A lovely week for a guinness! December 17, 2008

I am determined to finish this blog, even though we have already been home in CA for about a week now. Finding the motivation to write about these last 2 weeks is difficult, but I know we”ll be happy that we finished to the end. Sorry the last two blogs are so slow to be published!!!

24.Nov.08

Wanting to see as much of the Irish countryside as possible in the six days we have here, we decided to just do one day in Dublin, so we packed in as much as we could see today. We did our own little walking tour of the city following only a picture we had taken of a guide book as a map. Dublin is pretty much just as one would expect, packed with bars, large gray stone cathedrals and castles, and people speaking the lovely Irish brogue all around. Counting down the days to our trips end, nothing is as exciting as the first 11 months of this trip. We didn’t go to the Guinness of Jameson factory, not that we don’t love either, we just deemed it too “touristy” and unnecessary to enjoy our time here. Instead we first wandered to the nearby St. Patricks cathedral made out of gorgeous gray stone, and named after the Catholic saint who brought the religion to Ireland (for better or worse).

Then we moseyed to the city castle/government building where we took a tour of the insides. The building isn’t where the prime minister lives anymore (once built and lived in by the English rulers), but important meetings and inaugurations still take place here. Our favorite fun fact, described by our guide, is that every Irish prime minister since independence designs their own shield of arms to place on the wall. The more modern ones have become a bit tacky. The castle was impressive, but it has been burnt down, rebuilt, altered, and modernized so much that it was kind of a hodgepodge of design. Next we visited Trinity University which was among the more gorgeous campuses we have ever seen. We half expected kids dressed in black robes running around casting spells on each other; really more of a fantasy school than one for muggles.

After wandering through a massive mall entirely too ready for the holidays, and the city center decked out in bright white X-mas lights we ate dinner at one of the oldest established pubs in Dublin, the Brazen Head. The Irish beef stew was great, the Guinness stew was better, but nothing beat the most important part of the meal, the highlight of the whole day, a delightful glass of genuine Guinness!

We then went back to Francois’ apartment and watched an awesome movie with his housemates, “This is England.” If you haven’t seen this movie I highly recommend it; think of an English version of American History X, yet almost better.

25.Nov.08

With two minutes to catch our train we ran alongside it to the gate, only to sadly watch the train pull away from the station as we reached the end. Luckily the Irish have a very efficient train system, aside from only going in three directions and back to/from Dublin. We waited a measly hour and were back on a train toward Killarney. Our hour layover in a small city Mallow was mostly uneventful, aside from a cute picture of a pair of red and green doors, and a local teenager telling us to “get out as fast as you can, this city is so boring!” Following his advice, we went back to the station and finished the short trip to Killarney. Purchased from a market, we thoroughly enjoyed some delicious Irish soda bread along the way.

The first impression of Killarney is of a very cute, quaint, and quiet city, but we are here in the off season, and during summer so many people seek that quaintness that things become not so quiet anymore. For the first time since Asia we checked in to a hostel, finding no one in this small town to host us through CouchSurfing. We hate having to pay the exhorbitant price, but hostels in Europe are really very nice. Our ten person dorm was nearly void of people and we had nice comfy beds. After going out for ingredients we quickly took advantage of the large, well-equipped kitchen by cooking a nice soup to dip our soda bread into. We socialized with some of the few other guests then went to bed.

26.Nov.08

The “Ring of Kerry” is an area around Killarney full of just what we had imagined of typical Irish countryside, and quaint Irish villages. For the bulk of the day we sat on a bus touring around the area, enjoying all the splendid views, and learning some history from our very entertaining guide. Big gray forts and Cathedrals dotted the way, and cute little homes surrounded by grazing sheep were sprinkled all throughout the countryside. The whole area looked straight from out of a movie and to our great luck it was a beautiful day when during this time of year it is mostly just gray and rainy. We stopped along the coast for lunch at one of the late Charlie Chaplin’s favorite vacation spots. It was a gorgeous rocky beach, but I could never call a beach my “favorite” unless I could swim without becoming an ice pop. Jess and I enjoyed our packed sandwiches sitting on the beach overlooking the dark water crashing on the shore, while the rest of the tour group ate at a pub. Then we walked up the beach where we went treasure hunting for golf balls hit into the rocks from the nearby course. We brought the balls back in the city and distributed them randomly throughout (leaving a quirky scavenger hunt for someone) on our way to a pretty little cathedral atop a mushroom speckled hill. Time was up and we headed back to the bus.

