# Grand Claw Budapest Hotel[eastern Europe]



## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Actually, any of our guides on the trip would slug me for using this thread title! Residents of Poland, Hungary, and the former Czechoslovakia all seem to be in agreement that they live in Central Europe. Eastern Europe is much less cultured and civilized! And they correctly point out that the Ural mountains are far to the east of Warsaw or Budapest. So they are in Central Europe!

This was a 16 day trip with stops in Warsaw, Kraków, Budapest, and Prague. The tour operator was road scholar, A rather geeky travel agency/nonprofit educational organization that I highly recommend. I left the day before income tax Day and flew home on Saturday.

Photos will be coming in a moment, after I get organized...


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

While still pooped from flying across the Atlantic, we were escorted out for dinner in Warsaw on arrival day. First thing I learned was that Poles like monsters on their buildings. They really like them! But they make multipurpose monsters. What seems like mere dragons suspended in mid air In these photos of different buildings are actually waterspouts.










Thankfully, we didn't eat at this restaurant. I do not want to dine where one of these is on the menu.



















I actually didn't take these next two shots till the following day, but they go with the monsters in the building theme. The lion doorknocker is a "do not disturb" sign if I ever saw one!

After no problem with jetlagged during the whole trip, I have been awake at 3:30 AM and unable to go back to sleep now. So I used the time to post These. More coming tomorrow! Or actually today!

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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

No doubt it was an attempt to help us recover from the rude shock of all the monster sightings that led Road Scholar to arrange for a private music performance at our first dinner. This duo performed Polish nationalist songs, including one about a group of guys who died during the 1944 Warsaw uprising against the Germans. There was a LOT of music on this trip!

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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

I love travelling vicariously through your trip reports! Thank you for posting!


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I just love your photos. So clear and detailed. I feel like I am standing in that street with that angle. Looking forward to more.


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## Lou Harpr (Nov 5, 2014)

They have some fantastic architecture over there, don't they?

I don't know about the Czechs and Poles, but I know Hungarians still cling to their brief time of glory during the Austro-Hungarian empire. I love Grand Hotel Budapest (the movie). Despite its zaniness it really managed the capture something quintessentially east European.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

We visited the Shrine of the Black Madonna which is a important Polish national symbol. As we approached in the afternoon, we saw swarms of bikers leaving. Different groups will hold pilgrimages to the shrine and this was the day for bikers. We heard claims that 20 to 30,000 bikers were there. Believe it if you want to! There were a lot, though.










Local guide was Brother Simon, who explained how they make holy water (Take water and boil the Hell out of it) and told us we must do what Simon says.










Here is one of the "lesser" chapels...



















And here is the biggie with the Black Madonna herself.



















Other than the face, much of the Black Madonna is covered by a separate painting with a splendid costume. They change the cover a couple of times a year.

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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I let Tapatalk do the resizing of photos for the Black Madonna post,  and they are not nearly as sharp as the earlier photos. I won't be doing that again!

atunah and Annalog, thanks for the nice comments!

Lou,  One of the things that impressed me about the trip is how resilient and determined the people of this region are.  The 20th century was hideous there. After about a dozen years of peace to start, World War I was awful. POland got invaded AGAIN by the Russians after WWI, then barely enough time for a kid to grow up before WWII was worse than the earlier war. Then the Russians moved in. Then in 1989, the Russians left,  and after a period of euphoria, theylearned that capitalism was not all wine and roses. The impression I got was that Hungary is not doing as well economically as Poland, East Germany, or the Czech Republic.  Retreating into past glories may be solace. I have some photos of a "monument war" going on in Budapest that  boggled my mind. They will come later.


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## Lou Harpr (Nov 5, 2014)

Proof that it's "central Europe"--all other nations are marching back and forth through it. It goes back to the Ottoman Empire, and even before.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I don't think one should mess with Brother Simon.  

The region is packed with history, suffering and determination. 

Thanks for the additional photos. I am always in awe of the churches with the details, gold, figurines. 

Never heard of the black madonna, have to look up what the story behind that is.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Lou Harpr said:


> Proof that it's "central Europe"--all other nations are marching back and forth through it. It goes back to the Ottoman Empire, and even before.


The Poles have it worst, since their ancestors were conned into buying land in between the Russians and the Germans!


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## prairiesky (Aug 11, 2009)

Stunning churches...and I love the two headed dog!


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

Thank you so much for posting your trip photos.  You always go to such interesting places.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

We visited "The Palace on the Water" in Warsaw. Stunning place!























































The two-headed dog and the lion door knocker I showed earlier also came from here!

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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Love the staircase.  I love staircases like that!

Betsy


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

At the central market in Budapest:
































































I seriously thought about buying one of these hats for fun. But the hats were cheap replicas, not the real old item, so I went home without a fancy hammer and sickle hat!










