Belvedere Palace and Gardens

After the Museum I found this lovely place where I found a beer, and toasted the health of the West. I found out later that Austria, forever "neutral", in June sold Iran 500 50 caliber rifles, a certain quantity of them - sniper rifles.

In recent weeks the number of sniper attacks has gone up in Baghdad, and most of them are kills on US soldiers, penetrating their helmets and armor. SO - I'll still toast the health of the west, but I regret doing it in Austria.










A very un-Victorian winged lioness guarding the Gardens.















VERY un-Victorian. These gardens were immaculately manicured. With little trees shaped into perfect cones, alternated with ones shaped into perfect cylinders and terraced, bubble-like coifs. (alas, not photographed, and thus not pictured).





Here's a great idea for a cocktail garden. As one walks closer to the Palace, the gardens separate and deviate into a labyrinth of smaller, private, landscaped sanctuaries like this one. Between the pairings of trees are hedgerows linking the two that you can walk behind. (You could change clothes behind these.) Park benches and grassy areas round out the ambiance. Viennese were camped out here reading, picnicing and couples enjoying each others company. I envisioned an elaborate cocktail-party with A-list guests strolling around, getting lost - and not wanting to get found.

Vienna Museum (and Siege)

The City museum is devoted to MUCH more than the TWO sieges the Turks laid to them, but that was all I cared about on this visit.

Here are some captured Turkish standards with their unmistakeable crescent (seen in Franz Josef Square).








This is an enormous painting of the second siege of 1682, visible in the background of the previous picture. In the center is Vienna, fortified like no other city I've seen, with walls ringing the city, a river diverted as a moat around those walls, and triangular fortresses built beyond that. They had a mock-up in the museum, but evidently I didn't photograph it.

The Turks brought gunpowder, from their conquests in east, which the Viennese didn't have yet. And Janissaries, young blue-eyed, blond Balkan men forcibly surrendered in youth as blood tribute. Brainwashed and indoctrinated into Islam as slaves, they carried little cannons on sticks and were feared for their ferocity. Defending the city were Venice's garrison plus some Swiss pikemen, that would shove the Janissaries back through the walls, when they breached them, with their 10-ft. pikes.


It was a damn-near thing. The Turks laid siege to Vienna (the second time) in July, 1683 - with 250,000 men. By September, Venice's defenders, never numbering more than 80,000, were exhausted, starved, and despairing. The Turks had tunnelled under her walls by now, and set off charges that brought whole sections down.

Not a moment too soon, The Polish King arrived with 80,000 and routed the Turks, for good, which is captured in this painting.

The date: September the Eleventh.

(The Turkish commander was subsequently beheaded in Belgrade for failing to take Vienna as they'd done Budapest. )


Odd un-PC piece found in the art section of the museum. "This one's called "The Islamic Project-Vienna". There's a mosque (which doesn't exist - yet) in the city center with goats, donkeys, and other trappings of 10th century life in the heart of one of Europe's finest Capitals.

This is EXACTLY what i see in my nightmares - which is why it was so shocking to find in Vienna. Perhaps its a subtle PC piece mocking us for our un-PC "Islamophobia". If it is, its not so funny now.


















Here's the write-up beside it, in German, with Huntington's seminal work and name cited. I'm unsure of the intent. Better get this translated.

Wien, (Vienna)

Franz Josef Square: Forgive the historical ignorance of this and many other posts. I simply didn't have the time to learn all the essentials. There was TOO MUCH history. Time permitting, I can edit these posts later and include all the pertinent and vital info. Perhaps with links.

Franz Josef square is surrounded on all sides by the palaces of the Austrian court, which are now various museums. It was simply the richest I've seen. The detail goes too deep. Any pictures inside these palaces would have done their subjects a disservice. The least conspicuous wood and marble-work inside was more elegant and graceful than the most ostentatious I've seen elsewhere, particularly in the "Polished Turds" Saddam built. That's Class. Only "accessible" to those that appreciate it.









I snatched a photo of the statue previous, because the hero (Franz Josef?) is trampling over an Islamic (Turkish) standard bearer, and here's the close-up. How is it that this statue hasn't been torn down and replaced by a "Crescent of Friendship?" OPEC's in Vienna, after all. Mystifying . . . AND EDIFYING!!! I suggest here is where we should have our Western Resistance Meetings.













So nothings in dispute, here's the muslim and Turkish standard, being bounced out of Europe - for four centuries. This was as far as they made it in the east . . . until now. If anyone's curious what Austria would look like if they'd succeeded, see Bosnia.














The front of one of the Palaces, from the view of the Turkish standard bearer.

Budapest By Night

Aha! I learned the delayed shutter function of my camera, in Budapest! What a break . . .

And also how to balance the thing on a wall or mailbox, (or some obstacle) to burn the requisite exposure time for an exquisite beauty like this one. And all that with a good "buzz" goin'! Pub-crawling as I went. This is the bridge upriver from my hotel that I'd just walked across, coming back from the Pest side, (the Park, the Heroes Square, and the Magnificent mile of Embassies - sorry, no pictures).









