Blossoms

Margit-sziget Exploration

Olli had the greatest idea ever for this afternoon after magyaóra to explore around northern Buda, in search of Roman ruins and scenic views. We completed the task successfully.

Czech it Out! Prague Weekend

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Notebook:

3-19-2009

15:45 Nepliget Bus Station, Budapest. Backpack is packed with snacks and supplies. Remember, 20 CZK = 1USD. I'm traveling with 5 Finnish. The rest of the group is heading out tomorrow.

18:00 Electric Windmills in Northern Hungary. Snow and Sunsets in Slovakia.

11:45 Bus arrives in Prague. It's cold! We orient ourselves towards the hostel.

3-20-2009

0:20 Arrival at Sir Toby's Hostel. Check in and drop off our bags. Head downstairs to the Hostel's pub to relax, have a Pilsner (Czech Beer!) and talk with other travelers. We decided to venture our for late night food. We find "Pizza Go Home" We should have followed the name and gone home, because it was pretty bad. Oh well, you learn.

9:30 I wake up early, and have some coffee while everyone else wakes. Eventually everyone mingles downstairs for Sir Toby's delicious breakfast buffet: yogurts, granola, dried fruits, fresh fruits, tomatoes, cucumber, toasts with butter, nutella, jam, honey, sweetened condensed milk, balkan cheese, swiss cheese, hard boiled eggs, pans and eggs for self-made omelets, juice, iced coffee, tea, and...I guess that's about everything! Head out into town with the Finnish.

12:30 Old Town Square, Prague. The light snow is fitting for the last day of spring. It's beautiful here.

13:00 Bong, Bong, Bong! goes the intricate astronomical clock tower. After the spectacle, we go to a Mucha and Salvador Dali Exhibit.

15:00 Crossing the Charles Bridge. More Snow! Winter Wonderland! We head into a restaurant for warmth and tummy filling...I order Onion Soup!

15:40 There's the sun, breaking through the clouds. Perfect for a stroll down to Lennon Wall, a little alley tucked away off the main street that had been a protest spot against communism...the name comes from numerous Beatles lyrics scrawled on the wall and Lennon portraits done in spray paint. Photos!

16:30 Prague Castle, breath-taking. Exploration and Wandering mode is in effect. We meet up with the Italian dudes and...

17:50 Beer! More Pilsner Urquell in a little pub.

20:30 Quick Tesco stop, restaurant searching, regrouping, return to the hostel. The rest of the group has begun to arrive.

22:00 Dinner with the Italians at a restaurant next door to Sir Toby's. Afterwards we play card games (with Mucha cards, obviously) and then head downtown to see the clubs of Prague.

3-21-2009

10:00 Hooray for Spring! It's sunny outside today. Delicious breakfast at Sir Toby's, and heading back into town, this time with 2 Finnish, 3 French, 1 Canadian, 1 Singaporean.

12:00 Clock Tower in Old Town Square again! Street performers are playing Jazz. It feels like spring. Extreme Exploration Mode!

16:00 Rendezvous with others of the group around the Castle. I'm just taking in the surroundings and the awesomeness of it all. 

17:45 We walk up the hill and climb to the top of Petrin Tower (Prauge's "Eiffel Tower") for amazing views of the city from above. iPod - "Buffalo Soldier" Prague Sunsets are amazing from above. We made it inside the Tower just as they were closing...we seem to be really good at timing this entire weekend.

19:25 When in Prague, try Absinthe! and then more Czech Beers. We walk by the dancing building and continue to stroll along the Vltava River. Small paper lanterns are floating up into the night sky, taking flight from a small islands. Swans float in the river. PICTURESQUE.

22:00 Return to the hostel and relax with the group.

3-22-2009

5:00 Awake somehow. Pack up and are out the door by 5:45.

6:25 Board the return bus to Budapest...

King of the Hill

Ahh, beautiful weather! Sunshine! The great outdoors! While visiting Robert in freezing German January, he wisely pointed out everyday the weather gets a little better; this week it is really starting to show. Note that I'm just wearing a t-shirt...yep, no jacket today! Taking full advantage of oncoming spring, I went hiking in the Buda hills with Jake from Wisconsin. Riding to the end of tram 61 puts you on the extent of the city and the beginning of nature. We hiked up to an observation tower, atop which we were able to see Budapest in its entirety below. Awesomeness.

