Estergom, shmestergom

Our only day trip from Budapest was to Estergom, a Danube bend town billed as one of the 1,000 things to see before we die. Well, I would beg to differ, especially after two weeks in Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia, which don't have a single sight that makes the cut. Still though, the countryside is not without it's charms.

And check out the local characters:


xoxo Jessie

Budapest

We spent a full 6 days in Budapest, our longest in any one place thus far. Partly this was because there is so much to see. The Danube is flanked by two full cities, Buda and Pest. The hills in Buda have the oldest sights, like the Castle and the most famous hot spring baths, while Pest contains the cosmopolitan development standard to other European cities, like luxury shops, great performance halls, and soaring cathedrals. Both sides have divey bars and funky coffeehouses in their winding residential neighborhoods. But then partly the extended stay was also due to our hungover/sleeping landlord letting us our apartment for a fraction of the price originally advertised.

One reoccurring sight in these former Austro-Hungarian capitals are the colorful patterns on the terracotta tile roofs, with which I was previously unfamiliar.


Another favorite are the traditional hunting clothes, which many men wear in the city streets, apparently unaware that to an untrained eye they evoke childhood memories of the cast of the Sound of Music as opposed to an impression of machismo. And then there is this take on the matter:

A few other noteworthy items include Europe's oldest subway system (original cars still running, apparently),

the most famous export, paprika,

and the nicest hotel lobby I have ever seen at the Four Seasons in Pest (seriously coming back here with cash).

Oh and this has nothing to do with Budapest, except for being created there, but is this not the best venn diagram ever?

xoxo Jessie

Happy Hippo

We discovered them in Germany. They were ubiquitous in Austria. We hoarded them in Hungary. We finished them in Croatia. They were Kinder Happy Hippos, and they were perfect.


Update: turns out I'm hardly the first to sing the praises of the Happy Hippo.

I know ...

So I'm behind on the blogging. For what it's worth, since Bratislava we've been to Budapest (which, it turns out, is really Buda and Pest), Zagreb, Maribor, Ljubljana, Trieste, Venice, Umag, and Pureč. The unintended benefit of the backlog is that I've heard from a number of you, apparently Tripnic is quite the procrastination device .... First of all, Aaron hasn't blogged at all, so complain to him! Also, go back to work!! Alternatively google map our progress (I know you don't know where Umag is). Last, but not least, thanks for reading and I'll be updating soon. I think.

xoxo Jessie

Just Another Day

We've been traveling for a month now, and we've spent that entire period in the great European capitals (either of this century or the last). There's no way to say this without sounding like a jerk, but I'm starting to take gorgeous buildings and immaculate cobblestone streets for granted.
So our day in Bratislava, was lovely, but not so different from many other days. We climbed the hill to the medieval castle, we meandered through the city center, and we stopped often for coffee or beer. I think I'm feeling less guilty about my perma-trip.

xoxo Jessie

Keyboards

As the trip has progressed south and east, geographically, and deeper into the slavic, linguistically, the keyboards have grown increasingly mysterious. We began in Germany with ö and ß keys where the return bar should have been. In the Czech Republic we encountered the switching of the z and y keys - always tricky despite my hunting and pecking. But all of this was just a preview of the mahem that is an average computer in Hungary or Slovenia. Behold the additional letters: ł č ć ž š đ. And the new forms of punctuation: ¸ˇ^˘°˛`˙´€¤. Last but not least, the whole system of the Alt Gr key, which allows each key on the keyboard to hold three characters (the first the base key, the second the shift key + the base key, and the third the Alt Gr key + the base key). So an apostrophe is available via Alt Gr + 9, the @ via Alt Gr + v. Go figure.

xoxo Jessie

Vienna: land of perfect coffee, free proseco, and general fabulousity

This is overdue and I guess pretty obvious, but Vienna is great. In addition to what now seems to us quite run-of-the-mill architectural grandeur (shared by Berlin, Prague, and Dresden so far), Vienna has a culture of refinement not present in its German and Czech counterparts. There is an art to almost everything. Even the H&M's are nicer here. Contemplative and deliberate design is apparent in everything from sandwiches to seating.

