I know having been to London and Paris in June that this
trip must appear extravagant but it was planned nearly a year ago. We set off on the 1 September for a month.
On 2 Sept we arrived in Madrid together with all our luggage
arrived well done Emirates.
We started by staying at a great hotel near the Prado, the Westin
Palace which is perhaps the most famous hotel in Spain. The first night we had dinner at the hotel’s La
Rotonda Restaurant which has a massive stained-glass dome. The first course of cooked artichokes topped
with fried Iberian ham was the best dish we had on the trip.
It is 5-minute walk to Prado Gallery where we spent 4 hours
the next day. It was not too crowded. Goya Velasquez and El Greco are the big 3 and
it would have to be top attraction of any visit to Madrid.
We could not get into the Royal Palace so on the advice of
TimeOut we went to Museum of Illusion best business idea I have seen in several
years. Absolutely packed with families;
kids having a great time.
On Monday 5 September we caught the fast train to Valencia and
I did it again; I left kindle#4 on the train. This time we were booked at the Hotel
Palacio Vallier which is a new hotel boutique hotel located in the old city
centre and has a great location with great staff. They contacted the railway station and
recovered my kindle which we collected the next morning. That night we ate at the Orio restaurant on
the recommendation of the hotel. It was
the only one open before 8 and served terrific Basque food.
The next morning after collecting the kindle we went to City
of Arts & Sciences visited Hemisphere and saw Blue Ocean Imax. That night we ate at San Tommaso Italian restaurant
again it opens before 8.
The next morning we went to the Saint Nicholas church in
morning. Quite spectacular Saint Nick is
the original Santa Claus. Then we went
to the Panorama Restaurant located at the beach for lunch where we had Paella
which was invented in Valencia and should only be eaten for lunch.
On Thursday 8 September we went to Valencia Cathedral to see
the Holy Grail before we flew to London.
It was Boarding Chaos at Valencia Airport and we left 45 minutes late
which meant even greater chaos at London Heathrow. No operator available to drive the jet bridge
for 30 minutes and then we had another a 45-minute wait at the carousal. Finally got to the Tardis at 6pm to met with
announcement QE2 had died.
Interesting time in the UK.
Transition to Charles III happened seamlessly. He immediately held audience with new PM Liz
Truss. The UK is in for interesting
times but you have to be impressed with how democracies handle transitions. (Except for the USA in 2020; I can never forgive Trump for throwing Pence
under the bus.)
On Saturday I went to the National Gallery where in June I
had gone to the Titian exhibition. This
time I managed the first half of the gallery – there are 36 rooms. The most impressive for me was the Rembrandt
room which contains the only equestrian painting done by Rembrandt.
In the afternoon I went to see The Seagull by Chekov
starring Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Throne). I had never seen the play before and it is
quite brilliant. Indira Varma (another
GOT performer) who plays an aging actress was stunning and it was a wonderful
production.
The next night we all went to see
Six, the musical comedy about the six wives of Henry VIII. Given five of the wives die in the production
it was bizarre mix but we had a memorable night.
We wrapped up our stay in London
with meals at The Ivy in Richmond, City Barge at Strand on the Green, and
Daylesford Organic in Notting Hill. No
question the quality of restaurants in London has risen dramatically.
Next stop was Munich. Perhaps the wealthiest city in Germany and
on Antony Mayer’s suggestion we stayed at the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski
which is the top hotel in Munich, located on Maximilianstraße which as home to
shops like Prada and Gucci is the most expensive street. The people watching at the hotel was great
fun and that night (as we had a 100 euro food & drink credit) we ate at the
hotel restaurant.
Friday morning we went on a tour
“In Hitler’s footsteps” which was all about the rise of the Nazi Party to
power. I did not realise that Munich was
its spiritual and physical home. When the Allies captured the Nazi head office
in Munich Hitler committed suicide 1 hour later. Great tour and highly recommended.
The next morning we went down to breakfast
to discover all the staff and the majority of guests were dressed in the
Bavarian national costume. It turned out
it was the first day of Octoberfest even
though it was September 17. The hotel
was full to capacity and the atmosphere was very buzzy. Using the principle of buying straw hats in
winter we decided to visit the Alte Pinakothek which is the Art Gallery of
Munich and contains one of the finest collections in Europe. As an added bonus the Neue Pinakothek, which
is the Impressionist gallery in Munich, was shut for renovations and 10 rooms
in the Alte were displaying all its masterpieces from Van Gogh to Manet so you
got two galleries for the price of one.
Although every
restaurant in town was booked out the hotel managed to get us a booking at
Trattoria Seizt. The previous night we walked
in and got a cancellation at the Brenner Opengrill. Both are great restaurants.
On the Sunday we
caught the train to Passau to board the Viking Rinda and sail to Budapest over
the next 7 days. The trip to Passau was
a comedy of errors but we did finally get on the boat. We then started our 7 day cruise to
Budapest. Viking laid on a great trip. Excellent food and service and highly recommended. Each stay started with a walking tour
followed by a light lunch and excellent dinner.
Passau: we went to
the Dachshund Museum which is hilarious.
Linz: third city of
Austria, where Johannes Kepler lived, who discovered the three laws of
planetary motion, which explains why the earth has seasons and our weather
changes.
Wachau Valley; most
beautiful part of the cruise.
Krems: Gottweig
Abbey home of apricot wine and schnapps.
Vienna: Terrific
city. Evening concert lead by violinist Edua
Zadory was fantastic. Empress Maria
Theresa has 16 children her husband had 31.
Bratislava; Capital
of Slovakia: Biggest producer of cars per head of population in the world. All the manufacturers are here.
Budapest: Moored in
Pest the flat part. Parliament House has a brilliant tour. Then moved to Buda (the hilly part) staying at
the Hilton in the castle district. Not
quite at the level of the Kempinski but pretty close.
On the day before
our departure, we went to Szentendre, driven by Les Farkash who is an old friend
who now spends his time 50/50 between Budapest and Sydney. It was Les who recommended the Parliament
House Tour. Szentendre is a charming
town about 30 mins north of Budapest where we had lunch in the town centre. Les gave us a great insight in what it is
like to live in Hungary which he has now done for six months every year for the
past 17 years.
If you are in Budapest
staying in the Castle District on the Buda side I highly recommend the Bistro Maison
for dinner. This morning we had a two
hour walk around Buda Castle. Now
sitting in the hotel waiting to be picked up by a driver to go to airport.
And that wraps up
the trip. Europe is going through
interesting times but is always worth a visit.
If all goes well we will be back in Sydney on 29 September.
