Budapest Part 1

At the Warsaw airport, I made friends with John the Baptist from Jordan. I didn't mean to make friends with him, but I knew where the smoking room was. John the Baptist definitely wanted to smoke. So, then he talked up Jordan and recommended that I use a travel agent to book my flight there.

So, I arrived in Budapest incredibly early. My hostel owner berated me for not dressing warm enough. After dropping my bag off at my hostel, I decided to take a tour of the city. Of course, before I even whip out my tour guidebook, I find this gem: a statue of Reagan. Boo yeah America. I think I may have a bit of excessive love for America now that I live elsewhere.

Next, I headed over to Parliament, where the Rick Steves walking tour begins. Unfortunately, they didn't have tours available because Parliament was actually meeting or something lame like that. The area around Parliament was full of awesome statues, though. My favorites are the following two. The first one is a memorial to the Uprising of 1956. This was a big deal in Hungary in fighting the Communist powers. Of course, as with all good things, it started in Poland. I think it was a much bigger deal in Hungary. But I'm still proud of the student protests in Poznan for beginning a revolution elsewhere. Kind of like Solidarity. Awesomeness beginning in the land of Poles.

The second is a flag with the center cut out. They used to do this to protest communism because there would be communist insignia in the middle of the flag.

I continued the walking tour with few amazing sights until I came to this park right outside the US embassy. (My hostel host told me that the US Embassy was nearby. I told him that was good in case I get in trouble. I was thinking "I cause trouble." He thought Americans were just really negative. I convinced him that it was because I lived with Poles.) There were at least five dog owners with their dogs. Including this adorable dog in front of the best photo I took all weekend.

On the walking tour, I eventually made it to this GIANT Catholic Church. The best part of this church is that it houses a shriveled up, dead hand from some saint. The best ever.

The next stop on my tour was the Postal museum. The museum was not among the list of amazing things to see in Budapest. But I just love a good postal museum. Because I love the post office. The best part of this post office was the awesome mannequins. Representing who knows what, there were real winners.

I then saw the Opera House. I wanted to go on the tour, but they only have a few tours. Which is sad, because opera houses always make me think of Phantom of the Opera. I love that book and movie and play.

I wandered across to Chain Bridge. It's super famous and named after someone famous. (This memory of mine is a steel trap, as you can see.)

There were a few other statues that Rick Steves recommended I visit, including "The Princess," a whimsical statue without any real purpose.

I walked these ways to the Great Hall - a really giant market place. One of the best parts of the Great Hall was that it featured some really wonderful displays about mushrooms. Mushroom picking and the different regions you can go to in order to pick mushrooms. The top floor was entirely souvenirs, and I picked up some real winners.

There was also a Langos stand. Langos is basically fried dough, but they make savory and sweet langos. I had a cinnamon sugar version. I wish I would've tried the savory kinds too, but I enjoyed what I had.

Next I went to this really awesome, nearby museum. I only went because it was nearby and on a metro line, but it ended up being an awesome decision. It had some really amazing old stuff about the entire history of Hungary. The history of Hungary seemed so much more advanced than I expected. Primarily because it was once the Roman empire. Then it was the Austria-Hungary empire. Everything was evolved.

After dinner with Tyler, we went to castle hill on the Buda side, and we talked and took photos of the pretty lights on the other side of the Danube.

Bulgaria

Despite my habit of breaking posts up into days of travel, I don't have enough time before I leave for Budapest to really delve into Bulgaria. So here are the highlights:

A really pretty church from our sight seeing tour. The inside was even more amazing, but, of course, photos weren't allowed.

Dinner at a Bulgarian BBQ place. Chillin' with my ND peep. Other remarkable dinners included a Moroccan place and an Irish place. And more Bulgarian places, of course.

This is one of the traditional Bulgarian restaurants. Yes, I was selected to dance. Because I'm a hottie.

This is the lady of Sofia. She's dressed rather skankily, but she's a monument of the city.

Some ruins. Now all their ruins are intermixed with their subway system. If in doubt, blame communism.

Our tour guide at the Boyana Church and Tyler. Our Tour Guide's name was Mr. White White. He said things like "Oh, I could talk all night, but how time flies!" He was adorable. The inside of the church was amazing. It's a UNESCO world heritage site. But no photos allowed!

Our hostel. Was freezing cold. The guy who checked us in may or may not have been high. He didn't turn the water heater on...

The symbol of Bulgaria is the lion. The Leva. Also the name of its currency.

The best bar we went to any night. The apartment. It is just like an apartment. With booze. And sexy Jazz music.

Stockholm. Day Two.

Day two started off slowly. I initially planned to go to Vasa at 10, then mosey over to Hell at 11, then move onto Skansen before everything shut down at 3. Well, I was having a hard time getting motivated in the morning, so I reversed everything.

I arrived at Skansen shortly before 11. At first, I thought that things were just shut down because they hadn't opened yet. Then I realized that this (the world's first open air museum) was actually just in off season. I hope I paid less than they do during the real season. It made me a bit cranky, so I determined that I would get the best out of the experience.

I ate a pastry from the building that resembled an old school bakery. I talked to the cute man in the old school dry goods store. I watched some girls in modern clothing blow glass. I explored the town.

