I'm beginning to think that the ground is going to be white until I leave. It's already been snowy here for, what, almost a month? I can barely remember the warm weather. Then again, it never was that warm while I've been here. Snow looks nice and all, but I'm already sick of the cold, and unfortunately it's gonna be cold until, like, April. Man. I'll have to start psyching myself up for that.
K, time to talk about my digital camera. I love it! It has so many more features than my old one, plus it zooms in really far, plus it has optical image stabilization! Which is excellent, because usually no matter how hard I try, my pictures are just a tiny bit fuzzy. The downside is that it sucks batteries dry, even when I don't use the LCD screen. Thank goodness for rechargeables.
Saturday was actually a little bit warm, that was nice. I only froze a little bit on my way to German class instead of a lot bit. And Saturday night I went to Gegenwind again. It was ok...not great. But afterwards we went to McDonald's--that was my first experience actually eating in a German McDonald's (usually I only go in to use the bathroom). It was PACKED. Although I guess that could be since it's the only restaurant that stays open past 10 PM. It actually stays open until 2 AM, which I was very surprised about. Also, it's really expensive! I got ice cream, and it was €1! That junk back in the US is like 50 cents! I didn't even feel like I was eating in an American fast-food chain. I mean, the food was the same, but there was other stuff too, a lot more healthy options (also more expensive). And the inside was actually clean and nice. Plus, there was this McCafe, which was kinda like those cafes in Barnes and Noble, selling coffee and little cakes and pastries.
Sunday...did nothing. It was pretty great. Oh wait, I did do something. I finally booked my hostels for Italy. The only ones left that I have to get are for my last night, which I'll be spending in Rome, and my trip to Cinque Terre. Nothing there is within my price range, but I really really want to go. I'll figure something out. Here is my agenda: Rome Dec. 22-25; Naples Dec. 26-28; Florence Dec. 29-31; Cinque Terre Jan. 1; Milan Jan. 2; Venice Jan. 3-4; Rome Jan. 5; back to Germany Jan. 6. Two weeks in Italy! How great is that!
Monday was alone with Johanna, then Tuesday was alone with Dominik. On Monday the weather was crazy--it was pretty clear out, then out of nowhere, in the space of about 30 seconds, this huge storm of snow comes in. It snowed and hailed for about 15 minutes, then it stopped, after which the ground was completely coated in snow. It snowed even more Monday night, so now we have about 2 inches. Dominik played outside for a while yesterday and built a tiny snowman, which is now sitting on the terrace. Adorbs!
Oh, and I've been practicing some English with the kids too. Just to get you up to speed: they both understand everything I say in English, but really struggle with speaking it, Johanna especially since she's never really been forced to. But yesterday, when I practiced with Dominik, he did a great job! He said full sentences in English, which he has never done with me before! I was so impressed. I think if we keep doing that a few times a week, by the end of the year he'll be able to speak English with me.
I always feel like I have to come up with some conclusion to these posts. Well, this time I'm not. I'm stopping right here.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Friday, November 23, 2007
German is much more efficient at describing my moods
This week was long. That's it.
That was a lie. Obviously I have more to say. I guess I'll start with last Saturday, since that's the first thing I can think of that was exciting since I've last written? I went to Gegenwind again, and instead of it being the normal youth group thing, we went to Schwäbisch Gmünd, a town about 45 minutes from here (I no longer judge distance in length, since I can't wrap my mind around km) to this sort of lecture-type thing. It was some evangelical-type dude talking and there was some music too. That part was....well, boring. I tried really hard to listen, but it was too much talking. It didn't help that I was really tired. Plus it was really warm in there. I actually closed my eyes for a little while. It would have been nice to sleep.
Well, after it was over, we met up with the rest of the Gegenwind people (since we had driven up separately) and went to a cafe nearby. That part ended up being pretty good. I met a few new people who seemed very nice. And, of course, it's always nice to be able to have conversations in German. I always feel like my German is so awful (I know, this is a theme in every post), but whenever I meet new people they always say that my German is good, so that makes me feel much better. And, even better, I asked a few people if I had an accent in German, and they all said not really. Well, they said I have a little bit of one, but that it's not obvious just from me talking in German that I'm an American. That makes me feel even better, since American pronunciation is very different from German pronunciation.
And this week, Jonathan came to visit! I didn't find out until Tuesday morning, and he got here on Wednesday afternoon. Luckily he doesn't have to start work until Saturday morning, so he was able to stay all day Thursday and left incredibly early this morning. We didn't really get to do much since I had to work a lot, but it was really great to see him! The kids were sooooo excited for him to get here, and of course, as soon as he got here Johanna started crying (because he's so tall) and Dominik ran and hid (because he was shy). The next day Dominik warmed up to him and they played Legos for a couple hours, but Johanna never really did. I'm sure next time Jonathan's here she'll be better about it. It was pretty crazy though; Dominik can understand English but can't speak it, and Jonathan can only speak and understand English. Jonathan was able to figure out some stuff that Dominik was saying, but it was pretty funny for me to be translating stuff that Dominik was saying to Jonathan. But overall, Dominik had a great time with him and I think he's already looking forward to when Jonathan comes back in a few weeks.
Nothing else too exciting this week. I've been working on a craft project with Dominik and Johanna for their parents for Christmas, and they're really into it. We're decorating some stuff with glitter, so it's quite a production every time we do it, but they've been working really hard and doing a good job. No matter how hard I try though, all three of us always seem to end up covered in glitter afterwards.
Oh yeah, and I got a new digital camera! I bought it a little while ago and had it sent to Jonathan's apartment and he brought it over with him! It's much better than my old one, and of course since my old one is a whopping 2.5 years old, this new camera was actually cheaper than that one. I thought about waiting until I got home to get one, but I figured I'd get it now since I'll be taking lots of cool pictures this year.
OK, let's talk about how everything is SO expensive over here. Especially electronics. The camera I bought was refurbished, and the price including everything, shipping and all, was $170. The exact same camera (not refurbished) in Germany is €280, which is more than $400. Also, the exchange rate is killer right now! It's up to almost $1.50 per €1. Because of this, I've tried to avoid paying for things with credit cards, because it means that while prices here are staying the same, prices in dollars are going up. Sometimes it's unavoidable though, which sucks, especially since I just discovered today that one of my credit card companies is actually charging me an exchange-rate fee! I hope they realize that they won't be getting any more overseas charges from me.
That was a lie. Obviously I have more to say. I guess I'll start with last Saturday, since that's the first thing I can think of that was exciting since I've last written? I went to Gegenwind again, and instead of it being the normal youth group thing, we went to Schwäbisch Gmünd, a town about 45 minutes from here (I no longer judge distance in length, since I can't wrap my mind around km) to this sort of lecture-type thing. It was some evangelical-type dude talking and there was some music too. That part was....well, boring. I tried really hard to listen, but it was too much talking. It didn't help that I was really tired. Plus it was really warm in there. I actually closed my eyes for a little while. It would have been nice to sleep.
Well, after it was over, we met up with the rest of the Gegenwind people (since we had driven up separately) and went to a cafe nearby. That part ended up being pretty good. I met a few new people who seemed very nice. And, of course, it's always nice to be able to have conversations in German. I always feel like my German is so awful (I know, this is a theme in every post), but whenever I meet new people they always say that my German is good, so that makes me feel much better. And, even better, I asked a few people if I had an accent in German, and they all said not really. Well, they said I have a little bit of one, but that it's not obvious just from me talking in German that I'm an American. That makes me feel even better, since American pronunciation is very different from German pronunciation.
And this week, Jonathan came to visit! I didn't find out until Tuesday morning, and he got here on Wednesday afternoon. Luckily he doesn't have to start work until Saturday morning, so he was able to stay all day Thursday and left incredibly early this morning. We didn't really get to do much since I had to work a lot, but it was really great to see him! The kids were sooooo excited for him to get here, and of course, as soon as he got here Johanna started crying (because he's so tall) and Dominik ran and hid (because he was shy). The next day Dominik warmed up to him and they played Legos for a couple hours, but Johanna never really did. I'm sure next time Jonathan's here she'll be better about it. It was pretty crazy though; Dominik can understand English but can't speak it, and Jonathan can only speak and understand English. Jonathan was able to figure out some stuff that Dominik was saying, but it was pretty funny for me to be translating stuff that Dominik was saying to Jonathan. But overall, Dominik had a great time with him and I think he's already looking forward to when Jonathan comes back in a few weeks.
