Holy Trinity Column - Koszeg, Hungary

This column which stands in front of the Church of Jesus' Heart was built to memorialize the 600 people who died during the plague following Rákóczi’s War for Independence (1703-1711). The column was completed in 1713.

Read more about Holy Trinity Column here.

Placed by the Gideons

I'm never surprised to see a Gideons' Bible in a hotel room in the U.S., but they're not as common in Europe. Koszeg is located about 2 or 3 miles from the Austrian/Hungarian border, so it makes sense that the Gideons would leave a Hungarian/German/English Bible.

Looking over Koszeg

Earlier in the week Hungary celebrated a national holiday, so there were a lot of people taking advantage of the long weekend. Fortunately, the people we were visiting were able to find us a hotel for the night. Apparently it was one of the last available rooms in the city. Our tiny room was part of a finished attic with two beds pushed under the slant of the roof. It was actually quite cozy. We had one window which was located on the sloping ceiling, so our view was the rooftops of Koszeg.

Jurisich Castle - Koszeg, Hungary

Jurisich Castle is located in the north-west part of the city. This section just happens to be located right outside the restaurant where we ate lunch.

You can read more about Jurisich Castle and the city of Koszeg here.

Church of Jesus' Heart - Koszeg, Hungary

Over the weekend we visited Koszeg, Hungary, a small town in Hungary. The town is referred to as Hungary's Jewel Box because it is one of the most attractive towns in Hungary.

The Church of Jesus' Heart, also called Sacred Heart Church, was designed by a Viennese architect and completed in 1894. During our visit, we saw two weddings take place at this church.

On hold

You may have noticed that I've been absent all week. Or maybe you haven't. I'm not going to fool myself into believing that there are people out there anxiously awaiting my next post. I may be a little vain at times, but come on.

I plan on being back next week with a vengeance. Or at least with some photos. So stay tuned.

Neue Donau

This is a shot of the Neue Donau, or New Danube. On the left is a man-made island called Donauinsel (Danube Island), which is basically just a big recreational area. I think you can walk across the bridge when it's connected like this, but the bridge is made of up 4 sections and can be rotated to help control the flow of water. I'm not sure how it works, but I think it's used to help prevent flooding.

Where do you come from?

When I first saw this, I thought she came from the future. But then I realized the date was 2007 followed by a smiley face and not 2070.

Fountain at Melk Abbey

We weren't able to tour the abbey because we had Sharkdog with us, but Rhonda and I walked through the courtyard where we found this nice fountain with what we think were koi fish.

Melk Abbey

Melk Abbey is a Benedictine abbey located in the Wachau Valley outside of Vienna.

The Last Supper

I think you have to really see this in person to appreciate it. It's a mosaic of da Vinci's The Last Supper. This is what Wikipedia says about it:

There is a life-sized copy of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper on the church's northern wall. It is a mosaic made by the Roman mosaic artist Giacomo Raffaelli which was ordered by Napoleon I in 1809, but it was not finished before Napoleon's abdication. Francis II of Austria bought it, wanting to install it in the Belvedere in Vienna. As it was too large for the building, it was set up on the north wall of the church, where it remains to this day. The mosaic is 9.18 x 4.47 m and weight approximatively 20 tons. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoritenkirche,_Vienna)

If you look at the photo on Wikipedia, you can actually see some of the detail of the individual tiles.

Vienna sunset

Another shot from Donauturm

This is a view facing southwest shortly before sunset.

Church of St. Francis of Assisi

Someone told us that this was the Russian Orthodox Church, but it turns out they were wrong. It's the Church of St. Francis of Assisi, also called the Jubilee Church because it was built to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Emperor Franz-Josef I.

This photo was also taken from the observation deck at Donauturm.

UNO-City

This view of UNO-City, or Vienna International Center, was taken from Donauturm. Vienna is home to one of the world's four United Nations headquarters and many UN offices are located at UNO-City.

Donauturm

The Donauturm, or Danube Tower, gives visitors a great view of Vienna. It's located in the 22nd District near the Danube River and has an observation deck, a rotating restaurant and a rotating cafe. See the thing sticking off on the left side? That's a bungee jumping platform.

Prater's devil

This scary devil was sitting on top of the exterior of one of the Halloween themed rides. The Prater is not an amusement park for the faint of heart.