Bookmarking this great thread - this is all that I enjoy about traveling and Fodors - thanks everyone! (I'm heading to Vienna, Prague, and Budapest this weekend!)

You might want to check my trip report on my trip to Vienna, Budapest and some other places in Austria. I never made it to Bratislava, but, aside from that, I left no stone unturned during my 4 week home exchange in Vienna.

By the way, I had a wonderful time.

We were in Budapest about 2 months ago. After dinner on our last night (which also the very last night of a month long trip through Eastern Europe) we took the funicular up to the castle and slowly meandered along to Fisherman's Bastion. The view from up there at night time is glorious. We were able to go up the very top level at Fisherman's Bastion for free (the turnstiles were just left open) and on very uppermost level there was an accordion player and the traditional Hungarian music just gently wafted over the area. Whilst we were standing there appreciating the scenery and the music, a fireworks display started over on the Pest side. We had the most wonderful view.

As it had been a very humid day, bolts of lightning intermittently lit up the sky (but no rain at all). The whole thing could not have been stage managed better if you had tried. It was a fantastic end to a wonderful trip.

Thanks everyone. Bookmarking for a trip to the same three cities next year.

Things I remember from my recent trip:

Going to see "Weiner Blut" by Johann Strauss at the outdoor theater in Morbisch.

Seeing the musical "Elisabeth" in Hungarian (with surtitles in English) in Budapest.

St. Florian Abbey in St. Florian (better than Melk, if you ask me). In St. Florian Abbey near Linz. Listening to the organist play for half an hour there.

The Egon Schiele paintings in the Leopold Museum. What an artist!

All the Art Nouveau everywhere.

Attending a performance at Stephansdom of the choir of men and boys from the Regensburg, Germany, cathedral. Getting into a conversation afterwards with a couple and the woman insisted on giving me a Catholic religious medal even though she knew I was Jewish.

Both the Budapest Holocaust Museum and the Mauthausen Concentration Camp. As a Jew, visits to those places are to honor those for whom there are no graves in the cemetery. Not everyone's idea of magical, but it was necessary for me.

Buying a 4 CD Hungarian folk music compedium at a folk dancing performance in Budapest. What is magical about that? I took it home and found my cousin singing on the 3CD 5th cut. I couldn't believe it. He's a klezmer musician. Of all the CD's to buy. . . .

How could I have forgotten this?

Going to the Military Museum in Vienna (near the Sudbanhoff if anyone is interested) and seeing THE CAR in which Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were riding when they were assassinated in 1914. The museum also has Franz Ferdinand's tunic and you can see the bullet hole and where the tunic was torn. Totally amazing to see that! I view his assassinatio as the dividing line between the old order and the modern world. Of course, World War I resulted as well.

Somebody above mentioned the Fisherman's Bastion at night. Very beautiful. My wife commented that it's like the view you always want of Paris - but never quite get because Paris doesn't have the geography. And it's free after 9 pm. It's free in the morning too until around 9 am.

Ian

Waltzing across Szabadsag Bridge (while listening to "Blue Danube" on shared headphones) one early morning before leaving Budapest.

Wow! No one told me that Fisherman's Bastion was free after 9PM. Darn! We just enjoyed the view from the lower levels of the Bastion and those were terrific too.

My magical moments including just drinking in the view from my hotel window up at Fisherman's Bastion--any time of day. I stayed in the art'otel Budapest with a courtyard room and a view up the hill to the Bastion and Matyas Church. The temperature was in the 60's and low 70's at night and we opened up the windows and let the breeze flow while drinking in the view.

We also really enjoyed just sitting at tables outside and watching the world go by. The view of the Danube from the Chain Bridge is really beautiful as is the view from the embankment--just drinking in the site of Parliament and the river commerce.

We also enjoyed the Budafest summer festival, but that wouldn't be an option for you in May. We toured the Opera House and really wish we could have attended a performance there, but it was out of season in July. We were really disappointed about that and hope to return some day when the ballet is performing.

This was mine and my daughter's first trip to Europe and her first time eating in a nicer restaurant where they send 5 waiters over to you at dinner time. We ate at the Hilton on Castle Hill for dinner the night we were attending the Budafest there. It might not have been the swankiest restaurant or the best food, but it was so much fun for me to watch her reactions to the experience; I wouldn't have traded it for the world. They presented us each with a rose at the end of dinner as well. Very special.

Fisherman's Bastion night photo:

http://tinyurl.com/yqjyh6

Ian

That's a neat photo. I wish we had paid the $2 to go up day or night then! :-)
Kellye

And Vienna . . .

4th row center orchestra tickets for Die Zauberflote at the Staatsoper. I booked & paid in October for a June performance. 314€ for 2. Not cheap but worth every penny.

Ian

Ian, can you tell me where you booked the tickets? Thanks

MarkY - you can buy tickets to the Staatsoper directly from its website.
http://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/Content.Node2/intro.php

yk got it right. I bought through the website & picked them up at the box office the night of the performance. And btw, must patrons did get dressed upin their goods duds so leave the jeans in the hotel room.

Ian

Going to the observation deck at the top of Karlskirche. Before you exit the building, you get a Michaelangelo view of the beautifully painted ceiling.

I got into the Staatoper for a Mozart concert. The regular opera subscription season is "down" during the summer, so I couldn't do one of those, although I did see "La Finta Semplice" by Mozart (sung in Italian with German surtitles) at Theater an der Wien.

I also went to the top of Peterskirche, by the way. You do get up close and personal with the ceiling. There is an elevator, but then you have to walk up several flights to the top. I did it, but the view from Peterskirche over Vienna is marred by a lot of wire fencing--presumably for safety reasons.

The absolute best view of Vienna I saw is from the top of the Kahlenberg. You are on the location from where Jan Sobieski was before he and his troops swooped down to defeat the Turks. It is a running joke in Vienna that the third invasion of the Turks is going on right now and that this time they are winning, by the way. There is much immigration from Turkey in Vienna, but not so evident outside Vienna.

Sorry, I meant Karlskirche not Peterskirche.

Hello, I was in Prague right now.
It´s cheap place to stay for holidays.
I was at Monastery Hotel: http://www.a-prague.com/hotel-monastery
Low prices, romantic area, excellent services. I received sale code but I will not go there again. I don´t have time. :(

So I propose it to you. You can use it how many times you want: fod12345
and choose from more hotels: http://www.a-prague.com

Enjoy like I did.

Budapest? Go to the Opera for a performance. We found it less expensive than taking a day time tour of the building. Subtitles are in Hungarian, so don't get your hopes up for having the Italian translated to English.

Hotel Astoria on Saturday after noon for a meal. Half price for everything in a building unchanged, except for the elevator buttons, since it was built.

The City Baths...Szecheny Furdo...great open air baths for all people, all sizes, all ages.

Franz Liszt performing arts center at Liszt Ferenc ter. Fantastic architecture, amazing statue in plaza.

Margit Island for lovers, oh and for the flowers.

Any of the many coffee houses on the outer circle.

wayne in WI