I wrote the following post yesterday on the plane from Amsterdam and Minneapolis. Today my cold has hit hard. Or I have jetlag. Or both. And glad to be home to my comfy bed, lush towels and vegetables.
We are over Ontario right now, and have about 1.5 hours leftof our flight. I understand that we are returning to winter – no, no, no!!!! It finally warmed up a little in Prague, just as we were leaving.
I awoke on our last day in Prague with a cold. We decided to stick close by unstead of walking to Bakeshop Praha for breakfast. Forgoing the very rich treats was part of weaning ourselves off this wonderful trip. Marek told us to meet him at his office over the lunch hour so he could take us to some stores that locals shop at for gifts. He showed us two stores that we could return to after he went back to work: a factory store for traditional “onion” china and a lead crystal shop that locals frequent. Then we went together to a bookshop that also has books in English. I bought a memoir by Vaclav Havel, a playwright who was the final president of Czechoslovakia after the wall fell and the first president of the Czech Republic . We were very excited to find Krtek books there. (Look back to one of the posts I wrote from Budapest about a little mole cartoon.) We have fallen in love with Krtek. And the book that Marek suggested we buy is called Krtek and the mother. (Watch the video on Youtube if you dare.) It's pretty out there. We laughed until we cried in the store.
We told him we wanted to try one of the pervasive sausages from a street vendor. He showed us his favorite vendor on Wenslislaus Square and laughed hysterically about how we would feel later on. I think his exact words were, “do it now so your ystem has time to clean itself out before you get on the plane to go home.” Worked perfectly for me.
We found some lovely crystal glasses, decorative plates, and of course, refrigerator magnets; and took our goods back to the hotel. It was finally fairly warm so we decided that we had to enjoy a bit of time in an outdoor cafe on our last day in Prague. We went to the Vltava and found perfect table in front of the Smetana (composer) museum with a perfect view of the Charles Bridge and the Castle. Even more perfect was that they had blankets on the chairs for us to cuddle up in. We sat there for an hour and a half just soaking in the view and appreciating our good fortune at being able to make this trip. Then we went back to Bakeshop Praha to get croissants to eat for breakfast at the airport the next day. Jan was very dissapointed that there were no almond ones left – but the plain croissants are already so rich that who's complaining?
We had some down time back in our hotel (where Marek's promises came true). I was feeling pretty punky at this point, so for dinner we found a restaurant just a few blocks away. It was more of a local haunt, and we had a really nice and quite inexpensive dinner. Our wacky adventure was to try absinthe as an after dinner treat. The waitress told us it was very strong, so we asked for one portion in two glasses. She gladly obliged and then watched us with mirth in her eyes as we took ages to sip even half a shot down. It was very green. And very strong. I think I put my whole mouth to sleep. In the half hour it took me to get it down.
Our trip home has gone quite smoothly today. We successfully got all our packages to fit in our luggage. The driver got us to the airport with plenty of time for us to have one more of the great lattes they serve in Europe to wash down our croissants. We spent the rest of our koronas on Krtek paraphenalia and jumped on the plane to Amsterdam. We again only had two hours in the Amsterdam airport – much to Jan's sadness. But we spent the rest of our Euros there, and got teased by the border patrol that we should have spent mlore time in our homeland (once he saw Vanderwall on Jan's passport).
We are now over Grand Marais. The flight has so far included a lunch, three movies (I chose Social Network, Red and Hereafter—man are those really different from each other!) and an afternoon snack. We got up at 6:45am. It's now 4:45pm. And 16 hours have elapsed. It's just weird.
Our dear sister-in-law Kathy is picking us up at the airport. I can't wait to see my dog and cat, do laundry, wear different clothes and sleep in my own bed. But first – I will endure the ear splitting descent into MSP. It's hell having a cold when flying!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Lots of cobblestones; lots of walking
It's already Tuesday night. We have only one more day in Prague – Praha as locals call it. And I haven't written a thing. Where to begin? Here are the things we have done here on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday:
[slideshow]If you look at the pictures from the trip, you'll see that I am wearing the same coat, scarf and gloves in every picture. And under the coat are three or four layers. It has been quite cold: ranging from 29 to 40 degrees. That is really cold when you are outside walking all day. Finally today got into the 50s and I could shed a layer. Felt great. Tomorrow is the last full day of our trip. We have a few things planned, but mostly hope to take it easy and soak in the beauty.
- Walk around and be stunned by the beauty of each new building we saw. Seriously. If you haven't been here it's hard to explain. But each building is more beautiful than the one before. There is an esthetic here that does my heart good.
- Pose for pictures by the Astronomical clock. On the hour, watch the figures dance and hear the trumpeter play his tune and wave to the four directions. Some people just watch. We waved back. It's good to be corny sometimes.
- Walk across the Charles Bridge. There are 30 statues on this old stone bridge. My favorite was the one with two shiny spots on it. If you touch one of them (which many people have -- hence the shininess) you will be fertile. I didn't touch that one for many reasons, not the least of which I would be overwhelmed with all kinds of unwanted attention if that kind of medical miracle happened. If you touch the other shiny spot (the one right under the depiction of a saint being thrown into the river?!?) you will have luck. I touched that one. :-)
- Take a “free” three-hour walking tour of Old Town and the Jewish Quarter. It is free – but the guide lets you know that they don't get paid – so of course you want to tip them. We chatted with three british middle aged women on a quick three day trip (one of whom told me a memorable story about being in a bar and having a rough looking guy show the crowd the tattoo of his ex-wife's name on his private parts). I spent time walking and talking in my best Porteno Spanish with a young law student from Argentina who was finishing his studies and ready to go home to Buenos Aires. A young American soldier based in Stuttgart who tries to see a new city every month had lunch with us. And Daniel, the Praguer who led the tour, was a nice kid as well. He had worked for a few summers in Montana and really sounded American. It was really cold during this tour, however, and Daniels accent got stronger as he got colder. Our word for the day was "defenestration." It means being thrown out of a window onto pikes. Apparently the Hussites liked to do this alot.
- Eat a hearty traditional Czech dinner. (Second night in a row.) Dumplings, meat, gravy, cabbage. Yes, it will be mortifying to get home and step on the scale.
- Have the best pastry in the history of the universe, with some darn good coffee at the Bakeshop Praha. (The scale be damned.)
- Walk around in circles (Prague is really a labyrinth of streets and squares) until we found a store Jan had seen on the walking tour. Bought a wacky art clock there.
- Take a river cruise/tour in a little canal boat with a tourguide who spoke cockney English. Get in a lot of tourists' travel photos. Everyone thought our little boat was cute and took pictures of us. Again -- corniness rules. We just waved.
- Go to the the John Lennon Wall and find the best quotes. Two Russian girls, also tourists, directed us to the best place for a pose when we asked them to take our picture.
- Try to make it three for three by riding the funicular to the lookout tower. Walk a long way to get there and realize that it is closed for repairs. Decide to come back another day.
- Eat about a pound of country ham. There was a renaissance fair type festival happening in the Old Town Square. One of the vendors sold potatoes with sauerkraut for 49k. Cheap and sounded good. They asked if we wanted some Country ham with that. The sign said 89k. Great. And smelled really good. They piled up the plate for us and asked for 525k. Jan paid but didn't understand what had happened. I went back to them and found that the ham was 89k per 100 grams. Do the math to figure out how much ham they gave us. And of course we felt compelled to clean our plate!
- Shop for souvenirs. Try to understand how to buy Czech Crystal.
- Go to a string quartet concert at a 12th century church (St. Martin in the Wall). They played a variety of classical songs – all very moving, including Dvorak, Smetana and Bartok -- Czech and Hungarian composers.
- Play 6 games of cribbage in Cafe del Sole, the little cafe in the courtyard of our apartment. (I won five of the games. But who is counting.)
- Repeat the eating of the best pastries in the universe. (Scale? What scale?)
- Walk (far and high) to Prague Castle; wander through the courtyards and by the buildings. Watch the changing of the guard.
