Ok..
Budapest is something of an interesting place to say the least. It is a bit dingy, chaotic, and reeeeeally confusing. For the first time in my entire traveling career, I didn't get lost. However, the place where we were staying was owned/operated by one guy who just kind of came and went as he pleased. He expected everyone to show up EXACTLY when they stated they were going to show up. I didn't remember when said we were going to show up... oops..
So we show up, and he isn't there... wunderbar... Lisa and I decide to look around for an internet cafe/call center where we can call him and have him let us in. To no avail. They were all closed.
We are now basically wandering the streets of Budapest in the cold trying to figure out how to make a phone call, all the while slowly descending into the depths of disparity.
To the point of considering simply beating up some poor Hungarian soul and making off with their cell phone.
Luckily (for some poor Hungarian) I decided to head back to the hostel and try ringing the bell again. He was there. We made our way up a thousand flights of stairs to be greeted with the most "basic" of all hostels on the planet. I literally watched Lisa's demeanor turn into that of the devil's. It wasn't that the hostel was gross. It was that it sorely needed the hand of a female to "spruce" it up. It was the very definition of a bachelor pad. I thought it was cool... Oh well..
Anyways, the owner/operator turned out to be the coolest Aussie guy one could ever want to meet. He was chatty, helpful, interested in our travels, etc etc. He even invited us to his local pub to have a few beers with him. His local bar (The Vittula) was this amazing cramped, smokey, random music, beer-drenched little hole in the ground where I have never felt so at home in my life. I felt as if I tore out about 100 square feet of Patties and toted it to Hungary. There were people crammed in there everywhere and nobody gave a crap about us! Well.... everyone but our hostel owner guy. He was happy to see us and bought us a round. We proceeded to chat it up for a couple hours before heading back to the hostel to sleep. Despite all the frustration of the day, I went to sleep knowing that Budapest would be a good time for us.
Woke the next day and hit the streets to see what there was to see. Budapest was still the same city in the daylight as it was at night. Strange, quarky, unorganized etc. But I never ever felt as though there were any danger. It just seemed that people had their own thing to do and didn't really pay us much mind unless we were shopping into their stores or sitting in their restaurants/bars. We walked down to the river Danube and strolled it's chilly banks. Lisa sang to me as we passed by the Hungarian Parliament and watched the boats and barges struggle up the the Danube's swift current. It was a good day.
Next day (as are most days) was spent basically feeding Lisa every hour, on the hour. But it was ok, it was her birthday after all..
We found food in the morning and headed out towards Hero's Square to look at the statues of the old Hungarian heroes that this country so adores. Hero's Square is basically situated in Budapest's central-park, so there were all sorts of other things to look at as well. There was an enormous castle right in the middle of the park that was worthy of a million photos. It is a really funny thing about Europe in general really. You're just strolling along and OH LOOK! A castle!!
In the US you have to drive to Orlando or Anaheim... blah.
Later that evening after Lisa had been fed for her 17th time for the day, we headed to another little place that our hostel-owner had suggested. A little bar called Szimpla. We should have never doubted him the first time he suggested it..... It was the coolest place EVER!
Some enterprising Hungarian basically took and alleyway and turned it into a little swanky bar that would have been way overpriced anywhere else on Earth, but here it was priced for the locals, and way too scary to find for the common tourist.
It was a little off the beaten path, and when I say "off the beaten path" I actually mean, it was on a dark street with shadowy people milling about and strange smells emanating from the trash cans nearby.
You walk through the front doors having no idea what is going to greet you, but you are greeted by a bunch of that plastic stuff hanging from the door sills. *Lisa says it's like walking into a meat locker, THAT kind of plastic stuff*
You walk through a couple layers of that stuff and you enter into this quiet candlelit bar that is warm from the many heaters, and fragrant with the smells of the random burning incense. There were Christmas lights all over the place, and the furniture was made up of everything that you and I have tossed out over the years. It was about as romantic as anyone would ever find in any city, anywhere. We talked for hours and hours and had the time of our lives here.
Ya know. When you visit these cities, you can visit them in one of two ways. You can head into the sterile hotels and get herded about like cattle by the tour guides. OR, you can stay in the bowels of the city. You can breathe the air of the locals and have them respect you because you did it. They love their cities, and they will show you all you ever need to love their cities as well.
For anyone going to Budapest. Remember.
- Go to Szimpla
- Go to the Vittula
Say hi to Ted at 10 beds Hostel. He's cool and won't steer you wrong.
Pictures will be posted whenever.