Part of our affection must be attributed to an impromptu evening at a gallery opening. Over the years we have seen our fair share of free wine and cheese, but this was unprecedented. Had it only been unlimited proseco and prosciutto it would have been one thing, but as soon as they asked if they could offer us some truffle oil on our cheese and honey, well that pretty much sealed the deal. Best city ever.

Zum Schwartzen Kameel presented a second gastronomic highlight. After work, instead of grabbing a cocktail at a bar, the Viennese stop in for open-faced sandwiches and a glass fo local wine (Vienna is home to more wineries than any other city in the world). Sooo posh.


This scene was topped only by that at Julius Meinl's artisinal: two floors of meticulously shelved panatone, marzipan, chocolate, cheese, and sausage.


More traditional highlights included the Kunsthistorisches, especially the Bruegels:


The Naschmmarkt, especially the falafel (the best we've ever had) and the fruit selection:


And of course, the coffee. This was a particulary fine cup at the famous Cafe Sperl:

Last but not least we attended a performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony (which was premiered in Vienna at what is now the home of the Sacher hotel and, therefore, the famous but in our opinion over-hyped Sacher Torte) at the incomparable Musikverein:

xoxo Jessie

Oktoberfest

We spent one glorious day at Oktoberfest. I'm not sure how people do this for longer than that. After 2.5 liters of beer I was ... yea. And that was at noon.


But I get ahead of myself. Let me give you a fuller picture: We took an overnight bus from Prague and arrived in Munich at 5 am. We showered (one of the cleanest, warmest, and highest water pressure showers of the trip so far, FYI) in the train station. This is a crucial detail because in line for the shower (yes at 5 am there was a line - though we were the only ones in it who had slept at all the night before or not chosen to don lederhosen for the occasion) we met a man who advised us to try the Augustiner or Hofbrau tents (best beer, best crowd, respectively).

We headed to the fair grounds (now 8:30 am) and the first sight was the Augustiner tent as it was opening. We took shower-guy's advice and filed in. By 9 am there was not a single seat in the tent left. Had we meandered naively from tent to tent there would have been no sitting all day long.

The oom-pah-pah band doesn't get going until noon, so from 9 am until then the crowd makes its own music. We gathered they were singing mostly futbol team songs. Though one oft-repeated tune was definitely the White Stripes. Even this was infectious. When the crowd was not sufficiently boisterous, a man in a chef's outfit mounted the bandstand and chugged a liter of beer, inspiring us all. Once the band began to play there was no need of encouragement. At least half the room of thousands were standing on chairs and tables cheering and singing and prost!ing at any given time from there on out.

There were gigantic pretzels and other baked goods available earlier on, but we waited until the late morning to sample the rotisserie chicken (omg so good). It is at this point that my memory of events becomes less precise. I know that at some point I lost my umbrella.

All in all, the whole thing was amazing. Diehards will no doubt judge my one day in one tent lacking, but we had a blast.


xoxo Jessie

Friends!

We spent our last two nights in Prague with Ali and Travis. Since they're at the end of their long adventure they were able to give us lots of sage advice, convincing evidence we should also go to Oktoberfest, and a perfect excuse to eat some very un-Czech Thai and Afghani meals:) Thanks guys!


xoxo Jessie

Prague

After four full days in Prague I am still enjoying the romance and beauty of its cobblestone streets and its skyline of spires. The city is old, by American standards certainly, but also in comparison to the post-WWII restorations that dominated Berlin and Dresden. Neither of us had any inkling how beautiful it would be here, and we had an awe-filled stroll through the old town square our first night here.


Since then we've seen the sights (the guidebook's highlights were at the Prague Castle, on the Charles Bridge, and in St. Nicholas Church - mine have been the Old Town streets at night, the Castle Gardens, the art nouveau interior of the cathedral at Vysehrad, and beer halls).


We've sampled some authenic Czech cuisine and thuroughly enjoyed the pub scene. Behold svickova and knedliky:













Today we took a trip out of town to Kutna Hora, home to a 40,000 body ossuary. Bizarre doesn't even begin to describe ...



xoxo Jessie