On the last part of the loop we stopped at a nice little waterfall (more of a stream) and one magnificent point called maiden’s view.

Brains filled with lovely images we disembarked the bus and heated up yesterdays soup for dinner. We topped off the day with a pint of Guinness and a Pint of Smithwicks at a nearby pub; the Irish sure do know how to make unbelievable darks and ales, too bad so many Irish youths drink American Budweiser for who knows what completely insane reason.

27.Nov.08

Early to rise we headed out to an old fort along the Killarney lake. The surrounding national park was a beautiful place to stroll through, and the castle was great. We got back, grabbed our bags, and hopped on a bus to for a three hour trip all the way up through Ireland to Galway (what a tiny country!). We arrived before five, but the sun had already set! We followed directions to our next Couchsurfers house where our crazy Polish host Paluch awaited us. Poluch is full of enthusiasm and warmly welcomed us into his house which resembled a messy hippie co-op. Turns out it pretty much is a messy hippie co-op; Poluch works as a bicycle rickshaw driver at night, pulling around drunken Irish, the Aussie housemate works at an internet center, and the English housemate is a “government sponsered artists,” AKA lives on welfare and paints a lot. They sound lazy (a bit), but they were all extremely nice and enjoyed just spending a lot of time hanging out and partying, so we fit right in. Their dog Rollo was a tiny bundle of insanity; we played with him all night, watched many episodes of a British show Poluch showed us (Black Books, watch it, it is hysterical) and cooked some pasta before going to bed in our room attached to the kitchen. The whole house is on a weird schedule of sleep/work/party, yet they were pleasantly quiet when going through our room to the kitchen as they stayed up until wee morning hours hanging out in the living room.

28.Nov.08

Poluch’s housemates were awesome enough to let us take their bicycles out for a ride along the coast. It has been a long time since we rode bikes, but you never forget; it is just like the old saying…well…like riding a bicycle. We biked a bit through the city to the main cathedral and another glorious University nearby, then hit up the coast.The coast of ireland is just one long stretch of beauty, very similar to California’s. We ate a picnic we prepared along the rocky shore and got spattered with a little mist which ended up making a full, beautifully arched rainbow in the sky; rare to see one so complete. Unfotunatly there was no Leprachaun at the end with his pot of gold; I think the recession has hit the Leprachauns hard too. We biked around a couple more hours, taking in the splendour, then headed back, dropped off the bikes, and walked a bit through Galway’s downtown.

For being such a small city, Galway’s downtown area is incredibly lively! Buskars flood the streets playing instruments, dressed as characters, and performing shows; a lot like Venice Beach in LA except less headshops and even more bars. It is no wonder Poluch makes decent money here as a rickshaw driver; there are so many people centralized right down this one main street going to and from the hundreds of bars and shops. Not feeling up to going out tonight we then headed to the market for ingredients to cook a very elegant meal; steak, potatoes, and brussel sprouts with peppercorn sauce; delicious. After dinner we watched some more TV shows and hung out with Rollo and the rest of the house.

29.Nov.08

We were back on another bus today for a tour of some of the sites around Galway. We had a very charismatic guide, even better than last time, who gave a great deal of interesting informaton about the countryside. One of the first stops was to a local farm where we were taken on a hike through the rocky burrens. The view from the top was very nice overlooking an old monastary and the ocean beyond. One couldn’t help notice the strange rock walls slinking up and around many of the hills. Similar stone wall are erected to make property boundaries or keep animals in (or out), but these seem to have little purpose. The truth is very depressing; the walls do have no purpose, and were made by starving Irish during the potatoe blight to make just enough pennies from the English rulers to buy food. The English had them stacks rocks because they refused to have the Irish do anything skill based, fearing they could one day begin a revolution and be independant and self-sufficient again.