This is the Bridge just downriver from my hotel (about a block) - featured in other day-time photographs.
















This is a beautifully illuminated church on the way back to my hotel.
















And this may be the masterpiece of the tour. Capturing the moon playing coy behind the clouds, appearing to illuminate the Magnificent Hungarian Parliament building across the River.

Park, (with Statues)

Look who's here again! This park is a city park, a well-frequented one, and here Churchill has his own corner.



















Know who this gentleman is?





















How 'bout now?





















"TO THE MEMORY OF WASHINGTON. THE HUNGARIANS OF AMERICA. 1906"

The graffiti was supplied by someone else. It took us two hundred years to go from fighting for our freedoms to mocking and debasing them. Maybe the Hungarians have done it inside of 15.
Somebody call Craig Radvansky and put him on the case.

Lenin's statues went un-defaced because the defacer faced gulag-time, or worse. Washington gets tarred and feathered because he wouldn't.

Was this statue standing through the communist period? In this spot? Dunno. I suspect the graffiti post-dated the secret police

Synagogue

A Jewish community rebuilding? The synagogues of Central Europe are tourist attractions now, mostly. But the visitors centers assure me that the communities are rebuilding. Every Capitol has at least one "Old Jewish Quarter" with at least two grand synagogues. Budapest has seven, with gravestones that date back centuries, (quite common). Budapest claims to have Europe's oldest Jewish community. And here is one of her Synagogues.



Street level view.














A sculpture, a "tree of life" in the courtyard behind the Synagogue.





















The Star of David on the gate.

Statue Park

Moving on from the "cemetary", a good ways further outside of town -AND THAT AIN'T NO ACCIDENT - is "Statue Park", where they put all these horrible 20-th century mistakes out to rust - for all centuries to come. I took many pictures, multiple ones of everything in the park, and there were many. I decided on these five as emblematic of what fare was found within the Park's walls. If I were to include them all, it'd run about 4 more pages - and here, at this point, I'm only half-way through my R&R pictures. So this'll have to suffice.
There's old butter-nuts himself, urging on the "worker-soldier vanguard" to throw out the baby with the bathwater. This is one of the first that greet you as you enter the park, and its large. Its difficult to tell from this photo, but the shiny ones are metallic sodered cutouts, while the dark grey ones are solid bronze (or tin - in the cases of communists). Why the difference? I'm not sure. It looks like to me the original piece probably contained all bronze statues, and the tin ones are replacements to help the viewer capture the ful scope of the piece. As to what happened to the original piece, I'd have to guess. Perhaps the people conscripted to compose the "worker-soldier-vanguard" for over 50 years dropped the statue while moving it . . . 60 or 70 times.

These works come from all over Hungary, and the process is repeated in all the former Soviet prison-states. None of these towns, cities and villages - scattered all over the countryside - wanted to keep their piece of Soviet Realism-crap. They all sent them here, that much was explained in English.

Why would that be, Mr. Stalin? Why, Mr. Lenin, (You summ'bitch)!?

This was a monstrosity, over 30 feet high. A Budapester would have to tell you where it was originally perched. I don't think the Commies had Gay Pride Parades, but this fella's feeling fabulo-obvious! Fab to be free of the yoke of Capitalist-pig oppression, war-mongering and yankee imperialism!

(At the Communist Museum in Prague they had these post-cards, I bought a bundle. My Favorite one said, "The Communist Museum. We're right across from Benetton, upstairs from McDonald's. VIVA LA IMPERIALISM, BABY!")

This one was particular for its drab, irreducibly soviet, dull, coercive, anti-individualist, pedestrian lack of beauty that defines the Commies. This one assaults you if you look an inch deeper.

There were others like it. This one may have been in a train-station, on a street corner - wherever - reminding the trod-upon that the revolution trods on. Which has at least two implications. 1) The Revolution's uniformity of purpose: Get back in line, ant, and we will eventually make the world as miserable as we are, and 2) This is the army that will march over you if you can't "win the battle against yourself" in Orwell's phrasing. As if A) Hungarians invited in communist rule, (or spontaneously became communists), or B) they had a choice.

What Statue Garden is complete without this ass-hat? I have always wanted one, and fear most will be melted before I can get my hands on an authentic piece. I will have one one day. He will stand in a recessed pit, like a box, or cage in a gulag where so many millions wound up beacuse of this no-account, slippery, soul-less slut. This inhuman, heartless whore.

Also I'm a southern male. And we piss outside. You do the math.

American Cemetary (?)

So, looking to find my way to the "Statue Park" outside of town, I find this bit on the English map in the same quadrant as the Park: "American Cemetary". I had to go. So I asked the concierge, and he called and told the taxi-driver. This took some time. We drove around the place, through the neighborhood asking the locals, and noone seemed to know about it. So I walked down the Highway, and found this unmistakeable sign on the wall outside.


Here's part of the gate, which was chained and locked. I eventually found a way in, (over the eight-ft. walls).