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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Ooooh, love markets!  Great pics.

We loved Budapest.  Except that when we were there it was in the mid to high 90 degrees.  But we ate a lot of great food!

Betsy


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Thanks for the great pics, Claw.
As always you make us feel as if you had taken us along.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

That market. I'd have died and gone to heaven there. 

Those meats, I want those meats. Sigh. That carrot and parsnip picture looks like something out of a fancy cookbook. 

I love the ceiling in that market. How big is that whole thing, looks huge.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Atunah said:


> That market. I'd have died and gone to heaven there.
> 
> Those meats, I want those meats. Sigh. That carrot and parsnip picture looks like something out of a fancy cookbook.
> 
> I love the ceiling in that market. How big is that whole thing, looks huge.


Sorry you weren't there to enjoy! The market actually has a Wikipedia entry, including a good outside photo. Big place, though not as big as I thought.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Market_Hall_(Budapest)

For reasons unclear to me, you have to click on the "did you mean...." Option instead of the link just working. Or just google Budapest central market as I did!


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Here are my pics of the outside of the building...



















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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

In Kraków, one of the big tourist attractions is the main square. We toured St. Mary's basilica there, and they turned us loose to explore on our own for a couple of hours. I wandered down one of the main streets towards the old city walls. This is a highly touristy area, and the buildings are not old by European standards. But they seemed old and certainly different for a guy from Oklahoma where any building from before 1920 is considered ancient.

First stop was another church. I didn't go in, but was intrigued by the monuments in the exterior walls.



















This fountain was nearby, and I thought it was kind of cool. No idea about some of the symbols in the base.




























Now comes the racy part of my trip. Club Pleasure was co-located with the leather shop, AND tourist information! How convenient...sadly, I didn't go in even though a Polish strip club if that's what it was, might've been a story to tell. They had a tall guy in a "Gilligan" hat bird-dogging passersby. He ignored me, and I didn't see anyone lured in by him or his partner (more on her later).










There were less scandalous businesses along the way, though:



















I can just smell the whisky fumes and pipe smoke coming from this one!










Eventually I could see the tower protecting a gate in the wall.










And I learned that even in Poland they have school groups.










And young teens trying to be cool and different. Note that The Cisco Kid has a (fake, please!) pistol on his belt.










And the street made a T at this gate tower, complete with interesting decoration.



















I walked along the wall, and spotted this. From a distance, I thought it might be dazzle camouflage, or perhaps something designed to induce epileptic fits in Medieval attackers. Then I realized it was just another attempt to separate tourists from their money!










I walked sideways along the wall and came to this "Barbican."










Remember the "sweeper" for Club Pleasure? He had a female partner dressed in black leather and twirling a colorful umbrella to attract attention. She went for me on the way back. I have no idea why she came after me and the tall guy ignored me. It might've just been her turn. I ignored her and kept walking, which I now regret. Would've been fun to listen to her pitch. I turned around and snapped her accosting another fellow who seem to be having fun. He didn't go in the club though!










Eventually the towers of St. Mary's came into sight, and I rejoined my group...










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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Love the click-bait title!

The streets (particularly the last shot) look very Hapsburg-era.

Coolness!

Betsy


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

The Hooded Claw said:


> In KrakÃ³w, one of the big tourist attractions is the main square. We toured St. Mary's basilica there, and they turned us loose to explore on our own for a couple of hours. I wandered down one of the main streets towards the old city walls. This is a highly touristy area, and the buildings are not old by European standards. But they seemed old and certainly different for a guy from Oklahoma where any building from before 1920 is considered ancient.
> 
> This fountain was nearby, and I thought it was kind of cool. No idea about some of the symbols in the base.


I can't find much information about the fountain other than it is "The Student Fountain" and supposedly a tribute to Veit Stoss who created the altar within the St Mary's Basilica. The symbols around the bottom appear to be masonic-related (possibly from the stone masons who carved the fountain) as the one on the right in the bottom picture is certainly the traditional "Square and Compass".

Thanks for the interesting pictures, Claw.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

bwahhhh the thread title change. Awesome  

Great pictures, I love the one down the street. It makes me a bit home sick. Many places in Europe have similar type streets like that with little shops and cobbles and all that. So it just makes me miss home a bit. I miss strolling down the streets like that, going in the butcher here, going to the baker there, pick something up at the Apotheke, put it all in one carry shopping bag. Stop at a cafe for a bit. I don't have any of that here. Sure, other places in the US probably have something similar. But not here, its all shopping centers and you have to drive everywhere. 

I blame that on my needing to do low carb. Never had to worry about no stinking carbs in Germany, we walked it off all over the place. 