After the tour of the Burrens (which just describes the endless sea of rocks making the countryside more similar to the moon), we headed to the Cliffs of Moher! The largest cliffs in Ireland look out over the Aaron islands in the distance. We walked up and down the beautiuful edge, again very lucky to have another gorgeous day of sunshine! A couple hours later we were heading back on the bus stopping at some more view points and another old fort along the way.

Being our last night in Europe we decided we had to go out and celebrate. The rest of the house was busy so Jess and I hopped between a couple bars, enjoying more unforgettable Guinness, Smithwicks, and an awesome local Pale Ale called Galway Hooker (reffereing not to a “lady of the night,” rather old fishing boats which use thousands of hook lines instead of nets). The last bar we hit had a very good indie band from Canada playing. Jessica is a fan of this music, I am not so much, yet I really enjoyed these guys so they must have been really good (or it was the thick Irish beer influencing me). We stayed for some time, chatted with the band after, then made our way through the streets passing hundreds of rediculously drunk Irish all dressed up, stumbling, and yelling on the streets (oh stereotypes…sometimes they are just so spot on). We asked like 10 rickshaw drivers if they have seen Poluch, but we couldn’t find him; it was fun to see how much business they got from all the drunkards to lazy to walk to the next bar though! We crashed in bed and spent our last night on this side of the Atlantic ocean.

30.Nov.08

Our final day in Europe. We said goodbye to our gracious hosts and their adorable dog, walked through the small town and hopped on a bus to Dublin. A couple hours later, past more lovely countryside and we were dropped off directly at the airport. Normal airport procedure occurred and we waved farewell to Ireland as we boarded our plane back to the US. After all the travelling we have done, the seven hours to New York didn’t seem all that bad.

Looking at the New York subway map trying to figure out how to get to my cousin Joe’s apartment felt still a lot like Europe, as NY boasts a beautifully intricate subway system. It was a long journey switching lines a few times and facing delays until finally plopping down at my welcoming cousin Joe’s place in Downtown Manhattan. Joe, his girlfriend Helena, and the guests they had over that night asked us all about our trip, and we gladly spoke fondly about it. Still it is not yet over, as New York is a big beautiful city which neither of us have yet explored. The trip doesn’t end quite yet!

Dublin Flickr Photos:

http://flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157610563604811/

Killarney Flickr Photos:

http://flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157610633696978/

Galway Flickr Photos:

http://flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157610808859182/

Stay tuned for one final installment!

White winter December 13, 2008

14.Nov.08

Seven hours of today was spent in the car from Budapest to Muenchen. We got a ride through Mitfahrgelegenheit again with a girl trying to make a career as an opera singer. She was interesting company and the ride went smoothly aside from a front tire blow-out on the autobahn which we managed to fix in good time; plus you cannot beat the mere 60 euros we paid for the rideshare. Soon we were at Mark’s apartment in München again, with less people on the streets wearing Lederhosen and Dirndl as last time during Oktoberfest. First and foremost we tracked down a place open selling Augustiner and grabbed two nice cold bottles of my favorite beer on the planet. Every time I drink one I set myself up for disappointment, not possibly able to believe it is as delicious as my brain remembers, but alas, once again, Augustiner is definitely as delicious as expected. We enjoyed the beer, chatted with Henning and Steffie (Mark is already in Flein) then slept away on Marks water bed.

15.Nov.08

Early to rise we jumped inside a red VW bus with our next ride share. This guy was like a taxi, constantly driving between Muenchen and Stuttgart for his business, he offers his car as a rideshare each time to pay for gas and have company. We paid the reasonable fare and 3 hours of chatting with all the other riders later and we were in Stuttgart. From Stuttgart we trained to Heilbronn and then bus to Flein where we were greeted warmly by Jessica’s grandma, mom, and dad. After some catching up and a very welcome German smorgasbord of meats, breads, and cheeses, we met up with Uncle Albrecht and Iris who took us out to watch a friend of theirs take his falcon for a fly. The birds of prey were magnificent and tore through the sky like a jet. It was a treat getting so close to such awesomly powerfull beasts and watch them in action. Iris is learning how to Falconeer so she and the head trainer played what could be called a game of “catch” with one of the falcons.