- Walk (far and high) to the base of the lookout tower, modeled after the Eiffel Tower. (It is as high as the Eiffel tower. But of course it is built on a hill, so the actual tower is much smaller than it's French counterpart.) Then walk 299 stairs to the top of it. Small note. I am afraid of heights. Seriously, irrationally afraid. I had near panic attacks on the way up and the way down, and wondered how many people just plain freeze on the narrow stairway. And then what happens? Yeeks!
- Go to dinner at the home of Marek and Radka Šedivý. Marek is a Fullbright Scholar who has done some of his studies at University of St Thomas with Ann Johnson. Ann connected us and Marek was gracious enough to invite us to dinner. They have two small daughters as well. We had a lovely time playing with the girls (I even got to read a Berenstein Bears book to them at bedtime), learning about their families and discussing Czech culture.
[slideshow]If you look at the pictures from the trip, you'll see that I am wearing the same coat, scarf and gloves in every picture. And under the coat are three or four layers. It has been quite cold: ranging from 29 to 40 degrees. That is really cold when you are outside walking all day. Finally today got into the 50s and I could shed a layer. Felt great. Tomorrow is the last full day of our trip. We have a few things planned, but mostly hope to take it easy and soak in the beauty.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Hooligans
When last you heard from us, we were too exhausted to tell you about the end of our train ride from Budapest to Prague. When we left off, we were pleasantly chatting with Mikhail and Ludmila in our cute little train compartment. They disembarked at Brno to meet up with their tour. Since all the seats on the train were reserved, and we could see on our compartment door that no one was going to board until after Prague, we thought we'd have the last two and a half hours of our trip on our own.
But fate had other plans for us. Or should I say that football (what we call soccer) had other plans for us. As it turns out, Brno's pro team was playing Prague's team that very evening in Prague. And Brno's avid fans wanted to see the game. As we came to understand later, Brno Armory is currently in second to last place in the league. Prague Sparta, on the other hand, leads the league. So one could assume that the the Brno fans are a little desperate. Not much suspense about how the game would go and all.
So, there we sat in our quiet little compartment, waving good-bye to our new friends and wondering why there were so many police on the platform. Police in riot gear.
Next thing we know, three women asked if the remaining seats in our compartment were available. We mimed to them that we understood that the seats were reserved. Oops! Those relatively tame young women moved on and three large guys replaced them in our field of view. Rather, they climbed over us, loaded with beer and what they later told us was vodka mixed with orange juice, while talking loudly in Czech and a smattering of German (they thought we were German).
For the next hour, they drank, sang, and talked louder than anyone I've ever heard. Accompanied by songs from their phones, they stood, cheered, saluted, waved and shouted their favorite lines. They never looked at us during this whole time -- never thought that they might be bursting our eardrums.
My favorite part was when Janic (we learned his name much later) stood up and dropped his pants so his buddies could see the tattoo on his thigh. Seriously. In a small compartment with me and a bunch of boys.
Finally the sheer amount of alcohol forced two of them to head to the bathroom. In the resulting silence, I decided to ask the third where they were going. Puti spoke some English and told us about the football match. When his two buddies got back, he introduced us. Janic (the real party boy) and George enthusiastically started trying to win us over as Brno supporters.
Now we were part of the party. I went to the bathroom, and when I got back, they had bought beer all around. And they kept buying beer. They made sure we had beer made in Brno. And sometimes it took them a while because the riot police -- who had gotten on the train as well to keep these guys in line -- hassled them about buying more beer. And they kept talking really loudly. But now at/to us.
When we pulled into the Prague station, they were quickly gone. They had to get to the game. As did the riot police. But our boys were nice enough to help us pull our suitcases down before they ran off.
Oddly enough, we left the train to find the platform pretty empty. The person from our apartment hotel was late to pick us up. The quiet felt eerie after all the chaos.
The driver did come and we had all kinds of challenges getting checked in. These apartment hotels want payment up front, in local currency. Of course we had no koronas. The driver took us to an ATM, but the ATM would not let us withdraw the complete amount we would owe for the next five days all in one withdrawal. So we had to go back and forth and drive all over the place to sort out how to pay. In the end, they were great. But between the hooligans and the payment issues, the start to our time in Prague was unsettling.
By the time we got moved into our apartment, it was about 6pm and we hadn't eaten a real meal all day. The driver suggested we go to the beer hall on the first floor. (Pilsener Urquell -- the original pilsener is made about an hour from here -- and it is served in restaurants everywhere.) We had a great Czech meal there (lots of meat, potatoes and dumplings) and a really good piece of apple strudel. And some great banter with the waiter. We told him we had arrived with Brno hooligans and he pointed out that the game was on TV and that Brno was losing badly. He seemed to have some glee in pointing out this fact.
I haven't caught up since we got here. I'm still two days behind in blogging. Just know that Prague is stunning. Around every corner is another view that blows me away. It is much more jaded by tourism than Budapest, however. So we are still getting our bearings about how to be savvy travelers here.
[slideshow]More soon!
But fate had other plans for us. Or should I say that football (what we call soccer) had other plans for us. As it turns out, Brno's pro team was playing Prague's team that very evening in Prague. And Brno's avid fans wanted to see the game. As we came to understand later, Brno Armory is currently in second to last place in the league. Prague Sparta, on the other hand, leads the league. So one could assume that the the Brno fans are a little desperate. Not much suspense about how the game would go and all.
So, there we sat in our quiet little compartment, waving good-bye to our new friends and wondering why there were so many police on the platform. Police in riot gear.
Next thing we know, three women asked if the remaining seats in our compartment were available. We mimed to them that we understood that the seats were reserved. Oops! Those relatively tame young women moved on and three large guys replaced them in our field of view. Rather, they climbed over us, loaded with beer and what they later told us was vodka mixed with orange juice, while talking loudly in Czech and a smattering of German (they thought we were German).
For the next hour, they drank, sang, and talked louder than anyone I've ever heard. Accompanied by songs from their phones, they stood, cheered, saluted, waved and shouted their favorite lines. They never looked at us during this whole time -- never thought that they might be bursting our eardrums.
My favorite part was when Janic (we learned his name much later) stood up and dropped his pants so his buddies could see the tattoo on his thigh. Seriously. In a small compartment with me and a bunch of boys.
Finally the sheer amount of alcohol forced two of them to head to the bathroom. In the resulting silence, I decided to ask the third where they were going. Puti spoke some English and told us about the football match. When his two buddies got back, he introduced us. Janic (the real party boy) and George enthusiastically started trying to win us over as Brno supporters.
Now we were part of the party. I went to the bathroom, and when I got back, they had bought beer all around. And they kept buying beer. They made sure we had beer made in Brno. And sometimes it took them a while because the riot police -- who had gotten on the train as well to keep these guys in line -- hassled them about buying more beer. And they kept talking really loudly. But now at/to us.
When we pulled into the Prague station, they were quickly gone. They had to get to the game. As did the riot police. But our boys were nice enough to help us pull our suitcases down before they ran off.
Oddly enough, we left the train to find the platform pretty empty. The person from our apartment hotel was late to pick us up. The quiet felt eerie after all the chaos.
The driver did come and we had all kinds of challenges getting checked in. These apartment hotels want payment up front, in local currency. Of course we had no koronas. The driver took us to an ATM, but the ATM would not let us withdraw the complete amount we would owe for the next five days all in one withdrawal. So we had to go back and forth and drive all over the place to sort out how to pay. In the end, they were great. But between the hooligans and the payment issues, the start to our time in Prague was unsettling.
By the time we got moved into our apartment, it was about 6pm and we hadn't eaten a real meal all day. The driver suggested we go to the beer hall on the first floor. (Pilsener Urquell -- the original pilsener is made about an hour from here -- and it is served in restaurants everywhere.) We had a great Czech meal there (lots of meat, potatoes and dumplings) and a really good piece of apple strudel. And some great banter with the waiter. We told him we had arrived with Brno hooligans and he pointed out that the game was on TV and that Brno was losing badly. He seemed to have some glee in pointing out this fact.
I haven't caught up since we got here. I'm still two days behind in blogging. Just know that Prague is stunning. Around every corner is another view that blows me away. It is much more jaded by tourism than Budapest, however. So we are still getting our bearings about how to be savvy travelers here.