End of the line, kid.
upside down flowers
Off the beaten path.
The view from above.
Jake and I with the countryside behind us.
Just enjoying the sunshine.

Jogexploration!

With the weather here in Budapest starting to warm up enough to enjoy being outside, I feel more and more pent up inside the apartment during the day. I still haven't found a bike yet (perhaps I'll work on that more this weekend), so I've decided to pick up this alternative the people do to get around and exercise: jogging. Today I went down to Margit Island to check out Budapest's Exercising Hot Spot. A 5 km (hey look, I can use the metric system) track runs the perimeter of the island, the kind of track made of that nice spongy paving. Transversing the island counterclockwise (positive K direction, as we would say in my current math class) the Duna runs on your right, the parks of the island to your left. The result is an enjoyable little run on a sunny, early March afternoon.

Best sights I saw on the jog:
-Kayakers paddling up and down the river along the bank of the island, I want to do that one day!
-Families pedaling around the island in Bicycle cars, rentals I'm guessing, another thing I need to look into.
-Old Roman Ruins (I'll go back for some pictures)
-A ZOO! I saw some storks and other large birds
-The gigantic Gothic Parliament building spiking the riverside skyline, glowing in the low afternoon sun rays (need pictures of this too)
-The beautiful angel bust sculptures on the pillars of Margit Bridge
-Being in the middle of the Duna with the two sides of the city stretching out and the sunlight illuminating it all

I promise to return on another sunny afternoon, Camera equipped, to share the awesomeness with you. At the end of my jog, I descended a staircase to the bank and sat relaxing in the sun. The river has risen in height since my first arrival in January. Last week you could still see some of the rock banks, now the water level is halfway up the river walls. I'm looking forward to the weather continuing to improve and making new explorations in this crazy place!

A Glimpse of Blue Sky

Some blue sky and sunshine managed to break through the morning misting. Decided to have fun with the camera.

Working out plans to visit Lake Balaton this weekend with the dudes. Hopefully we'll spend Saturday in Balatonfüred and the peninsula area, Sunday in Keszthely and Héviz checkin' the hot springs.

Beograd, Serbia (Belgrade for the Western World)

Journal Entries:

26-2-2009
22:30 Keleti Palyudvar, Budapest. Listening to The Clash "London Calling" album from iPod. I saw a dude in front of the train station with an eye patch and, I swear, a fake plastic hand.

23:01 Train jerks forward, Elliott barely made it, Esperenza had to hold the door open while he ran to board.

22:30 Put The Clash back on, Clampdown is playing while our tickets are checked. Martin, a student from Germany who is studying in Istanbul joins our compartment (he heard the train is a little sketchy when traveling alone). Discussing currencies:
Martin: "Have a Turkish Coin"
Me: "Thanks, I can give you some forrints in exchange..."
Martin: "I'm not rich, but I'm not that poor!"

27-2-2009
06:30 Early Morning. Arrive, depart train, find hostel on 6th floor of an old apartment building nearby train station. Hostel host is from Miami, and has been living in Europe for 4 years, the last 2 in Serbia. We venture out for crepes and money. I withdraw 5000 dinar (~$70) for the weekend expenses, and a little extra for souvenirs. We are guided by Jeff (he's been to Belgrade at the beginning of the semester) to a fast food place offering pizza and crepes. Best idea ever. I have a nutella and "plazma" crepe (plazma is kind of like the stuff inside Whoppers candy crumbled up...). Return to the hostel, watch some Discovery channel, then Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in Serbian. Fall asleep until 11:00 AM.

11:00 For the day we explore the fortress and the war museum. Kalemegdan, the old fortress, stands at the meeting of the Duna and Sava rivers. Belgrade was once entirely enclosed by it's walls. It was conquered by the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires, and eventually returned to Serbian rule. Lots of awesome ruins. One currator of the war mueseum fought against the KLA in the early 90's.