After watching the falcons we did what is a common occurence in Flein; sat around Grandma’s table drinking wine and talking until late when everyone says goodbye and goes to sleep.

16.Nov.08

We awoke to a band playing on the balcony of the nearby church tower. Today is Oma’s 80th birthday, and living in a tiny village, the whole town knows about it. The nearby trumpets blare to celebrate the occasion as all her kids and grandkids join in toasts of champagne. After the playing a photographer comes to take pictures of Maria (Oma, Grandma, whatever you want to call her) with all of her extended family. The below pic is Jess and her three cousins Goetz, Mark, and Axel with Oma.

Practically the entire town comes during the day to congratulate her for reaching such an epic age; the mayor, town minister, all the neighbors, it gets a bit overwhelming so Jess and I spend some time socializing then relax in the room reading for a bit. Cake is served midday at a huge table for everyone and dinner is at a terrific local restaurant.

17.Nov.08

Unfortunately Jessica has no shoes suitable for running, so I went on a jog myself through the vineyards. It was without a doubt the most epic jog I have ever taken, truly a testament to how much stamina we have built up from walking all day every day on this year trip. I jogged straight for a couple hours up, and around the rolling, green vineyard covered hills of Flein to the top of the tallest hill with a great view of the surrounding countryside. Too bad I didn’t bring a camera!

The whole day Maia received more and more visitors from the village and Jess and I did the same routine as yesterday, socializing for some time, then just hanging out resting our brains from trying to understand their speedy, Schwäbisch dialect German! In the evening we walked through town to Jessica’s uncle Albrecht and his wife Iris’ house for some succulent turkey, & lots of wine. Albrecht was very appreciative of the homemade moonshine we brought from Ukraine as well! Albrecht’s hunting dog Heggie is blind and deaf, but stll managed to beg for table scraps like a pro.

18.Nov.08

The Aqua Toll is a massive pool complex built by Jessica’s great uncle Wilhem’s son. It is just a short drive from Flein in the bigger city Heilbronn. Jessica’s parents drove us over and we had a few nice fun hours at the pool. The place is complete with two massive water slides which Jess and I gleefully slid down over and over again like little kids and then the hot baths were nice and relaxing. Once we got all pruny we got out and ate a bite of Currywurst at the Cafe. Currywurst is a regional specialty of spicy, red curried sausages and french fries, CB used to eat it all the time when he was stationed here for the military (where he met Regine).

When we got back I met some new relatives of Jess; Elke, her husband Rolf and their two amazing girls Teresa & Lena. Elke is great uncle Wilhelm’s daughter, the sister of Karin who’s restaurant we visited in Vienna. The whole family are terrific hosts, their home was extremely cozy, clean, and well organized, Elke served delicious pastries, tea, and coffee, Rolf was very fun to chat with, having surprisingly read nearly all of our blog, and both Teresa & Lena (8 & 10) were a load of fun. Goofing around with them made me again realize how much I love being with kids; these girls were super smart for their age. We had a really fun time meeting with their beautiful family; I wanted to stay to entertain the girls, but we had Oma’s fresh Käsespätzle waiting at home. Before leaving Teresa invited us to her birthday party this weekend with official hand-made invitation.

Dinner was everyones favorite dish; Käsesätzle. Spätzle are homemade egg noodles, and Käse is lots of different types of cheese, throw in some grilled onions and you have Käsespätzle! As always Oma’s food is delicious, we went to be d full of food and wine again.

19.Nov.08

Jessica’s parents CB and Regine drive us out to a nearby town Maulbronn to see a massive monastery complex. We wandered around the complex and learned about it through an audio tour. The most interesting was the invention of the famous Maultaschen, a ravioli like dish where pasta wraps spiced pork. Maultaschen was invented by the monks here because the Catholic church didn’t allow monks to eat meat (aside from fish) so the monks would hide meat in the pasta. It made us wonder what sneaky things the monks did to get around the whole abstinence thing. It was a good day, aside from being freezing cold in the monastary.

