Buda + Pest = LOVE

so i'm really digging budapest. it's a very cool city, and i now have 3 favorites that i really can't choose between. and there's still germany - oh man. anyway, we have free internet at the hostel i'm staying at, so i'm taking advantage of it and writing another post. 2 posts in just a couple days.. wow!

we've been quite busy since we've arrived. there is just a ton to see (as in every major city), and luckily for us, a lot of sites are free or cheap. definitely under budget here, which is nice because it will allow us to splurge a bit. like good meals. and like getting a massage in an hungarian spa/bath. that hasn't happened yet, but it will this wednesday. a little indulgence is a good thing.

anyway, day two of budapest was actually quite a lot of walking. almost too much, but oh well. i guess when the book recommends taking public transport to get somewhere, you should listen to it. anyway, we started out by venturing to a flea market that was a bit out of town. walked there which took an hour, and walked around the market. a bunch of vendors were not set up, i guess because it wasn't saturday, so there wasn't a ton to see. still interesting. lots of paintings and furniture and knick-knacks that would have been potential purchases, had i not been in budapest and backpacking.

from there we took the bus back (thankfully) and walked (again, should have used the transport) up to a cave called szemlo-hegy, it was interesting. and definitely something different. by the time we walked back (ugh, my feet..) it was too late to go to the statue park as planned, so instead we went up to castle hill again, bought our cheap postcards and headed for the national gallery, which was inside the royal palace. and free - whoo.

had another gelati and wandered back to the hostel to eat our leftovers for dinner. one of our roommates, carol, mentioned that she was going to a hungarian folk dance with our host's girlfriend and her friend, and asked if anyone wanted to join. i was definitely interested because - how cool is that?! so after we ate, we were getting ready to head out when sylvie (the friend) said we couldn't wear our jeans and capris, we had to wear skirts. we kinda laughed, until she went into her bag and brought out 3 skirts for us each to wear. one was plain green, one was plain brown, and one had dangling sequins that jingled. i called "no beads!" first before anyone. guess which one i was handed to wear.

yes, i jingled as i walked through the streets of budapest. and you know how much i like to wear skirts..

but the folk dancing was a blast, unlike anything i've tried. i got the basic steps down, but then they'd add all these extra stomps and lots of spinning and jumps, and i was lost. i'm sure there were some out of towners there like us, but my goodness, these people are for real and very good at what they do. it was just awesome to see young and old all gathering on a thursday night at this club. great times and a totally unique experience, wish it could have been caught on tape.

today we walked over to parliament, but couldn't get in because of all the security (we just missed the riots by less than a week). there were still some people camping outside of the building, but none were confrontational, at least not in the daytime. next was over to st. stephen's basilica, where they have his right hand on display. it's almost 1000 years old, but it's preserved. very bizarre. made it over to statue park today, where they have a few of the old communist statues on display that were not distroyed after the soviets moved out. next it was a walking tour through pest that took us to the terror haza, which was the headquarters for the secret police under both the nazis and the soviets. crazy stuff. AND craziest of all - there was a room filled with postcards from people that emigrated from hungary. so i glanced around and my eyes drifted to one that said - no joke - manasquan, nj... what in the world?! i wanted so badly to sneak a picture of it. i think it was st. dennis church on the card, but the town was so under developed that it was hard to really tell. funny stuff, of all places to see a postcard of your home town..

were going to try to make it to a bath today as well, but we spent too much time in the terror house. so tomorrow it's off to lake balaton for 3 nights, before we come back to budapest on wednesday. we will definitely do the baths and massages then. it'll be a nice ending to the trip for theresa, and a nice rest before i start germany for me.

til next time kids..

Udvozlom from Budapest

first let me preface this by saying i already typed this entire blog out once. it took me, oh around 30 mins and i was psyched (yes, i said psyched) because i actually had free internet access and there weren't thousands of people around waiting for me to get off, so i could take my time and write out everything i wanted - since it's been awhile since the last time i posted. but of course, the blog didn't post and here i am typing it all again. though a bit has happened since the first time i wrote... here goes again...

last time i wrote in the blog we had been traveling through florence and were on our way to cinque terre. let me tell you now, it's gorgeous. one of those ultimate vacation spots. very relaxing, bella vistas and because we went in september, it was not overly touristy or crowded. didn't end up stopping in pisa to see the tower because it would have complicated the train schedule too much, but that's really no biggie, because once we arrived we didn't want to leave! it took us about 6 hours to hike through the 5 towns on the "via dell'amore" (yes, lover's lane - ugh gross me out). my thighs and gastrocs were screaming at me for the next 2 days, but it was definitely worth climbing up and down the 1000+ steps, hills and bridges. the trail is all along the cliffs so you got excellent views at almost every turn. each town has it's own personality. we stayed in riomaggiore and spent most of our time there and in manarola.

