Hello again!
After a quick tour of Bosnia, we moved-ever so slowly-by train to the big and bustling city of Budapest! We had heard plenty of good things regarding this "must-see" European city, so we were so looking forward to checking it out for ourselves.
Situated on either side of the Danube River, Buda and Pest are filled with beautiful green "kerteks" (gardens) full of activity, architecture that will hold your gaze for hours, and food and drink at such reasonable prices, we wondered why we didn't take weeks to tour this city. The people are ridiculously friendly as well. We had three people in one day ask us if we needed any help (one may have been slightly intoxicated, but friendly none-the-less). Even on cloudy days-which we had- Budapest just screams for you to admire and explore it. What a gem.
We stayed in a so-cool-yet-sophisticated downtown hostel called Bebop. With sky-high ceilings, low-lighting and walls littered with records, Bebop was a hostel we could have spent weeks in; not to mention the enormous dorm rooms with top bunks 10 feet off the ground. The building itself was in an awesome location as well, making it easy to walk the huge city. So, we grabbed our map and did just that.
The first thing we did was head over to Castle District, home of the Royal Palace, Matthias Church, and the Fishermen's Bastion. The District sits on a hill on the Buda side, with plenty of fine buildings and narrow cobble-stone streets and paths. We took our time walking around and admiring the tall peaks and towers of the Palace, watching the soldiers do their synchronized routines, and later, finding ourselves in line for some fresh kürtüskalaks. What does this strange word mean? It means delicious. No, I'm kidding, I have no idea what it means, only that the thing belonging to the word was delicious...You still following? Kürtöskalaks is a pastry popular in Hungary(possibly Czech Republic as well) baked fresh in a skewer-type fashion. The baker rolls the hot pastry in your choice of topping(cinnamon sugar, coconut, chocolate, vanilla), bags it, and then passes it off to you-the now drooling recipient. Ahh, slightly hard to describe, but it is completely hollow, and once you pull the end piece, it sort of twirls apart. Andrew has catorgorized this particular treat as "very good, but not life-changing". Fair enough.
We took a nice stroll up through some parks as well, making our way up the Gellert hill to the Citadel, a beautiful trio of statues erected after the second world war. The main statue is a woman holding an olive branch, a symbol of peace in her hands.
Next, we crossed the big Chain Bridge and took a look at the Shoes on the Danube, a memorial created to Honor the Jews killed in WWII. We were told that they were ordered to remove their shoes, and were tied in trios. The military men shot only the middle person, in order to save bullets. The bodies of men, women, and children were carried down that river, out of sight. Only the shoes remained. The memorial was awful, yet beautiful at the same time.
We passed by the enormous and architecturally magnificent Parliament Building and the House of Terror, another memorial and museum. We ate the tastiest Hungarian goulash soup, and some Hungarian sausage-with a rather healthy helping of ketchup and mustard!
A few hours were spent soaking in the Turkish-type thermal baths. We went to the Szechenyi Baths, a maze of outdoor and indoor baths, pools, saunas, and steam rooms. It was a wonderful way to spend a cloudy day.
We left Budapest wanting more, but Andrew and I both agree that that's not a bad way to leave at all!
Our next stop was Vienna, Austria. Another beautiful city full of art and music.
Our first night we paid 3 euros to join the other cheapies in the standing section of the Opera House. The show, "Salome", was 1 hour and 45 minutes, and I must say, I enjoyed watching the orchestra more than the actual opera. You could try to ask Andrew what he enjoyed about it...but I think he was too busy snoozing ;)
We again, did a lot of walking through Vienna, and spent a good amount of time exploring the amazingly lush gardens of the Schönbrunn Palace, as well as getting lost in the mazes. Later, we stopped for a picnic lunch in a grassy park. It was funny, because there were signs everywhere telling you to STAY OFF THE GRASS. Apparently no one takes them seriously, because everywhere we went students were studying, bums were sleeping, couples were cuddling. All on the grass. We've been told Vienna has plenty of rules not worth following. Good enough for us!
We met Lisa, originally from Germany, but studying in Vienna, and a group of her friends the second night. We got in touch with Lisa through Andrew's cousin Stacey. We got a little message from Stacey asking us if we needed a tour guide, as her best friend lives in Vienna. We said most definitely, and met up for some beers(that's our kind of tour guide!). It was really cool to hang out with some "locals" and get out of the hostel for a night. Andrew left with a long list of German must-try beers from Lisa's roommate. We have plenty of testing to do now.
After Vienna, we jumped on yet another train, this time bringing us to Zürich! The train ride itself was gorgeous. We went from green, grassy hills, to snow-filled pastures! Ahh, snow! All that white was a beautiful sight for us Canadians. Although, we were happy to be IN the train, not IN the snow. We would have needed a slight change in wardrobe.
We arrived in snow-free Switzerland, ready to meet Frederike and Thomas. We met this gem of a couple while on our overnight diving excursion in Indonesia. We exchanged emails upon parting, saying we would be in touch if we ventured to Zürich. So thankful we did, because in this last week, we have learnt so much from our new friends, and have had an absolutely amazing time. Not to mention the food and wine we have enjoyed!! BUT, I will leave you at that for now...
This is just the beginning of re-uniting with great people we met while in Asia.
“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until
they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”
--Anais Nin, The Diary of Anais Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934
A&C
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