Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Cell Phone Picutres

I decided to take a break from trying to fix my computer to post some of the pictures I took with my cell phone camera. The virus has given up some control on my computer and I can now start up windows on my computer just about every time I turn it on. The bad part is that the virus won't allow me to install any software on the computer. If only I knew of some computer science major who could help me. Oh well, I guess I am going to have to go virus hunting after this post.

These pictures are from Austria, Slovakia, and Hungry. Although I think the first picture is technically Poland.

For those of you who were reading my blog I mentioned that the weather had turned for the better once we left Poland. I snapped this picture as we rode over to Vienna. It was the first time I saw the sun while in Eastern Europe.

I didn't take too many pictures of Vienna and I decided I wasn't going to post any at this time. This picture is in Bratislava instead. This is the little path we had to take to get to the hostel.

Again, another picture of the entrance to the hostel. Bratislava wasn't as bad as this picture makes it out to be though. But instead of clearing out these decrepit buildings they just built the buildings farther back and left the old ones standing.

And what was the name of the hostel I stayed at? Why it's the Patio Hostel of course. I took this picture for Elliott who is probably the only person who still calls me Patio. Although I think he spells it differently.

While in the grocery store I saw these chips and thought of Mike and my dad. Why bacon flavored chips haven't caught on in the states I will never know.

Here is Eric in front of the main building inside Bratislava's castle. As you can see it is still under construction. Pretty much all of the building inside the castle have been built recently. I thought it was just a cheap ploy to make another tourist attraction.

This bridge was dubbed the UFO Bridge. The flying saucer is a rotating restaurant. Also if you look in the distance behind the bridge you can see some architecture left over from the old communist days. They are the buildings that look like clones of each other.

From Bratislava we went to Budapest. I saw this statue in the castle grounds there. While going through Europe and seeing all of the different statues they have commemorating the different occasions I decided that this is the best way to mark significant events in someones life. I plan on giving giant statues as gifts next time something big happens.

I took this picture because of all of the satellites covering the roof there. It wasn't just this rook but most of the rooks in front of us all had a ton of satellites covering them.

One downside in going during the off season is that this is the time people take advantage of the low crowds and repair whatever is broken. So a lot of the places we saw were covered in scaffolding like this.

St. Stephen's Basilica. This was a beautiful church and a little interesting as it also had a relic. The relic was the uncorrupted right hand of King Stephen. No pictures of it though as they frown on photography and they don't allow you to shake the hand either. It was inside this church that I overheard a conversation in English. By this point I would listen to anything in English. They were talking about how much wealth was put into the building and whether or not this was a good or bad thing. Eric and I almost jumped in as we had talked about this before but they seemed to be doing alright so we let them be.

Another leftover from the communist days, some guy preaching to the citizens. They have little communist statues scattered across the city. This one was just a couple of blocks from the first hostel I stayed at in Budapest.

Another gift from American to the world. I rounded this corner and then there was the golden arches.

This picture was taken as part of a pair. Budapest was interesting because you can look one direction and see the above and then turn slightly to the left and...

see this. They seem to be in the midst of updating all of the buildings but it is a slow process. You get a lot of what looks like condemned buildings next to some really nice buildings.


Budapest was my last Eastern European city. From there I went over to Salzburg. Not sure how many people know this but the film Sound of Music was set in this city. So people are generally here for either Sound of Music tours or skiing/snowboarding. This mix of people makes Salzburg hostels an interesting place to stay. This picture is one of the mountains that overlooks the city.

This is one of the churches in Salzburg. The stone work inside this church really stood out to me. The picture really doesn't do it any justice but from all the places I had been to I think this church had some of the best stone work.

Some more of the stone work.

More Salzburg churches. This is a different church though.

This is a poster on the main church in Salzburg. I guess those are saints Pink and Rhianna and some guy. That or the church put up some really tacky adds.

They had a giant chess set out for people to use. I wanted to challenge the guy there to a game but they were in the middle of a game and I had places to go.

I went up to the castle and took a tour of the torture chamber. On the tour they give everyone a little player that gives you the tour in your own language. I just thought it was funny to see everyone milling about in the room and not talking. And just to note, this tour is called the torture chamber tour which is a complete lie. They do have a room for torture but the room was never actually used for that purpose. All the devices in the room have been brought here from other castles. I felt a little cheated.


This is taken from the top of one of the towers in the castle. From here I got a really good view of Salzburg.

Taken from the tower also. The building with the blue dome is the main church is Salzburg.

This was a display inside the castle. It is a lot cooler than the picture makes it out as. It's hard to see but one of the stick guy is dead in the back.

This bed was used inside the castle. It's hard to make out the dimensions but I can't fit on this bed. Just thought it was funny how small it is.

The castle in Salzburg was never taken by force and that is because of the barriers around it. A lot of the places that surround the castle are cliff faces like this.

While walking down from the castle I saw this. Quite possibly the most disturbing statue I saw (minus the statue of two guys wrestling). It's called the Coat of Peace but I just don't see it. I do think it would be a cool statue to just surprise someone with though.

I just thought these were really cool wood carvings. I didn't have enough room for them in my pack though. Otherwise I would have had to get one for my nephews.

7 comments:

  1. Bring on the giant statues. We'll put them all around our farm and make a walking tour of them! I'm in :)

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  2. I still remember how much flack you gave me for getting a CS degree, why should I be helping you with your virus? I'll start helping you with your computer needs when two things happen, 1) I forget how much of a hard time you gave me for getting it and 2) I stop putting viruses on your computer. Why should I work so hard on something I had to work hard at putting on your machine? Doesn't make much sense, does it.

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  3. Nice blog! Your pictures are very interesting. You might be wondering how I, a random visitor found your site...it was through the Steak Rules blog. Don't ask me how I found that.

    Anyway, it looks like you spent a lot of time in Europe. I am going for a short trip to England next month and I have a conundrum. Most of the trip I'm going to spend with one of my friends, but then she's going to leave and I will have 24 hours to spend doing whatever I want. Assuming I start in London, what is the best and least-expensive spot to visit for a day? I was thinking of going to York but that looks like it might be pricey. Any recommendations?

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  4. For a Steak Rules follower I suppose I could help you out. Although I am not sure what you are looking for in a day trip. I didn't go on any day trips while I was in London so I am not sure about the surroundings. I know of some free walking tours of London that I thought were fun. If you want a more out doors sort of experience Wales is really nice. Providing the weather is nice. A friend of mine went to Swansea and he really loved it there. It is about a 4 hour train ride from London.

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  5. What were the free walking tours of London? That sounds good.

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  6. There were two free tours that I heard about. I only took one though. The one I took took you around a bunch of palaces and a few historical landmarks. I like the walking tours because they give you a good history of the city and help you get better acquainted with the area. I wanted to go on the other tour but I missed it by about 5 min. It is the Grim Reaper tour put on by the same group. They guide you through the little alley ways of the Whitechapel area and talk about the history of Jack the Ripper. The tour of the palaces starts at 11 and is about 3 hours long. The Grim Reaper tour starts at 2. They do expect you to tip the guide at the end but only give what you feel like the tour was worth.

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  7. The photos turned out better than I expected although they definitely didn't do these countries any justice. Bratislava in particular didn't come out that well because it was really cloudy the day we were there. But thats to be expected when you go somewhere in the winter.

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