So after living in a foreign country for nearly a year and a half I have learned quite a bit. Some things about other people, places, cultures but mostly things about myself.
1) I will never make it as a professional blogger. Yes, I know I "promised" to write about all our adventures. I even tried to convince myself that I would write a little bit every day. Good thing I have my college education to fall back on. :) But who's to say that my adventures have to end when we move back to the states? No one, that's who. So here's my new promise... I will write when I feel I have something to share. That way I won't disappoint. I thought this blog would help me keep in touch with loved ones back home but to be honest, although it's been tough, the people I love most, have made a huge effort to keep in touch and I with them that I didn't need to blog to share the wonderful memories I've made here. Many of those memories I shared with loved one's who were able to come visit and I am so grateful for that.
2) Living in Europe is not always a fairytale. Living in Europe is also not the same as visiting here. It's like learning to do everything an adult has to do, all over again... and trying to do it all while no one understands you and you don't understand them. It hasn't always been easy, and looking back on it, that's ok. It didn't seem ok in some moments when the post office wouldn't ship a package for me, I got a ticket for only having one public transportation pass when I didn't know I needed two and I missed my friends and family so bad I could just cry. All in all though, it's been an incredible experience and I'm so glad I got to spend it with my love. He has gotten me through the rough patches and we have been able to share in the amazing times together and I love him even more because of it.
3) I don't need a ton of friends to be happy. In fact, when we moved here I remember looking at every person we met as "hey, maybe they'll be our friend". And that happened a lot less often than I thought it. I cherish the friends we've made here because they have truly made us feel welcome, loved and accepted. They all knew when we met them that our time here was temporary but that didn't make any of them hold back. I am so thankful of the few wonderful friends we have made here and I know it will be hard, but we will keep in touch and continue to be friends.
4) I love SEASONS!! Everyone that knew me before moving away from Arizona knew I hated the cold. After living in Chicago where the seasons are humid, windy, cold and blizzard and living in Hungary where hot/humid, cold and freezing are common I can't imagine going back to two seasons that are only moderately different from each other. Sorry Arizonans... a cardigan doesn't equal winter. I love the change in fashion, foliage and activities that come with living in a place that has different seasons. The summer is appreciated in places like these because the winter is practically unbearable and I love it. I'm so excited that we get to move back to Chicago!
Of course I've also learned patience, my career does not define me, if I have too much time to do something (blog) it will never get done, making money is not what life is about, enjoying the little things, appreciating my loved ones and I will continue to travel with my soon-to-be-husband for the rest of our lives.
We are moving back to the United States two weeks from today and I am so excited for what is to come. I am terrified as well. We will be flying back to AZ for only one week. This means we need to see everyone we possibly can and do as many wedding things as we can fit in. We got engaged on January 1st of this year, only one week before we flew back to Hungary. You can imagine that week didn't include much planning. And with less than 5 months left before our wedding I am so grateful for our planner. She has been a life saver and I am looking forward to meeting her and getting stuff done when we get back. Oh, and we also don't have cars, cell phones or a place to live once we get to Chicago... and I don't have a job. My best friend is also getting married 2 weeks after we get home and I couldn't be more happy! I know these next two weeks and the following month is going to fly by. But if I've learned anything from being here it's that I need to appreciate every moment that we have and enjoy every new experience.
XO,
Steph
Friday, September 14, 2012
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Boxes, Balaton and Language lessons
Hi all!
Our first few weeks of living in Budapest were very exciting... on the weekends! I was still trying to get in to the groove of not having 3 jobs and having to be somewhere every second. I’m still not sure I’ve figured it out. ;) We were lucky enough to be able to ship some things from the states that we couldn’t fit in to our luggage. Unpacking those boxes was almost like Christmas! We hadn’t seen our things for 3 weeks and had forgotten that we had even packed some of it!
We also had our first Hungarian lesson during this time period. All I can really say is... WOW! Our first lesson was easy-peasy! We learned numbers, colors and the alphabet. Easy enough right? WRONG! I think they teach you the easiest stuff on the first lesson to boost your confidence. Then they start to teach you how to conjugate and they hope you won’t lose your mind in the process! Brian and I started learning together once a week and I started taking a private lesson once a week since, well, I had a lot of time on my hands.
Brian and I got to meet up with our friend Daniel. Remember the one we met on the train going to Italy? Well he was going to Lake Balaton. We met up with him at a restaurant one night to get to know him. He was officially our first friend in Budapest and has been awesome! It’s always a funny story to tell other people how we met him. :) Brian also learned that night that just because it looks like a slice of potato, doesn’t mean it isn’t a slice of raw ginger... ew.
After a few days of wondering what to do with myself I decided to register for some expat websites and chat groups on Facebook. They have seriously been life savers! Anytime I have a question about anything I can go on there and another expat living in Hungary has a way to help. That’s actually how I got my first job here in Budapest. I joined a chat group on Facebook along with Brian. A Hungarian lady contacted him asking if I would possibly be interested in teaching her daughter English. We were able to meet up and she became our second friend in Budapest! Her name is Ildiko and her beautiful daughter’s name is Mira. Ildi was looking for someone to come and speak English to her and to Mira, sing English songs and play games so Mira could become used to the language. I started going once a week for an hour or two. I’ve spent the last few years working with many elderly patients and clients. It is so much fun spending time with a baby. Ildi has been wonderful as well! She always has great tips on where I can go to find the things I need or how to get things done efficiently in Budapest.
One weekend Brian and I decide to check out one of the very famous “bath houses”. It’s more of a spa/water park. Budapest is famous for it’s naturally occurring thermal water. There are many bath houses around the city that harness that natural water and use them in pools of various sizes and temperatures. We went to the largest which is called Szechenyi. It’s located in the middle of the city park and it is absolutely beautiful. There are 3 outdoor pools, numerous indoor pools and saunas. It was a nice warm day when we went so we spent our whole day in one of the outdoor pools. It was so relaxing and we heard more English being spoken there than Hungarian!
We also went on our own walking tour of the Jewish Quarter of Budapest one Sunday. I got a few books about Budapest before we moved here (Thank you Lindsey and Terri). One of which had some walking tours and it included information of each stop. The Jewish quarter of the city is actually one of the best places to get excellent Hungarian food for a decent price. A couple of the ruin pubs are also located in this area. It was really nice to discover a part of Budapest that we probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise. We saw 3 different synagogues, including the fifth largest synagogue in the world! We then decided to get some dinner before heading home. MMMmmmmm goulash!
Brian had his first 3 day weekend the weekend of June 11th. So we decided to check out Balaton and see for ourselves what all the Europeans already knew! It was wonderful! Balaton is a lake located about an hour and a half drive from Budapest. We stayed in Siofok but there are many cities all around the lake, each with their own character. We drove out that Saturday and met with Ildi and her husband Rudi for lunch. They have a house in a quiet little town on the lake. We had some wonderful food and even better conversation. Brian and I then went and checked in to our hotel in Siofok which was only about a 20 minute drive and right on the beach! We spent the rest of that afternoon lounging on the private beach of the hotel. Now I have to mention the the “beaches” on Balaton are not the beaches of California. The are mostly grassy along the southern shore and rocky along the northern shore. Also, the lake is very shallow for a long way out. Which means that it is also very warm! If you know me you know I hate cold water. Love beaches, hate cold water. So this lake is the most perfect place for me! Warm fresh water, sandy bottom, no sea urchins to step on. It is heaven! That night Brian and I had some dinner at a place right by our hotel and then decided to wander. We found a karaoke bar! I’m not much of a singer but I love to watch karaoke! We had a great time! They were singing tons of English songs until about 11pm. Then most of the requests were for Hungarian songs and we quickly realized that our lessons would not be as easy as egy, ketto, harom (one, two, three). :) The next day we spent on the beach! It was wonderful! We had some pizza for lunch and then rented a little paddle boat with a slide for an hour. We even took a nap on the beach. I loved every minute of it! For dinner that night Brian and I had sushi. I’m a sushi nut but I haven’t been able to find any in Europe that live up to the high standards of my faves which include Tanuki’s, Ra and Mido. That’s definitely something I will be having when we are visiting AZ for the holidays! The next day we wandered around a bit to explore the city of Siofok. They were having a festival of some sort where Candi met a llama! Well, we’re pretty sure it was a llama! Check out the pictures! We made it home in one piece and it was a great weekend.