eventually it was time to leave, although we almost missed our train to roma. our boxershort wearing host was late returning after his lunch break (over 1 hour late), so we missed the 4pm train we wanted to take. we soon went into panic mode because the last train was at 6, so dasia and i went into a random shop and the owner was so kind to try to help us. she knew exactly who we were looking for and called him for us.. soon after he came running up the street, still in his boxers, and we got our luggage that was being stored in the reception. off to rome we went.

we got into rome later than originally planned thanks to giacomo, but no problem. at first i was a bit nervous about our hostel - the rooms were quite cramped and they were under construction for the baths.. so only 2 toilets, showers and sinks for the entire place. luckily it wasn't that much of a problem, and i only had to wait once for 45 mins to brush my teeth :) we hit up all the major sites in rome the first day - coloseum, trevi fountain, spanish steps, roman forum, etc.. and spent the next day at the vatican. the sistine chapel never ceases to amaze. i can stare at it for hours. the entire vatican museum is just sensory overload, so very impressive. our hostel turned out to be fun and very social, which was perfect for dasia hahah. every night they had a happy hour with free food and drinks. our room was also a great mix of people, and we all went out to an irish pub (hah) the last night we were there. good company and good conversation - what more can you ask for?

sunday it was time to part ways with dasia. we saw her off to the airport; it was very sad to see her go. theresa and i boarded a plane to vienna that same day. what a city! it is just so filled with things to do and see, that you cannot possibly see it all in one trip. definitely a place i will be returning to. we made a trip to the hapsburg's summer palace - the schobrunn - quite nice for a summer home. walked the gardens there. returning to the city center we went on a walking tour outlined in the guide book and saw a bunch of beautiful buildings with stunning architecture. took in a ballet at the state opera house. it was only 2 euro for standing room tickets - you cannot beat that deal!! i think that might have been my favorite site in vienna. the next day we went to the central cemetary and saw where beethoven, brahms, strauss, schubert and others are buried. mozart is somewhere else, but there was a stature for him as well. the rest of that day was spent wandering through vienna and eating a piece of delicious chocolate torte. it's a specialty there, and very yummy. we also did laundry, as we were in desparate need, but that's not very exciting.

soon it was time to say goodbye to vienna and hello to budapest, which brings me to where i am sitting right now. our hostel is small and very nice. we will definitely enjoy our stay here - plus free internet, whoo! (this is the part that was not included in my first attempt at typing this out). the rest of today was spent wandering around castle hill and admiring the views of the danube. originally i would say prague was my favorite city so far, but vienna is now in competition. we'll see how budapest goes - because i'm loving it so far...

til next time, viszlat!

and the journey continues..

met up with dasia at the hostel. long story. the short of it is that theresa and i spent, oh, around 5 hours in the train station waiting for her bus to arrive. unfortunately for both us and dasia, we had no way of communicating. her plane from the states to paris was delayed, hence she missed her connecting flight to florence. luckily, dasia remembered some of her french from high school and was able to do fairly well communicating to get a new flight. but of course, they booked her on the wrong flight. where you ask? to denmark. hahahah.

she got it straightened out, but still it wasn't until about 4 that she arrived in florence, having taking a cab directly to the hostel instead of trying to navigate her way by bus to the train station to meet us at the ever omnipresent mcdonalds. again, luckily, it was about that same time that theresa and i decided that i would head back to the hostel to check on her flight status since we could get internet access there. she would stay at the station on the off chance that dasia showed up. well, as i'm frantically searching online for answers to our questions - who other than dasia pops her head into the internet room to have a peak. sooooo lucky! she actually peaked in by accident, and otherwise theresa and i would have spent a very un-fun day in the train station. but everything works out in the end.

so since then - guess i told the long story instead of the short one - we've been roaming firenze and soaking in all that is italian culture. and doing some major window shopping - the shoes are fantastico! unfortunately, my budget is not :(

we of course have seen the duomo upwards around a million times, climbed the top of it once, walked the ponte vecchio about five times, saw a couple fake davids (the real one is just too expensive for us cheap backpackers), sat on a few church steps people watching, and had lots of pizza and a little wine. chianti, of course. we also made a day trip to siena, which is a really nice town in the middle of tuscany. gorgeous views and just good atmosphere.

today we are heading out to cinque terre, by way of pisa, to get a little northern italian coast in us. supposed to be one of the most beautiful places to see. so i'm quite excited. hopefully we will find a place to spend the night, as we didn't make reservations.. all part of the adventure, right? after that, it's down to roma for 3 nights, til dasia head back to texas and theresa and i fly to vienna austria.