[slideshow]More soon!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Last moments in Budapest
[slideshow]We are on the train on our way to Prague. We are sitting in our compartment with a very nice Russian couple. Mikhail speaks very good English, so we've been able to tell stories back and forth about our travels.
But back to Thursday, our last full day in Budapest. The rain and cold was definitely beginning to hamper our energy. Jan really wanted to go Memento Park, which is almost completely outdoors, so we bundled up and took my newly purchased, very cheap umbrella. It is a cute little red thing that wanted to flip inside out at the slightest breeze. And we had more than slight breeze.
Memento Park (far from the center and hard to got to) is the place where Hungary put all the old Soviet-era statues that had been erected to the “people's heroes.” Most other former iron curtain countries tore them down and destroyed them. But Hungary decided to save them as a remembrance. It is part funny and part tragic. And some of the statues are very nice art – albeit politically motivated. The statues are out in a park, which has not been very developed yet. It has been raining a lot, so the ground is very muddy. They gave us little booties to wear to protect our feet. It rained the whole time we were there, so we walked through pretty quickly.
The really interesting part to me was the film portion of the exhibition. It is indoors – which made me want to stay there along time. It was made up of actual training films and spy footage from the cold war. The training parts were about how to recruit informers, how to train them to spy on their neighbors, how to pass information, etc. This was interspersed with clips from actual spying. The message of the film was so disturbing. There was such paranoia and fear. People couldn't trust anyone. Recruitment happened thorugh intimidation and threats – so people were coerced into informing on each other. And most of what they did was simple, inept, almost laughable gossip.
The story of the 1956 uprising was told as well. Hungarians are quite proud that that act features prominently in the long process of bringing down the wall.
We were both absolutely chilled to the bome bythe time we finished We headed straight for the Szenchenyi baths upon arrival back in Pest. I can't put into words how great it was.
Budapest is on the Danube river and built over hot mineral springs. Budapest was also once a part of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans did love to bathe (think Turkish bath). So there are public baths all over the place. We went to the one in City Park. It is huge, beautiful architecture and the perfect thing to do when one is cold.
There are a million different packages you can buy; from swimming, to sauna time to massages or mud baths. And you can rent bathing suits, cabins, etc. We didn't know what we were doing, so the woman at the counter decided for us. We got plastic things that looked like wrist watches; which were magnetized to identify us , what we did and how long were spent there. I still don't know what all we could have done with the package she gave us. We just sat in the indoor and outdoor pools. But to get that warm for about $15 was all good by me.
The changing area was ingenious. You could walk into a little room from either the hall way or the locker area. From inside you shut both doors and flipped open the bench, which served as a temporary shelf, but also barred both doors from opening. We changed in that tiny space, opened the door and found a locker (the attendant had to mime to us what to do). We put all our stuff there and then locked it with our wrist-watchy thing. That meant that we were the only ones who could unlock it again.
The pools are all different temperatures. We spent the most time in the outdoor pool marked at 38 degrees celcius. (100.4 farenheit.) But there was also a pool where people swam laps that was only at 29 celcius (84.2 farenheit).
My favorite part of the time there was watching old Hungarian men playing chess in the outdoor pools. They just stand in the water playing chess – and watching each other play chess. In one of the indoor pools we saw men playing speed chess.
Newsflash: Mikhail's phone just alerted him to the fact that we are now in Slovakia.
When we left (reluctantly) the baths, we headed through City Park to Heroes' Square (amazing statues and museum architecture) and then on down Andrassy Utca (as Libby's sister Mimi told us, the Champs Elysee of Budapest). Andrassy is lined with grand old mansions, embassies and fancy restaurants. Again – as Mimi told us, this is where they filmed part fo the movie Evita. It does remind me of Buenos Aires.
For our last night in Budapest, we decided to visit some local haunts. We started by having coffee at a hip little coffee shop/art gallery. We watched the funniest cartoons about a friendly little mole. No language was required as he tried to start a garden, water his plants and take care of his little bird and mouse friends. We giggled at the contrast between it and all the paintings and sculptures of heads around us.
Then we went to Szimpla Kert, an old underground speakeasy our French magician friend told us about. It was just a great experience. A wandering cement warehouse of a place with bars and sitting areas all over the place. Dark, with wacky art, graffiti and light shows. A group of spaniards came in and decided to sit in the bathtub that we had decided against. I also had the greatest hot mulled wine there.
Next we went to Queen Pizza and Pub, a pizza place near our apartment. Someone on Foursquare claimed it was the best pizza theyt had ever had – anywhere in the world. We thad the Magyar (Hungarian) pizza and thought it was pretty darn good (and huge). :-) Again – so affordable here. Pizza and beer for about $12. We tried to find ice cream somewhere to spend down the rest of our forints, but ended up having to do so in the all night grocery.
We were sad to leave this morning. We said good-bye to Flora as we gave her our keys this morning and headed out to the subway. Stop a cblock away.Three stops on te subway and we were at the train station. We spent the last of our forints on the ubiquitous morning pastry, coffe and a Budapest t-shirt.
The train ride is delightful. We have plenty of room and lovely company. Now time to turn the computer off and enjoy the ride.
Note: I am posting this from Prague, where we now have internet access (and where the people downstairs appear to enjoy karaoke). There is a crazy end to the train-ride story, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. Too tired to tell it all now -- but let me just say that there was a wacky shift in vibes when our Russian friends got off the train in Brno.
But back to Thursday, our last full day in Budapest. The rain and cold was definitely beginning to hamper our energy. Jan really wanted to go Memento Park, which is almost completely outdoors, so we bundled up and took my newly purchased, very cheap umbrella. It is a cute little red thing that wanted to flip inside out at the slightest breeze. And we had more than slight breeze.
Memento Park (far from the center and hard to got to) is the place where Hungary put all the old Soviet-era statues that had been erected to the “people's heroes.” Most other former iron curtain countries tore them down and destroyed them. But Hungary decided to save them as a remembrance. It is part funny and part tragic. And some of the statues are very nice art – albeit politically motivated. The statues are out in a park, which has not been very developed yet. It has been raining a lot, so the ground is very muddy. They gave us little booties to wear to protect our feet. It rained the whole time we were there, so we walked through pretty quickly.
The really interesting part to me was the film portion of the exhibition. It is indoors – which made me want to stay there along time. It was made up of actual training films and spy footage from the cold war. The training parts were about how to recruit informers, how to train them to spy on their neighbors, how to pass information, etc. This was interspersed with clips from actual spying. The message of the film was so disturbing. There was such paranoia and fear. People couldn't trust anyone. Recruitment happened thorugh intimidation and threats – so people were coerced into informing on each other. And most of what they did was simple, inept, almost laughable gossip.
The story of the 1956 uprising was told as well. Hungarians are quite proud that that act features prominently in the long process of bringing down the wall.
We were both absolutely chilled to the bome bythe time we finished We headed straight for the Szenchenyi baths upon arrival back in Pest. I can't put into words how great it was.
Budapest is on the Danube river and built over hot mineral springs. Budapest was also once a part of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans did love to bathe (think Turkish bath). So there are public baths all over the place. We went to the one in City Park. It is huge, beautiful architecture and the perfect thing to do when one is cold.
There are a million different packages you can buy; from swimming, to sauna time to massages or mud baths. And you can rent bathing suits, cabins, etc. We didn't know what we were doing, so the woman at the counter decided for us. We got plastic things that looked like wrist watches; which were magnetized to identify us , what we did and how long were spent there. I still don't know what all we could have done with the package she gave us. We just sat in the indoor and outdoor pools. But to get that warm for about $15 was all good by me.
The changing area was ingenious. You could walk into a little room from either the hall way or the locker area. From inside you shut both doors and flipped open the bench, which served as a temporary shelf, but also barred both doors from opening. We changed in that tiny space, opened the door and found a locker (the attendant had to mime to us what to do). We put all our stuff there and then locked it with our wrist-watchy thing. That meant that we were the only ones who could unlock it again.
The pools are all different temperatures. We spent the most time in the outdoor pool marked at 38 degrees celcius. (100.4 farenheit.) But there was also a pool where people swam laps that was only at 29 celcius (84.2 farenheit).
My favorite part of the time there was watching old Hungarian men playing chess in the outdoor pools. They just stand in the water playing chess – and watching each other play chess. In one of the indoor pools we saw men playing speed chess.