The following week included lots of unpacking, repacking and getting ready for Barcelona! Stay tuned for that blog! We had so much fun I can’t even explain it all through writing! Thanks for reading!
XO,
Steph
Our first few weeks of living in Budapest were very exciting... on the weekends! I was still trying to get in to the groove of not having 3 jobs and having to be somewhere every second. I’m still not sure I’ve figured it out. ;) We were lucky enough to be able to ship some things from the states that we couldn’t fit in to our luggage. Unpacking those boxes was almost like Christmas! We hadn’t seen our things for 3 weeks and had forgotten that we had even packed some of it!
We also had our first Hungarian lesson during this time period. All I can really say is... WOW! Our first lesson was easy-peasy! We learned numbers, colors and the alphabet. Easy enough right? WRONG! I think they teach you the easiest stuff on the first lesson to boost your confidence. Then they start to teach you how to conjugate and they hope you won’t lose your mind in the process! Brian and I started learning together once a week and I started taking a private lesson once a week since, well, I had a lot of time on my hands.
Brian and I got to meet up with our friend Daniel. Remember the one we met on the train going to Italy? Well he was going to Lake Balaton. We met up with him at a restaurant one night to get to know him. He was officially our first friend in Budapest and has been awesome! It’s always a funny story to tell other people how we met him. :) Brian also learned that night that just because it looks like a slice of potato, doesn’t mean it isn’t a slice of raw ginger... ew.
After a few days of wondering what to do with myself I decided to register for some expat websites and chat groups on Facebook. They have seriously been life savers! Anytime I have a question about anything I can go on there and another expat living in Hungary has a way to help. That’s actually how I got my first job here in Budapest. I joined a chat group on Facebook along with Brian. A Hungarian lady contacted him asking if I would possibly be interested in teaching her daughter English. We were able to meet up and she became our second friend in Budapest! Her name is Ildiko and her beautiful daughter’s name is Mira. Ildi was looking for someone to come and speak English to her and to Mira, sing English songs and play games so Mira could become used to the language. I started going once a week for an hour or two. I’ve spent the last few years working with many elderly patients and clients. It is so much fun spending time with a baby. Ildi has been wonderful as well! She always has great tips on where I can go to find the things I need or how to get things done efficiently in Budapest.
One weekend Brian and I decide to check out one of the very famous “bath houses”. It’s more of a spa/water park. Budapest is famous for it’s naturally occurring thermal water. There are many bath houses around the city that harness that natural water and use them in pools of various sizes and temperatures. We went to the largest which is called Szechenyi. It’s located in the middle of the city park and it is absolutely beautiful. There are 3 outdoor pools, numerous indoor pools and saunas. It was a nice warm day when we went so we spent our whole day in one of the outdoor pools. It was so relaxing and we heard more English being spoken there than Hungarian!
We also went on our own walking tour of the Jewish Quarter of Budapest one Sunday. I got a few books about Budapest before we moved here (Thank you Lindsey and Terri). One of which had some walking tours and it included information of each stop. The Jewish quarter of the city is actually one of the best places to get excellent Hungarian food for a decent price. A couple of the ruin pubs are also located in this area. It was really nice to discover a part of Budapest that we probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise. We saw 3 different synagogues, including the fifth largest synagogue in the world! We then decided to get some dinner before heading home. MMMmmmmm goulash!
Brian had his first 3 day weekend the weekend of June 11th. So we decided to check out Balaton and see for ourselves what all the Europeans already knew! It was wonderful! Balaton is a lake located about an hour and a half drive from Budapest. We stayed in Siofok but there are many cities all around the lake, each with their own character. We drove out that Saturday and met with Ildi and her husband Rudi for lunch. They have a house in a quiet little town on the lake. We had some wonderful food and even better conversation. Brian and I then went and checked in to our hotel in Siofok which was only about a 20 minute drive and right on the beach! We spent the rest of that afternoon lounging on the private beach of the hotel. Now I have to mention the the “beaches” on Balaton are not the beaches of California. The are mostly grassy along the southern shore and rocky along the northern shore. Also, the lake is very shallow for a long way out. Which means that it is also very warm! If you know me you know I hate cold water. Love beaches, hate cold water. So this lake is the most perfect place for me! Warm fresh water, sandy bottom, no sea urchins to step on. It is heaven! That night Brian and I had some dinner at a place right by our hotel and then decided to wander. We found a karaoke bar! I’m not much of a singer but I love to watch karaoke! We had a great time! They were singing tons of English songs until about 11pm. Then most of the requests were for Hungarian songs and we quickly realized that our lessons would not be as easy as egy, ketto, harom (one, two, three). :) The next day we spent on the beach! It was wonderful! We had some pizza for lunch and then rented a little paddle boat with a slide for an hour. We even took a nap on the beach. I loved every minute of it! For dinner that night Brian and I had sushi. I’m a sushi nut but I haven’t been able to find any in Europe that live up to the high standards of my faves which include Tanuki’s, Ra and Mido. That’s definitely something I will be having when we are visiting AZ for the holidays! The next day we wandered around a bit to explore the city of Siofok. They were having a festival of some sort where Candi met a llama! Well, we’re pretty sure it was a llama! Check out the pictures! We made it home in one piece and it was a great weekend.
The following week included lots of unpacking, repacking and getting ready for Barcelona! Stay tuned for that blog! We had so much fun I can’t even explain it all through writing! Thanks for reading!
XO,
Steph
Monday, November 28, 2011
Sorry
I have to write an apology to those of you who check my blog. I have clearly done a terrible job at keeping up with posting on a regular basis. I have been writing a little each day and I am almost finished with 2 posts including our trip to Barcelona. My goal is to get caught up (yikes) before we leave for Arizona on the 17th. That will of course involve lots of writing and posting so please don't give up on me yet! I will be doing my best to get these next posts up quickly so check back. Thank you so much for caring and I hope I don't disappoint you all any more! :)
xoxo,
Steph
xoxo,
Steph
Friday, August 5, 2011
Settling in... in Budapest
Hi all!
First of all, I need to apologize for my delay in posting. We’ve been really busy lately with weekend trips and guests and the time is slipping away from me. Also, I was almost done writing this post a few weeks ago when it was accidentally deleted! It was soooo frustrating! I’ve decided to start writing my blog in word processing then moving it to my blog so I don’t have that issue again! :)
So our first week actually living in Budapest was wonderful! We used Sunday to unpack. We also skyped with our friends Nikki and Pete from Chicago who got engaged on Friday night! We were so excited for them! Even though I told Nikki I’d kill Pete if he proposed to her too soon after we moved. Haha! We would have loved to have been there with them to celebrate, but we are so happy for them! Nikki asked me to be one of her bridesmaids and I was thrilled! That means I get to be in 2 incredible weddings next year and I just can’t wait!