- P
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Salzburg Austria. Dec 23rd - 26th
Salzburg, Austria. December 23rd – 26th
The train ride from Munich was uneventful. It was Lisa’s first train ride, so she was excited and apprehensive with the whole motion-sickness thing. The ride was only an hour or so, so she didn’t have much time to get sick and barf all over me.
Arrived in Salzburg and got a bit turned around in the train station because they have the entire thing under construction. It doesn’t look like the pretty little train station that it was 3 years ago when I was here with Ben. We left the train station to go and find something to eat before checking into our guest house. We ended up heading into a place that Ben and I frequented when we were here. Little eatery close by the train station where you can get food, drink beer, and smoke inside... Perfect. We ate and headed back to the train station to find the local train and head to Germana’s house.
As per usual, I enjoy getting lost everywhere, and Salzburg is no different. So we got lost for a few minutes within the torn-up station looking for the correct train/platform. It didn’t take us very long. No fun...
Made our way to Germana’s and trudged up the hill-of-death towards her house. Here it seems EVERYTHING is at the top of some hill or another. It can be tiresome when you are already sore and lazy from walking and sitting in a train. Also, the air is thinner here in the Bavarian Alps, so that certainly can add to the laziness. Germana is the same little cheerful Austrian lady that she was 3 years ago. She speaks good English albeit a heavy accent and is just full of stories and suggestions about where to go, what to do, etc etc. She pointed us towards the Salzburg Christmas Market and set us off to find more Christmas stuff to satiate Lisa’s obsession. By the time we made our way there, Lisa was tired and cold, and not very interested in the market. The mighty Christmas-crazed monster had been defeated. We strolled about for a little while longer and made our way back to Germana’s.
The next day was Christmas Eve. We decided that we needed to find something Christmas-y in order to get past the homesickness that we kind of had. The holidays can definitely be a lovely time to travel, but you do end up missing your family, even though you may be in a beautiful land such as Austria. We took the LokalBahn to Obernsdorf and walked through the village to the Stille Nacht Kapelle (Silent Night Chapel) to see that little modest chapel that such a big piece of Christmas history came from. The chapel itself is a tiny little building compared to some of these monstrous cathedrals that are everywhere in Europe. It may seat a dozen people, probably less. In 1816 a little priest there wrote the timeless song Silent Night. It was first performed there 2 years later in 1818. The organ was broken, so they had to use a guitar to accompany the singing.
I like stories like these. The song wasn’t written by some famous classical composer or Archbishop in the mighty Vienna Cathedral, but rather a little tiny chapel, in a little tiny village, by some modest priest. It isn’t much different than the story of Christ’s birth itself. A small town, a modest building, with a handful of humble participants. Such is more often God’s ideal setting for history it seems.
After finding presents for our beloved Mothers in Obernsdorf, we headed out to find our way back to the train station. We decided to take a shortcut, and by “shortcut” I actually mean getting lost and having to spend additional hours finding our way back. We eventually made it back to Salzburg-city and set out to look for a suitcase for Lisa.
*Side-Note* Lisa has been miserable with the backpack. There is little in this world that she has complained about more than the backpack. She detests it with all her heart and soul it seems. She complains about it incessantly and we decided for her sanity and mine that we needed to find a roll-suitcase for her. We did find one... It’s hot-pink… and huge... Lisa happily rolled her suitcase back to the train station so we could stow it in a locker, I trailed behind her feeling pretty well emasculated. Such is love I suppose...
Most of the shops were closing now due to it being Christmas Eve, so we wandered about the city looking for an open restaurant until we came upon the Tokyo Café or something like that. We had a lovely Christmas dinner of spring rolls, fried won-tons, and teriyaki chicken in the Tokyo café with a bunch of other travelers that had nowhere to go either. All things considered, it wasn’t too bad in the end. We went back to Germana’s and played Trivial Pursuit, drank wine, and ate chips until we were both nodding off from exhaustion.
Awoke on Christmas day and decided (per Germana’s suggestion) to check out one of the free concerts/mass that were being held in all the various cathedrals in Salzburg. We went to the main cathedral and enjoyed some of Haydn’s works that were occasionally interrupted by a priest performing catholic rituals in German. Lisa seemed to pick up on some of it; I didn’t really understand any of it other than the various Latin that I would pick out here and there. One fatal flaw that I think the Catholic Church did was to create these enormous cathedrals. It is too easy to get distracted from the monotone priest when one starts looking around at all the detail and ornamentation of one of these cathedrals. They clearly didn’t have Attention Deficit Disorder in mind when they built them.