Newsflash: Mikhail's phone just alerted him to the fact that we are now in Slovakia.
When we left (reluctantly) the baths, we headed through City Park to Heroes' Square (amazing statues and museum architecture) and then on down Andrassy Utca (as Libby's sister Mimi told us, the Champs Elysee of Budapest). Andrassy is lined with grand old mansions, embassies and fancy restaurants. Again – as Mimi told us, this is where they filmed part fo the movie Evita. It does remind me of Buenos Aires.
For our last night in Budapest, we decided to visit some local haunts. We started by having coffee at a hip little coffee shop/art gallery. We watched the funniest cartoons about a friendly little mole. No language was required as he tried to start a garden, water his plants and take care of his little bird and mouse friends. We giggled at the contrast between it and all the paintings and sculptures of heads around us.
Then we went to Szimpla Kert, an old underground speakeasy our French magician friend told us about. It was just a great experience. A wandering cement warehouse of a place with bars and sitting areas all over the place. Dark, with wacky art, graffiti and light shows. A group of spaniards came in and decided to sit in the bathtub that we had decided against. I also had the greatest hot mulled wine there.
Next we went to Queen Pizza and Pub, a pizza place near our apartment. Someone on Foursquare claimed it was the best pizza theyt had ever had – anywhere in the world. We thad the Magyar (Hungarian) pizza and thought it was pretty darn good (and huge). :-) Again – so affordable here. Pizza and beer for about $12. We tried to find ice cream somewhere to spend down the rest of our forints, but ended up having to do so in the all night grocery.
We were sad to leave this morning. We said good-bye to Flora as we gave her our keys this morning and headed out to the subway. Stop a cblock away.Three stops on te subway and we were at the train station. We spent the last of our forints on the ubiquitous morning pastry, coffe and a Budapest t-shirt.
The train ride is delightful. We have plenty of room and lovely company. Now time to turn the computer off and enjoy the ride.
Note: I am posting this from Prague, where we now have internet access (and where the people downstairs appear to enjoy karaoke). There is a crazy end to the train-ride story, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. Too tired to tell it all now -- but let me just say that there was a wacky shift in vibes when our Russian friends got off the train in Brno.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
A rainy St. Patrick's Day
It's raining. What a nice excuse to slow down a little. It started out lightly raining this morning, and then really caught steam about the time we were out and about.
Because it was a rainy day, we decided to explore public transportation today. We started by riding the metro to the train station. We needed to research train options for getting to Prague anyway. Observation 1: Hungarians like order. You must take a ticket. They will call you when your number comes up. This was true at the bank. And it was true at the train station.
Observation 2: Despite being part of the European Union, no one here wants to accept Euros. We arrived on Tuesday night all ready with our Euros -- and went to the local bakery to buy bread. Of course the Euros were in $50 notes straight out of the ATM. So first of all -- 50 Euros is a lot of money here. It's the equivalent of 13,689.636 HUF (Hungarian Forints). The bread we wanted to buy cost somewhere around 120 HUF. You can imagine the look on the shopkeeper (she spoke no English) 's face. We tried to signal to her that we would try and come back later with different money. We went next to the 24 hour convenience store across the street to buy milk and laundry detergent. Nope. But they accepted VISA cards. But it was clear to us that we were not going to be able to maneuver around town until we got some Forints.
And even when we got to an ATM that had cash in it (the first one didn't), they gave us 5,000 and 10,000 notes. So we went into a bank to break the bills. And learned about observation 1. They do try to sort out what you want before giving you a number. With our language limitations, we just hoped we had communicated what we wanted.
So anyway. We bought tickets to Prague today. 5,225 HUF per person. That's about $26.75 per person for a 7 hour train ride. While at the station we met an American who had been in Prague on Tuesday, went skiing in Slovakia on Wednesday, was going to spend today in Budapest, and then ride the train back to Prague tomorrow. Made me tired just thinking about it all. We gave him our map to help him get oriented, then headed on to explore more public transportation.
I was proud to find the elusive New York Kavehas. It is in another old classic hotel and has the most amazing painted ceilings. We decided not to have a $10 cup of coffee. Looking was enough. Then we caught the tram back to the Danube and transferred to another tram to the Great Market Hall.
Here we had lunch like the locals. I had a casserole dish made of cabbage, rice, meat and cheese topped by sour cream. Jan had stuffed paprika (peppers). We shared a roll with chocolate filling and drinks. The whole meal cost about $10. We stood while eating and people squeezed by us as they shopped. We shared a table with a French magician named Tom. We told him that we had given our map to a new traveler. He was leaving in a few hours and so passed his (much better) map on to us. Pay it forward.
We bought some nice lacework before leaving the market. It was pouring when we left, so we ran across the street to a coffee house with awnings. We sat in as drip free a zone as we could find and enjoyed capuccinos with a lovely view of the Liberty bridge. At the table next to us, a very handsome Turkish man was flirting with a beautiful Slovakian woman. All very cosmopolitan-feeling.
When it became clear that the rain was not going to ease, we jumped on a tram and headed for the Great Synagogue. I was chilled to the bone at this point. (Foolishly -- I had neither a hood nor an umbrella to go with my very practical raincoat.) So I didn't take the time I would have to understand all that I saw. The synagogue is the largest in Europe, and next to the site of the Budapest Jewish Ghetto, where thousands of people died of starvation during World War II. There is a small graveyard only for the people who died there; many of whom were unidentifiable. There is a sculpture in the courtyard of a weeping willow. The leaves hold the names of people lost to the holocaust -- many at Auschwitz.
We went back to our apartment after this to get warm, dry and rested. And to finalize our arrangements for Prague. Wow. It's all going so fast.
We went back to Liszt Ferenc Square for dinner; still in the rain. On the way back we did find an umbrella for me. (Jan's rain coat does have a hood.) We were back in our apartment and snug in bed early -- with no celebration whatsoever of St. Patrick's Day. It was a nice day.
Because it was a rainy day, we decided to explore public transportation today. We started by riding the metro to the train station. We needed to research train options for getting to Prague anyway. Observation 1: Hungarians like order. You must take a ticket. They will call you when your number comes up. This was true at the bank. And it was true at the train station.
Observation 2: Despite being part of the European Union, no one here wants to accept Euros. We arrived on Tuesday night all ready with our Euros -- and went to the local bakery to buy bread. Of course the Euros were in $50 notes straight out of the ATM. So first of all -- 50 Euros is a lot of money here. It's the equivalent of 13,689.636 HUF (Hungarian Forints). The bread we wanted to buy cost somewhere around 120 HUF. You can imagine the look on the shopkeeper (she spoke no English) 's face. We tried to signal to her that we would try and come back later with different money. We went next to the 24 hour convenience store across the street to buy milk and laundry detergent. Nope. But they accepted VISA cards. But it was clear to us that we were not going to be able to maneuver around town until we got some Forints.
And even when we got to an ATM that had cash in it (the first one didn't), they gave us 5,000 and 10,000 notes. So we went into a bank to break the bills. And learned about observation 1. They do try to sort out what you want before giving you a number. With our language limitations, we just hoped we had communicated what we wanted.
So anyway. We bought tickets to Prague today. 5,225 HUF per person. That's about $26.75 per person for a 7 hour train ride. While at the station we met an American who had been in Prague on Tuesday, went skiing in Slovakia on Wednesday, was going to spend today in Budapest, and then ride the train back to Prague tomorrow. Made me tired just thinking about it all. We gave him our map to help him get oriented, then headed on to explore more public transportation.
I was proud to find the elusive New York Kavehas. It is in another old classic hotel and has the most amazing painted ceilings. We decided not to have a $10 cup of coffee. Looking was enough. Then we caught the tram back to the Danube and transferred to another tram to the Great Market Hall.
Here we had lunch like the locals. I had a casserole dish made of cabbage, rice, meat and cheese topped by sour cream. Jan had stuffed paprika (peppers). We shared a roll with chocolate filling and drinks. The whole meal cost about $10. We stood while eating and people squeezed by us as they shopped. We shared a table with a French magician named Tom. We told him that we had given our map to a new traveler. He was leaving in a few hours and so passed his (much better) map on to us. Pay it forward.