Nothing else too exciting this week. I've been working on a craft project with Dominik and Johanna for their parents for Christmas, and they're really into it. We're decorating some stuff with glitter, so it's quite a production every time we do it, but they've been working really hard and doing a good job. No matter how hard I try though, all three of us always seem to end up covered in glitter afterwards.
Oh yeah, and I got a new digital camera! I bought it a little while ago and had it sent to Jonathan's apartment and he brought it over with him! It's much better than my old one, and of course since my old one is a whopping 2.5 years old, this new camera was actually cheaper than that one. I thought about waiting until I got home to get one, but I figured I'd get it now since I'll be taking lots of cool pictures this year.
OK, let's talk about how everything is SO expensive over here. Especially electronics. The camera I bought was refurbished, and the price including everything, shipping and all, was $170. The exact same camera (not refurbished) in Germany is €280, which is more than $400. Also, the exchange rate is killer right now! It's up to almost $1.50 per €1. Because of this, I've tried to avoid paying for things with credit cards, because it means that while prices here are staying the same, prices in dollars are going up. Sometimes it's unavoidable though, which sucks, especially since I just discovered today that one of my credit card companies is actually charging me an exchange-rate fee! I hope they realize that they won't be getting any more overseas charges from me.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Snow!
I know I'm such a grinch for saying this, but normally I really do not like snow. It's not so bad here though, mostly because I don't have to drive, I don't have to shovel, and I'm living in a Christmas card.
It snowed almost every day last week, but only enough for us to have a few inches. The kids went crazy over it though! I have to admit, I had fun playing outside with them. We built snowmen, igloos, and made snow angels. Plus, Dominik and Johanna look adooorable in their snowsuits!
They also went sledding a lot, because there's a hill in the backyard, as you can see in the picture above. Dominik and Johanna both have these really cool sleds that have brakes and steering wheels! Their friends came over a few afternoons this week too, and of course they all went sledding together. In fact, they sledded so much that there isn't really very much snow left on the hill.
Hmm, I just discovered this post today (Nov 27), so I guess I'll publish it? I really don't feel like adding any more to it. The kids were adorable with the snow though. It's so fun for them, and for me, because there's a lot more stuff to do outside when there's snow on the ground!
Bratislava and Budapest: The Saga Finally Ends
So, since I know you, my loyal and faithful and no-comment-leaving readers, have been just dying for the final installment of my trip behind the Iron Curtain, I'm here to deliver. Prepare yourselves...for another long, and possibly boring, account.
OK, where did we leave off? Oh yeah, that's right, after lunch on my last day in Budapest. After eating lunch at the extremely cheap Chinese place, I went back to a bakery I had passed while looking for a place to eat and bought these three little chocolate pastry-fudge-like things. The lady was not very nice. I mean, she spoke in English, but when I asked her what things were, all she'd do was tell the name. In Hungarian. And I was like, "...Can you describe it a little bit?" And she was like, "No, not really." But whatev, they ended up tasting pretty good (although a little bit odd) and cost me less than 1 USD. Oh yeah, during my wanderings I came across an Indian restaurant called Kama Sutra. And it wasn't a strip club. I know, because I looked in the window. It looked like a nice restaurant. Either the owners were not Indian and could think of only one thing associated with India, or they were Indian and have so little faith in the general population that they figured they'd better name their restaurant after a sex book. I also saw a restaurant called Nimrod Etterem (Restaurant). I'm hoping, for the owners' sake, that nimrod is a Hungarian word that means something completely different.
After lunch I walked towards the river so that I could walk past Parliament, which so far I'd seen from just about every possible view except up close. The girl who checked me in at the hostel had told me that there was some kind of promenade or something running along the Pest side of the river (where I was) that I could walk along and see all the sights. Well, she neglected to tell me that there was no sidewalk going past the nice buildings, and that the promenade was on the other side of a 4-lane highway. On top of that, there wasn't even a real entrance to it. To get across you have to run across the highway and then jump over the guard rail. Which I did. Just my luck I also happened to be crossing at a part where there was an entrance to the highway, meaning that not only did I have to make sure cars weren't coming from both ways, I also had to check and make sure no one was coming up the entrance ramp. Even though I was mighty tired of walking, let me tell you, I ran across that highway faster than I thought I could. Walking along the promenade didn't really help with views of Parliament, mostly just because it's so large, but there was a great view of the Buda side. Buda looked a lot nicer from across the river than it had looked up close. Anyway, I of course took a bunch of pictures of Parliament, then once again took my life in my hands and ran back across the highway. By that point I was almost at the Margaret Bridge, so I took the tram across, took the HEV up a stop, then from there somehow managed to find the bus stop for the bus I wanted and took the bus to Pal-Volgyi Cave. Apparently there's a huge network of caves running under Budapest, and with my Budapest Card I got into the Pal-Volgyi one for free. One thing I hadn't considered was that the tour would be entirely in Hungarian. A German lady even asked at the beginning if the tour guide spoke any English, and when she said a little bit, the German lady asked if she'd say anything really important in English. Shock of all shocks, the tour guide spoke not one word of English on the entire tour. Not even when she turned out all of the lights in the cave, leaving us standing there in pitch black. I was pretty annoyed that she didn't give ANY warning for that, especially when someone had already asked her to make sure to do just that!
Whatev, it was a cool-looking cave, but the tour was really long and caves are not interesting enough to warrant a long tour in a language you don't understand. But after that, I caught the bus back, took the HEV back, then took the Metro to Heroes' Square, which is at the end of Andrassy ut. I'd been contemplating not going because I was so tired, but I'm really glad I did. It was pretty amazing. It was this huge open square with a statue of the angel Gabriel on top of a really tall pedestal. Behind that statue were two more sections of statues of some kings of Hungary (but I guess only the heroic ones). I happened to be there just as the sun was setting (at 4 PM), so the sky looked pretty spectacular behind the square. After that I walked around the city park a little bit. There was (yet another) castle there. I have no idea what it was called or who originally lived there. It looked nice though. I also accidentally found the Szechenyi Baths, one of the most famous and popular thermal baths in Budapest, while I was trying to find the Metro (fyi: never found it). I ended up having to walk back to my original metro stop, then I took the metro and the tram back to my hostel and picked up my stuff. I asked the girl who was working if she knew of any good places to eat nearby. Her suggestion? McDonald's. Not even kidding.
Needless to say, I didn't eat at McDonald's. I walked back to Liszt Ferenc Square (walked because my Budapest Card had expired, which meant I now had to buy pub. trans. tickets) and found a place to eat there. While I was eating there, a group sat down next to me, and from my eavesdropping I figured out that the girl was American, her boyfriend was something that was not Hungarian (couldn't figure out the accent), they were eating with her Hungarian grandparents, and the girl was at some university there (she also spoke Hungarian). I also learned that her grandparents had just recently been to--get this--Cape May, New Jersey! It was pretty interesting to hear non-Americans describe it to people who've never been there.
After dinner I decided to just go to the train station. I wanted to be there around 8, and it was about 6:30, so I figured now would be a good time to leave. I had enough time to make a short stop, so I took a detour to Dohany utcai Synagogue, the largest synagogue in Europe. Of course, like everything else, it was closed, but I was able to at least walk around the building and look at it. After that I took the metro, and then the tram, to get to the train station. I had been there before (on my adventure getting to Memento Park), but it hadn't looked so.....ghetto. At night, it looked pretty bad. When I went in, I, like a typical train-goer, looked at the big board to see when my train was coming. It took me a few minutes to realize that it didn't work (I happened to get there at a time when all of the times on the board would have been about accurate). So I was kind of like...umm, I guess I'll just sit here and hope I figure something out. There was this pretty awesome family sitting next to me. It consisted of a woman with THE largest and thickest glasses I've ever seen (if ever you could call glasses "Coke bottle", these were the ones) and her two grandsons. The entire time they were there, the woman was eating these nuts that she had in the pocket of her (10 sizes too large) coat. Her method of eating them was: put the nut into her mouth, crack the shell loudly with her teeth, spit the shell out, then eat the nut. She did this non-stop for about a half an hour. Needless to say, I found this just a tiny bit annoying. Once her daughter got there, though, it immediately became clear: oral fixation. When her daughter walked in, the woman pulled out a pack of cigarettes and started dividing it up between the two of them. Ah, the joys of mother-daughter bonding. Then the whole family walked out so they could have a mother-daughter smoke break.