After church they re-opened the Christmas Market and the tourists and locals all came out in force again. We wandered about eating and drinking for awhile before heading to the Salzburg Fortress/Castle. It was raining a little bit, but wasn’t too cold. We decided to gamble with the rain and walk up to the castle for the beautiful views of Salzburg below.
At the top of the castle I told Lisa that she had to marry me or get thrown over the side, she reluctantly agreed and we are now engaged. She is now my objectified piece of property and I own her completely.
-P
The train ride from Munich was uneventful. It was Lisa’s first train ride, so she was excited and apprehensive with the whole motion-sickness thing. The ride was only an hour or so, so she didn’t have much time to get sick and barf all over me.
Arrived in Salzburg and got a bit turned around in the train station because they have the entire thing under construction. It doesn’t look like the pretty little train station that it was 3 years ago when I was here with Ben. We left the train station to go and find something to eat before checking into our guest house. We ended up heading into a place that Ben and I frequented when we were here. Little eatery close by the train station where you can get food, drink beer, and smoke inside... Perfect. We ate and headed back to the train station to find the local train and head to Germana’s house.
As per usual, I enjoy getting lost everywhere, and Salzburg is no different. So we got lost for a few minutes within the torn-up station looking for the correct train/platform. It didn’t take us very long. No fun...
Made our way to Germana’s and trudged up the hill-of-death towards her house. Here it seems EVERYTHING is at the top of some hill or another. It can be tiresome when you are already sore and lazy from walking and sitting in a train. Also, the air is thinner here in the Bavarian Alps, so that certainly can add to the laziness. Germana is the same little cheerful Austrian lady that she was 3 years ago. She speaks good English albeit a heavy accent and is just full of stories and suggestions about where to go, what to do, etc etc. She pointed us towards the Salzburg Christmas Market and set us off to find more Christmas stuff to satiate Lisa’s obsession. By the time we made our way there, Lisa was tired and cold, and not very interested in the market. The mighty Christmas-crazed monster had been defeated. We strolled about for a little while longer and made our way back to Germana’s.
The next day was Christmas Eve. We decided that we needed to find something Christmas-y in order to get past the homesickness that we kind of had. The holidays can definitely be a lovely time to travel, but you do end up missing your family, even though you may be in a beautiful land such as Austria. We took the LokalBahn to Obernsdorf and walked through the village to the Stille Nacht Kapelle (Silent Night Chapel) to see that little modest chapel that such a big piece of Christmas history came from. The chapel itself is a tiny little building compared to some of these monstrous cathedrals that are everywhere in Europe. It may seat a dozen people, probably less. In 1816 a little priest there wrote the timeless song Silent Night. It was first performed there 2 years later in 1818. The organ was broken, so they had to use a guitar to accompany the singing.
I like stories like these. The song wasn’t written by some famous classical composer or Archbishop in the mighty Vienna Cathedral, but rather a little tiny chapel, in a little tiny village, by some modest priest. It isn’t much different than the story of Christ’s birth itself. A small town, a modest building, with a handful of humble participants. Such is more often God’s ideal setting for history it seems.
After finding presents for our beloved Mothers in Obernsdorf, we headed out to find our way back to the train station. We decided to take a shortcut, and by “shortcut” I actually mean getting lost and having to spend additional hours finding our way back. We eventually made it back to Salzburg-city and set out to look for a suitcase for Lisa.
*Side-Note* Lisa has been miserable with the backpack. There is little in this world that she has complained about more than the backpack. She detests it with all her heart and soul it seems. She complains about it incessantly and we decided for her sanity and mine that we needed to find a roll-suitcase for her. We did find one... It’s hot-pink… and huge... Lisa happily rolled her suitcase back to the train station so we could stow it in a locker, I trailed behind her feeling pretty well emasculated. Such is love I suppose...
Most of the shops were closing now due to it being Christmas Eve, so we wandered about the city looking for an open restaurant until we came upon the Tokyo Café or something like that. We had a lovely Christmas dinner of spring rolls, fried won-tons, and teriyaki chicken in the Tokyo café with a bunch of other travelers that had nowhere to go either. All things considered, it wasn’t too bad in the end. We went back to Germana’s and played Trivial Pursuit, drank wine, and ate chips until we were both nodding off from exhaustion.