Monday and Tuesday were pretty uneventful. I did some things around the house but was starting to feel pretty homesick by the end of Tuesday. Nikki asked me to be her Maid of Honor though so that was exciting but not much else happened. We don’t have any English channels on our T.V. and we have decided to go without for the year... it’s tough! I told Brian I was homesick so, being the romantic that he is, he decided we would go out the following night downtown.
Wednesday night we started at the Parliament building which is on the Pest side of the Danube. It is beautiful so we decided to take some pictures there. We wandered a bit and found a little place to eat. We didn’t know at the time that the restaurants closer to the Danube are considered tourist traps because they often have very high prices. Yes... we did find one. The food portions were tiny and the prices too high. We left feeling under-whelmed and vowed never to make that mistake again! We then stumbled upon something incredible! St. Stephen’s basilica! Or Szent István-bazilika as it is called in Hungarian. We were in awe. It was dusk by now and Budapest has this incredible way of lighting the largest and most important of their buildings in a way that brings out the best features of each building, even in the dark. We marveled in it’s beauty for a bit then wandered towards the train stop we would take to get home. It was a night for stumbling because we then found a large lawn with hundreds of people just milling about! We found out that there is a club in the center of that lawn but underground. It’s called Gödör, which means ditch. We went underground in to the bar after purchasing drinks from the outdoor bar upstairs to see what it was all about. Inside we found a stage, the restrooms, another bar and a brochure for “Free Budapest Walking Tours”. It was in English! I thought “this is too good to be true”, because very little in Hungary is in English. We took one with us and I decided to go on a tour the next day. After finishing our drinks we headed home. It was a great night!
I went on the afternoon general tour the next day. They meet at 2:30 in the square in front of St. Stephen’s Basilica, which I had luckily found the day before! My tour guide said to call her Sara and her assistant was Andrew. I met a few ladies from CA and a guy traveling through Europe on 3 Euros a day! That was about 5 U.S. dollars at the time. We started our tour learning some facts about the Basilica which was built in honor of Hungary’s first king, Stephen. We continued to Gödör, again, lucky we found it the night before! Here we learned about the long, sad history of Hungary. It’s filled with invasions, failed revolutions, war, and Communism which lasted from the 1940s after the Nazis were pushed out until 1989. It’s a sad history but the tour guide did a great job summing it up and putting a positive spin on it! We then headed to the love-lock tree! See my photos to see what I mean. Here they explained that Hungarians “love to be in love”. So when you are in love, you engrave your initials and those of your loved one into a padlock, lock it to the tree, then throw the key in the Danube. This ensures that your love with always last. I’ll let you know when Brian and I do this ourselves. :) We then stopped at a brass statue of a quite portly looking police officer. This was my favorite part because they talked about the food in Hungary! They told us to make sure we try goulash, hortobagy pancakes, langos, and many other delicious Hungarian dishes! The next stop was interesting. They showed us the most expensive hotel in the city, The Four Seasons. The average monthly income of a Hungarian in Budapest is about 550 Euros a month. A night at The Four Seasons could cost you that much! The building next to the hotel is pretty interesting too. It’s a building that was built during the Communist era and it looks so boring! We then made a pitstop in from of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences or Magyar Tudományos Akadémia. Here we learned a few famous Hungarians, some Hungarian inventions and learned a little about the language. Sara told us it is the 5th hardest language to learn but the 2nd most logical, after latin. We learned igen=yes, nem=no, bor=wine, sör=beer and egészségedre=cheers. Sara also informed us that she teaches Hungarian to foreigners which gave me an idea! :) We made our way across the Danube along the “chain bridge” to the Buda side. Just my luck, it started pouring rain. It was such a beautiful day I didn’t even think to bring an umbrella! We went up to the top of Buda hill and went in to the labyrinth to get out of the rain for a bit. There are many caves under the Buda hills that were formed by thermal waters rising from below, rather than rain water. One of these areas is called the Labyrinth of Buda Castle. Upon entering the cave you can have free tea and internet access. Haha! We got some tea while we waited for the rain to stop. Once it did we continued our tour by stopping at a brass Hussar statue. Legend has it that if you touch a rather shiny part of the horse, it will bring good luck when taking exams. This body part of the horse isn’t something you would ever dare to grab on a real horse but it was also told that a side effect is good skills in bed. Everyone was far too embarrased but I’m sure they went back later to test it out ;). We ended out tour near Matthias church or Mátyás-templom. They gave some great tips on where to eat out, the best bath houses and the best ruin pubs. The tour is free but they do ask for tips. I used this as my opportunity to talk to Sara about possibly taking Brian and I on as students of hers! She gave me her business card and said she would also pass my information along to a language school that uses native English speakers as teachers! It was a really fantastic tour and I was really glad that we found the brochure. I decided to get some dinner near the Danube. I had some fantastic goulash while people watching and reading a book. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day!
On Friday I decided to take part in a different tour that the same company offered. The Communist tour. This tour was less about the sites of Budapest and more about the years they endured communist rule. Our tour guide was in her late 30’s so she remembered growing up during that time. She told us about how it was living in Budapest during that time and even being Hungarian but living in another country. It was really sad to hear but totally worth it. Living in America, we never really realize what other nations could be going through. It was very interesting to learn more about the history and see some architectural remnants of that era. Check out my pictures to see what I mean. We ended our tour in a rundown building that was oddly decorated with rabbits, fish, trees and even a statue of a woman’s body with the legs of a horse, and the head and wings of an owl. WEIRD!!! I later found out that it is one of the most famous ruin pubs in Budapest! A ruin pub is a bar that is built inside old apartment and factory buildings that were doomed for destruction. They are decorated with old furniture and any other odds and ends you can think of, and even some you can’t. The front end of a car and a bath tub were turned in to seats in one pub. After the tour I walked back towards the train station down Andrássy út which is a very famous boulevard lined with expensive shops, Neo-renaissance mansions and the Opera House. Brian met me downtown and we ate dinner at Silenus. I had a pork knuckle (yum) and Brian had a salad (boring!) :). It was really good food. We decided that night to try Pálinka which is a traditional Hungarian fruit brandy. We tried the original plum with and without honey. It was awful! I don’t like straight alcohol much anyway but I like it less when it burns... and did it ever! Brian ended up drinking most of it, poor guy. It was something we had to do though! I emailed Sara as soon as we got home that day so I could get a jump on learning Hungarian and possibly getting a job at the language school!
On Saturday I took Brian to the general walking tour so he could experience it and because there was no way I could remember everything they told us the first time! He loved it and it didn’t rain that time! Sara was our guide again and I was glad because then Brian was able to meet her and it was easier for me to persuade him to take Hungarian with me! :) We finished the tour on the Buda side and wandered back towards the train station. We both had a great time and I would recommend those tours to everyone who comes to Budapest!
First of all, I need to apologize for my delay in posting. We’ve been really busy lately with weekend trips and guests and the time is slipping away from me. Also, I was almost done writing this post a few weeks ago when it was accidentally deleted! It was soooo frustrating! I’ve decided to start writing my blog in word processing then moving it to my blog so I don’t have that issue again! :)
So our first week actually living in Budapest was wonderful! We used Sunday to unpack. We also skyped with our friends Nikki and Pete from Chicago who got engaged on Friday night! We were so excited for them! Even though I told Nikki I’d kill Pete if he proposed to her too soon after we moved. Haha! We would have loved to have been there with them to celebrate, but we are so happy for them! Nikki asked me to be one of her bridesmaids and I was thrilled! That means I get to be in 2 incredible weddings next year and I just can’t wait!