OK, side note. Topic: smoking in Hungary. INSANE. I thought Germany was bad. After going to Hungary, I'll never complain again (OK, that's not true, but I won't complain as much). I swear, half the population there smoked. One of the cafes I ate in one night, I was literally the only person in there not smoking. And there was no concept of smoke-free buildings. I mean, some buildings and restaurants half-heartedly posted signs, but they were really small and easy to disregard. In Germany they don't enforce it at all either, but at least the signs they put up are really big and don't look like I printed them out on my computer in 1995. In Budapest people smoked EVERYWHERE, including the train stations.
Back to the train station. Around 8:15 I looked at the posted schedule and walked to the track that was on there, hoping there would be more accurate information. Luckily the boards down there worked, so I found where I was supposed to be. Down side: it was freezing down there, there were no benches, and it smelled like pee. It also looked like people had recently peed there. About 20 minutes before my train was supposed to leave, I went up onto the track, because sometimes the trains come early and sit there for a while before they leave. I waited up there until, at about 8:48, two minutes before my train was supposed to come, there was an announcement saying that the train was going to be 40 minutes late. So, I went back down, waited for a while, then went up a little bit before it was supposed to come. Another announcement: now it was 50 minutes late. By the time it got there, it was almost 1 hour late. This all wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been windy and FREEZING.
Anyway, the train got there, and after wandering around confused for a while, I found my train car and my couchette. Those sleeper berths are niiice! I had a blanket, pillow, and sheets, as well as an actual bed. The best part was, it was actually cheaper than the seat I had reserved leaving from Munich. That is the way to travel.
And then, I got back to Munich, took the train to Heidenheim, took the bus to Heuchlingen, walked to kindy, and picked Johanna up. The end. Finally!
OK, where did we leave off? Oh yeah, that's right, after lunch on my last day in Budapest. After eating lunch at the extremely cheap Chinese place, I went back to a bakery I had passed while looking for a place to eat and bought these three little chocolate pastry-fudge-like things. The lady was not very nice. I mean, she spoke in English, but when I asked her what things were, all she'd do was tell the name. In Hungarian. And I was like, "...Can you describe it a little bit?" And she was like, "No, not really." But whatev, they ended up tasting pretty good (although a little bit odd) and cost me less than 1 USD. Oh yeah, during my wanderings I came across an Indian restaurant called Kama Sutra. And it wasn't a strip club. I know, because I looked in the window. It looked like a nice restaurant. Either the owners were not Indian and could think of only one thing associated with India, or they were Indian and have so little faith in the general population that they figured they'd better name their restaurant after a sex book. I also saw a restaurant called Nimrod Etterem (Restaurant). I'm hoping, for the owners' sake, that nimrod is a Hungarian word that means something completely different.
After lunch I walked towards the river so that I could walk past Parliament, which so far I'd seen from just about every possible view except up close. The girl who checked me in at the hostel had told me that there was some kind of promenade or something running along the Pest side of the river (where I was) that I could walk along and see all the sights. Well, she neglected to tell me that there was no sidewalk going past the nice buildings, and that the promenade was on the other side of a 4-lane highway. On top of that, there wasn't even a real entrance to it. To get across you have to run across the highway and then jump over the guard rail. Which I did. Just my luck I also happened to be crossing at a part where there was an entrance to the highway, meaning that not only did I have to make sure cars weren't coming from both ways, I also had to check and make sure no one was coming up the entrance ramp. Even though I was mighty tired of walking, let me tell you, I ran across that highway faster than I thought I could. Walking along the promenade didn't really help with views of Parliament, mostly just because it's so large, but there was a great view of the Buda side. Buda looked a lot nicer from across the river than it had looked up close. Anyway, I of course took a bunch of pictures of Parliament, then once again took my life in my hands and ran back across the highway. By that point I was almost at the Margaret Bridge, so I took the tram across, took the HEV up a stop, then from there somehow managed to find the bus stop for the bus I wanted and took the bus to Pal-Volgyi Cave. Apparently there's a huge network of caves running under Budapest, and with my Budapest Card I got into the Pal-Volgyi one for free. One thing I hadn't considered was that the tour would be entirely in Hungarian. A German lady even asked at the beginning if the tour guide spoke any English, and when she said a little bit, the German lady asked if she'd say anything really important in English. Shock of all shocks, the tour guide spoke not one word of English on the entire tour. Not even when she turned out all of the lights in the cave, leaving us standing there in pitch black. I was pretty annoyed that she didn't give ANY warning for that, especially when someone had already asked her to make sure to do just that!
Whatev, it was a cool-looking cave, but the tour was really long and caves are not interesting enough to warrant a long tour in a language you don't understand. But after that, I caught the bus back, took the HEV back, then took the Metro to Heroes' Square, which is at the end of Andrassy ut. I'd been contemplating not going because I was so tired, but I'm really glad I did. It was pretty amazing. It was this huge open square with a statue of the angel Gabriel on top of a really tall pedestal. Behind that statue were two more sections of statues of some kings of Hungary (but I guess only the heroic ones). I happened to be there just as the sun was setting (at 4 PM), so the sky looked pretty spectacular behind the square. After that I walked around the city park a little bit. There was (yet another) castle there. I have no idea what it was called or who originally lived there. It looked nice though. I also accidentally found the Szechenyi Baths, one of the most famous and popular thermal baths in Budapest, while I was trying to find the Metro (fyi: never found it). I ended up having to walk back to my original metro stop, then I took the metro and the tram back to my hostel and picked up my stuff. I asked the girl who was working if she knew of any good places to eat nearby. Her suggestion? McDonald's. Not even kidding.
Needless to say, I didn't eat at McDonald's. I walked back to Liszt Ferenc Square (walked because my Budapest Card had expired, which meant I now had to buy pub. trans. tickets) and found a place to eat there. While I was eating there, a group sat down next to me, and from my eavesdropping I figured out that the girl was American, her boyfriend was something that was not Hungarian (couldn't figure out the accent), they were eating with her Hungarian grandparents, and the girl was at some university there (she also spoke Hungarian). I also learned that her grandparents had just recently been to--get this--Cape May, New Jersey! It was pretty interesting to hear non-Americans describe it to people who've never been there.
After dinner I decided to just go to the train station. I wanted to be there around 8, and it was about 6:30, so I figured now would be a good time to leave. I had enough time to make a short stop, so I took a detour to Dohany utcai Synagogue, the largest synagogue in Europe. Of course, like everything else, it was closed, but I was able to at least walk around the building and look at it. After that I took the metro, and then the tram, to get to the train station. I had been there before (on my adventure getting to Memento Park), but it hadn't looked so.....ghetto. At night, it looked pretty bad. When I went in, I, like a typical train-goer, looked at the big board to see when my train was coming. It took me a few minutes to realize that it didn't work (I happened to get there at a time when all of the times on the board would have been about accurate). So I was kind of like...umm, I guess I'll just sit here and hope I figure something out. There was this pretty awesome family sitting next to me. It consisted of a woman with THE largest and thickest glasses I've ever seen (if ever you could call glasses "Coke bottle", these were the ones) and her two grandsons. The entire time they were there, the woman was eating these nuts that she had in the pocket of her (10 sizes too large) coat. Her method of eating them was: put the nut into her mouth, crack the shell loudly with her teeth, spit the shell out, then eat the nut. She did this non-stop for about a half an hour. Needless to say, I found this just a tiny bit annoying. Once her daughter got there, though, it immediately became clear: oral fixation. When her daughter walked in, the woman pulled out a pack of cigarettes and started dividing it up between the two of them. Ah, the joys of mother-daughter bonding. Then the whole family walked out so they could have a mother-daughter smoke break.
OK, side note. Topic: smoking in Hungary. INSANE. I thought Germany was bad. After going to Hungary, I'll never complain again (OK, that's not true, but I won't complain as much). I swear, half the population there smoked. One of the cafes I ate in one night, I was literally the only person in there not smoking. And there was no concept of smoke-free buildings. I mean, some buildings and restaurants half-heartedly posted signs, but they were really small and easy to disregard. In Germany they don't enforce it at all either, but at least the signs they put up are really big and don't look like I printed them out on my computer in 1995. In Budapest people smoked EVERYWHERE, including the train stations.