15:15 It starts raining, we escape to a delicious Italian restaurant for dinner and dryness.

18:30 Returning to explore the streets. First glimpse of bombed buildings from 1999. Just put on Dave Brubeck.

20:30 St. Sava Cathedral. Impressive. Huge. Still in construction.

22:00 Return to Hostel. Chess Time. Lost the 1st game (lost the queen early, I'm rusty), well see how the second game goes...

23:00 Stalemate

28-2-2009

2:00 Going to sleep. Wandered around a bit, most of the crew went to a club on the 9th floor of some office building.

14:10 Waiting on people for forever. I just want to go explore more! Listening to Dert Floyd on iPod.

14:45 US Embassy, lots of police guards.

14:58 People made to delete photos of the Embassy by Police...(still have mine, don't look like a tourist, duh).

15:20 Made it to Tito's memorial. The green grass and birch tress are covered in white snow and bark.

17:00 Eat some more crepes at our favorite place. Explore Skadarska, the old Bohemian street of Belgrade.

20:00 Head back to the Hostel to pack up stuff. We pick up pizza to take on the train.

21:30 Make sure to choose a compartment with a working window. Share the compartment with Jesper, Jake and Brett. Talk about the sights we saw in Belgrade, and plans for future weekend trips...

1-3-2009
6:30 Arrive in Budapest. Go home and sleep for a big part of the day. Finish up some homework later in the day and fall asleep again (preventing a cold I feel trying to come on)

2-3-2009
9:50 Somehow my alarm didn't go off, so I rush off to get to lab on time. Hungarian Language class in the afternoon, and now finally at home!

It was a great weekend, and crazy to see other parts of the world, the bizarre differences that 7 hours of travel can make. The difference of being inside and outside the EU. The difference of a city with recent violent history. I really enjoyed traveling with the group, staying at the hostel, and exploring a new place. Looking forward to more good (and safe) trips.

Photos!!! and Flickr Photos!!!

The Hills of Buda

Today greeted us with more nice weather, light snow and sun. Bizarre. Will and I headed on over across the chain bridge and into hilly Buda to explore the castle district. A hike to the top of castle hill is the best vantage point of the town. To the east, Pest lays flat, the skyline spiked by the spires of churches and government buildings.
To the west sits Buda below the castle walls, brightly colored apartments against green vegetation, hills rising to the horizon, illuminated by the cloudy sky above.

The Castle Labyrinth stretches beneath the hill, dark and damp. Inside the castle walls themselves were shops, cafes, old churches and ruins of anchient times. This city is filled with so much to see, each day I find something new without even having to look. And for those who are concerned, the falcon man was there.

Slow days...

The air was cooler again today, tiny water droplets falling occasionally. I succeeded in buying metro tickets, and jumped onto tram line #4 across Petőfi bridge to the University campus. After some wandering about the campus area, I ventured up Gellért hill to survey the bustling town below. What a view...Since it was on the way home, I returned to the grand market hall to try some of Hungary's famed Goulash and picked up a pastry for home. Not exactly sure what I bought (I need to learn a lot more Hungarian...) but it looked tasty, and was only 110 forint (50 cents or so). I ate it while watching Obama online. This pastry's to you Obama, hope you get things back on the right track.

I seem to wander a lot...

But wandering is lots of fun. Today was much nicer...the temperature rose to a brisk 8˚C and the sun was feeling a little less timid! The nicer the day, the better the adventure. Today's adventures were Budapest's awesome market halls. Just on the other side of József boulevard is Rákóczi (I think that's the right name, that's the name of the square right next to it) market. Clumsily, due to my current lack of Hungarian language skills, I bought some bananas, an orange, and a quarter of a huge loaf of bread. Tasty! Continuing my journey brought me to the largest market hall in Budapest, Nagyvásárcsarnok. Awesome. It's huge. The first floor stalls were filled with produce, delis, bakeries, even a fish market that had a tank of HUGE catfish. Upstairs the stands were full of trinkets, t-shirts, little restaurants and locals relaxing.