For the evening we went to Aunt Erika and her husband Hans splendid house for a feast of meats and pasta, as well as greeting from their crazy pure bred German Shepards which they breed and sell around the world as show dogs, police dogs, and just awesome pets.

20.Nov.08

Straßburg and Strasbourg are technically the same city split by a river separating Germany and France. It was a couple hours in the car and soon we were on the French side enjoying our 19th country we have set foot in during this trip. The city is truly magnificent, a mix between French and German, with rivers and canals flowing all around like Venice with row after row of cute, unique buildings flanking the water. Being a border city between two historically hostile nations, the remnants of turrets and walls can be seen, as well as a massive Gothic cathedral in the middle surrounded by delicious smelling restaurants. We wandered the city for a few hours, too short for our taste, but Jessica’s parents haven’t been walking half the day for the last year so they got reasonably burnt out after a good deal of exploring. We ended the day at a very nice restaurant and ordered some specialties of the area which were far more German influenced than French including lots of meats and mustards.

21.Nov.08

Today was simply another lovely day in Flein. Good food, good company, good wine, good fun. We went to the Aqua toll again for a few hours, where we rocked the slides over and over again. Met with the usual plethora of uncles, cousins, aunts, etc, and chatted, drank wine, and ate Oma’s awesome cooking. May sound boring, but after the last year of crazy, it was one of the many welcome days of relaxing in Flein.

22.Nov.08

Snow covered the ground outside when we first peeked out the window!!! Flein was even more gorgeous blanketed in white, and the vneyards were simply breathtaking. Jess and I put on our warmest clothes and wandered through the vineyards, taking some beautiful shots of the city. A great thing to wake up to.

After our romp through the snow we did the usual for the day, more of Oma’s cooking, and people popping in and out periodically. In the afternoon we went back to Elke and Rolfs for Teresa’s birthday party. To the reader, hanging out with a bunch of eight year olds may seem more like a chore than fun, but Jessica and I (especially the latter) had a blast. They were at that age where girls are just starting to group together away from boys, but I don’t think boys have too many “cooties” yet because Teresa managed to invite one; he has no idea how awesome his odds are. We all went to the nearby bowling alley, but the way there was even more fun than bowling itself as huge snowball fights ensued with the biggest person (me) as the preferred target. They made and broke alliances with one another as to whether they were attacking me or defending me, but it mattered little as in the end they would all end up on my shoulders getting spun in circles. Adults are cool and all, but nothing is more fun than chasing and playing with a group of kids.

The alley was a much different game from conventional bowling with tiny little balls and nine pins attached to strings for a quick set-up. Rolf and Elke had a good number of unique spin offs of regular bowling to play for the kids, which they (and we) loved. A few hours later we got what every kid ultimately comes to a birthday party for: A FREE BAG OF CANDY!!! The walk back involved many more snowballs and Jessica and I giving a fond farewell to the kids and the family.

That night all the extended family met again for a final delicious dinner followed by openings of ancient bottles of wine to celebrate. One German bottle had been aged from the seventies, A French bottle from like 15 years ago, and a Napa Valley Cabarnet Sauvignon about tn years old, which go figure, was the tastiest. Everyone said last farewells as we would be leaving in the morning, off to see some more of the world.

23.Nov.08

CB and Regine’s flight was midday, but ours wasn’t for eight hours later, still they gave a free ride to Frankfurt airport early in the morning so we would just ahve to wait. Not wanting to kill all that time in the terminal we went in to the city for a few hours, which wasn’t much more entertaining. Maybe living in Frankfurt would be fun, but visiting is not very interesting. The river is pretty, and there is some fun art scattered around the city, but it was nothing extraordinary. So we went back to the airport where we waited for many hours until our flight was delayed again, and again from the snow dumping on the tarmac. Finally we got on the flight and headed for Ireland.