Back to the train station. Around 8:15 I looked at the posted schedule and walked to the track that was on there, hoping there would be more accurate information. Luckily the boards down there worked, so I found where I was supposed to be. Down side: it was freezing down there, there were no benches, and it smelled like pee. It also looked like people had recently peed there. About 20 minutes before my train was supposed to leave, I went up onto the track, because sometimes the trains come early and sit there for a while before they leave. I waited up there until, at about 8:48, two minutes before my train was supposed to come, there was an announcement saying that the train was going to be 40 minutes late. So, I went back down, waited for a while, then went up a little bit before it was supposed to come. Another announcement: now it was 50 minutes late. By the time it got there, it was almost 1 hour late. This all wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been windy and FREEZING.
Anyway, the train got there, and after wandering around confused for a while, I found my train car and my couchette. Those sleeper berths are niiice! I had a blanket, pillow, and sheets, as well as an actual bed. The best part was, it was actually cheaper than the seat I had reserved leaving from Munich. That is the way to travel.
And then, I got back to Munich, took the train to Heidenheim, took the bus to Heuchlingen, walked to kindy, and picked Johanna up. The end. Finally!
Monday, November 12, 2007
Momentous day
Why? Because I saw my first German pick-up truck today.
P.S. I am seriously obsessed with Josh Ritter's music. Like, I think it's getting a little unhealthy.
P.P.S. Despite all their incredibly annoying technical difficulties and insanely sensitive download manager, I love eMusic.
P.S. I am seriously obsessed with Josh Ritter's music. Like, I think it's getting a little unhealthy.
P.P.S. Despite all their incredibly annoying technical difficulties and insanely sensitive download manager, I love eMusic.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Before I finish Budapest and Bratislava...
Here's an actual Germany update, since I guess I haven't written anything about that in a couple weeks.
This week=pretty boring. Things I did:
Stay tuned for the rest of my Budapest trip. Unless you're sick of reading my long updates, in which case I have to say....I understand.
This week=pretty boring. Things I did:
- finally finished all my visa stuff (which ended up involving an experience too embarrassing to post on a public website)
- took items out of the library for the first time (they charge €1 to borrow DVDs, what the heck??)
- went to choir on Wednesday night (full of old people and one 16-year-old, but it was nice to get out of the house and do something musical)
- went to German class on Saturday morning--in the snow. For real.
Stay tuned for the rest of my Budapest trip. Unless you're sick of reading my long updates, in which case I have to say....I understand.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Bratislava and Budapest: Part 2
Let's see, I think I left off on barely making the train to Budapest?
BTW, hopefully you guys don't think this is too long or boring to read. If it is, don't read it all. If it isn't, then at least I've provided with tons of reading material for when you should be doing something else. I am forever grateful to other peoples' blogs for my hours' worth of procrastination in college.
K, Budapest. Well, the train got in around 2:30 or something. OK, before I talk about that, let me tell you about this couple that was in my compartment. The train was only compartments again, like the night train from Munich, so I had to find one that had spots that were unreserved. Most had open seats, so I tried to find one with the fewest people already in it. There was this (Irish? British?) couple in the compartment sitting across from each other by the door and another lady sitting in one of the seats by the window. Now, I've already told you how little leg room there is in those compartments. Being part of a couple is excellent, because you can stretch out across the aisle and your significant other doesn't care if your feet are all up in his/her space. But both of these people had put their stuff on one of the seats next to them, meaning that the only actually available spot was across from the other lady. Of course this didn't occur to me until I'd already climbed over the couple by the door and I didn't feel like looking for another compartment, so I just sat down. Luckily the lady across from me got off at the first stop so we didn't have to be uncomfortable for long. But I don't understand why people do that! It was a long trip, plus there were luggage racks. Why couldn't the Irish/British/whatever couple have shared some leg room with the rest of us?
K, Budapest. As soon as I got in I went to my hostel. Thank goodness they had given excellent directions, so I didn't get lost or anything. First adventure in Budapest: taking public transportation. In itself not that exciting or adventurous, but the tickets were. In Bratislava I bought tickets sporadically for the buses and trams, but I could have gotten away with never buying one. In all of the cities I've been to so far, the public transportation profits rely on the assumption that you're actually buying and validating your tickets before you ride the tram or whatever. In Budapest it was the same way. I decided that, to be on the safe side, I'd buy a ticket, even though it looked like I could get away without it. As soon as I came off the escalator getting out of the metro, I was grabbed on both arms by these two random people meanly saying stuff in Hungarian to me. I'd read that in a lot of these countries people will come up to you and pretend to be ticket-takers, tell you your ticket is invalid, then try to get you to pay them. And I didn't understand what they were saying, so I just kept walking. The lady kept yelling at me, so I was like, "I don't speak Hungarian", and she was piossssssed. She goes all meanly, "Ticket." And by that time I was freakin annoyed too, so I was like, "Show me some ID first." She did NOT like that, so she just kept saying "ticket." Finally I got in her face and grabbed her ID, then I showed her my ticket and she huffed away. When I got to my hostel, I asked the girl who checked me in about it, and she told me that it's really easy to identify the ticket-checkers--just look for the ugliest person on the platform.
After I checked in at my hostel, I went to one of the tourist information offices to pick up my Budapest Card, which I'd already bought and paid for. Well, I got there--and it was closed for 4 days for All Saints' Day (seriously, what is with these long holidays they like to take??). So I was pretty confused, since I wasn't really sure where the other office was. I eventually found it on my map and walked there, which took a lot longer than I thought it would. By this time it was dark, because it gets dark freakin early in Budapest! So I ate dinner at a place near the opera house. One cool thing about Budapest is that there are a ton of cool cafes. If that's the kind of thing you like, Budapest is the place to go. I ate in several while I was there. One not so cool thing is that there aren't a lot of places to get take-out food from. It's a lot more expensive to sit and eat, which unfortunately I was forced to do most of the time.
After dinner I went to a concert (Verdi's Requiem) at the Hungarian State Opera House. It was pretty cool because I got my ticket for 1000 Forints, or about $5.50 and I could still see really well (even though I was in the highest section there was). It was even better, because not only did I get to see the inside of the opera house AND a concert, it cost about 1/3 the price of a tour of the opera house. After that I went back to my hostel and went to sleep. Yes, it was only 9, but I was tired!
The next day I got up early so that I could cram as much stuff as possible into my day. And indeed I did. I went to the grocery store first, and got a Coke, a bag of chips, and 2 rolls for less than $2. Man, I love cheap food! Then I walked across the Margaret Bridge to the Buda side of the river (my hostel was in Pest) and walked along the river until I got to the bottom of Castle Hill. I took the bus up, because I was already tired of walking (plus it was free with my Budapest Card). Before I got up there I thought, oh, there's just a castle, I'll spend an hour or something looking around. Wrong. Turns out that in addition to Buda Castle, there was also Matthias Church (where King Matthias or someone was crowned king of Hungary) as well as the Fisherman's Bastion, plus a surprisingly large neighborhood of houses and apartments. Um, yeah, I ended walking around the entire thing. I thought it would be about half as big as it actually was. The views were great and everything was cool, but I was kind of too tired of walking to really enjoy it. I ate some overpriced goulash for lunch (did I mention that I love goulash?) and walked around the castle a little bit. That too was pretty neat and there were some semi-interesting looking museums, but 1) they cost money, and 2) I was really sick of walking and standing. I took the bus back down the hill and decided to go to Memento Park, which is a park in the southern part of the city full of sculptures, statues, plaques, monuments, etc., that the Communists erected in honor of themselves and used to stand all around Budapest during the Soviet occupation. I had really wanted to see this, but not gonna lie, my main motivation for going at that exact moment was that it promised to involve lots of time sitting on the tram and the bus.
This was yet another adventure. I took the right tram to the end of the line...but the Memento Park brochure I had didn't provide great directions. The bus station was hidden behind this huge construction site, plus I couldn't figure out which ticket to buy. Fortunately the lady at the counter saw the brochure in my hand and gave me the right ticket. After that I paid 80 Forints for the bathroom, but only because I was desperate.
The sculpture park was cool, but not as cool as I thought it was gonna be. There were no signs or anything describing the stuff, so I had to pay 600 Forints for an English guide book (not that expensive, but still. It's the principle!). Reading was a little bit better, but it didn't go into that much detail about the sculptures and stuff, a lot of it was more about who sculpted it or something kinda lame like that (hahah, oh man, this makes me sound so ignorant!). All I mean was that it could have been done better.