We bought some nice lacework before leaving the market. It was pouring when we left, so we ran across the street to a coffee house with awnings. We sat in as drip free a zone as we could find and enjoyed capuccinos with a lovely view of the Liberty bridge. At the table next to us, a very handsome Turkish man was flirting with a beautiful Slovakian woman. All very cosmopolitan-feeling.
When it became clear that the rain was not going to ease, we jumped on a tram and headed for the Great Synagogue. I was chilled to the bone at this point. (Foolishly -- I had neither a hood nor an umbrella to go with my very practical raincoat.) So I didn't take the time I would have to understand all that I saw. The synagogue is the largest in Europe, and next to the site of the Budapest Jewish Ghetto, where thousands of people died of starvation during World War II. There is a small graveyard only for the people who died there; many of whom were unidentifiable. There is a sculpture in the courtyard of a weeping willow. The leaves hold the names of people lost to the holocaust -- many at Auschwitz.
We went back to our apartment after this to get warm, dry and rested. And to finalize our arrangements for Prague. Wow. It's all going so fast.
We went back to Liszt Ferenc Square for dinner; still in the rain. On the way back we did find an umbrella for me. (Jan's rain coat does have a hood.) We were back in our apartment and snug in bed early -- with no celebration whatsoever of St. Patrick's Day. It was a nice day.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Settling in in Budapest...well really, in Pest
[slideshow]Buda and Pest were two separate cities for most of their history. The Danube river was a formidable barrier that was hard to "bridge." And in World War II, all of the bridges that had been built were destroyed again. Pest is the flat side of the river; and Buda is the hilly part -- the part with the castle. We are staying in Pest -- very close to everything. And we have crossed to Buda twice today.
But let me go back to Kiev. On Monday we met up with Trish and Peter and ate yet another great traditional Ukrainian lunch. (This time I had borsch. Fabulous. And I learned there is no "t." It's borsch. Period.) We did all the shopping for souvenirs that we could at the local markets. Then Lowell treated us to a (mostly) French dinner at Vernissage in the hip shopping area. It was our last night all together, and most of us had a hard time eating yet more food, but it was so delightful and gracious and lovely. Thanks so much Lowell -- you are truly a gentleman among gentlemen. And it was great getting to travel with you for those five days.
We checked out of our hotel in Kiev on Tuesday and were set to hang out with Peter for the last time of our trip. The owner of the hotel called us a cab and all kinds of hell broke out. First she only ordered one cab. We knew that was a mistake right off the bat. Five people and all our luggage would not fit in one cab. Then she called a second cab. Both of them had teeny trunks and neither wanted to get their seats dirty by letting us put the luggage inside the car. The drivers really were quite dramatic in their poutiness. Finally Peter had to talk each of them down by phone until they grudgingly let us get ourselves and our bags into their cars. I quote Peter, "Dammit. The one thing I didn't arrange and look what happens." Poor guy.
Peter wanted us to descend on his apartment like locusts. You see, he and Trish were leaving the next day for Stuttgart, never to return, and they only had so much room in their luggage. We did our best to eat and drink them out of house and home, but we just didn't quite have it in us. Mostly it was just great to see them relaxed and happy together after all the work they put in to make the festivities so perfect.
This time Peter did again, personally, call us cabs for the airport. Jan and I flew out first, so left before the others. Travel to Hungary went very smoothly. The flight between Kiev and Budapest lasted just one hour and twenty five minutes.
We were met at the airport by a driver and delivered right to our apartment hotel. He had to take a different route because we arrived on a national holiday celebrating the 1848 revolutions. The police had the area around our hotel blocked off because locals commemorate the day by protesting current injustices. It was all very calm and mostly over by the time we got here. We did see lots of young people walking through town. And everyone was wearing cockades.
Our lovely host Flora gave us the name of a local restaurant named Menza. We misunderstood her directions and ended up having an hour long walk to get to a restaurant that is only ten minutes away, but that wasn't all bad (if you've read how much we have been eating on this trip). We shared goulash soup and pickled vegetables. Jan ate pork knuckles with fried potatoe wedges. I had chicken paprikash with crispy hash browns. It was all absolutely delicious.
For the most part, architecture in Budapest is so beautiful. And then you see the Soviet Era (or as our guide on the Danube called it today, "socialist era") construction next to classical and baroque. So soul-less and flat -- like they purposefully wanted to remove beauty from the world. The outskirts of Kiev were like this too.
Today, Wednesday, we walked miles and miles -- all over the city. I love that -- love getting my bearings on the ground. Being in Kiev was like being the passenger on a trip -- because the driver (Peter) laid out the route, I didn't have to think. It was pure pleasureful relaxation. But I never quite got my bearings.
Here we already have a pretty good sense of how the city works. And where to find coffee. We had coffee at the Four Seasons Hotel this morning -- the most elegant place I've ever seen. And the coffee cost $10 to prove it. We walked across the chain bridge to Buda and then rode the funiculur up to the castle. While there we saw a choreographed sequence by the guards at the presidential palace. After a lot more walking we decided to have coffee again at Gerbeaud -- an iconic pastry maker and chocolatier. (You can see that our approach to travel is pretty consistent.)
This afternoon we took a river cruise on the Danube (thanks Mary Watson!) -- a really wonderful and enlightening experience, which included a guided walking tour of Margaret Island. And then went back to the castle for the second time of the day to have dinner in a romantic little restaurant way up the hill. A string trio entertained us while we ate -- and upon our request, played the most moving piece by Bela Bartok.
Budapest really is charming; the people are warm, helpful and generous; and the history is rich. (And it really is a gustatory heaven.) But now I must go to bed and try to recharge my battery so I can tackle another day. There are so many things we want to do here in the next few days!
But let me go back to Kiev. On Monday we met up with Trish and Peter and ate yet another great traditional Ukrainian lunch. (This time I had borsch. Fabulous. And I learned there is no "t." It's borsch. Period.) We did all the shopping for souvenirs that we could at the local markets. Then Lowell treated us to a (mostly) French dinner at Vernissage in the hip shopping area. It was our last night all together, and most of us had a hard time eating yet more food, but it was so delightful and gracious and lovely. Thanks so much Lowell -- you are truly a gentleman among gentlemen. And it was great getting to travel with you for those five days.
We checked out of our hotel in Kiev on Tuesday and were set to hang out with Peter for the last time of our trip. The owner of the hotel called us a cab and all kinds of hell broke out. First she only ordered one cab. We knew that was a mistake right off the bat. Five people and all our luggage would not fit in one cab. Then she called a second cab. Both of them had teeny trunks and neither wanted to get their seats dirty by letting us put the luggage inside the car. The drivers really were quite dramatic in their poutiness. Finally Peter had to talk each of them down by phone until they grudgingly let us get ourselves and our bags into their cars. I quote Peter, "Dammit. The one thing I didn't arrange and look what happens." Poor guy.
Peter wanted us to descend on his apartment like locusts. You see, he and Trish were leaving the next day for Stuttgart, never to return, and they only had so much room in their luggage. We did our best to eat and drink them out of house and home, but we just didn't quite have it in us. Mostly it was just great to see them relaxed and happy together after all the work they put in to make the festivities so perfect.
This time Peter did again, personally, call us cabs for the airport. Jan and I flew out first, so left before the others. Travel to Hungary went very smoothly. The flight between Kiev and Budapest lasted just one hour and twenty five minutes.
We were met at the airport by a driver and delivered right to our apartment hotel. He had to take a different route because we arrived on a national holiday celebrating the 1848 revolutions. The police had the area around our hotel blocked off because locals commemorate the day by protesting current injustices. It was all very calm and mostly over by the time we got here. We did see lots of young people walking through town. And everyone was wearing cockades.
Our lovely host Flora gave us the name of a local restaurant named Menza. We misunderstood her directions and ended up having an hour long walk to get to a restaurant that is only ten minutes away, but that wasn't all bad (if you've read how much we have been eating on this trip). We shared goulash soup and pickled vegetables. Jan ate pork knuckles with fried potatoe wedges. I had chicken paprikash with crispy hash browns. It was all absolutely delicious.