We landed in Dublin late and took a long bus ride in to the city where we wandered a bit while the sky misted on us, to eventually find the bar where our new CouchSurfing host Francois was working until late. Immediately we love Francois, who breaks every negative French stereotype you can think of. We walked to his place after our first delicious Guinness in Ireland. He was very generous in letting us sleep on his comfy bed while he took the floor. Our first impression of Ireland is great so far!

Sorry, I broke all the pics into multiple links. Hope you enjoyed the blog, we are so far behind!!!

Pics of Flein:

http://flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157610021574272/

Pics of Maulbronn:

http://flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157610023679352/

Pics of Strasbourg:

http://flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157609956167889/

Pics of Frankfurt:

http://flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157610605481726/

No, not that Buddha. December 5, 2008

08.Nov.08

How the hell we got into Hungary is still a mild mystery to us. We were told to look for some run-down building to the right of the train station in Tschop, the border town between Ukraine and Hungary. We got off the train and to our great surprise all the buildings were quite nice looking…so what building exactly were we supposed to go into? We went into some small square structure to the right and tried to ask about the short train which  is supposed to carry us across to Hungary. The men there in very KGB looking outfits complete with big black aviator glasses, looked at us like we were speaking an alien language…which technically we were as they spoke no English. We managed to get through to these guys that we wanted to go to Hungary. They gave us some walking directions to hit the Border line a good number of Kilometers away. Having no other obvious option we began our long trek to the border when the guard with the bushy mustache (which isn’t very descriptive as they all had bushy mustaches) came out and said simply “here, wait,” then motioned a steering wheel.

Maybe we have too much faith in the world at this point in our adventure, or maybe he just seemed incredibly sincere and friendly (save the mildly intimidating outfit) but we simply looked at each other and shrugged before putting our backpacks in the trunk and hopping in the backseats. Another mustaccioed man came along who spoke a bit of German, and we managed the typical conversation of “Where from?” “California,” “Oh, Hotel California!” “Yeah, sure, like the song,” “President Obama!” “Yes, we are very happy he won,” “Yes, he is nigger!!!” “Well, yeah, okay,” “No sorry, no nigger, he black,” “Yes, yes, he is black exactly, well thank you guys so so much for the ride,” and he gave my favorite Ukrainian response to “Thank You;” “For nothing, for nothing.” We arrived right at the heavily guarded border, and our chauffeur wouldn’t even accept gas money. Next of course we noticed there was another slight hindrance…you cannot walk across the border as there is absolutely nothing on the other side. No train, no public buses, nothing…so what now. Next thing we knew we threw our bags in the back of a complete strangers car, hopped in and were in queue for the border check. What just happened we can only assume (without English speakers to explain) that due to bureaucracy you must drive or train across the border. Which train exactly remains a complete mystery to us, but those driving across the border extend their generosity to hitchhikers and the like. Everyone other car waiting took a good deal of time to get checked by the Hungarian guards, but obviously pleased by our American passports our guard checked our legal volumes of vodka and let us pass right through, most definitely pleasing our new driver.

So with that long story out of the way we are now in Hungary! We were dropped off at a town nearby and caught the train with only a couple minutes to spare and before we knew it we were standing in the glorious Budapest! A metro and bus stop later and we were ringing the doorbell of our UCSC friend Jordan Menashe in her extremely well placed and spacious apartment. Her four housemates are also UC students studying abroad and right away, aside from the slight mess, we knew this would be a great stay. Our new hosts are all very nice, and completely to my surprise Alex recognized me from high school. He went to CDMHS a couple years behind me, and is now studying at UCSC! We excitedly shared stories of Orange County and Santa Cruz before sleeping on our comfy pullout couch in the living room.

09.Nov.08

Waking up very late, and just bumming around the house, we finally managed to muster some motivation and hop on a train to the outer suburb of Szcentendra. Jordan and her housemate Emily joined along as we sought out a wine festival that we soon found out didn’t really exist. In any case it was a cute, yet touristy, town with a store packed with every flavor Marizpan imaginable (which we happily consumed). We spent the whole day wandering slowly around the town and sharing travel stories and such. Lunch was at a shop with massive potatoes topped with everything your brain could fathom would taste good on a potato and some things that you would think shouldn’t be on a potato. That was it for the day, the train ride gave us a mere glimpse of the extraordinary city of Buda and Pest to come. It is, in fact, two separate cities, Buda is the more posh area on one side of the river including the Castle, and the hills, while Pest lays on the other side of the Danube where the rest of the sites are. Thankfully we have a good number of days here to explore the expansive city.