Monday and Tuesday were pretty uneventful. I did some things around the house but was starting to feel pretty homesick by the end of Tuesday. Nikki asked me to be her Maid of Honor though so that was exciting but not much else happened. We don’t have any English channels on our T.V. and we have decided to go without for the year... it’s tough! I told Brian I was homesick so, being the romantic that he is, he decided we would go out the following night downtown.
Wednesday night we started at the Parliament building which is on the Pest side of the Danube. It is beautiful so we decided to take some pictures there. We wandered a bit and found a little place to eat. We didn’t know at the time that the restaurants closer to the Danube are considered tourist traps because they often have very high prices. Yes... we did find one. The food portions were tiny and the prices too high. We left feeling under-whelmed and vowed never to make that mistake again! We then stumbled upon something incredible! St. Stephen’s basilica! Or Szent István-bazilika as it is called in Hungarian. We were in awe. It was dusk by now and Budapest has this incredible way of lighting the largest and most important of their buildings in a way that brings out the best features of each building, even in the dark. We marveled in it’s beauty for a bit then wandered towards the train stop we would take to get home. It was a night for stumbling because we then found a large lawn with hundreds of people just milling about! We found out that there is a club in the center of that lawn but underground. It’s called Gödör, which means ditch. We went underground in to the bar after purchasing drinks from the outdoor bar upstairs to see what it was all about. Inside we found a stage, the restrooms, another bar and a brochure for “Free Budapest Walking Tours”. It was in English! I thought “this is too good to be true”, because very little in Hungary is in English. We took one with us and I decided to go on a tour the next day. After finishing our drinks we headed home. It was a great night!
I went on the afternoon general tour the next day. They meet at 2:30 in the square in front of St. Stephen’s Basilica, which I had luckily found the day before! My tour guide said to call her Sara and her assistant was Andrew. I met a few ladies from CA and a guy traveling through Europe on 3 Euros a day! That was about 5 U.S. dollars at the time. We started our tour learning some facts about the Basilica which was built in honor of Hungary’s first king, Stephen. We continued to Gödör, again, lucky we found it the night before! Here we learned about the long, sad history of Hungary. It’s filled with invasions, failed revolutions, war, and Communism which lasted from the 1940s after the Nazis were pushed out until 1989. It’s a sad history but the tour guide did a great job summing it up and putting a positive spin on it! We then headed to the love-lock tree! See my photos to see what I mean. Here they explained that Hungarians “love to be in love”. So when you are in love, you engrave your initials and those of your loved one into a padlock, lock it to the tree, then throw the key in the Danube. This ensures that your love with always last. I’ll let you know when Brian and I do this ourselves. :) We then stopped at a brass statue of a quite portly looking police officer. This was my favorite part because they talked about the food in Hungary! They told us to make sure we try goulash, hortobagy pancakes, langos, and many other delicious Hungarian dishes! The next stop was interesting. They showed us the most expensive hotel in the city, The Four Seasons. The average monthly income of a Hungarian in Budapest is about 550 Euros a month. A night at The Four Seasons could cost you that much! The building next to the hotel is pretty interesting too. It’s a building that was built during the Communist era and it looks so boring! We then made a pitstop in from of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences or Magyar Tudományos Akadémia. Here we learned a few famous Hungarians, some Hungarian inventions and learned a little about the language. Sara told us it is the 5th hardest language to learn but the 2nd most logical, after latin. We learned igen=yes, nem=no, bor=wine, sör=beer and egészségedre=cheers. Sara also informed us that she teaches Hungarian to foreigners which gave me an idea! :) We made our way across the Danube along the “chain bridge” to the Buda side. Just my luck, it started pouring rain. It was such a beautiful day I didn’t even think to bring an umbrella! We went up to the top of Buda hill and went in to the labyrinth to get out of the rain for a bit. There are many caves under the Buda hills that were formed by thermal waters rising from below, rather than rain water. One of these areas is called the Labyrinth of Buda Castle. Upon entering the cave you can have free tea and internet access. Haha! We got some tea while we waited for the rain to stop. Once it did we continued our tour by stopping at a brass Hussar statue. Legend has it that if you touch a rather shiny part of the horse, it will bring good luck when taking exams. This body part of the horse isn’t something you would ever dare to grab on a real horse but it was also told that a side effect is good skills in bed. Everyone was far too embarrased but I’m sure they went back later to test it out ;). We ended out tour near Matthias church or Mátyás-templom. They gave some great tips on where to eat out, the best bath houses and the best ruin pubs. The tour is free but they do ask for tips. I used this as my opportunity to talk to Sara about possibly taking Brian and I on as students of hers! She gave me her business card and said she would also pass my information along to a language school that uses native English speakers as teachers! It was a really fantastic tour and I was really glad that we found the brochure. I decided to get some dinner near the Danube. I had some fantastic goulash while people watching and reading a book. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day!
On Friday I decided to take part in a different tour that the same company offered. The Communist tour. This tour was less about the sites of Budapest and more about the years they endured communist rule. Our tour guide was in her late 30’s so she remembered growing up during that time. She told us about how it was living in Budapest during that time and even being Hungarian but living in another country. It was really sad to hear but totally worth it. Living in America, we never really realize what other nations could be going through. It was very interesting to learn more about the history and see some architectural remnants of that era. Check out my pictures to see what I mean. We ended our tour in a rundown building that was oddly decorated with rabbits, fish, trees and even a statue of a woman’s body with the legs of a horse, and the head and wings of an owl. WEIRD!!! I later found out that it is one of the most famous ruin pubs in Budapest! A ruin pub is a bar that is built inside old apartment and factory buildings that were doomed for destruction. They are decorated with old furniture and any other odds and ends you can think of, and even some you can’t. The front end of a car and a bath tub were turned in to seats in one pub. After the tour I walked back towards the train station down Andrássy út which is a very famous boulevard lined with expensive shops, Neo-renaissance mansions and the Opera House. Brian met me downtown and we ate dinner at Silenus. I had a pork knuckle (yum) and Brian had a salad (boring!) :). It was really good food. We decided that night to try Pálinka which is a traditional Hungarian fruit brandy. We tried the original plum with and without honey. It was awful! I don’t like straight alcohol much anyway but I like it less when it burns... and did it ever! Brian ended up drinking most of it, poor guy. It was something we had to do though! I emailed Sara as soon as we got home that day so I could get a jump on learning Hungarian and possibly getting a job at the language school!
On Saturday I took Brian to the general walking tour so he could experience it and because there was no way I could remember everything they told us the first time! He loved it and it didn’t rain that time! Sara was our guide again and I was glad because then Brian was able to meet her and it was easier for me to persuade him to take Hungarian with me! :) We finished the tour on the Buda side and wandered back towards the train station. We both had a great time and I would recommend those tours to everyone who comes to Budapest!
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Venice, Italy!
