if its wednesday it must be vienna, or a tale of three cities

During the week around Easter we visited the cities of Budapest, Vienna and Prague. First stop was the Hungarian capital Budapest, an interesting city divided by the River Danube (which is not blue in case you were wondering) into two regions - Buda and Pest. The city is a mix of modern redevelopment, authentic un-developed zones and pretty historic areas.

Unsurprisingly capitalism is now well and truly entrenched, with the streets lined with many of the stores you’ll find in London (including Marks and Spencer and Tesco – lucky them). However not all changes have been as quick as might have been expected. For example our tour guide mentioned that when she was working only five years ago she could clearly tell the difference between the locals and the people hanging around the meeting spot waiting for a tour. Now, she says, everyone dresses the same and she no longer makes assumptions about who the tourists are. (Although I think if your citizens are looking as scruffy as backpackers, this may be cause for concern).

One of our excursions was to what is basically a graveyard for the old propaganda statues that used to dominate the streetscape during the communist era. I guess the new government didn’t feel right just destroying them all and instead have relegated them to a park out in the middle of nowhere-ville. Now tourists can visit and treat them with the respect they deserve.

We spent one very cold day in Vienna. After an in-depth twenty-four hours I can say that it basically it all looks like this:

There were loads of tourists about and nearly the same number of men dressed in period costume trying to convince the tourists to attend Mozart performances.

Last but not least was the fairytale-like Prague, complete with a castle on a hilltop. Prague was one of the few European capitals to avoid damage during WWII and retains a range of beautiful buildings from the 10th century to the present, and includes examples of Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque, Renaissance and Art Nouveau architectural styles.

Also on offer were a fantastic choice of cafes and teahouses. We had breakfast at the Café Louvre (frequented by Einstein and Kafka in their day), lunch at the Café Slavia and afternoon tea and cake at the U Zeleneho café. Then the next day it was brunch at the Radost FX, tea at the Café Savoy and…well the interiors were amazing and it was cold outside... do we really need an excuse?

And now, a nice segue...