For the most part, architecture in Budapest is so beautiful. And then you see the Soviet Era (or as our guide on the Danube called it today, "socialist era") construction next to classical and baroque. So soul-less and flat -- like they purposefully wanted to remove beauty from the world. The outskirts of Kiev were like this too.
Today, Wednesday, we walked miles and miles -- all over the city. I love that -- love getting my bearings on the ground. Being in Kiev was like being the passenger on a trip -- because the driver (Peter) laid out the route, I didn't have to think. It was pure pleasureful relaxation. But I never quite got my bearings.
Here we already have a pretty good sense of how the city works. And where to find coffee. We had coffee at the Four Seasons Hotel this morning -- the most elegant place I've ever seen. And the coffee cost $10 to prove it. We walked across the chain bridge to Buda and then rode the funiculur up to the castle. While there we saw a choreographed sequence by the guards at the presidential palace. After a lot more walking we decided to have coffee again at Gerbeaud -- an iconic pastry maker and chocolatier. (You can see that our approach to travel is pretty consistent.)
This afternoon we took a river cruise on the Danube (thanks Mary Watson!) -- a really wonderful and enlightening experience, which included a guided walking tour of Margaret Island. And then went back to the castle for the second time of the day to have dinner in a romantic little restaurant way up the hill. A string trio entertained us while we ate -- and upon our request, played the most moving piece by Bela Bartok.
Budapest really is charming; the people are warm, helpful and generous; and the history is rich. (And it really is a gustatory heaven.) But now I must go to bed and try to recharge my battery so I can tackle another day. There are so many things we want to do here in the next few days!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Peter and Trish's wedding
[slideshow]March 12 was the wedding day – and it was one to remember. Full of warm moments, funny stories, babies, way too much food and lots of photo opportunities. Peter picked us up at 12:30 or so, and we arrived back to our hotel about 12 hours later; stuffed to the gills, feet sore and laughing about all the wonderful moments we had shared.
Peter rented a small bus and picked up all the visitors at our individual lodgings on the way back to his apartment to pick up the beautiful bride, her mother, sister, aunt and cousin. Peter looked very handsome in his tailored suit. But Trish looked stunning in her strapless beaded gown and her hair up in a chignon. She had on a white fur jacket and muffler that made me think of Doctor Zhivago every time I looked at her.
Then we headed to the Central Civil Registry Office/Wedding Palace for the ceremony. They had an appointment at exactly 2:00pm, which, several months earlier, Peter had waited in line all day to get. The door to the building was locked when we got there, because the previous wedding was still happening. When they let us in, I was stunned. I had expected a functionary's office. But this was a wedding factory/palace. In fact, another wedding party filed in before we were done.
An official and efficient wedding coordinator who knew her business, and for some strange reason never took off her parka, greeted us at the door. She was good: perfectly capable of making sure we sat, stood, walked this way or posed for that picture – all in Russian. (All 36 of us did line up for a group photo which we could – and did – buy immediately after the ceremony for 50 Hrivnas – about $8 US. Excellent entrepreneurial spirit there.) Trish's cousin Maria spontaneously volunteered to interpret to help move things along. And then she went on to interpret the entire ceremony for us, which showed great concentration, given that she was holding her impatient 13 month old daughter throughout. It also doubled the length of the ceremony – up to a whopping ten minutes from the five minutes it was supposed to take.
Surprisingly, that quick little ceremony included cultural traditions along with the civil requirements. Parents gave the couple korovai (Ukrainian wedding bread) and kisses; the couple exchanged rings, drank a champaigne toast, signed the legal documents and kissed each other. Seriously. All in maybe 10 minutes. Then out in the foyer, we all had chocolates and champaign.
Next we all loaded on a big tour bus and drove around to favorite landmarks; at each one we disembarked and posed for pictures. Trish and Peter were both so handsome – the pictures were all just beautiful. Finally the bus took us to a traditional Ukrainian restaurant for a lavish 5 hour feast. Every detail was amazing: the food, the atmosphere, the time to get to know all present.
When we entered the restaurant, we were given shots of vodka infused with either cranberry, honey or horseradish; followed by a bite of dill pickle. Then they led us into a private room and offered red caviar canapes, cheese and olives. The tables were already laid with five different kinds of cold starters – salads and meats. The subsequent courses – hot starters (five of them – including the most amazing rabbit and mushroom crepes); the main course of three kinds of grilled meat, grilled vegetables and sauteed potatoes; and three kinds of dessert with coffee or tea – were served after breaks of about an hour each. In fact the dancing started before the main course was served. And there was no lack of lubrication before, during or after each course.
Our music was mostly delivered through an ipod – and everyone had a chance to look for their favorite songs. Rick did a toast to the couple and asked Jan to start the special song on cue. They had not actually prepared for this however, and Jan just kept playing random songs. Finally Rick took matters into his own hands and put on At Last, by Etta James. It was the perfect first dance for Peter and Trish.
We danced all night- to all kinds of music. The Ukrainian folk band even dropped in and played a few songs for us. The Ukrainians sang along as we polkaed and waltzed. (And did I mention how lovely the mother of the groom looked? Yes Libby -- you did.)
We went home around 12:30, but some of the younger guests danced on. And then went looking for more fun. Three of them got stopped by the police for jay-walking at about 3:00am. They called Peter for help when the police threatened to take them to jail. Peter told them to put one of the officers on the phone and proceeded, in his wonderfully fluent Russian, to explain that his three friends were diplomats and that there would be international trouble if they got arrested. Seriously. He pulled that off. On his wedding night.
On Sunday we all slept in a little. :-) And then met up with Peter and Trish for an enormous Georgian lunch – another long, slow (we met them at 1pm and got home at about 6pm), delicious, rich (featuring a lot of cheese) meal. Day three of eating like this had me heading into a serious food coma, but the trek back to our hotel revived me a little. Rick, Libby, Lowell, Jan and I opted for a nap over further group activities. We finished off the day with a trip out for ice cream on our own. And got mostly what we thought we ordered from the waitress who spoke no English.
Man – I can't believe all we've done and seen in such a few short days. I'm not sure my belly will ever recover – but I am definitely not complaining! Many thanks and much love to Peter and Trish. They are a lovely couple with so much life ahead.
Peter rented a small bus and picked up all the visitors at our individual lodgings on the way back to his apartment to pick up the beautiful bride, her mother, sister, aunt and cousin. Peter looked very handsome in his tailored suit. But Trish looked stunning in her strapless beaded gown and her hair up in a chignon. She had on a white fur jacket and muffler that made me think of Doctor Zhivago every time I looked at her.
Then we headed to the Central Civil Registry Office/Wedding Palace for the ceremony. They had an appointment at exactly 2:00pm, which, several months earlier, Peter had waited in line all day to get. The door to the building was locked when we got there, because the previous wedding was still happening. When they let us in, I was stunned. I had expected a functionary's office. But this was a wedding factory/palace. In fact, another wedding party filed in before we were done.
An official and efficient wedding coordinator who knew her business, and for some strange reason never took off her parka, greeted us at the door. She was good: perfectly capable of making sure we sat, stood, walked this way or posed for that picture – all in Russian. (All 36 of us did line up for a group photo which we could – and did – buy immediately after the ceremony for 50 Hrivnas – about $8 US. Excellent entrepreneurial spirit there.) Trish's cousin Maria spontaneously volunteered to interpret to help move things along. And then she went on to interpret the entire ceremony for us, which showed great concentration, given that she was holding her impatient 13 month old daughter throughout. It also doubled the length of the ceremony – up to a whopping ten minutes from the five minutes it was supposed to take.
Surprisingly, that quick little ceremony included cultural traditions along with the civil requirements. Parents gave the couple korovai (Ukrainian wedding bread) and kisses; the couple exchanged rings, drank a champaigne toast, signed the legal documents and kissed each other. Seriously. All in maybe 10 minutes. Then out in the foyer, we all had chocolates and champaign.
Next we all loaded on a big tour bus and drove around to favorite landmarks; at each one we disembarked and posed for pictures. Trish and Peter were both so handsome – the pictures were all just beautiful. Finally the bus took us to a traditional Ukrainian restaurant for a lavish 5 hour feast. Every detail was amazing: the food, the atmosphere, the time to get to know all present.