May 13th-14th
On Friday the 13th (ooooooo) we were picked up by a driver that Brian's company had hired and he drove us to Venice! It was only a 40 minute drive... the way they drive there. If you've never driven in Italy you're lucky. They drive sooooo fast and prefer not to waste time with blinkers! It was a little scary but we all made it in one piece. Unfortunately the driver dropped us off at the wrong hotel. There are two hotels there with similar names, The Antony Hotel and The Antony Palace. We realized it was the wrong one after the driver left. The front desk staff was nice enough to contact the shuttle and have them pick us up. We were pretty hungry by the time we got to our "real" hotel so we decided to go eat. If you know anything about me, you know that I LOVE sushi! Brian does too but I don't think it's to the same extent. We have this debate going. I think sushi will be different in each country we go to, he thinks "sushi is sushi". So I convinced him to eat sushi that night with me! Let's just say, it's not the same in Italy as it is in the U.S. It's way better in the U.S. After dinner we headed back to the hotel to get to bed for our early day in Venice the next day!
On Saturday we got up early, checked out of our hotel and all 3 of us headed in to Venice on the shuttle at 8:30 am. Yes, that is early for us! We had to check out of the hotel before 11 and since we didn't plan on being back until about 3 we were able to keep our bags at the front desk but we had to take Candi with us. I was worried about having a little dog in a crowded city but she actually did really well!
So when people talk about "Venice" they are generally talking about the island, not the mainland. Our hotel was on the mainland but of course we wanted to see Venice the island! We got to the island at about 9 am after driving over a low bridge to cross the water. We decided to head towards the Piazza San Marco... well Brian decided that's where we were going because I had never been to Venice and he had! We followed the signs and saw some amazing things along the way! Venice is a very busy place during the day but it was beautiful and quiet in the morning. We found a little piazza where there were lots of dogs that Candi could play with. We saw some adorable shops with the most amazing Carnival masks. One of the coolest things was of course the canals. There aren't any motorized vehicles on the island of Venice except near the train station and bus stop. Everyone that lives there either gets to where they need to go on foot or by boat! It was really amazing. Most of the canals you could just walk right up to and there weren't any rails or anything. Many businesses used boats to get shipments in and out of their businesses through doors that lead right out to the canal. It was really cool!
On our way to the Piazza we decided to take a ride in a gondola! It was still early so there weren't many boats or gondola's on the water yet so it was perfect. The gondolier (yes, that is their official job title) stood on the back of the gondola while we sat facing the front. Candi was a very good passenger too because she didn't wriggle or try to jump out of the boat. :) Our gondolier showed us some famous buildings like Marco Polo's house, Mozart's house and some beautiful palaces. See the pictures to see what I mean. When he wasn't showing us the architecture he was humming! We had so much fun. I would absolutely do it again and I would recommend it to anyone visiting Venice.
Our next stop was the Rialto Bridge. It is one of the most famous spots in Venice and it is the oldest bridge across the canal! There are shops lining the center of the bridge from one end of the canal to the other and there were tourists (like us) everywhere. By this point in the day Venice was a bit more crowded than in the morning. We took some wonderful pictures on the bridge and Brian bought some paintings. My favorite is mostly shades of blue with two gondolas and a gondolier floating in the water. It's beautiful and tranquil and reminds me of how I felt during our gondola ride in the quiet Venice morning.
Next up, Piazza San Marco! Yes, we finally made it there along with a million other people. Piazza San Marco, also known as St. Mark's Square, is HUGE! Along it's eastern end is St. Mark's church which is absolutely mesmerizing. Pictures just don't seem to do it justice! We walked around the square a bit to take in all the sites. By this point I guess Candi had waited long enough so she decided to go to the bathroom right in the middle of the Piazza San Marco! I guess she didn't really grasp the wonder and amazement of the Piazza quite like we did. :)
After cleaning up, we headed towards the water in search of more photo opportunities and food, which often coincide. We passed a few stands that were selling the same things we had seen in all the shops except for one stand that caught Brian's eye. All day we had been looking at these ornately decorated Carnival masks that were stunning. Of course they would have been difficult to carry around all day and take on the plane with us but they were mesmerizing. Brian found a stand that at first glance carried some of the least bedazzled masks we had seen. On second glance we saw the beauty and care with which they were crafted. Every mask was of a brown color but they each had very unique shapes. There were suns, moons, half masks and everything you couldn't even imagine. They were more haunting than the sparkly, feathered ones we had seen before. We both really liked them so Brian bought one! See my photos for a picture of the mask.
After a bit more walking we finally found a restaurant that served pizza! Other than our first night in Vicenza we hadn't had any pizza in Italy so we had to make the most of our last day. We each ordered our own, I took leftovers (surprise) but Brian was able to eat all of his considering it was a very thin crust. I of course took pictures of our pizza too (thanks mom) so you can see what we ate! Candi was ok for the most part. She did let out a random bark at a pedestrian out the window which startled the other patrons in the restaurant. Other than that she was a regular European dog sitting under our table... and chairs... and feet...
When we were finished eating it was time to head back to the bus stop to catch the shuttle back to our hotel. :( We decided to take the water taxi back. It's more of a water bus because you get on the boat that you need and it makes stops along its designated route. It's very loud and bumpy which Candi was less than thrilled with but it was a really fun experience. We got off near the train station and made it to our shuttle with 5 minutes to spare. Whew! Then it was time to say bye to Venice, get our things and head to the airport. I had a fantastic time there and will definitely be visiting again... soon hopefully!
I wouldn't normally write about our shuttle ride back but we met a very inspiring person on our shuttle who I think is worth mentioning. He was staying at our hotel and was from Columbus, Ohio. Brian and him bonded over sports and he was telling us about all of the incredible places he had travelled to recently and was planning on going soon. He even said he was a personal trainer when he was in the service! He then said "before they forced me to retire" which surprised us because he seemed to be no older than 45! His next sentence shocked me completely. "Yea, imagine me, a personal trainer, super healthy... and I'm the one who gets diagnosed with terminal cancer." He didn't go much further in to it but he said he had always wanted to travel and hadn't had many opportunities so he was doing it now. He had just finished a cruise that started in Spain and was going to South America next. I found him so inspiring and full of life. I have thought about him every day since and I can't help think that we were on the same shuttle as him for a reason.
Once we got back to the hotel we had some time to kill before the shuttle arrived to take us to the airport so we napped. :) We made it to the airport and on our plane with no major incidents. I was really sad to be leaving! I could have spent a week there easily! It was nice to get back to Budapest however because we had been there for 2.5 days before we went to Italy so we had some settling in and exploring to do and that's exactly what we did!
P.S. I got a comment about my last blog post that I use too many exclamation points... guess who told me that! So hopefully this one reads a little smoother. I tried to be discriminatory with my punctuation. Let me know how it reads please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;)
Thanks for reading!
<3 Steph
On Friday the 13th (ooooooo) we were picked up by a driver that Brian's company had hired and he drove us to Venice! It was only a 40 minute drive... the way they drive there. If you've never driven in Italy you're lucky. They drive sooooo fast and prefer not to waste time with blinkers! It was a little scary but we all made it in one piece. Unfortunately the driver dropped us off at the wrong hotel. There are two hotels there with similar names, The Antony Hotel and The Antony Palace. We realized it was the wrong one after the driver left. The front desk staff was nice enough to contact the shuttle and have them pick us up. We were pretty hungry by the time we got to our "real" hotel so we decided to go eat. If you know anything about me, you know that I LOVE sushi! Brian does too but I don't think it's to the same extent. We have this debate going. I think sushi will be different in each country we go to, he thinks "sushi is sushi". So I convinced him to eat sushi that night with me! Let's just say, it's not the same in Italy as it is in the U.S. It's way better in the U.S. After dinner we headed back to the hotel to get to bed for our early day in Venice the next day!