Wonder why there is no water in the fountain.


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## sstroble (Dec 16, 2013)

The Hooded Claw said:


> Actually, any of our guides on the trip would slug me for using this thread title! Residents of Poland, Hungary, and the former Czechoslovakia all seem to be in agreement that they live in Central Europe. Eastern Europe is much less cultured and civilized! And they correctly point out that the Ural mountains are far to the east of Warsaw or Budapest. So they are in Central Europe!


Great pics. Thank you.
Just what are the exact boundaries of Europe anyway? Have seen Russia included as part of Europe, which would extend Europe all the way to just miles from Alaska. Have also seen Turkey at times included as part of Europe?


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I'm about to travel for work, so not a lot of time, but here are some architectural details that interested me....I love this sort of thing!




























These panels on a building in the Jewish Quarter of Kraków puzzled me.





































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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

The Hooded Claw said:


> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


Love, love, love, love this.



Betsy


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

sstroble said:


> Great pics. Thank you.
> Just what are the exact boundaries of Europe anyway? Have seen Russia included as part of Europe, which would extend Europe all the way to just miles from Alaska. Have also seen Turkey at times included as part of Europe?


Europe is really an artificial construct, Europe and Asia are really one huge landmass (Africa is part of it too, though the connection is narrow enough that a division is easier to rationalize. So you can call it whatever area you want to call it, there is no "official" answer. It's pretty common to use the Ural mountains of Russia as the eastern boundary of Europe. I know the Turks consider a small area of Turkey to be in Europe, and when I was in Istanbul they bragged that it is the only major metropolitan area that straddled two continents.

This map is a reasonable answer to your question....and it does make Poland and surrounding countries seem in Cebtral Europe!










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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Love, love, love, love this.
> 
> 
> 
> Betsy


As long as you're going to put bars on your windows, they might as well be classy ones! Here's the whole window (I see I overexposed the closeup a bit...)


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I love patterns...it's a quilter thing.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

The panels are the symbols of the Tribes of Israel (aka Jacob's sons).


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

telracs said:


> The panels are the symbols of the Tribes of Israel (aka Jacob's sons).


Thanks, telracs!

One of the other pictures has a crest with a crown on top and an image of a raven with a ring in its beak in the center. That refers to one of the founding legends of Poland where an imprisoned young man who later became king let his mother know he was alive by giving a special signet ring to a raven which carried it to the young man's mother.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

I think a lot of the American viewpoint on eastern vs. western Europe was shaped after WWII as being defined by the extent of the Soviet sphere of influence: the Warsaw Pact countries were generally east of most of the NATO countries.

If we went by major tectonic plates, Eurasia would be one continent, with the Indian and Arabian plates possibly being their own continents:


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## sstroble (Dec 16, 2013)

NogDog said:


> I think a lot of the American viewpoint on eastern vs. western Europe was shaped after WWII as being defined by the extent of the Soviet sphere of influence: the Warsaw Pact countries were generally east of most of the NATO countries.
> 
> If we went by major tectonic plates, Eurasia would be one continent, with the Indian and Arabian plates possibly being their own continents:


Sometimes it seems like Earth has too much on its plate(s).

Okay, okay, pure corny type humor, but its only 5:44 am and only had 1 cup of mocha so far.........


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

sstroble said:


> Sometimes it seems like Earth has too much on its plate.
> 
> Okay, okay, pure corny type humor, but its only 5:44 am and only had 1 cup of mocha so far.........


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

We visited Brevnov Monastery near Prague. The highlights were subterranean ruins of a one thousand year-old church, and this spectacular room formerly used for VIP receptions. The Monastery was confiscated by the government during the Communist era. It has reopened, but is struggling a bit after a forty year hiatus.





































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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

In Europe, even going to the bathroom can be an adventure! Restaurants there invariably seem to have the bathroom located in some deep subterranean location requiring multiple stairs to access. This restaurant in Krakow was one of the more dramatic examples. The waitress pointed me down some decrepit stairs and told me the bathroom was "behind the gold door."










After awhile, I came to this, which seemed spectacularly out of place. It was odd enough that I took a photo of it, but it didn't even occur to me that a bathroom would be behind this.










I went on down to the bottom, where there was no sign of a bathroom, but a young man seated at a table seemed unperturbed by our arrival. He told me the toilet was just behind me:










And indeed there was a reasonably modern and very clean bathroom behind the door! Sorry, I didn't take a pic of the actual bathroom. But I did take a pic back up the stairs I'd navigated.










No cask of Amontillado was offered, but I didn't get bricked up in the dark either, and I did get to relieve myself. So I'll call this a win.

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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)




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## spotsmom (Jan 20, 2011)

Sounds like a perfect place for a "throne".


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