Haloranch

This is a great market! You can find everything here from spice to sausages, handicrafts to hot lunches. We spent a couple of hours just wandering around absorbing the sights and smells. However, because this market has operated continuously at this space for ove 100 years, the water and power and no longer sufficient for its needs. Sometime in 2009 they need to upgrade and during that time the market has to move. Here's a young man playing the HANG, a weired flying saucer like object that makes the sweetest sound, almost like a harp. He's one of the many street musicians we paid because they gave us so much pleasure with their music.

The water looked like strong tea. But there was no sulphur smell. Since we wer visiting the termal baths on a weekdaz, our group of 4 was the youngest bz nearly 2 decades. Evidently people from all over Europe come to this area of Hungary which is bursting with mineral baths and over time, it has become a major industry. The water was pleasantly hot and though we were outside, there was a covered area providing some shade so it was quite comfortable. At first the water felt verz soft, almost oily when rubbed between your fingers. Latr I noticed my skin felt silky for hours, but eventually, alas, it reerted to its former, um, less silky texture. Inside were other pools, all clearly marked as to temperature. Out outside pool was 36-38. There was a cold plunge pool at 15-17 into which I entered quite tentatively after the heat became too much. The swimming pool was 28-30, at first quite warm but quickly became vry comfortable. Lounge chairs outside indicate many people come and spe...

I know I skip around but hey, it's easier this way. Good thing Janos dropped us off early at Keleti. Krisztina met us and guided us through the antiquated station. The wait process was very slow. It took 15 minutes ton inquir our way to the right ticket area, and this was with K's help. Then take a number. Took another 20 minutes to get our Eurailpass validated and that gave me an opportunity to look around. We were facing wickets that looked like they came from a Charles Dickens novel. Old, wrought iron grilles behind which sat the clerks. The ceiling didn't look too stable with all the supports... The toilts cost 80 Ft, about 50 cents. The hook and eye holding the door had a bent hook and consequently it kept slipping out of the eye. Lovely. The tank was so high on the wall you couldn't reach the lever so they conveniently tied a piece of coarse brown twine from it so you could flush. But it could have been worse. No toilet at all. There was a fairly large o...

Many areas have very wide sidewalks. One half will be in a reddish cobblestone, the other half in plain asphalt or concrete. Interestingly, the cobblestone portion is the bike route and the plain side for pedestrians instead of the other way around. On our way into town this morning, Hans spotted a young man with a bright green mohawk across the street. "Oh, he's a Brit," said Hans. "How can you tell? From his green hair?" "No. From the British flag hanging from his ass." Stairs leading down to the subways are marked with the letters and numbers of the line, so you know if this is the entry to the right one. We're on the U3 line, though we've rarely taken it since everything is so close. As we passed one, Hans said, "Look, U2. There will be a concert here later." St. Peter's Church: a gorgeous building from the outside, so we decided to go in and look around. It was very, very ornate but what made it worthwhile was th...

At the Fine Arts Academy the artistic dreams of a zoung 18 year old Adolf Hitler were dashed in 1907 and 1908 when he twice failed to gain admission to what was at the time the ultimate arbiter of the nation's artistic taste. The building didn't look like much, however, nearby is the Secession, a hugely controversial building in 1898. Its gilded dome caused its detractors to refer to it as "The Gilded Cabbage". In front of the building as a statue of a fairly corpulent Marc Anthony sitting in a chariot pulled by lions. Evidently this statue was intended for a major museum but somehow, it ended up here instead. Egg Splats on the Sidewalks These curious, bright yellow blobs highly visible here and there on the sidewalks contain interesting historical notes about what took place on this site in early days. That's how we learned why Marc Anthony's statue was sitting in the middle of the sidewalk.

Following lunch, we decided to take in the Van Gogh exhibit at the Albertina. We walked past a statue of Goethe, brooding in a bronze chair and eerily bald without the requisite pigeon roosting on his head. Along the pedestrian walkway there's a series of Hollywood style stars imbedded in the walkways. At the Albertina the sticker shock was much more palatable, only €22.50 including Hans' senior's discount and a pair of audiophones. Did you know Van Gogh often made copies of his paintings from Paris and Arles to send to his brother? And that he really wanted to be a minister and do humanitarian work? That's why so many of his drawings and paintings reflect the ordinary peasant at work, because he wanted them to be able to identify with the image should they be able to buy one. Here's a statue of Mozart with a gorgeous treble clef made from red flowers.

The Wien Rotary Club meets Thursday noon at the ornate and impeccable Bristol hotel, which reigns alongside the Sacher as one of the grandes dames of Viennese hotels. We made our way over through one of the manz underground passageways that link the downtown. It's a lot easier and safer than trying to coss the roaring traffic of the ring as an unarmed pedestrian. Lunch was delicious, as we expected after we recovered from the sticker shock of €50, coffee not included. Everyone we spoke with had excellent English though I trotted out my German now and again, mostly to fish for compliments. Satisfied, I lapsed back to English.