On Saturday we got up early, checked out of our hotel and all 3 of us headed in to Venice on the shuttle at 8:30 am. Yes, that is early for us! We had to check out of the hotel before 11 and since we didn't plan on being back until about 3 we were able to keep our bags at the front desk but we had to take Candi with us. I was worried about having a little dog in a crowded city but she actually did really well!
So when people talk about "Venice" they are generally talking about the island, not the mainland. Our hotel was on the mainland but of course we wanted to see Venice the island! We got to the island at about 9 am after driving over a low bridge to cross the water. We decided to head towards the Piazza San Marco... well Brian decided that's where we were going because I had never been to Venice and he had! We followed the signs and saw some amazing things along the way! Venice is a very busy place during the day but it was beautiful and quiet in the morning. We found a little piazza where there were lots of dogs that Candi could play with. We saw some adorable shops with the most amazing Carnival masks. One of the coolest things was of course the canals. There aren't any motorized vehicles on the island of Venice except near the train station and bus stop. Everyone that lives there either gets to where they need to go on foot or by boat! It was really amazing. Most of the canals you could just walk right up to and there weren't any rails or anything. Many businesses used boats to get shipments in and out of their businesses through doors that lead right out to the canal. It was really cool!
On our way to the Piazza we decided to take a ride in a gondola! It was still early so there weren't many boats or gondola's on the water yet so it was perfect. The gondolier (yes, that is their official job title) stood on the back of the gondola while we sat facing the front. Candi was a very good passenger too because she didn't wriggle or try to jump out of the boat. :) Our gondolier showed us some famous buildings like Marco Polo's house, Mozart's house and some beautiful palaces. See the pictures to see what I mean. When he wasn't showing us the architecture he was humming! We had so much fun. I would absolutely do it again and I would recommend it to anyone visiting Venice.
Our next stop was the Rialto Bridge. It is one of the most famous spots in Venice and it is the oldest bridge across the canal! There are shops lining the center of the bridge from one end of the canal to the other and there were tourists (like us) everywhere. By this point in the day Venice was a bit more crowded than in the morning. We took some wonderful pictures on the bridge and Brian bought some paintings. My favorite is mostly shades of blue with two gondolas and a gondolier floating in the water. It's beautiful and tranquil and reminds me of how I felt during our gondola ride in the quiet Venice morning.
Next up, Piazza San Marco! Yes, we finally made it there along with a million other people. Piazza San Marco, also known as St. Mark's Square, is HUGE! Along it's eastern end is St. Mark's church which is absolutely mesmerizing. Pictures just don't seem to do it justice! We walked around the square a bit to take in all the sites. By this point I guess Candi had waited long enough so she decided to go to the bathroom right in the middle of the Piazza San Marco! I guess she didn't really grasp the wonder and amazement of the Piazza quite like we did. :)
After cleaning up, we headed towards the water in search of more photo opportunities and food, which often coincide. We passed a few stands that were selling the same things we had seen in all the shops except for one stand that caught Brian's eye. All day we had been looking at these ornately decorated Carnival masks that were stunning. Of course they would have been difficult to carry around all day and take on the plane with us but they were mesmerizing. Brian found a stand that at first glance carried some of the least bedazzled masks we had seen. On second glance we saw the beauty and care with which they were crafted. Every mask was of a brown color but they each had very unique shapes. There were suns, moons, half masks and everything you couldn't even imagine. They were more haunting than the sparkly, feathered ones we had seen before. We both really liked them so Brian bought one! See my photos for a picture of the mask.
After a bit more walking we finally found a restaurant that served pizza! Other than our first night in Vicenza we hadn't had any pizza in Italy so we had to make the most of our last day. We each ordered our own, I took leftovers (surprise) but Brian was able to eat all of his considering it was a very thin crust. I of course took pictures of our pizza too (thanks mom) so you can see what we ate! Candi was ok for the most part. She did let out a random bark at a pedestrian out the window which startled the other patrons in the restaurant. Other than that she was a regular European dog sitting under our table... and chairs... and feet...
When we were finished eating it was time to head back to the bus stop to catch the shuttle back to our hotel. :( We decided to take the water taxi back. It's more of a water bus because you get on the boat that you need and it makes stops along its designated route. It's very loud and bumpy which Candi was less than thrilled with but it was a really fun experience. We got off near the train station and made it to our shuttle with 5 minutes to spare. Whew! Then it was time to say bye to Venice, get our things and head to the airport. I had a fantastic time there and will definitely be visiting again... soon hopefully!
I wouldn't normally write about our shuttle ride back but we met a very inspiring person on our shuttle who I think is worth mentioning. He was staying at our hotel and was from Columbus, Ohio. Brian and him bonded over sports and he was telling us about all of the incredible places he had travelled to recently and was planning on going soon. He even said he was a personal trainer when he was in the service! He then said "before they forced me to retire" which surprised us because he seemed to be no older than 45! His next sentence shocked me completely. "Yea, imagine me, a personal trainer, super healthy... and I'm the one who gets diagnosed with terminal cancer." He didn't go much further in to it but he said he had always wanted to travel and hadn't had many opportunities so he was doing it now. He had just finished a cruise that started in Spain and was going to South America next. I found him so inspiring and full of life. I have thought about him every day since and I can't help think that we were on the same shuttle as him for a reason.
Once we got back to the hotel we had some time to kill before the shuttle arrived to take us to the airport so we napped. :) We made it to the airport and on our plane with no major incidents. I was really sad to be leaving! I could have spent a week there easily! It was nice to get back to Budapest however because we had been there for 2.5 days before we went to Italy so we had some settling in and exploring to do and that's exactly what we did!
P.S. I got a comment about my last blog post that I use too many exclamation points... guess who told me that! So hopefully this one reads a little smoother. I tried to be discriminatory with my punctuation. Let me know how it reads please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;)
Thanks for reading!
<3 Steph
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Vicenza and Verona, Italy
May 8th-13th 2011
Hi all!
So it wasn't exactly before the end of the weekend but this was a long one!!! Also, I forgot to mention one of the biggest parts of our train ride... We MIGHT have made a friend!!! LOL! Yes, we met a guy named Daniel on the train who is from Budapest, speaks English and offered to show us around the city. We haven't met up with him yet but I will keep you posted! :)
So after we got to our hotel in Vicenza we were beat! We immediately fell asleep for 6 hours... pretty much ruining our first day there! :( Once we finally got out of the hotel we realized what a cool city Vicenza is! Brian has been there a few times before but this was my first trip to Italy... ever! We decided to take the bus down to the center of the city. We wandered for a while before finding a great restaurant in an alley. It was called Ca' D' Oro and it was downstairs in what looked like a renovated basement/cellar! It was so cute! This is when I found out that they don't just serve you one meal after an appetizer. They have primi piatti, which is basically pasta and secondi piatti, which are the main courses. I ordered a pasta with peas and a green sauce which came out first, and Brian had a frutti di mare pizza. Check out the pictures for that one! It was delicious!!! After we finished dinner we were going to get gelato but at 11pm, everything was closed. :( Maybe another day.