After coming back into the main city, I decided to go to Franz Liszt house, which turned out to be a Franz Liszt memorial apartment inside the Liszt Academy of Music. It had a lot of cool stuff, but didn't really explain them very well or even that much about the composers life. Apparently he was BFFs with Edvard Grieg, because there were a ton of letters between the two displayed there. Also, thank goodness I can read German, because almost none of the descriptions were written in English.
After that, I went to a museum that was probably the highlight of my trip, the House of Terror. The museum was in a building on Andrassy ut, Budapest's most famous and most beautiful street, that had been the headquarters of the Nazis that occupied Hungary--and was later also chosen as the headquarters for the Hungarian Communists. Unfortunately almost everything was in Hungarian, but in each room there were extensive information sheets about the subject of the room in both Hungarian and English. The info sheets didn't really explain the exhibits, which was pretty disappointing, but it gave a lot of really good background info. The whole museum and all of the exhibits were very well done. In the basement there were recreations of the cells the Communists used to detain and torture people. It was a very modern museum, one that I really wish I would have been able to understand more of. Well, I'm not planning on learning Hungarian, so I guess I'll have to scratch that. Before going to this museum, I had no idea that there had even been a Nazi occupation of Hungary. It seemed like it was mostly towards the end of the war, but it sure explained a lot of the "Soviet Liberation" statues in Memento Park--I guess the Communists thought ridding Hungary of the fascists and putting in place their own dictatorship was "liberation"? It also had never really occurred to me that Hungary had been controlled by the Soviet Union. I guess somewhere in the back of my mind I sort of knew that--most of Eastern Europe was under Soviet control, after all. I just didn't realize Hungary specifically (and actually, I didn't realize Slovakia either) had been Soviet occupied.
Hmm, OK, after the House of Terror...I was starving. So I went and ate dinner in a restaurant on Liszt Ferenc ter, the place where there were a ton of nice cafes. Liszt ter was really the only place around (unless you count McDonald's) that had not too expensive restaurants. After that I was exhausted and went back to my hostel. I definitely way overdid it that day; by the time I got back to my hostel, all I wanted to do was go home and not have to walk around and see stuff anymore. Luckily I got a really good night's sleep and woke up ready for another full day.
Side story: there happened to be two German girls staying in the same room as me, and they were really nice. One of them came in, and asked if she was German (bc I'd heard them speaking German that morning) and she said yes, and was struggling to speak to me in English. I offered to speak German, and she seemed extremely relieved. It was nice to speak German after a few days of only English. I mean, I'm obviously very used to speaking English since it's all I speak with the kids (and, duh, because I speak it as a first language), but I'm not used to hearing responses in English. My little four-day break from German really makes me wonder, though, what it will be like when I get back to the US. I won't have anyone to speak German with, and I know I'll forget a lot of it really fast.
OK, Budapest, full day #2. I got up early again and had a little bit of trouble finding something to eat for breakfast since, like all of Europe, everything was closed since it was Sunday. So I figured I'd find something eventually, so I took the tram across the bridge so that I could take another tram to Gellert Hill. Except I took it a little too far...oops. Once I got to the right stop, I realized that I'd thought the two trams connected up when they really don't, so I had to take another line called HEV, which apparently runs to the suburbs of Budapest. In the HEV station I found a bakery that was open (thank God!!!! It was the first bakery I'd seen since Germany!) and got this odd and kind of expensive muffin. Anyway, I took the HEV, connected up to the tram, and rode to Gellert Hill (I'd learned my lesson about walking too much too early). I started walking up the hill, and the first place I stopped was this weird Cave Church. Yeah. That's right. It was a church in a cave in the side of the hill. There was a service going on, so I could only look at the exhibit right inside. I kept walking up the hill and eventually got to the part right above the cave church, where there was a huge cross. It was pretty cool but kind of reminded me of those KKK crosses that they set on fire...even though it was wasn't wood and wasn't on fire. I don't know, it was kind of creepy, so I kept walking. It wasn't very nice out and even started raining a little bit, but I had come prepared with my umbrella. And even though it was gray and gross out, the trees all looked these amazing fall colors. I went a little overboard taking fall-foliage pictures, but it really was beautiful. And, of course, I saw graffiti. There was some kind of monument that had been completely graffitied over, so I couldn't even tell what it was. And I even saw a tree with graffiti on it. I mean, really, who cares enough to graffiti a tree?
So, I finally got to the top of Gellert Hill, and it was really cool. It was way higher up than Castle Hill and the view was amazing. If it hadn't been so gray and overcast, it would have been a really great place to spend the morning. There was also a gigantic citadel up there with a Liberty Statue. It's so big that you can see the statue from all the way down the river. The citadel was pretty cool, but of course it cost money to go in, so I didn't bother because it was still raining a little bit.
On my way back down I went into the cave church since the service was over and looked around a little bit. It was really weird and not what I'd pictured. It must be difficult to hold services in there. It looked more like a few small chapels coming off of one central point rather than one big church.
When I got back down the hill I walked across the Liberty Bridge. There's a big central market right on the other side of the river, but it was closed! It's usually open every day, but since it was the weekend after All Saints' Day, it wasn't. Instead I took the metro to the botanical gardens, which was free with my Budapest Card. I got there...and it was really lame. It was small and not well kept up. There were, like, 5 flowers. And leaves ALL over the place that I guess they didn't feel like raking up. I'm glad I didn't pay money for it.
After that I was like, ummm, I'm really hungry, but there was nowhere around to eat. Instead I took the metro up to St. Stephen's Basilica in hopes that I could find somewhere around there (as well as go to the top). I decided I'd go up before lunch. Thank goodness for elevators. It was a really amazing view, especially since you can walk all the way around the cupola and see Budapest in every direction, but it was also really cold so I only stayed up for about 5 minutes. I took the elevator back down (I was tired, ok?) and ate lunch at this really cheap Chinese place.
OK, side note about Chinese food. So, if Chinese food in the US is fake Chinese food, how come Chinese food is the same everywhere??? I've eaten Chinese food in the US, Germany, Slovakia, and Hungary, and it was all the same! Did all of the Chinese emigrants get together and decide before they left China that they WOULD NOT under any circumstances reveal what real Chinese cooking is like? And an even better question is, do all those Chinese restaurant owners eat REAL Chinese food at home?
K, this is getting too long again so I'm gonna end it here and start a part 3.
BTW, hopefully you guys don't think this is too long or boring to read. If it is, don't read it all. If it isn't, then at least I've provided with tons of reading material for when you should be doing something else. I am forever grateful to other peoples' blogs for my hours' worth of procrastination in college.
K, Budapest. Well, the train got in around 2:30 or something. OK, before I talk about that, let me tell you about this couple that was in my compartment. The train was only compartments again, like the night train from Munich, so I had to find one that had spots that were unreserved. Most had open seats, so I tried to find one with the fewest people already in it. There was this (Irish? British?) couple in the compartment sitting across from each other by the door and another lady sitting in one of the seats by the window. Now, I've already told you how little leg room there is in those compartments. Being part of a couple is excellent, because you can stretch out across the aisle and your significant other doesn't care if your feet are all up in his/her space. But both of these people had put their stuff on one of the seats next to them, meaning that the only actually available spot was across from the other lady. Of course this didn't occur to me until I'd already climbed over the couple by the door and I didn't feel like looking for another compartment, so I just sat down. Luckily the lady across from me got off at the first stop so we didn't have to be uncomfortable for long. But I don't understand why people do that! It was a long trip, plus there were luggage racks. Why couldn't the Irish/British/whatever couple have shared some leg room with the rest of us?
K, Budapest. As soon as I got in I went to my hostel. Thank goodness they had given excellent directions, so I didn't get lost or anything. First adventure in Budapest: taking public transportation. In itself not that exciting or adventurous, but the tickets were. In Bratislava I bought tickets sporadically for the buses and trams, but I could have gotten away with never buying one. In all of the cities I've been to so far, the public transportation profits rely on the assumption that you're actually buying and validating your tickets before you ride the tram or whatever. In Budapest it was the same way. I decided that, to be on the safe side, I'd buy a ticket, even though it looked like I could get away without it. As soon as I came off the escalator getting out of the metro, I was grabbed on both arms by these two random people meanly saying stuff in Hungarian to me. I'd read that in a lot of these countries people will come up to you and pretend to be ticket-takers, tell you your ticket is invalid, then try to get you to pay them. And I didn't understand what they were saying, so I just kept walking. The lady kept yelling at me, so I was like, "I don't speak Hungarian", and she was piossssssed. She goes all meanly, "Ticket." And by that time I was freakin annoyed too, so I was like, "Show me some ID first." She did NOT like that, so she just kept saying "ticket." Finally I got in her face and grabbed her ID, then I showed her my ticket and she huffed away. When I got to my hostel, I asked the girl who checked me in about it, and she told me that it's really easy to identify the ticket-checkers--just look for the ugliest person on the platform.