Awoke on Christmas day and decided (per Germana’s suggestion) to check out one of the free concerts/mass that were being held in all the various cathedrals in Salzburg. We went to the main cathedral and enjoyed some of Haydn’s works that were occasionally interrupted by a priest performing catholic rituals in German. Lisa seemed to pick up on some of it; I didn’t really understand any of it other than the various Latin that I would pick out here and there. One fatal flaw that I think the Catholic Church did was to create these enormous cathedrals. It is too easy to get distracted from the monotone priest when one starts looking around at all the detail and ornamentation of one of these cathedrals. They clearly didn’t have Attention Deficit Disorder in mind when they built them.
After church they re-opened the Christmas Market and the tourists and locals all came out in force again. We wandered about eating and drinking for awhile before heading to the Salzburg Fortress/Castle. It was raining a little bit, but wasn’t too cold. We decided to gamble with the rain and walk up to the castle for the beautiful views of Salzburg below.
At the top of the castle I told Lisa that she had to marry me or get thrown over the side, she reluctantly agreed and we are now engaged. She is now my objectified piece of property and I own her completely.
-P
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Evening of December 22nd
Well after walking all over and admiring Munich's Christmas extravaganza, we were tired and headed back to our hostel to rest for a bit. Slept for a couple hours and woke around 7pm to get some dinner and maybe a beer or two. We are in Germany after all....
I had set my heart on the famous Hofbrauhaus, so we set off looking for it.
Ya know, for as large a place it is supposed to be (occupancy 2000-persons I believe), we had a hell of a time finding the wretched place. It brought me back to the days of old when Ben and I made a habit of getting lost everywhere we went in Europe. I'm sorry Ben, I now have a new "getting lost" companion. Although, she isn't quite the navigator that you are.
We eventually found the gigantic beerhall and settled in to a picnic-table with another couple. Lisa got confused and ordered some strange wheat-beer and lemonade concoction, it was foul and she was sad. I ordered a traditional helles and enjoyed it thoroughly. An order of Regensburg sausage for Lisa and a bread assortment for me, we were pretty full by the time we were finished. Drinking an entire litre of any kind of beer can become a chore once you eat an entire dinner, it really is A LOT of liquid..
Lisa had given upon her weird beer concoction and ordered a normal Hefeweissen by then, she enjoyed that a lot more and guzzled most of it down pretty quickly. She can certainly be a boozer at times..
The atmosphere of beer halls is something that I think was designed with my Father in mind. It is a social setting where one is SUPPOSED to sit at tables with complete strangers and strike up conversations. You meet people from everywhere, and the upbeat tunes of the band definitely adds to it. People sing whilst swaying their beers back and forth, they chant, they clap, and they pound on the tables. Those with a few too many in their bellies messily toaste their glasses together and laugh. Beer halls are a place to forget one's troubles and meet new friends, as well as enjoy the friends and family you already have. It is certainly something that the USA should get on board with. It's fun. My papa would love it.
We paid our tab and left the monstrous Hofbrauhaus. The city streets were quieting down a bit, and the weather was still beautiful. Made our way back to our hostel and decided to write about our evening.
It isn't too incredibly late at the moment, but we are tired. Tomorrow we head into the land and city where I think I left a piece of my heart 3 years ago. Salzburg, Austria.
The other half of my heart that I didn't leave there, I believe I would like to bury it there when I die.
It is a beautiful city where the Alps stare down at you and remind you of how small you are, and what a beautiful creative imagination our God has. Endless fields, trees, and history.
It wont have the grass-covered fields that I saw once before, but I still can't wait for Lisa to see it and know where we will retire one day. Might as well start warming her up to the idea now.
Will write more tomorrow or the next day.
- P
I had set my heart on the famous Hofbrauhaus, so we set off looking for it.
Ya know, for as large a place it is supposed to be (occupancy 2000-persons I believe), we had a hell of a time finding the wretched place. It brought me back to the days of old when Ben and I made a habit of getting lost everywhere we went in Europe. I'm sorry Ben, I now have a new "getting lost" companion. Although, she isn't quite the navigator that you are.
We eventually found the gigantic beerhall and settled in to a picnic-table with another couple. Lisa got confused and ordered some strange wheat-beer and lemonade concoction, it was foul and she was sad. I ordered a traditional helles and enjoyed it thoroughly. An order of Regensburg sausage for Lisa and a bread assortment for me, we were pretty full by the time we were finished. Drinking an entire litre of any kind of beer can become a chore once you eat an entire dinner, it really is A LOT of liquid..
Lisa had given upon her weird beer concoction and ordered a normal Hefeweissen by then, she enjoyed that a lot more and guzzled most of it down pretty quickly. She can certainly be a boozer at times..