On Monday, Brian had to go to work in Montecchio Maggiore (a city on the outskirts of Vicenza) and I decided to explore on my own! And by explore I mean SHOP!!! :) Vicenza has some fabulously expensive shops, but lucky for me they also had H&M! I limited myself because once I started converting the cost of things in Euros to U.S. dollars I realized it wasn't very cheap to shop in Italy! I did get myself some gelato though! I found a cute spot in the Piazza dei Signori to sit and eat my mango and papaya gelato... SUCCESS!!! Brian was given a car at work that day so he drove to meet me in the city. We again ate some wonderful food consisting of cream of asparagus soup and veal for me and rabbit meat balls for Brian. He's so adventurous! :)
On Tuesday I decided to go running... with Candi. She's not exactly the type of dog you can run with because she's a little... spastic? Yup, that's a good way to describe it. She gets side-tracked and forgets that we are supposed to be running. Anyway, our run turned in to a walk after a little while and that suited her just fine. Brian got off work a little early that day and we drove to Verona!!! It was only about 40 minutes from Vicenza and what a pretty place! I was especially excited to see Juliet's balcony where our friends Nick and Ciara got engaged! Unfortunately it was closed but we took pictures in front of the gate! After that we decided to do what we do best in Italy and eat! We ate outside at a beautiful little restaurant overlooking the Piazza delle Erbe. The architecture in Italy is incredible! We were looking at these buildings that were built hundreds of years ago and realized that the oldest buildings in AZ are maybe 70 years old? Hahaha! What an amazing place. I can't wait to go back!
Wednesday was a nice relaxing day. I wandered around the city center taking in some of the beautiful architecture during the day and then we met up with Brian's friend, Silvia that night. She is a mutual friend of his and his friend Nick and they met back in 2005 when Brian and some of his best friends were backpacking through Europe. It was great to finally meet her because I had heard some wonderful things! We had such a good night! We ate at a place called "Papa Joe's" which had an interesting mix of non-italian food. They had everything from Mexican food to Indian food! We then went to get drinks at a little cafe where we met Silvia's friend and I tried a delicious drink made of wine, soda water and mango flavored syrup! MMMMMM!!!! We then went to the piazza to get drinks and just had a great time. Thank Silvia for showing us around Vicenza! It was awesome!!!
Thursday was a fun day for me! I went to the city center early because Silvia had told me about a flea market they were going to have! It was crazy! They were selling everything from men's dress shirts, to rugs, to socks!! Tables and tables full of socks! Haha! It was pretty amazing to see! After that I went to the Teatro Olimpico which is a beautiful theater that was constructed in the late 1500's! I was able to take an audio tour in English and it was soooooo interesting! The architect who designed it was named Andrea Palladio and he is considered one of the most influential people in the history of Western architecture! Unfortunately he died before the theater was completed but his design is incredible! Check out the pictures to see what I mean! The stage was one of the most interesting things about the theater! It was constructed for the first show which was Oedipus the King and was built to represent the ancient streets of Thebes. It's pretty incredible how they designed the streets to look so long and deep using optical illusions in 1585! Seriously, check out the pictures! After my tour I went across the street to the Palazzo Cheiricati where there was an art showing. Please look at these pictures too! Beautiful! Brian had to work late Thursday night so I got room service from the restaurant in our hotel which I was dying to try! I had pasta with mussels and fish eggs... yum...! :)
Friday wasn't an extremely thrilling day because I spent it packing and getting ready to go to Venice!!!! Yay! I'll continue all about Venice in my next post which I promise will be shorter!!! Sorry for the long post and I hope I didn't bore you!
Thanks for reading!
<3 Steph
Hi all!
So it wasn't exactly before the end of the weekend but this was a long one!!! Also, I forgot to mention one of the biggest parts of our train ride... We MIGHT have made a friend!!! LOL! Yes, we met a guy named Daniel on the train who is from Budapest, speaks English and offered to show us around the city. We haven't met up with him yet but I will keep you posted! :)
So after we got to our hotel in Vicenza we were beat! We immediately fell asleep for 6 hours... pretty much ruining our first day there! :( Once we finally got out of the hotel we realized what a cool city Vicenza is! Brian has been there a few times before but this was my first trip to Italy... ever! We decided to take the bus down to the center of the city. We wandered for a while before finding a great restaurant in an alley. It was called Ca' D' Oro and it was downstairs in what looked like a renovated basement/cellar! It was so cute! This is when I found out that they don't just serve you one meal after an appetizer. They have primi piatti, which is basically pasta and secondi piatti, which are the main courses. I ordered a pasta with peas and a green sauce which came out first, and Brian had a frutti di mare pizza. Check out the pictures for that one! It was delicious!!! After we finished dinner we were going to get gelato but at 11pm, everything was closed. :( Maybe another day.
On Monday, Brian had to go to work in Montecchio Maggiore (a city on the outskirts of Vicenza) and I decided to explore on my own! And by explore I mean SHOP!!! :) Vicenza has some fabulously expensive shops, but lucky for me they also had H&M! I limited myself because once I started converting the cost of things in Euros to U.S. dollars I realized it wasn't very cheap to shop in Italy! I did get myself some gelato though! I found a cute spot in the Piazza dei Signori to sit and eat my mango and papaya gelato... SUCCESS!!! Brian was given a car at work that day so he drove to meet me in the city. We again ate some wonderful food consisting of cream of asparagus soup and veal for me and rabbit meat balls for Brian. He's so adventurous! :)
On Tuesday I decided to go running... with Candi. She's not exactly the type of dog you can run with because she's a little... spastic? Yup, that's a good way to describe it. She gets side-tracked and forgets that we are supposed to be running. Anyway, our run turned in to a walk after a little while and that suited her just fine. Brian got off work a little early that day and we drove to Verona!!! It was only about 40 minutes from Vicenza and what a pretty place! I was especially excited to see Juliet's balcony where our friends Nick and Ciara got engaged! Unfortunately it was closed but we took pictures in front of the gate! After that we decided to do what we do best in Italy and eat! We ate outside at a beautiful little restaurant overlooking the Piazza delle Erbe. The architecture in Italy is incredible! We were looking at these buildings that were built hundreds of years ago and realized that the oldest buildings in AZ are maybe 70 years old? Hahaha! What an amazing place. I can't wait to go back!
Wednesday was a nice relaxing day. I wandered around the city center taking in some of the beautiful architecture during the day and then we met up with Brian's friend, Silvia that night. She is a mutual friend of his and his friend Nick and they met back in 2005 when Brian and some of his best friends were backpacking through Europe. It was great to finally meet her because I had heard some wonderful things! We had such a good night! We ate at a place called "Papa Joe's" which had an interesting mix of non-italian food. They had everything from Mexican food to Indian food! We then went to get drinks at a little cafe where we met Silvia's friend and I tried a delicious drink made of wine, soda water and mango flavored syrup! MMMMMM!!!! We then went to the piazza to get drinks and just had a great time. Thank Silvia for showing us around Vicenza! It was awesome!!!
Thursday was a fun day for me! I went to the city center early because Silvia had told me about a flea market they were going to have! It was crazy! They were selling everything from men's dress shirts, to rugs, to socks!! Tables and tables full of socks! Haha! It was pretty amazing to see! After that I went to the Teatro Olimpico which is a beautiful theater that was constructed in the late 1500's! I was able to take an audio tour in English and it was soooooo interesting! The architect who designed it was named Andrea Palladio and he is considered one of the most influential people in the history of Western architecture! Unfortunately he died before the theater was completed but his design is incredible! Check out the pictures to see what I mean! The stage was one of the most interesting things about the theater! It was constructed for the first show which was Oedipus the King and was built to represent the ancient streets of Thebes. It's pretty incredible how they designed the streets to look so long and deep using optical illusions in 1585! Seriously, check out the pictures! After my tour I went across the street to the Palazzo Cheiricati where there was an art showing. Please look at these pictures too! Beautiful! Brian had to work late Thursday night so I got room service from the restaurant in our hotel which I was dying to try! I had pasta with mussels and fish eggs... yum...! :)
Friday wasn't an extremely thrilling day because I spent it packing and getting ready to go to Venice!!!! Yay! I'll continue all about Venice in my next post which I promise will be shorter!!! Sorry for the long post and I hope I didn't bore you!
