

We got up bright and early today as son Peter leaves for work around 6:30 a.m. We didn't want him to have to come back to see us off with his parents, even though he works right down the street.
Magda had breakfast ready even though we told her we just needed some juice in the morning. We were fueled for our trip to Budapest.

It was another dreary day, but the weather was pretty good by the time we got to Presov so we stopped and walked the square. Ida stayed in the car.
Church's are prominent here and conveniently located in the squares, the center for all activities and businesses. We saw nuns and priests, in long robes, going about their day. People drop into the churches on their way to work or walking by with the baby. We drove by Vlad's house on our way out. If you look closely there is a small reminder of the communist prescence with the hammer and cycle on one of the monuments.

Then we stopped at Kosice, a large industrial town, with a very historic town square. In 1369 this town was given the first royal Coat of Arms. They have a large cathedral. People are very naughty in Kosice. At 8:00 a.m., there was a long line for the confessional, mainly seniors, but we know the kind of trouble they can get into, right?

There is a tall statue to commemorate the plague and the singing fountain in front of the Theatre. The fountain moves to music and at night has a light show. Not exactly the Bellagio in Vegas, but pretty nice.

We arrived at Budapest at 2:30 and finally found our hotel by 4:00. Here's the view from our balcony. We were upgraded to an executive suite - a lovely room with 1.5 baths, a living room and king bed for Paul and I and Ida has a single bed in a little vestibule that gives her some privacy.

Found an nice outdoor cafe and wrapped ourselves in blankets and enjoyed the evening. There is a large festival this weekend and we could hear the music from the square in front of our hotel.

Our Awesome Hosts!

What can we say, but a big Thank You! to the Vira family. We could not have toured Slovakia with such ease without the assistance of Maya and Zuzanna by our sides explaining things, sharing their history and translating all conversations.

Peter and Magda were generous hosts. We learned there is definitely an Oswald streak of stubborness in this family. Peter would not let us pay for any lunches or dinners. No matter how we tried, he managed to pay the bills. Our money wasn't good in Slovakia.

While we couldn't communicate directly, they travelled with us to the cemetery and Mayor's office and joined Ida and Paul for coffee and dessert at Marta's on our last night.

Magda is a great cook and she homemade fabulous schnitzel for our last dinner. Yum!! As you've learned she is also talented with needlepoint. She enjoys gardening. She has worked at the Panasonic plant nearby and in a textile mill.

They are both early risers, and each morning Magda had a great breakfast ready to send us off with.

She had lots of questions. She patiently waited throughout our visit until it was appropriate to ask hard hitting questions about our families and life in Canada.

How much money did average Canadians make? How did our tax and health care system affect our standard our living? What was our maternity leave like? What age do Canadians retire at?

Magda and Peter have raised three terrific kids. Here's a little about them.

Maya!
An adventurous soul, wonder where she gets it from?
Grew up in Hniezdne, left at age 18. Worked in Bratislava for an insurance company for 3 - 4 years. Went to England to study English and worked as an Au Pair and some odd jobs for three years. Wanted to go to the Caribbean so got a job with Carnival Cruise Lines and worked there for six months. Had some trouble with her back and had to take some medical leave. She then went to Spain to learn Spanish and taught English. She worked for Accenture for four years in accounting and now works for Bausch in Madrid.

She enjoys travelling, running and her goal is to run a 10 km race this New Year's Eve in Madrid. She speaks several languages: Slovak, English and Spanish and a little Russian and German to boot.

Maya took time out of her busy schedule to come home for our visit. She used her valuable vacation time to be with us. Vacation in Madrid is typically taken in August when it is the hottest and Maya will now have to work then.

Zuzanna!
Another free spirit that likes to travel and move around.
Grew up in Hniezdne and attended school there until 1995. Went to Presov in 1999 to a Business School. Worked at a hotel here in the village.
In 2000 she went to England as an Au Pair, then returned to Bratislava and managed a restaurant. Went back to England in 2006 and worked in a restaurant and office.
Enjoys cooking, particularly Thai food. Likes to read. Loves Hockey!!
Her favorite hockey player? Marion Hossa, of course! followed by Zigmund Palffy. Her favorite hockey team is the Slovak National team. She was very disappointed when Canada beat them during this year's Olympics in Vancouver.
What can we say Zuzanna? We are not so disappointed! Go Canada Go!
Zuzanna also played hockey on the frozen river that runs through the village and more recently on dry land when the village would make a rink for the kids to play on. She remembers playing with the Hossa brothers.
Her goal in life: Get a job!!

And finally Peter!
Peter works right down the street for a local ethanol distillery, the biggest in Europe. He was usually around in the evenings and provided translation services on our last night and morning as Maya, Moscow.
He too grew up here and left at age 15 to attend a Technical IT & Electronics school. He headed to England at age 18 for a 2 month vacation to learn some English. He returned here to continue his education, but then went back to England for 1.5 years.
He has a new pet, Lilly, a type of flying squirrel. Likes computers and actually built his own. Looks pretty cool, and he's clearly very knowledgeable about them.
He hopes to one day move back to England and perhaps live in Spain for the nice beach and weather.
He has a very nice girlfriend, Martina, and she joined us for a couple of meals and is the image of the computer generated needlepoint pattern.