10.Nov.08

Our first goal of the day was conquering a large hill on the other side of the river (after the goal of cooking breakfast of course). Climbing the hill gave way to many neat little secrets; a church inside of a cave, a playground with massive slides, and at the top a mighty statue of some greek goddess holding a palm leaf. The view was terrific from the top, over to Pest on the other side of the river with towering cathedrals, and the unbelievably florid parliament house, then Buda on our side boasting the mighty castle district and rolling hills. Climbing a high place is always good to do on the first day to orientate ourselves to the city. After hitting the peak for the view we headed through the valley towards the side entrance of the castle complex.

The castle area in every city is simply where the old wall used to protect the more important citizens of the city and where the royal castle would be. Over the years the typical dark, medieval castles have been converted to not as impressive palaces. Then again we simply hold a large place in our hearts for massive, vicious looking castles crumbling from the ferociousness of time and weather. Little pieces like this outer wall are still preserved in ancient glory however!

Wandering through the streets of the inner walls we were pleased with the row after row of lovely aristocratic villas, and very quaint cafes nestled beside a number of museums, palaces, epic statues, turrets, the national library, and a would be very impressive cathedral, were it not under heavy construction! After some good meandering the castle we moseyed on down to the river passing by more loveliness. On the way down we came upon a particularly splendid view of the amazing parliament building across the river with a typical Hungarian church with its colorful roof, in the foreground.

If the Parliament looks familiar to you it is because you have seen a similar building in London ironically also named “Parliament.” They are similar because they were built by the same fellow for the same reason. This building miraculously survived WWII nearly untouched, which is terrific because it is stunning.

Back at the apartment we got in touch with our friend Peter who worked at Kennolyn day camp with me last summer. Born and raised in Budapest he came over and took us out to a couple of his favorite local student bars. Jordan and some of her housemates joined us and we enjoyed a few rounds of local beer and mulled wine surrounded by excellent atmosphere. So far we are very pleased with Budapest!

11.Nov.08

Surprise, surprise, we walked a lot today. Being incredibly cheap travelers we just cannot justify taking the meticulous subway to get where we want to go, when we have two functioning legs to walk with. So we had another day of tiring ourselves out by exploring the grand city on foot. We began with breakfast in one of the 5 massive markets sprinkled throughout the city in the early 1900’s to be hubs of trade. The grand market we went to is like an airplane hangar filled with local veggies, spices, butchers, bakers, with a second floor of souvenirs and food stalls. Hungarian food is nothing other than delicious, although with each bite you can feel an artery clog. We had a smorgasbord of meat, veggies, & noodles, slow cooked in typical Hungarian paprika sprinkled sauce, then a delicious donut-like pastry oozing with berry jam for dessert. Your mouth should be watering about now.

Good thing we do all this walking otherwise the food is likely to give us a heart attack. Speaking of walking, we walked across the city to another impressive structure, St Istvan’s cathedral. A behemoth dome topped structure lined with saints and very mosque-like turrets, it boasts the mummified hand of St Istvan himself inside (which we didn’t bother paying to see).

Describing every gorgeous structure we pass would make this blog at long as War & Peace, so suffice it to say that wandering this city is simply astounding. Every block has something uniquely beautiful to offer. Massive limestone structures with gold leaf sparkling on the walls, huge columns, ancient walls and statues; the cities lengthy history slaps you across the face with every step you take. Truly awe-inspiring is Budapest; likewise as gorgeous as Prague, Berlin, or Vienna, but but all are exquisite in their own unique ways. We headed to the parliament house for a closer look. As imagined it was even more glorious up close and personal. Walking along the river, blinded by the sun reflecting off its white walls, we came across a tucked away memorial; one of those little things you stumble upon that turn a city from amazing to magical. Had we not been previously told what this memorial meant we would have no idea why someone laid rows of bronze shoes along the river. The shoes signify when the Nazis, desperate and surrounded by the soviets, gathered up all the Jews they could, ordered their shoes and clothes off, lined them up by the river, and shot them in the back, dumping the bodies in the Danube. A truly moving memorial.