The atmosphere of beer halls is something that I think was designed with my Father in mind. It is a social setting where one is SUPPOSED to sit at tables with complete strangers and strike up conversations. You meet people from everywhere, and the upbeat tunes of the band definitely adds to it. People sing whilst swaying their beers back and forth, they chant, they clap, and they pound on the tables. Those with a few too many in their bellies messily toaste their glasses together and laugh. Beer halls are a place to forget one's troubles and meet new friends, as well as enjoy the friends and family you already have. It is certainly something that the USA should get on board with. It's fun. My papa would love it.
We paid our tab and left the monstrous Hofbrauhaus. The city streets were quieting down a bit, and the weather was still beautiful. Made our way back to our hostel and decided to write about our evening.
It isn't too incredibly late at the moment, but we are tired. Tomorrow we head into the land and city where I think I left a piece of my heart 3 years ago. Salzburg, Austria.
The other half of my heart that I didn't leave there, I believe I would like to bury it there when I die.
It is a beautiful city where the Alps stare down at you and remind you of how small you are, and what a beautiful creative imagination our God has. Endless fields, trees, and history.
It wont have the grass-covered fields that I saw once before, but I still can't wait for Lisa to see it and know where we will retire one day. Might as well start warming her up to the idea now.
Will write more tomorrow or the next day.
- P
December 22nd
Well today was much much better than yesterday. Being well-rested can do wonders for one's sense of adventure and overall sense of well-being. Not to mention that having a female that is tired, cranky, hungry, cold, and in unfamiliar surroundings can make one's mood go south in a damned hurry...
Little did Lisa know that i nearly put her in her own backpack and mailed her home... Just kidding honey. :)
Anyways, we decided that we wouldn't eat at the hostel and would rather snarf down some of the seasonal food at the Christkindlmarkt (Christkindlmarkt). Me being slightly hung-over from all the previous night's Augustiner beers made for a bit of a deficient appetite, but surely not Lisa!
She was up skipping around and looking forward to exotic food and drink. After a couple aspirin, I was ready for food as well.
Lisa started with a traditional sausage-on-bread type thing that she doused with mustard and wolfed down. I found some potato patties that reminded me of hasbrowns and ate those. They were greasy, salty, and amazing. Washed them down with some gluwein and felt like a new man.
It is a bit difficult to really explain just how "Christmas-y" this city is. This Christmas market could easily pass for the North Pole itself.
Needless to say, Lisa is definitely in her element here.. We had to stop and look at every ornament, ceramic Santa, wooden christmas angel, and/or everything else related (or even semi-related) to Christmas. We'll have to become independently wealthy so we can visit here every holiday season I suppose. :)
We have been in "irritating tourist" mode for pretty much the entire day. We have taken lots of pictures of every random building, statue, christmas tree, christmas paraphernalia, etc etc etc.
Some of the buildings we did know their purpose, others we did not.
We are now back at the hostel, I believe I might have a new blister on my foot.. I'll write more tomorrow if we do anything exciting.
-P
Little did Lisa know that i nearly put her in her own backpack and mailed her home... Just kidding honey. :)
Anyways, we decided that we wouldn't eat at the hostel and would rather snarf down some of the seasonal food at the Christkindlmarkt (Christkindlmarkt). Me being slightly hung-over from all the previous night's Augustiner beers made for a bit of a deficient appetite, but surely not Lisa!
She was up skipping around and looking forward to exotic food and drink. After a couple aspirin, I was ready for food as well.
Lisa started with a traditional sausage-on-bread type thing that she doused with mustard and wolfed down. I found some potato patties that reminded me of hasbrowns and ate those. They were greasy, salty, and amazing. Washed them down with some gluwein and felt like a new man.
It is a bit difficult to really explain just how "Christmas-y" this city is. This Christmas market could easily pass for the North Pole itself.
Needless to say, Lisa is definitely in her element here.. We had to stop and look at every ornament, ceramic Santa, wooden christmas angel, and/or everything else related (or even semi-related) to Christmas. We'll have to become independently wealthy so we can visit here every holiday season I suppose. :)
We have been in "irritating tourist" mode for pretty much the entire day. We have taken lots of pictures of every random building, statue, christmas tree, christmas paraphernalia, etc etc etc.
Some of the buildings we did know their purpose, others we did not.
We are now back at the hostel, I believe I might have a new blister on my foot.. I'll write more tomorrow if we do anything exciting.
-P
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