After I checked in at my hostel, I went to one of the tourist information offices to pick up my Budapest Card, which I'd already bought and paid for. Well, I got there--and it was closed for 4 days for All Saints' Day (seriously, what is with these long holidays they like to take??). So I was pretty confused, since I wasn't really sure where the other office was. I eventually found it on my map and walked there, which took a lot longer than I thought it would. By this time it was dark, because it gets dark freakin early in Budapest! So I ate dinner at a place near the opera house. One cool thing about Budapest is that there are a ton of cool cafes. If that's the kind of thing you like, Budapest is the place to go. I ate in several while I was there. One not so cool thing is that there aren't a lot of places to get take-out food from. It's a lot more expensive to sit and eat, which unfortunately I was forced to do most of the time.
After dinner I went to a concert (Verdi's Requiem) at the Hungarian State Opera House. It was pretty cool because I got my ticket for 1000 Forints, or about $5.50 and I could still see really well (even though I was in the highest section there was). It was even better, because not only did I get to see the inside of the opera house AND a concert, it cost about 1/3 the price of a tour of the opera house. After that I went back to my hostel and went to sleep. Yes, it was only 9, but I was tired!
The next day I got up early so that I could cram as much stuff as possible into my day. And indeed I did. I went to the grocery store first, and got a Coke, a bag of chips, and 2 rolls for less than $2. Man, I love cheap food! Then I walked across the Margaret Bridge to the Buda side of the river (my hostel was in Pest) and walked along the river until I got to the bottom of Castle Hill. I took the bus up, because I was already tired of walking (plus it was free with my Budapest Card). Before I got up there I thought, oh, there's just a castle, I'll spend an hour or something looking around. Wrong. Turns out that in addition to Buda Castle, there was also Matthias Church (where King Matthias or someone was crowned king of Hungary) as well as the Fisherman's Bastion, plus a surprisingly large neighborhood of houses and apartments. Um, yeah, I ended walking around the entire thing. I thought it would be about half as big as it actually was. The views were great and everything was cool, but I was kind of too tired of walking to really enjoy it. I ate some overpriced goulash for lunch (did I mention that I love goulash?) and walked around the castle a little bit. That too was pretty neat and there were some semi-interesting looking museums, but 1) they cost money, and 2) I was really sick of walking and standing. I took the bus back down the hill and decided to go to Memento Park, which is a park in the southern part of the city full of sculptures, statues, plaques, monuments, etc., that the Communists erected in honor of themselves and used to stand all around Budapest during the Soviet occupation. I had really wanted to see this, but not gonna lie, my main motivation for going at that exact moment was that it promised to involve lots of time sitting on the tram and the bus.
This was yet another adventure. I took the right tram to the end of the line...but the Memento Park brochure I had didn't provide great directions. The bus station was hidden behind this huge construction site, plus I couldn't figure out which ticket to buy. Fortunately the lady at the counter saw the brochure in my hand and gave me the right ticket. After that I paid 80 Forints for the bathroom, but only because I was desperate.
The sculpture park was cool, but not as cool as I thought it was gonna be. There were no signs or anything describing the stuff, so I had to pay 600 Forints for an English guide book (not that expensive, but still. It's the principle!). Reading was a little bit better, but it didn't go into that much detail about the sculptures and stuff, a lot of it was more about who sculpted it or something kinda lame like that (hahah, oh man, this makes me sound so ignorant!). All I mean was that it could have been done better.
After coming back into the main city, I decided to go to Franz Liszt house, which turned out to be a Franz Liszt memorial apartment inside the Liszt Academy of Music. It had a lot of cool stuff, but didn't really explain them very well or even that much about the composers life. Apparently he was BFFs with Edvard Grieg, because there were a ton of letters between the two displayed there. Also, thank goodness I can read German, because almost none of the descriptions were written in English.
After that, I went to a museum that was probably the highlight of my trip, the House of Terror. The museum was in a building on Andrassy ut, Budapest's most famous and most beautiful street, that had been the headquarters of the Nazis that occupied Hungary--and was later also chosen as the headquarters for the Hungarian Communists. Unfortunately almost everything was in Hungarian, but in each room there were extensive information sheets about the subject of the room in both Hungarian and English. The info sheets didn't really explain the exhibits, which was pretty disappointing, but it gave a lot of really good background info. The whole museum and all of the exhibits were very well done. In the basement there were recreations of the cells the Communists used to detain and torture people. It was a very modern museum, one that I really wish I would have been able to understand more of. Well, I'm not planning on learning Hungarian, so I guess I'll have to scratch that. Before going to this museum, I had no idea that there had even been a Nazi occupation of Hungary. It seemed like it was mostly towards the end of the war, but it sure explained a lot of the "Soviet Liberation" statues in Memento Park--I guess the Communists thought ridding Hungary of the fascists and putting in place their own dictatorship was "liberation"? It also had never really occurred to me that Hungary had been controlled by the Soviet Union. I guess somewhere in the back of my mind I sort of knew that--most of Eastern Europe was under Soviet control, after all. I just didn't realize Hungary specifically (and actually, I didn't realize Slovakia either) had been Soviet occupied.
Hmm, OK, after the House of Terror...I was starving. So I went and ate dinner in a restaurant on Liszt Ferenc ter, the place where there were a ton of nice cafes. Liszt ter was really the only place around (unless you count McDonald's) that had not too expensive restaurants. After that I was exhausted and went back to my hostel. I definitely way overdid it that day; by the time I got back to my hostel, all I wanted to do was go home and not have to walk around and see stuff anymore. Luckily I got a really good night's sleep and woke up ready for another full day.
Side story: there happened to be two German girls staying in the same room as me, and they were really nice. One of them came in, and asked if she was German (bc I'd heard them speaking German that morning) and she said yes, and was struggling to speak to me in English. I offered to speak German, and she seemed extremely relieved. It was nice to speak German after a few days of only English. I mean, I'm obviously very used to speaking English since it's all I speak with the kids (and, duh, because I speak it as a first language), but I'm not used to hearing responses in English. My little four-day break from German really makes me wonder, though, what it will be like when I get back to the US. I won't have anyone to speak German with, and I know I'll forget a lot of it really fast.
OK, Budapest, full day #2. I got up early again and had a little bit of trouble finding something to eat for breakfast since, like all of Europe, everything was closed since it was Sunday. So I figured I'd find something eventually, so I took the tram across the bridge so that I could take another tram to Gellert Hill. Except I took it a little too far...oops. Once I got to the right stop, I realized that I'd thought the two trams connected up when they really don't, so I had to take another line called HEV, which apparently runs to the suburbs of Budapest. In the HEV station I found a bakery that was open (thank God!!!! It was the first bakery I'd seen since Germany!) and got this odd and kind of expensive muffin. Anyway, I took the HEV, connected up to the tram, and rode to Gellert Hill (I'd learned my lesson about walking too much too early). I started walking up the hill, and the first place I stopped was this weird Cave Church. Yeah. That's right. It was a church in a cave in the side of the hill. There was a service going on, so I could only look at the exhibit right inside. I kept walking up the hill and eventually got to the part right above the cave church, where there was a huge cross. It was pretty cool but kind of reminded me of those KKK crosses that they set on fire...even though it was wasn't wood and wasn't on fire. I don't know, it was kind of creepy, so I kept walking. It wasn't very nice out and even started raining a little bit, but I had come prepared with my umbrella. And even though it was gray and gross out, the trees all looked these amazing fall colors. I went a little overboard taking fall-foliage pictures, but it really was beautiful. And, of course, I saw graffiti. There was some kind of monument that had been completely graffitied over, so I couldn't even tell what it was. And I even saw a tree with graffiti on it. I mean, really, who cares enough to graffiti a tree?
So, I finally got to the top of Gellert Hill, and it was really cool. It was way higher up than Castle Hill and the view was amazing. If it hadn't been so gray and overcast, it would have been a really great place to spend the morning. There was also a gigantic citadel up there with a Liberty Statue. It's so big that you can see the statue from all the way down the river. The citadel was pretty cool, but of course it cost money to go in, so I didn't bother because it was still raining a little bit.
