Liszten to the Music

Last August, I was lucky enough to visit Budapest, a city rich with architecture, history and phenomenal food. But my timing was off. To be able to visit during Budapest's zenith at the turn of the last century would have been grand. I think it's a common desire to be in the "right" city at the "right" time, but I wonder if you only truly know how right it is once it's over? Once it's too late?

Although I had no regrets about my trip, my timing was also off for opera. The Hungarian State Opera House is dark during the month of August so I had to visit this magnificent place as part of a tour group (English-speaking although they also had Italian, German, Hungarian, French and Spanish at the same time.) I found it hard to envision the grandeur of an opening night or appreciate the acoustics of Franz (or Ferenc as he's known here) Liszt's Don Sanche. But the architecture is undeniable and probably benefits from the light of day to appreciate its details.

I hope to return again someday to catch a performance or even a grander daydream would be to attend the annual Budapest Opera Ball. One of the social events of the European season, I'm certain that one night at this event would be a time-traveler's transport back to an era of class and tradition unparalleled today.

Wanna come?

Alesund...My Aim is True

The fjords of Norway are professed to offer some of the most majestic natural scenery in the world. Alesund, the lovely town at the water's edge pictured above, makes a marvelous starting point. With first rate Art Nouveau architecture and right-off-the-boat seafood, a few days here will be a lovely reminder of life a full century ago.

Just a few hours away via express boat is the famous Geirangerfjord, one of the most photographed fjords in the region. It's hard to imagine a more geologically dramatic sight than surrounding yourself with towering cliff faces -- many with tumbling waterfalls plunging downward into the deep blue waters below.



Cruising along these waters certainly seems the best way to truly experience the fjords as well as the famously precarious "shelf farms" -- slivers of farmland carved right into the cliffs. Showpieces of human ingenuity to eek out an existence wherever possible, these farms carry with them persistent rumors of parents roping their children to keep them tethered as they worked the fragile land.

Maybe they tied them to Norwegian Wood?