ciao bellas.

buon giorno italia!

theresa and i arrived last night in florence, amist the rain. we've had such great weather so far these past (almost) 2 weeks, that i guess i really can't complain too much. although florence without rain is so much nicer...

dasia arrives today, very excited to see her! this post will be a bit longer since i actually have internet time and am not in any particular rushes, so read as you will.

let's see, left off last time with the note we were heading to zell am see, that little resort town in the middle of austria and right near hohe tauern nationalpark. it was a bit of a splurge because we completely blew our $50-70 a day budget, but sometimes you need a nice bed and shower. and it's been over a week. we deserve it. ha. we took the bus to the park, and basically hiked around all day. there is this wasserfall that is the highest in europe, so the hike centered around that, with different view points along the way. very beautiful, though my feet paid for it later.

the next day we were going to take a ride on "the most gorgeous rode in the world" or something to that effect, but it was €26 each way. so, no we definitely couldn't afford it. instead we spent time in the town itself, walked around the lake (the zeller see), and just enjoyed our downtime. eventually it was time to board the train for innsbruck, and we arrived there about 10 or so at night.

to a camper. no joke.

we definitely slept in a camper for those next two nights. yes it was a campground, but for some reason i thought it would be a cabin of sorts. ah well. it was hilarious, and in the end, not so bad. innsbruck was quite a lovely city. literally everywhere you look you are surrounded by the alps. we had one semi-nice day and then one overcast day. but still it was nice. took a trip to the swarovski kristellweld, which was pretty cool and definitely not a church or castle.

and now we're in italy. so hope that caught you up. and hopefully i'll keep getting better chances to write in this blog and keep you all updated!

ciao.

The hills are indeed alive

we're in austria right now, salzburg to be exact. and it's just beautiful here. I've never actually seen the movie that made this town so famous, so i guess i'll have to check it out when i return. writing a quick post because my time is almost out on my pass, but wanted to fill you in.

we finished up the czech republic with cesky krumlov, a fairy town castle and very touristy town, but nice. we then went to ceske budejovice, which is the home of the original Budweiser, and tasted soooo much better.

tomorrow we are onto zell am see, which is some little town in the midst of a national park in austria. so it should be gorgeous. then onto innsbruck. it's so great here. missing everyone, but not enough yet to come home just yet.

auf wiedersehen!

so, we're in prague?!

still can't believe that we finally made it. this is gonna be a quickie b/c not sure how much longer i'll have internet access for. don't want to be a computer hog!

so the trip over EWR to LHR was uneventful enought. do the passport people have to be so intimidating all the time though? anyway, we walked around london for a few hours before our flight from LGW to Prague.. god i miss it there! gatwick was a mess, as was easyjet. very unorganized. even though we got there in the recommended time frame, it was still pushing it that we would make our flight. i think it was b/c so many other people got there toooooo early. but either way. we made it to prague! unfortunately theresa's backpack did not :(

but we made the best of it, she's a trooper. we still walked around prague the following day. what a gorgeous city. i'm so not wanting to come back to the US. it's just not the same. the history and architecture just doesn't compare. but so thankfully, her luggage was found and rushed to us in prague. we heard horror stories from other backpackers about missing their luggage for up to 4-5 days, but luckily hers came in 24 hrs. can't complain about that. but we're not gonna want to let our packs go after this!

anyway we spent the last 2 days in prague, we're taking a day trip today to Terezin, a concentration camp. so it shouldn't be too happy of a day, but interesting nonetheless. sleep one more night in prague tonight, then it's off to salzburg! whoo.

cheers.

leaving on a jet plane

well, the day is finally here. europe - here i come. in a few hours i'll be (hopefully) smoothly flying over the atlantic into london, and barring any unforeseen incidents, flying onto prague a few hours after i arrive. gotta love those awake for 24-hours days. but it's all worth it.

i will try to maintain this at least a few times throughout my trip, adding pics and whatnot as i can. though i may just have to add pics after i come back. not really sure how that will work considering i'm not bringing my usb cable to hook up to a computer.. oh well. i'll keep you posted! and my email's still the same, which i will be checking at those fabulous internet cafes.

cheers!

one month - get excited

It's exactly one month to the day before Theresa and I leave for the backpacking trip that I've been planning for over a year. Sept 5th I'll be on a plane for London, and I know I'm not going to want to come back.

Here's the itinerary so far:

• London
• Czech Republic
• Austria
• Italy w/Dasia
• back to Austria
• Hungary
• Germany w/mom and g'ma
• London
  

I'll be updating this blog periodically throughout my trip, trying to add pics and all that too as this site allows. So enjoy, I know I will..