On my way back down I went into the cave church since the service was over and looked around a little bit. It was really weird and not what I'd pictured. It must be difficult to hold services in there. It looked more like a few small chapels coming off of one central point rather than one big church.
When I got back down the hill I walked across the Liberty Bridge. There's a big central market right on the other side of the river, but it was closed! It's usually open every day, but since it was the weekend after All Saints' Day, it wasn't. Instead I took the metro to the botanical gardens, which was free with my Budapest Card. I got there...and it was really lame. It was small and not well kept up. There were, like, 5 flowers. And leaves ALL over the place that I guess they didn't feel like raking up. I'm glad I didn't pay money for it.
After that I was like, ummm, I'm really hungry, but there was nowhere around to eat. Instead I took the metro up to St. Stephen's Basilica in hopes that I could find somewhere around there (as well as go to the top). I decided I'd go up before lunch. Thank goodness for elevators. It was a really amazing view, especially since you can walk all the way around the cupola and see Budapest in every direction, but it was also really cold so I only stayed up for about 5 minutes. I took the elevator back down (I was tired, ok?) and ate lunch at this really cheap Chinese place.
OK, side note about Chinese food. So, if Chinese food in the US is fake Chinese food, how come Chinese food is the same everywhere??? I've eaten Chinese food in the US, Germany, Slovakia, and Hungary, and it was all the same! Did all of the Chinese emigrants get together and decide before they left China that they WOULD NOT under any circumstances reveal what real Chinese cooking is like? And an even better question is, do all those Chinese restaurant owners eat REAL Chinese food at home?
K, this is getting too long again so I'm gonna end it here and start a part 3.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Bratislava and Budapest: Part 1
November 1-4
Last weekend I took my first big trip, to Bratislava and Budapest. I'm really glad I went, although I'm still tired from all the walking I did. I'll try to keep this post relatively short, but I'm not sure that's possible.
OK, I'll start from the beginning. I took the night train heading from Munich to Budapest. Unfortunately there were no beds available on this leg, so I could only reserve a seat. Even more unfortunately, the seats were in 6-person compartments with 3 seats facing 3 either seats. That=not very much leg room. Luckily there were only two other people in my compartment, so we each got two seats to ourselves. The three of us ended up having two languages in common--English and German. One was a woman who lived in Vienna and was heading home, and the other happened to be a Slovak guy who was going to Bratislava! I feel like my trip was characterized by good luck, and here was my first lucky break. I had been planning on traveling all the way to Budapest then getting a train from there to Bratislava, but this guy told me that this train stopped in Austria right outside Bratislava, and that I could ride along with him and he'd point me to the right bus once we got into the city.
My next adventure: trying to buy a bus ticket in the Bratislava Petrzalka train station. The woman who ran the kiosk was...not very nice. I asked if you spoke English, and she shook her head and immediately turned away. I asked if she spoke German, and she rolled her eyes, turned back to me, and gave me a look that said, "Ugh...now I have to deal with you." Then she refused to sell me a day-long public transportation pass, for no reason. I'd read that people at kiosks do not like to cut tourists a break, so I decided not to push it and just bought a regular ticket.
I took the bus into the city, got off at the stop my Slovak bud told me to--and had no idea where I was. He'd told me that I'd be right in the city center near everything, but to me it looked like there was nothing around. I wandered around a little bit and eventually found a city map posted. From there I was able to figure out the direction of the historical center, but I was a good 3 or 4 blocks north of it. I somehow found my way to what I can only assume is Bratislava's main shopping drag. It featured such high-quality stores as Hello Kitty and Converse. It was kind of creepy, because it was completely dead. I didn't realize until later in the day that the Slovaks take their holidays very seriously--meaning no one works. I wandered a little bit more, accidentally walked into a church that was having a mass (it was All Saints' Day, hence everything being closed), and decided to walk up to Bratislava Castle. Big mistake. I still had my backpack on and that hill was steep. The view was pretty good, but I was pretty tired from having gotten approximately no sleep on the night train combined with my thousand-pound backpack weighing me down. I looked around a little bit, broke down and paid 10 SKK to use the bathroom, then walked back down and caught the tram to my hostel.
Now this was an adventure. My hostel wasn't really a hostel. I had reserved a room in a dorm of the Slovak Technical University. I found the building pretty easily, and the receptionist, but here's where the fun started. The receptionist didn't speak a word of English or German, and I don't speak a word of Slovak. Somehow I paid the rest of my balance, filled out the appropriate paperwork, and got my key. We then walked through what looked like a prison. I'm not kidding. Concrete hallways, gates blocking off different wings. The room was actually really good for what I paid. For $20, I had my own room (bigger than my dorm room at USC) and bathroom. Granted, it was pretty rundown, but it was clean. And how many of you can say that you've spent the night in a dorm in Bratislava? So if you're ever in Bratislava, I recommend the Summer Youth Hostel Mlada Garda (as it's called on hostelworld.com).
After finally dumping my bookbag, I headed back into the city center. This time I finally found all the historical stuff. First goal: eat lunch. There was not much open, and most of it was sit-down. I finally broke down and ate in a cafe because I was really hungry and that was all that was around. On this trip I sure missed the all the bakeries and take-away food Germany has.
After lunch I wandered around the old town a bit. There wasn't much to see because almost everything was closed, and honestly, I found the old town a little bit bland. It was nice and all, but it looked pretty generic. There were a few palaces, but they mostly just looked like large buildings. I found St. Martin's Cathedral, where Maria Theresa was crowned empress of Austria-Hungary. That was really nice inside, although it looked pretty ugly from the outside. One thing I noticed about Bratislava is that most of the churches looked rather unimpressive from the outside, but amazing inside. After finishing up wandering, I was cold and tired and decided to get some food to take back with me to my dorm. I found a Chinese restaurant that let me get something to go, so I got it.
I went to bed early that night (like, 8:30) because I was exhausted from no sleep the night before and a long day of walking around. The next morning I got up early to head out to Devin Castle before I got the train to Budapest. About 5 minutes after I got up, I heard a knock on my door. There stood yet another Slovak woman who didn't speak German or English (how do none of these people speak German? It's 15 minutes away from Austria!) who, after much gesticulating, I finally figured out wanted my receipt (still not sure why). For some reason she wanted me out of the room really fast, even though check-out wasn't until 9 AM. Anyway, I left a little after 8, got an extremely cheap breakfast at the grocery store across the street, and started my journey to Devin Castle.
Here's yet another adventure. I had to take the tram into town, take another tram from there, get off that tram, walk to the bus station, then take the bus from there to Devin. Now, all of the buses and trams in Bratislava stop at every stop--you don't have to request a stop unless indicated, which it wasn't on this bus line. The bus stopped at every stop, until about 2 stop before mine. There were a bunch of people waiting to get off, and they all started yelling at the driver when he blew past a few stops. Eventually he stopped at one a few past mine, letting every out. I was pretty confused and not sure where I was, so I asked a girl near me if she knew where the castle was. Coincidentally, there happened to be an American walking right behind us who overheard me, and was also walking to the castle. He said he'd walk with me, thank goodness. He said that he lived in Slovakia and was here with his wife for the long weekend, having a vacation while she was stuck in seminars. He was the first person I'd met who spoke native English probably since I was in Munich. It was so nice to speak English with someone who also spoke it fluently!
The castle was pretty neat. When we got there, it was closed, but apparently the gate was only closed by a latch that was easy to lift up, so we went in. The castle is on the Morava River, which separates Austria and Slovakia, so it was pretty cool to see Austria only a few meters away. The castle also sits close to the point where the Morava joins the Danube, which is also where Slovakia borders Hungary, so from the castle it's possible to see Austria, Hungary, and Slovakia. I'm sure I saw Hungary, but I'm not really sure exactly where it was.
