Day #4

I think I’m starting to get used to the time zone –it wasn’t quite so difficult to roll out of bed this morning. We met Lida, our tour guide, this morning at 9am and headed out to tour the old town square. We walked the streets while listening to her narrative and sneaking in a little window shopping. I managed to find a decent camera shop and purchased a charger for my SLR camera (I accidently left mine at home).

At 10am, we arrived at the Estates Theater for a private tour. Although feature had been repaired or replaced over the years, they have kept the design exactly the same as it was a hundred years ago. It was absolutely breathtaking! Our theater guide informed us that W. A. Mozart personally conducted the world premiere of his opera Don Giovanni here, which was very well received. During our tour, we even got a chance to go under the stage and see all of the special equipment they use to produce the shows.

Next, we walked to the Jewish Quarter and toured a couple synagogues. We learned that, for many years, Jews were only allowed to live in this small section of town. Although the synagogues were beautiful, the most interesting part to me was the Jewish Cematary. According to the Jewish faith, once someone is buried, the remains must never be disturbed or moved. After so many years confined to the small Jewish quarter, the cemetery was full to capacity. In order to accommodate more, they removed the tombstones, added more soil, creating another layer of graves. Today, there are 12 layers with all of the tombstones together on top. I have never seen anything like it.

Next, we had lunch at the Lamborgini Italian restaurant and walked to the high-end retail street so the girls could do some more shopping. Luckily for us, they didn’t buy anything! J Next, we walked back to the hotel for a quick rest before dinner.
Tonight, we went to the Campa Park restaurant and got a wonderful table at the rivers edge. The food and service were outstanding and we all had a great time –they even had fireworks over the river as we finished out meal!

We walked back to the hotel (again) and got in at a reasonable hour, so I am able to write a bit more detail tonight and include some pictures.