Journey back in time

Journey back in time
Originally uploaded by Lye Hock.

A brass clock & a telephone inside a lift that took us up to Eagle's Nest. This was a mountain top hideout used by Adolf Hitler during WW2 to plan & strategise his war plans. It was journey back in time. I have read so much about the man that it was eerie to be actually inside a lift that was used by him. Most of the fittings in Eagle's Nest were original stuff from that era. It is now a restaurant. The lift shaft goes through 400ft of solid rock to reach the top. German engineering at its best....and that was built in the 1940s......

French cafe

Gerbeaud
Originally uploaded by Lye Hock.

Gerbeaud cafe is one of the oldest French cafes in Budapest. Probably built in the 19th century, fittings from that period in the cafe are painstakingly maintained. The underground metro runs below the cafe and at regular intervals, your espresso cup will rattle along...

Budapest

Budapest skyline
Originally uploaded by Lye Hock.

Found out from our guide Arpad that Hungarians originated from Asia when nomadic tribes settled in central Europe. Budapest (pronounced "pesh") is a culmination of two parts of the city, Buda & Pest. Buda is on the hilly side of the city & reputedly more affluent while Pest is the more commercial or traders' side. Dubbed the Bangkok of Europe, but from what we've seen, a far cry from Bangkok. Even Barcelona would have a more vibrant nightlife......then again maybe our guide took us on the more polite route.....

Picture of Budapest skyline taken from a vantage point on the Buda side with the help of a monopod.

Bratislava

Tulips01
Originally uploaded by Lye Hock.

A lunch stop on the way from Prague to Budapest. Bratislava is the capital city of Slovakia, the other half of the former Czechoslovakia.

Czech food

Dinner01
Originally uploaded by Lye Hock.

Typical Czech dinner of roast pork, sauerkraut & dumplings. The dumplings are the actually sliced doughy stuff and not the chinese "dumplings" I was accustomed to. Their food is mostly meaty & not much imagination. After a while, we had to go for some Italian stuff and finally some Chinese in Vienna. More shots of food during the tour are found here.