Thanks for reading!
<3 Steph
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Living in Budapest!
May 3rd-8th 2011
Hi all!!! Sorry for the delay in posts! It's been kind of crazy since moving but I finally have some time to make some posts!
I'll start where I left off. So we made it to Frankfurt and then to Budapest without any major problems! All of our bags made it, including my dog, Candi! She wasn't thrilled after coming off the belt but she was fine once we got her out of her kennel. We exchanged 60 U.S. dollars in the airport which equals about 11,500 Hungarian forint! It's quite a task trying to do that conversion in our heads before buying something!
Getting through customs was a breeze! They basically looked at Candi's paperwork and said "welcome to our country!" We were picked up by 2 of Brian's co-workers from where he will be working in Cegled. They brought us to our new home and even ordered pizza for us! :) Needless to say we were exhausted so they left us to our own devices and we ate dinner. We went to bed shortly thereafter and jet-lag ruined our night! We were both up on-and-off until about 7am! Then we were out until 1pm!
After we finally got up we did some unpacking and grocery shopping at the store across the street from our place. What an experience! Nothing is in English and the Hungarian language is like nothing I have ever seen! I speak German and Brian speaks Spanish and we were no good at figuring out what was in which aisle just by reading the signs! It was slow going but we got what we needed! We then decided we needed to figure out how Brian was going to get to Vicenza, Italy for work the following week and websites were just not working. Luckily, the train (similar to the CTA in Chicago) is located right near our place. We took it in to the city to a larger train station and bought tickets for the 3 of us to Venice for the following Saturday night train. Then we ate!!! We had some delicious food at a restaurant in the train station! We then headed home to finish unpacking and we did it!!! Well, I did... I'm writing this about 2 weeks in and Brian still isn't fully unpacked. ;) He won't admit it though.
That Friday we decided to roam the city after we finally woke up! Ugh, jet-lag! We went down to the river. The city of Budapest is split by the Danube river which is absolutely beautiful! The hilly side to the west of the river is "Buda" and the flat side to the east is "Pest". We live on the Pest side in District 14... OR Kerulet XIV. After traveling to the river and seeing that they have a "Hop-On Hop-Off Bus and Boat Tour" (which we are totally gonna do) we decided to eat right by the river! We had some amazing food again! I had stuffed cabbage, which a Hungarian friend of my mom's used to bring over often when we were growing up, and Brian had "meat on a vooden plate"... yes, they said vooden, not wooden. We also had fisherman's soup... with a solid half of a fish in it... I don't think I'll order it again but it was an experience. I'm not a huge "fishy taste" person even though I llllooooovvvveeee sushi! We wandered around a bit, bought some postcards, took in the sites, then headed home on the train!
Saturday was fun.... we re-packed then headed to the train station for our night train to Venice! Then we found out the tickets we booked wouldn't allow for Candi to be with us! So we had to quickly change tickets and barely made it on the train before it left! We won't be taking the train again... It was a 14 hour over-night ride and we thought "great, we'll just sleep"! Not so much. We went through Croatia, Slovenia then to Italy, had our tickets checked about 20 times and our passports checked 15 times. So we didn't get to sleep but we did get our passports stamped a lot!!!! :) We arrived in Venice at 7am. What a beautiful city! We had to wait about an hour for our train to Vicenza and I couldn't wait to come back to explore the following weekend. We boarded our train to Vicenza and took a taxi to our hotel in Vicenza.
I'll stop there because my next post will be all about our week in Vicenza! I should be getting my next post up before the end of this week!
Thanks for reading!
<3 Steph
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."
-Mark Twain
Hi all!!! Sorry for the delay in posts! It's been kind of crazy since moving but I finally have some time to make some posts!
I'll start where I left off. So we made it to Frankfurt and then to Budapest without any major problems! All of our bags made it, including my dog, Candi! She wasn't thrilled after coming off the belt but she was fine once we got her out of her kennel. We exchanged 60 U.S. dollars in the airport which equals about 11,500 Hungarian forint! It's quite a task trying to do that conversion in our heads before buying something!
Getting through customs was a breeze! They basically looked at Candi's paperwork and said "welcome to our country!" We were picked up by 2 of Brian's co-workers from where he will be working in Cegled. They brought us to our new home and even ordered pizza for us! :) Needless to say we were exhausted so they left us to our own devices and we ate dinner. We went to bed shortly thereafter and jet-lag ruined our night! We were both up on-and-off until about 7am! Then we were out until 1pm!
After we finally got up we did some unpacking and grocery shopping at the store across the street from our place. What an experience! Nothing is in English and the Hungarian language is like nothing I have ever seen! I speak German and Brian speaks Spanish and we were no good at figuring out what was in which aisle just by reading the signs! It was slow going but we got what we needed! We then decided we needed to figure out how Brian was going to get to Vicenza, Italy for work the following week and websites were just not working. Luckily, the train (similar to the CTA in Chicago) is located right near our place. We took it in to the city to a larger train station and bought tickets for the 3 of us to Venice for the following Saturday night train. Then we ate!!! We had some delicious food at a restaurant in the train station! We then headed home to finish unpacking and we did it!!! Well, I did... I'm writing this about 2 weeks in and Brian still isn't fully unpacked. ;) He won't admit it though.
That Friday we decided to roam the city after we finally woke up! Ugh, jet-lag! We went down to the river. The city of Budapest is split by the Danube river which is absolutely beautiful! The hilly side to the west of the river is "Buda" and the flat side to the east is "Pest". We live on the Pest side in District 14... OR Kerulet XIV. After traveling to the river and seeing that they have a "Hop-On Hop-Off Bus and Boat Tour" (which we are totally gonna do) we decided to eat right by the river! We had some amazing food again! I had stuffed cabbage, which a Hungarian friend of my mom's used to bring over often when we were growing up, and Brian had "meat on a vooden plate"... yes, they said vooden, not wooden. We also had fisherman's soup... with a solid half of a fish in it... I don't think I'll order it again but it was an experience. I'm not a huge "fishy taste" person even though I llllooooovvvveeee sushi! We wandered around a bit, bought some postcards, took in the sites, then headed home on the train!
Saturday was fun.... we re-packed then headed to the train station for our night train to Venice! Then we found out the tickets we booked wouldn't allow for Candi to be with us! So we had to quickly change tickets and barely made it on the train before it left! We won't be taking the train again... It was a 14 hour over-night ride and we thought "great, we'll just sleep"! Not so much. We went through Croatia, Slovenia then to Italy, had our tickets checked about 20 times and our passports checked 15 times. So we didn't get to sleep but we did get our passports stamped a lot!!!! :) We arrived in Venice at 7am. What a beautiful city! We had to wait about an hour for our train to Vicenza and I couldn't wait to come back to explore the following weekend. We boarded our train to Vicenza and took a taxi to our hotel in Vicenza.
I'll stop there because my next post will be all about our week in Vicenza! I should be getting my next post up before the end of this week!
Thanks for reading!
<3 Steph
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."
-Mark Twain
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