When we entered the restaurant, we were given shots of vodka infused with either cranberry, honey or horseradish; followed by a bite of dill pickle. Then they led us into a private room and offered red caviar canapes, cheese and olives. The tables were already laid with five different kinds of cold starters – salads and meats. The subsequent courses – hot starters (five of them – including the most amazing rabbit and mushroom crepes); the main course of three kinds of grilled meat, grilled vegetables and sauteed potatoes; and three kinds of dessert with coffee or tea – were served after breaks of about an hour each. In fact the dancing started before the main course was served. And there was no lack of lubrication before, during or after each course.
Our music was mostly delivered through an ipod – and everyone had a chance to look for their favorite songs. Rick did a toast to the couple and asked Jan to start the special song on cue. They had not actually prepared for this however, and Jan just kept playing random songs. Finally Rick took matters into his own hands and put on At Last, by Etta James. It was the perfect first dance for Peter and Trish.
We danced all night- to all kinds of music. The Ukrainian folk band even dropped in and played a few songs for us. The Ukrainians sang along as we polkaed and waltzed. (And did I mention how lovely the mother of the groom looked? Yes Libby -- you did.)
We went home around 12:30, but some of the younger guests danced on. And then went looking for more fun. Three of them got stopped by the police for jay-walking at about 3:00am. They called Peter for help when the police threatened to take them to jail. Peter told them to put one of the officers on the phone and proceeded, in his wonderfully fluent Russian, to explain that his three friends were diplomats and that there would be international trouble if they got arrested. Seriously. He pulled that off. On his wedding night.
On Sunday we all slept in a little. :-) And then met up with Peter and Trish for an enormous Georgian lunch – another long, slow (we met them at 1pm and got home at about 6pm), delicious, rich (featuring a lot of cheese) meal. Day three of eating like this had me heading into a serious food coma, but the trek back to our hotel revived me a little. Rick, Libby, Lowell, Jan and I opted for a nap over further group activities. We finished off the day with a trip out for ice cream on our own. And got mostly what we thought we ordered from the waitress who spoke no English.
Man – I can't believe all we've done and seen in such a few short days. I'm not sure my belly will ever recover – but I am definitely not complaining! Many thanks and much love to Peter and Trish. They are a lovely couple with so much life ahead.
Friday, March 11, 2011
March 11 in Kiev
[gallery columns="2"]
Let me just say that Peter and Trish are amazing. They planned out our day on Friday like professional tour guides. This is friday. The day before their wedding.
They picked us up at our hotel and walked us to the subway. They bought our subway tokens and explained how to get through the turnstiles. They explained how to get on and off the train. They shepherded us -- one in the front and one in the back at all times. They got all 9 of us to Kiev Pechersk Lavra -- piece of cake.
First we went to the see the Obelisk -- a monument to the Second World War. There is also an eternal flame there -- in honor of the unknown soldier. Peter says that there are eternal flames like this all over the former Soviet Union. There are also monuments to generals who died in the war and a museum honoring the millions (an estimated 7 to 11 million) people who starved in 1933 in a famine deliberately engineered by Stalin.
We walked from there to Kiev Pechersk Lavra monastery, where we met up with more of Trish's family. Now Peter and Trish were herding a group of 13. Trish's mother's family is Ukranian-American. Lasha and her sister Helen went to Ukranian schools in the US, and speak some Ukranian. People here are bilingual and speak Russian most of the time. They can't imagine anyone speaking Ukranian who doesn't also speak Russian. So when Lasha and Helen speak Ukranian, they often get answered in Russian -- which they don't speak. It's a dynamic they didn't expect.
At the monastery -- Peter again bought our tickets and arranged for an English-speaking guide. Our guide Irina walked us through the complex of churches and other facilities that were first built in 1008. Much of the complex now functions as a museum, but all of the churches still have mass every day. The lower parts of the complex are still a monastery, and we saw monks and monks-in-training going about their business. But you can also tour the caves the original monks lived in when they founded the monastery. The caves now hold the "relics" of those original monks. We had to buy candles for for 4 Hrivnas each to get into the caves. I didn't realize until we got deeper in that the candles weren't just for prayer -- they were also the entire lighting system. Each person had to light their own way.
We hurried from there to catch the double decker tour bus that Peter booked us on. The best part of the tour bus was that they gave each of us a blanket. It was really quite cold! The tour bus took us through the old part of town; with a guide explaining all we passed in English. But there was such terrible traffic that for big chunks of time we barely moved. Eventually the guide brought us all tea and apologized for the slow progress. We didn't mind. We had the bus to ourselves and we were warm and cozy. No worries.
We went back to our hotel for a rest, with orders to meet at 7pm for the groom's dinner.
Rick, Libby, Lowell, Jan and I met at 5pm and walked to a local brewery to taste local beer. The wait staff spoke English and were very gracious with us. It was our first time venturing out without Peter, and we were proud to manage just fine. We even found our way on to the restaurant without hitches.
The dinner was at Jean Claude, a new French restaurant in a very stylish part of downtown. Again -- Peter and Trish outdid themselves -- really over the top wonderful. There were 20 of us, and I think we had 4 waiters dedicated just to us. They had selected a menu with a few options for each course that we could choose from. And this was slow food. The waiters purposefully waited to bring each course. We met at 7pm, and finished our tea at close to 11pm. All the while, a jazz combo played on stage. Rick and Libby demonstrated their fabulous dancing skills, and even got Peter and Trish to take a break from hosting long enough to have one romantic dance.
The food was absolutely wonderful and it was such a treat to get to know some of their friends. Trish works for the US Department of Defense in Stuttgart, Germany. Many of her colleagues were with us last night. We sat with a couple from Connecticut who helped us plan the Czech Republic part of our trip. And really fun was to meet Jeremy, from Apple Valley, MN who worked for Senators Dayton and Wellstone before he went to work for the DOD. We had great political and philosophical discussions with him. It really is a tiny world.
All-in-all our first full day in Kiev was amazing. We are resting up a little now before all the actual wedding day festivities begin. And at the same time -- we continue to be so concerned about all happening in Japan and other affected areas.
Let me just say that Peter and Trish are amazing. They planned out our day on Friday like professional tour guides. This is friday. The day before their wedding.
They picked us up at our hotel and walked us to the subway. They bought our subway tokens and explained how to get through the turnstiles. They explained how to get on and off the train. They shepherded us -- one in the front and one in the back at all times. They got all 9 of us to Kiev Pechersk Lavra -- piece of cake.
First we went to the see the Obelisk -- a monument to the Second World War. There is also an eternal flame there -- in honor of the unknown soldier. Peter says that there are eternal flames like this all over the former Soviet Union. There are also monuments to generals who died in the war and a museum honoring the millions (an estimated 7 to 11 million) people who starved in 1933 in a famine deliberately engineered by Stalin.
We walked from there to Kiev Pechersk Lavra monastery, where we met up with more of Trish's family. Now Peter and Trish were herding a group of 13. Trish's mother's family is Ukranian-American. Lasha and her sister Helen went to Ukranian schools in the US, and speak some Ukranian. People here are bilingual and speak Russian most of the time. They can't imagine anyone speaking Ukranian who doesn't also speak Russian. So when Lasha and Helen speak Ukranian, they often get answered in Russian -- which they don't speak. It's a dynamic they didn't expect.
At the monastery -- Peter again bought our tickets and arranged for an English-speaking guide. Our guide Irina walked us through the complex of churches and other facilities that were first built in 1008. Much of the complex now functions as a museum, but all of the churches still have mass every day. The lower parts of the complex are still a monastery, and we saw monks and monks-in-training going about their business. But you can also tour the caves the original monks lived in when they founded the monastery. The caves now hold the "relics" of those original monks. We had to buy candles for for 4 Hrivnas each to get into the caves. I didn't realize until we got deeper in that the candles weren't just for prayer -- they were also the entire lighting system. Each person had to light their own way.
We hurried from there to catch the double decker tour bus that Peter booked us on. The best part of the tour bus was that they gave each of us a blanket. It was really quite cold! The tour bus took us through the old part of town; with a guide explaining all we passed in English. But there was such terrible traffic that for big chunks of time we barely moved. Eventually the guide brought us all tea and apologized for the slow progress. We didn't mind. We had the bus to ourselves and we were warm and cozy. No worries.