Later that night we met up with Peter at the apartment. Alex and Jordan met the three of us at a bus stop after school and we hopped on a bus to a place that would change all of our lives. We got off the bus in a tiny insignificant (or so we thought) suburb 30 minutes outside the city. There was nothing around, but some homes, and big tenement block apartments. Peter guided us through the streets until a heavenly light shown on us down an alley. The light attracted us like moths, a light leading to a tiny restaurant tucked away which would soon have us completely re-discover parts of our taste buds we never knew existed.

Peter did all the talking, ordering plate after plate of divine ambrosia. A soup-like succulent borscht with spicy Hungarian kick, a salad with an array of pickled and spiced veggies and peppers, a plate of egg noodles covered in the reddest most succulent beef Goulash imaginable, pork knuckle breaded and covered with cheese and garlic then deep fried, fried mushrooms in white gravy, all washed down with a liquor passed down straight from the Greek gods themselves; Polenka, made with plum, golden in color, it spread through the palate like milk down a babies gullet. A couple of local beers and chocolate covered crepes topped off the meal of a lifetime. Without question the best meal I have eaten in all of Europe, maybe the world, and the most satisfying part was the beyond reasonable bill. I have had meals in life that have cost 5 times as much, and tasted 1/5th as delicious. A large meal at McDonalds would have cost more. Truly a masterpiece of culinary delight, we couldn’t thank Peter enough for taking us to this hidden gem which barely ever sees the wallets of tourists. A delightful evening!

After dinner we went to a small party held for all the Education Abroad Students. It brought back memories of our time abroad, though of all the people we talked to, they seemed to have seen very little of the gorgeous city they now lived in. Oh well.

12.Nov.08

The first chunk of the day was spent working on blog, journal, and pictures; just taking a break. Early afternoon we went on a long walk to the fine arts museum. It wasn’t anything wow, but it certainly was beautiful. Next we went to the famous mineral baths; a huge complex of baths and saunas with varying temperatures. We hopped from pool to pool nestled next to the plethora of large geriatrics (the previously described Hungarian food is delicious, but as we now learn firsthand, does NO favors for the body). We tried to brave one super hot sauna with a max temp of 65 Celsius (152 Fahrenheit) which we managed about 30 seconds sitting around the other heat lovers with beet red skin.

Feeling rejuvenated after a good number of hours soaking we took the subway back to the apartment for Mexican night! Jess and I made our homemade tortillas and the rest of the Apartment whipped up some fixin’s for delicious burritos. We had a great meal and were later joined by Peter and three people we invited through Couchsurfing. We spent the night chatting, laughing, and drinking wine.

13.Nov.08

Midday we met Peter for a goodbye lunch at a kebab place then headed one of the largest Synagogues in the world for a short tour of the grounds complete with its complex history. When the Jews knew the Nazis were coming they took out all the precious stained-glass windows and buried them in sand, miraculously surviving the war completely unscathed and replaced in the window holes after war. The synagogue and surrounding Jewish quarter was a Nazi military base and the Jewish Ghetto during the war. Today it is used by the remaining few thousand Jews as a place of worship. The top floor of the temple is a small museum with massive quantities of silver Torah casings, dradels, and Menorahs. Aside from the massive Synagogue the rest of the Jewish quarter is pretty non-existent.

Our next stop was the museum of terror depicting the double threat to the Hungarian people in the last century. From the years under fascism of the Arrow-cross party, followed by the Nazis, to being “liberated” by the soviets, only to enter an era of equal terror, torture, invasive surveillance, and genocide. A very griping, and well made museum, though with far too much information to take in.

That was pretty much the end of our Budapest adventure. We went home and just hung out the rest of the night, then packed our bags for our long drive to Muenchen in the morning.

Budapest Flickr Photos:

http://flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157609080922549/