I left the castle around 10:30, thinking that would be plenty of time for me to make it to the train station to catch my 11:45 train. Turns out I was wrong. First I had to find the correct bus stop, since the driver had let us off at the wrong one. Once I did that, the bus didn't come until 10:50, which meant I got back into the city around 11:10. After that I had to take a tram to a place where I could connect with another tram that would take me to the train station. When I finally got to a tram stop that I knew would take me to the train station, I looked at the schedule--and saw that if I waited, I would get to the station one minute after my train was supposed to leave. I decided to walk to another tram stop that I knew ran on a different line, in hopes that I could catch one that would get there earlier. Well, I couldn't find another that went directly to the train station, so I got on one that I knew went in the right direction. It didn't make the stops I thought it would, so I got off a little bit too late. Somehow, with incredible luck, it turned out that the stop I got off at also had a tram line running through it that went directly to the train station, and was scheduled to come at 11:43, taking 5 minutes to get there. With even more incredible luck, the tram came 4 minutes early! The whole way to the train station I just kept hoping and hoping that my train would be just 5 minutes late--that would be enough for me to make it. As soon as the tram pulled into the train station, I jumped off, ran up the steps, looked at the sign--it was running five minutes late! I ran my track and got on the train with about 1 minute to spare. Even luckier than that, the day before I had decided to ride to the train station just to see where it was, and I had bought my ticket then. If I had decided to wait until the next day, I would have missed the train.
OK, this is getting waaay too long. To be continued. Up next: Budapest
Last weekend I took my first big trip, to Bratislava and Budapest. I'm really glad I went, although I'm still tired from all the walking I did. I'll try to keep this post relatively short, but I'm not sure that's possible.
OK, I'll start from the beginning. I took the night train heading from Munich to Budapest. Unfortunately there were no beds available on this leg, so I could only reserve a seat. Even more unfortunately, the seats were in 6-person compartments with 3 seats facing 3 either seats. That=not very much leg room. Luckily there were only two other people in my compartment, so we each got two seats to ourselves. The three of us ended up having two languages in common--English and German. One was a woman who lived in Vienna and was heading home, and the other happened to be a Slovak guy who was going to Bratislava! I feel like my trip was characterized by good luck, and here was my first lucky break. I had been planning on traveling all the way to Budapest then getting a train from there to Bratislava, but this guy told me that this train stopped in Austria right outside Bratislava, and that I could ride along with him and he'd point me to the right bus once we got into the city.
My next adventure: trying to buy a bus ticket in the Bratislava Petrzalka train station. The woman who ran the kiosk was...not very nice. I asked if you spoke English, and she shook her head and immediately turned away. I asked if she spoke German, and she rolled her eyes, turned back to me, and gave me a look that said, "Ugh...now I have to deal with you." Then she refused to sell me a day-long public transportation pass, for no reason. I'd read that people at kiosks do not like to cut tourists a break, so I decided not to push it and just bought a regular ticket.
I took the bus into the city, got off at the stop my Slovak bud told me to--and had no idea where I was. He'd told me that I'd be right in the city center near everything, but to me it looked like there was nothing around. I wandered around a little bit and eventually found a city map posted. From there I was able to figure out the direction of the historical center, but I was a good 3 or 4 blocks north of it. I somehow found my way to what I can only assume is Bratislava's main shopping drag. It featured such high-quality stores as Hello Kitty and Converse. It was kind of creepy, because it was completely dead. I didn't realize until later in the day that the Slovaks take their holidays very seriously--meaning no one works. I wandered a little bit more, accidentally walked into a church that was having a mass (it was All Saints' Day, hence everything being closed), and decided to walk up to Bratislava Castle. Big mistake. I still had my backpack on and that hill was steep. The view was pretty good, but I was pretty tired from having gotten approximately no sleep on the night train combined with my thousand-pound backpack weighing me down. I looked around a little bit, broke down and paid 10 SKK to use the bathroom, then walked back down and caught the tram to my hostel.
Now this was an adventure. My hostel wasn't really a hostel. I had reserved a room in a dorm of the Slovak Technical University. I found the building pretty easily, and the receptionist, but here's where the fun started. The receptionist didn't speak a word of English or German, and I don't speak a word of Slovak. Somehow I paid the rest of my balance, filled out the appropriate paperwork, and got my key. We then walked through what looked like a prison. I'm not kidding. Concrete hallways, gates blocking off different wings. The room was actually really good for what I paid. For $20, I had my own room (bigger than my dorm room at USC) and bathroom. Granted, it was pretty rundown, but it was clean. And how many of you can say that you've spent the night in a dorm in Bratislava? So if you're ever in Bratislava, I recommend the Summer Youth Hostel Mlada Garda (as it's called on hostelworld.com).
After finally dumping my bookbag, I headed back into the city center. This time I finally found all the historical stuff. First goal: eat lunch. There was not much open, and most of it was sit-down. I finally broke down and ate in a cafe because I was really hungry and that was all that was around. On this trip I sure missed the all the bakeries and take-away food Germany has.
After lunch I wandered around the old town a bit. There wasn't much to see because almost everything was closed, and honestly, I found the old town a little bit bland. It was nice and all, but it looked pretty generic. There were a few palaces, but they mostly just looked like large buildings. I found St. Martin's Cathedral, where Maria Theresa was crowned empress of Austria-Hungary. That was really nice inside, although it looked pretty ugly from the outside. One thing I noticed about Bratislava is that most of the churches looked rather unimpressive from the outside, but amazing inside. After finishing up wandering, I was cold and tired and decided to get some food to take back with me to my dorm. I found a Chinese restaurant that let me get something to go, so I got it.
I went to bed early that night (like, 8:30) because I was exhausted from no sleep the night before and a long day of walking around. The next morning I got up early to head out to Devin Castle before I got the train to Budapest. About 5 minutes after I got up, I heard a knock on my door. There stood yet another Slovak woman who didn't speak German or English (how do none of these people speak German? It's 15 minutes away from Austria!) who, after much gesticulating, I finally figured out wanted my receipt (still not sure why). For some reason she wanted me out of the room really fast, even though check-out wasn't until 9 AM. Anyway, I left a little after 8, got an extremely cheap breakfast at the grocery store across the street, and started my journey to Devin Castle.
Here's yet another adventure. I had to take the tram into town, take another tram from there, get off that tram, walk to the bus station, then take the bus from there to Devin. Now, all of the buses and trams in Bratislava stop at every stop--you don't have to request a stop unless indicated, which it wasn't on this bus line. The bus stopped at every stop, until about 2 stop before mine. There were a bunch of people waiting to get off, and they all started yelling at the driver when he blew past a few stops. Eventually he stopped at one a few past mine, letting every out. I was pretty confused and not sure where I was, so I asked a girl near me if she knew where the castle was. Coincidentally, there happened to be an American walking right behind us who overheard me, and was also walking to the castle. He said he'd walk with me, thank goodness. He said that he lived in Slovakia and was here with his wife for the long weekend, having a vacation while she was stuck in seminars. He was the first person I'd met who spoke native English probably since I was in Munich. It was so nice to speak English with someone who also spoke it fluently!
The castle was pretty neat. When we got there, it was closed, but apparently the gate was only closed by a latch that was easy to lift up, so we went in. The castle is on the Morava River, which separates Austria and Slovakia, so it was pretty cool to see Austria only a few meters away. The castle also sits close to the point where the Morava joins the Danube, which is also where Slovakia borders Hungary, so from the castle it's possible to see Austria, Hungary, and Slovakia. I'm sure I saw Hungary, but I'm not really sure exactly where it was.
I left the castle around 10:30, thinking that would be plenty of time for me to make it to the train station to catch my 11:45 train. Turns out I was wrong. First I had to find the correct bus stop, since the driver had let us off at the wrong one. Once I did that, the bus didn't come until 10:50, which meant I got back into the city around 11:10. After that I had to take a tram to a place where I could connect with another tram that would take me to the train station. When I finally got to a tram stop that I knew would take me to the train station, I looked at the schedule--and saw that if I waited, I would get to the station one minute after my train was supposed to leave. I decided to walk to another tram stop that I knew ran on a different line, in hopes that I could catch one that would get there earlier. Well, I couldn't find another that went directly to the train station, so I got on one that I knew went in the right direction. It didn't make the stops I thought it would, so I got off a little bit too late. Somehow, with incredible luck, it turned out that the stop I got off at also had a tram line running through it that went directly to the train station, and was scheduled to come at 11:43, taking 5 minutes to get there. With even more incredible luck, the tram came 4 minutes early! The whole way to the train station I just kept hoping and hoping that my train would be just 5 minutes late--that would be enough for me to make it. As soon as the tram pulled into the train station, I jumped off, ran up the steps, looked at the sign--it was running five minutes late! I ran my track and got on the train with about 1 minute to spare. Even luckier than that, the day before I had decided to ride to the train station just to see where it was, and I had bought my ticket then. If I had decided to wait until the next day, I would have missed the train.
OK, this is getting waaay too long. To be continued. Up next: Budapest
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