We went back to our hotel for a rest, with orders to meet at 7pm for the groom's dinner.
Rick, Libby, Lowell, Jan and I met at 5pm and walked to a local brewery to taste local beer. The wait staff spoke English and were very gracious with us. It was our first time venturing out without Peter, and we were proud to manage just fine. We even found our way on to the restaurant without hitches.
The dinner was at Jean Claude, a new French restaurant in a very stylish part of downtown. Again -- Peter and Trish outdid themselves -- really over the top wonderful. There were 20 of us, and I think we had 4 waiters dedicated just to us. They had selected a menu with a few options for each course that we could choose from. And this was slow food. The waiters purposefully waited to bring each course. We met at 7pm, and finished our tea at close to 11pm. All the while, a jazz combo played on stage. Rick and Libby demonstrated their fabulous dancing skills, and even got Peter and Trish to take a break from hosting long enough to have one romantic dance.
The food was absolutely wonderful and it was such a treat to get to know some of their friends. Trish works for the US Department of Defense in Stuttgart, Germany. Many of her colleagues were with us last night. We sat with a couple from Connecticut who helped us plan the Czech Republic part of our trip. And really fun was to meet Jeremy, from Apple Valley, MN who worked for Senators Dayton and Wellstone before he went to work for the DOD. We had great political and philosophical discussions with him. It really is a tiny world.
All-in-all our first full day in Kiev was amazing. We are resting up a little now before all the actual wedding day festivities begin. And at the same time -- we continue to be so concerned about all happening in Japan and other affected areas.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
The Sunflower
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Good morning!
I am sitting at my little desk in my sweet room at the Sunflower B&B Hotel in Kiev.
Observation 1) It has a really great shower. Period. Better than ours at home. As I understand it, all of Kiev gets hot water as a utility. The down side of this is that it can be turned off for whole neighborhoods at a time. The up side is that there is no limit to how much you get. No running out of hot water in the shower. So my first shower in two days was plentiful. Great water pressure. In a cute little bathroom. The day has started well.
Observation 2) Having breakfast come to your room is also a really good way to start the day. 'Nuff said.
But I've gotten ahead of myself. Our trip to get here went without hitches. Our lovely neighbor Liz Gomoll got us to the airport on Wednesday at 5:30 for a 7:45pm flight. We got through the lines quickly and had plenty of time to enjoy dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express before getting on the plane.
The cool new thing on Delta international flights is the movie on demand feature. Many of the movies recently up for best picture were available for watching. I chose Black Swan. (Jan chose sleep.) Wow. What a movie. And then I tried to sleep.
Jan's brother Rick, his wife Libby and their friend Lowell found us having tea at the Starbucks in the Amsterdam airport. No problem. We went through security screening again at the gate for our plane. The best memory was seeing a Babushka (the stereotypical old Ukrainian grandma with a scarf over her head) get selected to be patted down by security. Then Libby got patted down. Libby is busty. They checked her bra to make sure there were no weapons in there. Come to think of it. The babushka was kind of busty, too. Hmmm. They are clearly doing profiling of big busted women at that airport. Needless to say, I was not selected for pat down.
Jan and I actually traveled for 16 hours. But because Kiev is 8 hours ahead of Minnesota, we arrived just about 24 hours later. On three hours of sleep.
Peter met us at the airport, took us by taxi to our hotel to leave our luggage, and then straight on to his apartment for a dinner party with Trish's family and a friend from London named Duncan. We had a great time getting to know everyone and making toasts to the lovely couple. And the dinner was awesome, anchored by grilled meats delivered to the door as we would order Domino's Pizza. In Jan's delirium, he kept saying, "I love pickled beets." Don't ask. It makes no sense.
Did I mention 3 hours of sleep and 24 hours travel?
We are taking our time getting a little settled in this morning. At 11am Peter and Trish will get here to take us off exploring. (Also watching TV about the tragedy of the huge earthquake in Japan. Wow.)
Good morning!
I am sitting at my little desk in my sweet room at the Sunflower B&B Hotel in Kiev.
Observation 1) It has a really great shower. Period. Better than ours at home. As I understand it, all of Kiev gets hot water as a utility. The down side of this is that it can be turned off for whole neighborhoods at a time. The up side is that there is no limit to how much you get. No running out of hot water in the shower. So my first shower in two days was plentiful. Great water pressure. In a cute little bathroom. The day has started well.
Observation 2) Having breakfast come to your room is also a really good way to start the day. 'Nuff said.
But I've gotten ahead of myself. Our trip to get here went without hitches. Our lovely neighbor Liz Gomoll got us to the airport on Wednesday at 5:30 for a 7:45pm flight. We got through the lines quickly and had plenty of time to enjoy dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express before getting on the plane.
The cool new thing on Delta international flights is the movie on demand feature. Many of the movies recently up for best picture were available for watching. I chose Black Swan. (Jan chose sleep.) Wow. What a movie. And then I tried to sleep.
Jan's brother Rick, his wife Libby and their friend Lowell found us having tea at the Starbucks in the Amsterdam airport. No problem. We went through security screening again at the gate for our plane. The best memory was seeing a Babushka (the stereotypical old Ukrainian grandma with a scarf over her head) get selected to be patted down by security. Then Libby got patted down. Libby is busty. They checked her bra to make sure there were no weapons in there. Come to think of it. The babushka was kind of busty, too. Hmmm. They are clearly doing profiling of big busted women at that airport. Needless to say, I was not selected for pat down.
Jan and I actually traveled for 16 hours. But because Kiev is 8 hours ahead of Minnesota, we arrived just about 24 hours later. On three hours of sleep.
Peter met us at the airport, took us by taxi to our hotel to leave our luggage, and then straight on to his apartment for a dinner party with Trish's family and a friend from London named Duncan. We had a great time getting to know everyone and making toasts to the lovely couple. And the dinner was awesome, anchored by grilled meats delivered to the door as we would order Domino's Pizza. In Jan's delirium, he kept saying, "I love pickled beets." Don't ask. It makes no sense.
Did I mention 3 hours of sleep and 24 hours travel?
We are taking our time getting a little settled in this morning. At 11am Peter and Trish will get here to take us off exploring. (Also watching TV about the tragedy of the huge earthquake in Japan. Wow.)
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
T minus 19
Jan and I are about to head off on another big trip and I find myself again ready to chronicle our adventures. Really, I wish I made myself do this on a regular basis. I am constantly amazed at how little I remember about the details of my life. Blogging forces me to capture the little moments.
Anyway -- we leave in about 19 hours for the Ukraine, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The first leg of our journey is in Kiev, where we will have the delight and privilege of witnessing our nephew Peter's marriage to Trish. We'll stay in Kiev for five days in various pre- and post- marital outings -- most of which involve food, family and friends. What's not to like?
From there we'll head to Budapest. We end our trip in Prague. We're not so clear yet on what happens in the middle. And I love that. I love the ability to be spontaneous. We've never been anywhere in this region -- so it's all new discovery.
But all that starts in less than 19 hours and I have not packed. The laundry is done and I do know where my passport is. It's a start. Oh, and I do have work tomorrow.
Several of you have asked for the link to this blog. I hope to be able to keep at it regularly; and I hope to hear your thoughts along the way as well. Thanks!
Anyway -- we leave in about 19 hours for the Ukraine, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The first leg of our journey is in Kiev, where we will have the delight and privilege of witnessing our nephew Peter's marriage to Trish. We'll stay in Kiev for five days in various pre- and post- marital outings -- most of which involve food, family and friends. What's not to like?
From there we'll head to Budapest. We end our trip in Prague. We're not so clear yet on what happens in the middle. And I love that. I love the ability to be spontaneous. We've never been anywhere in this region -- so it's all new discovery.
But all that starts in less than 19 hours and I have not packed. The laundry is done and I do know where my passport is. It's a start. Oh, and I do have work tomorrow.
Several of you have asked for the link to this blog. I hope to be able to keep at it regularly; and I hope to hear your thoughts along the way as well. Thanks!
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