How to Plan an International Trip: Travel Tales and Tips : December 2017

Part 2: Kunsthistorisches Museum

Mother of pearl inlay box

Coral

Check out the handle

Alabaster medallion

See the pearls on the dog's collar and the fine work on the horse's tail...

These models work...we can see them on tablets available near by

Ancient Egypt:

The palace is lovely

We spent 4 plus hours and then had to reluctantly get out as we had our train to Budapest at 4.40. We could have walked to the Hofburg palace and seen the Imperial treasurey for which we had bought the ticket. We didn't.

This is the Maria Theresa platz outside the museum.

I had mistakenly thought it was at 4.20. We had got permission from our apt guys to check out late by 2.30. We wasted some time choosing the wrong exit from the metro, we should have chosen University platz, we retraced, got our tram, arrived at our apt. had our lunch, collected the bags, caught the tram 13A to hbf. Arrived there by 3.15 and spent 1 ½ hours sitting around at the mall downstairs. Regret this bad piece of planning, Could have easily visited the treasury!

Caught our train and arrived at Budapest Keleti station at 7.20. We had the number of our transfer service, called them using the free station wifi. They told us to wait outside the station opposite Burger King. In less then 5 minutes, a taxi climbed up the curb and stopped. Yes, it was for us, the meter had 500 forints on it. We gave the driver our airport hotel address. He took us there. We paid the fare on the meter 5500 forints... so reasonable!

Day 11, Nov 27, 2017:

Budapest Airport Hotel Ferihegy:

Chose the hotel because we had an early morning flight. There were a lot of negatives unfortunately.

There was a stink from the sewer through out as the common washroom was ajar. The same stink pervaded our room washroom also.

The shower stall had no place for keeping our soap dish. There was no soap provided and the dispenser near the sink was empty. We travel with our own toileteries, so we made do.

Main issue was that the owner refused to take part payment in forints. We have done so in many countries, exhausting the local currency. It was a major inconvenience as we were saddled with forints.

For the airport drop off at 5 euros each, son needed a 5.30 am drop. The owner said it's 20 and 40 min past the hour. Actually it's a small setup, there was no need to insist on such timings. They anyway do individual dropoff.

When I was about to announce my dropoff time, owner said, checkout is 11am. Pretty amazed as airport hotels , esp once like this one need not insist on such timings. Their clients will hardly come rushing in to occupy the rooms during the day. Anyway I left at 10.40 am. My flight counter only opens at 11.

On the positive side, the breakfast opens at 4 am.

As mentioned, there were a lot of niggles with the airport hotel. But it was manageable. Son boarded his flight at 6.40am and mine was at 1.

Thus ended our beautiful vacation!

The next post is the beginning of the report on our 2 week vacation in Hawaii:

http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2018/02/how-to-plan-trip-to-hawaii-trip-report.html

Day 10: 26, November 2017, Sunday:

Highlight of the day was the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

We went to Hundertwasserhaus first thing in the morning

Hundertwasserhaus:

Famous as Vienna's "nature and human-friendly" house, the odd (yet fascinating) Hundertwasserhaus is well worth a visit. Designed by painter Friedensreich Hundertwasser, this brightly colored landmark on the corner of Löwengasse and Kegelstrasse was completed in 1985 and its main occupants - unsurprisingly - are artists, intellectuals, and creative types (much like the architect himself). Although the building can only be enjoyed from the outside, we can explore the nearby Kunsthaus Wien, a complex of apartments containing a terrace café and pop over to the similarly styled shopping arcade). The design avoids straight lines, there are curves galore.

This is our tram stop schottentor

This is the Hundertwasser Kunsthaus Wien, a complex of apartments designed by him.

The Hundertwasser Village is located in the Kegelgasse directly across the apartment house. The building with a whole forest on the roof was also designed by Hundertwasser and was built due to the high visitor rush to the apartment house. The village is a small shopping center with a few souvenir shops, a cafe with a bar and some toilets in an interesting design.

village entrance here...

shopping complex...

More than two decades later quite a forest has truly evolved on the roof of the house. About 30 trees have grown up to 15 meters high housing many birds. About 1,2 million visitors admire Hundertwassers concepts of interior design every year.

After the visit, we considered going to upper Belvedere. Ended up going to the Museum Quarter and to Kunsthistorisches Museum.

Kunsthistorisches Museum:

The Kunsthistorisches Museum (English: "Museum of Art History", also often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is the largest art museum in the country.