This is the Centerpiece, where the path in the previous picture leads. There are some very old wreaths laid here, (6 mos. old? 12 mos. old? Older?) with Hungarian colors and messages in that ancient language. I took loads of pictures - far too many to post here, but to the left of this is a large Christian cross, more wreaths, and three flagpoles. (Perhaps the ACLU found out about it - and thats why its disused and pad-locked now).




This is the view looking down the length of the centerpiece, and slightly away at an angle. Flower-pots, terraced rows, a statue of a Saint with a latin inscription - but where are the grave-stones(!!!???) markers, crosses, stars of David? (again, I'm thinking the tentacles of the ACLU) Who fought here? Who was buried here? Were they ever buried here? Budapest was "liberated" by the Red Army, to the best of my recollection, but the markings on the gate clearly state 1941-1945. Were these OSS guys? Downed bomber crews? US-naturalized Hungarian spies sent back in? The mind reels . . . . I have yet to discover the truth.





The place was overgrown, well-over ankle-high, as my sneaks here illustrate. If it had to be overgrown, there couldn't have been a prettier variety of flora - pinks, reds, purples and yellows. In this patch, you can see the clover (that I identified so closely with in my youth - forever foraging for a four-leafed specimen in my Nanny's back yard).

If you spot one in this pick you win the Grand Prize. A souvenir from Iraq.

Your choice, lamb's blood from halal-butcher mixed with fetid Baghdad open sewage running through any street - or a severed head. Both HAZMAT wrapped, and delivered to your door by a guy called "Achmed". We will bear the postage fees.

Archaeology

At the top of the hill/castle complex, in the center, stood what I have to imagine are the ruins of the old castle. Lying here in this state for I don't know how long. Good news! Archaeology is under way, excavating/cataloging everything they find. One must imagine that this will all be part of some exhibit or museum or perhaps they intend to restore it to its former glory, and then put the museum inside.

On the riverside, well up from the first or outer walls, yet down below the tourist area, these guys are hard at work. This is an excavation.

This is a closer view, about 20 yards down the ramparts. This work is taking place all over the walls, in teams of 5-10 laborers. They excavate in sections, and haul everything out by wheelbarrow.

Here's a lateral view. You can see a few gangplanks here for every other team to use to wheelbarrow the stuff out, and at the very end a red shack.

The red shack: This is where the girls sort and clean all the pieces they find. Looks like mostly bricks. Digging for Indian pottery in South Carolina - I know exactly what this is like. The real work starts when you have to catalog and group these pieces.

The Walls of Buda Castle

This is a look over the walls and down onto the River and the Bridge nearest me.

This is a look along the walls downriver. This place is up there about 500-600 feet and it drops - straight off, almost.

From a crenellation: This is a close-up of the bricks, their large and unusual shapes, which date to ????

Here's one of the arrow-slits. Note the oak about 25 feet away, and you're looking down into its upper branches. I thought this pic'd help mark the steepness of this perch. How anybody ever took this place, I'll never know.

Budapest

Striking up the cliff-face (virtually), right behind my hotel on the Buda side of the river, sits the castle, environs and this cathedral. On the right-hand side is an elborate raised promenade overlooking the river and city. Its built in the old style, (perhaps a re-creation), but its of modern concrete construction, (and charges a fee to walk it).








Here's that cathedral, at its foot. It is undergoing a very expensive, very thorough restoration that is about 75% complete.















That restoration includes these original ceramic tiles on the roof, arrayed as they were - a very Hungarian touch.















This is the view down the very steep hill to my hotel, on the left, in the alleyway. Just down the alleyway from me was a Belgian-alley themed restaurant and alehouse. "Pater Marcus" if memory serves. Apparently its a franchise of some 4-6 restaurants in Europe. The beers were varied and outstanding - but the food! Good Lord! Most of it was abbey-monk made! Cheeses, cured meats and hams - I don't know that I ate better during the whole trip - and I had some fantastic meals!

Train Travel

Here's this massive earth-moving project that loomed out of the distance. I have no idea what or why it is, and haven't since found out. I haven't a clue. It would appear to be some kind of mining operation, but who piles it up like this? This picture doesn't do it credit. This thing is really far away, which means it is MASSIVE. Giza Pyramid massive.

Here's this cozy little river valley again. Strange to know that history has interrupted its splendid isolation. Somewhere up here, between East Germany, Czech and Austria were machine-gun towers out in the wilderness, that shot on sight. Policing this little valley would have been easy, I imagine.

More pictures of the neatly organized and landscaped river valley. In many cases, homes and hotels were built right into the unique contours on both sides, (craggy cliffs not captured in these photographs). I found an endless sense of wonder during this long leg of the trip wondering what life was like here 25, 50, 100 years ago.

Travelling by train is contemplative, and relaxing. Its wonderful, until some french hippies on their way to a music festival get on with you, load the car full of their camping crap up to the rafters, smoke cigarettes incessantly, play bongo drums and inane Busker stick tricks - and eyeball you like you're cramping their style! I'm comforted that the muslim authorities that take over France in the year 2032 will find them equally contemptible. Though they will do a better a job of motivating them, make no mistake.