Exploring winding streets eventually led me home. I'm starting to get my bearings straight. Shop windows offer glimpses into the lifestyle of Budapest. Old men inspect glimmering Rolex watches, their female counterparts carry bags of groceries home, bundled up against the cold. The younger crowd drolls at windows filled with the latest mobile phones. The busy stop in the numerous greasy gyros stops, or the McDonalds or Burger Kings that plague the city. The relaxed hit up the bars for pilsner. Did I mention that Hungarians smoke non-stop. In the streets, waiting for the tram, in the restaurant before, during and after food. Public dog crap seems to also be accepted. Cigarette buts and dog crap are two of common sidewalk sights. Watch your step!

In the evening Boris invited me to met up with some of his fellow students for coffee. They're finishing up their semester and almost done with exams. Their Univeristy (Economics) is close by, and housed in a old palace. Plush. We headed down to a cool basement cafe and had Vienna style coffee (served with sparkiling water, of course, i was informed. If it's not served with mineral water, it's not real Vienna). Really tasty. Finished off the night by exploring the stuff closet in the aparment. Found some cool stuff...I'm gathering one of the old tennants was a DJ. Fun fun fun.

Train Stations and more Wandering

I awoke to light snow flurries falling through the frigid -4˚C air. Flakes stuck to the tile roof out the window and the cars parked along the narrow streets. I had a quick breakfast of rolls and strawberry jam, then began putting on the layers. Thermal undies, pants, shirt, wool socks, beanie, hoodie, thick jacket, shoes, gloves. Pockets: keys, wallet, ipod. Good to go. The cold greats me as I open the door and descend the stairs. Out the gate and then the main door of the apartment, I wait long enough to hear the click of the door locked shut before pressing play. I head towards Jósef körút (Joseph Boulevard) to Rákóczi ut towards Keleti Train station. Keleti Station is quite impressive, it's size allows it to be seen from ways down Rákóczi ut. More constrution is going on in Baross square in front of the station, a new metro line (#4) from what I could figure out. Inside, it takes me a while to find the international ticket counters. The teller spoke enough english for me to purchase a ticket to Würzburg; A night train to Munich, and then a faster Intercity Express train from Munich to the Wü. Thursday morning, I'll be hanging with Robert. All good. Also learned about special deals from Budapest for future travels...I returned home slowly, again letting curiousity lead me. I found one of the large open markets of Budapest just behind the constrution at Rákóczi park. Hopefully it will be open tomorrow...I'm eager to discover local produce! I had great dinner at a cafe around the corner, a goat cheese and fried zucchi dish with seasoned potato wedges, DELICIOUS! I also discoverd that the Frank Zappa Cafe is also extreamly close to my apartment ( http://www.zappacaffe.hu/ ). Totally awesome. I will have to try that someday soon. Final note: I made a flickr set to share more pictures. Looking forward to more awesome adventures soon.

Budapest - First Impressions

Tonight I found myself out wandering the streets, beginning to figure this city out. I took a map, but mostly just let my curiosity guide me. As the small vein streets turned into larger arteries, I found the heart of the city: The mighty river Danube with majestic Buda Castle towering above. Letting my feet take me where they wanted, I continued across Széchenyi lánchíd, the robust chain bridge, passing stone lions that guard each end. Stone Lions don't seem to defer graffiti. I guess the city figures not many tourist come in the winter and let apperances slip...we'll see if it changes as the weather warms up. Ice floated along the river currents and gulls swooped overhead as traffic zoomed by.

Returning home allowed more practice in navigating the streets. Street signs are not too popular, most of them are hiding on a building near the intersection. The major streets glimmer with street lights, neon, advertisements, headlights. The minor streets, like mine are dark and quite.It's growing on me. Tonight's little adventure gave me lots to look forward to in living here. I stopped in the 24 hour shop on the corner to buy some strawberry jam for my rolls, and then climbed the flights of stairs to the apartment. I'll finish up by sharing a few pictures of the apartment and the awesome light switches. Oh, and I found an ATM that works. Tomorrow's goals: navigate my way to the train station and buy tickets to Germany to see Robert.

Inside the apartment looking into the bedroom

Awesome light switch!