Then I toured the rest of Skansen, seeing cute little Scandinavian critters like these. 

(Reindeer, also known as "dinner" in Swedish)

Skansen was OK. It was disappointing coming from a location with an amazing zoo. It was even more disappointing coming from someone who's been to Silver Dollar City more than once. I've already seen folks dressed up old school style trying to sell me things.

There were some old rune stones which were fairly cool. I definitely appreciated that aspect. I think those elements of culture were far more fascinating than just the old buildings that could've existed in America. There was one building in which two women talked about the different herbal/natural remedies for things. There was one called "Devil's Poo" that was well known for curing insanity...

Next, I ate a quick lunch while still reading Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. While the book interested me, I still found it disappointing. I can't wait to watch the (Swedish) movie adaptations. I'm boycotting the American versions for the time being. I don't get why some people just can't man up and read subtitles.

I then wandered over to this museum that had a special exhibit called "Hell." I would never normally go to this museum, but the exhibit was SO COOL. It had a bunch of Jenny Holzer work.

There were videos from Australia and China. The one from Australia was a montage of disaster footage both real and from classic movies. So it was really interesting. There was a huge set - as in the set of a play - as in the whole stage - from a play about the devil. Then they had the play itself on a TV in the corner. There was so much going on, and it was so cool. I almost bought the exhibit catalog.

Next, I wandered over the Vasa Museum to check out a really old Viking ship. I didn't think this would be very cool, but Aunt Beth and Aunt Barb convinced me that it was worth my time. I'm really glad they did. It was a surprisingly awesome museum. I watched the video about the sinking and salvaging of the ship. The boat itself is neat. The museum smells awesome, and I think it's the scent of the old wood.

My favorite part, in typical me fashion, was the reference to Poland (The museum refers to it as "the war with Poland." I prefer to think of it as "Sweden's aggressive attack on innocent Poland.") Did the ship sink because of Poland's malice?

Next I wandered over to the ice bar. This was way too much walking for one person, and my body was dying by the end of it. But I think it was totally worth it. I paid far too much for twenty minutes in a bar with one drink. However, the bar was made of ice. And I think it was the first ice bar in Europe or something like that. So it was legit.

Thus ended my second day. I got some dinner and finished the book until a headache overcame me, and I went to bed nice and early. When I woke up the next morning, the headache was still excruciating, so I didn't get to go to the Swedish Money Museum - which probably has a more appropriate name. But all in all, I think I did a pretty good job of seeing the best of Stockholm.

Stockholm. Day One.

I arrived in Stockholm on Friday night. Exhausted, I did little. I explored the town, picking up my snowglobe (SPOILER: which safely snuck through Swedish security on the way back to Warsaw) and getting dinner.

Saturday, I awoke, ready to see the town. Unfortunately, my eagerness meant that I arrived for my ten o'clock tour of City Hall at 9:20. On the way, though, I got some early morning shots of the streets of Stockholm.

Above is Gamla Stan, the island on which I stayed. It's the home of "Old Town" the largest or oldest or coolest or best preserved medieval city. I made sure I saw all the good things, but I'm not sure I knew what they all were.

City Hall is where they award the... NOBEL PRIZES (except for the peace prize).

This is the City Hall staircase down which the Nobel Prize recipients and the Swedish Royal Family walk. One day, I will write a book full of optimism that will change the world. Then I too will be recognized with a famous walk down these steps.

This is the ceiling of the actual conference room. It may or may not look like the underside of a Viking boat. Rumor has it that Vikings had political conferences under their boats during the winter. This may or may not be true.

The Gold Room is where everyone goes to dance after eating their Nobel Prize dinners. During the Nobel Prize dinner, each guest has 60 cm of space. Except for the recipients, who have a roomy 70 cm.

This is a mosaic of the lady of Stockholm. She is really unattractive. Stockholm itself is not unattractive. Do not be fooled.

This was my favorite part of the City Hall. Can you guess why? Hint (It starts with an "A" and ends with a "merica")

After touring the City Hall, I continued my noble quest (haha, get it?) by rushing to the Nobel Museum, which had a tour at 11:15 (I had this trip timed to the second!). The Nobel Museum was cool, and I learned more about Alfred, who set up the prizes in his will (shocking the relatives who thought they'd receive some of his fortune). Then I examined the Marie Curie exhibit, which as a special exhibit was far better than the Marie Curie museum in Warsaw. Disappointing. Also, a reminder that I cannot escape Poland.

The next thing on my agenda was a tour of the Royal Apartments of the Royal Castle. The castle is huge and has millions of rooms (approximately). So only a small portion of them are open because the other ones are in use. By the Royal family. So that tour was at two o'clock. I stood in line to get my ticket, watched some changing of the guard ritual that took forever, then went off to explore the Old Town (i.e. follow tour groups around, figuring they would go to important places - AND I WAS RIGHT!)

So, first we went to this really tiny statue. That might be the smallest statue in an Old Town or something silly like that. But people tossed down coins and rubbed its head. So I did too. Which means I lost out on one whole zloty.

Next, we went to this really old German church. It was old. And German. Evidently Germans were in Sweden. A long time ago. Because it was old. It also reminded me a bit of some of the churches we looked at near Wroclaw. So maybe there's something very German about the wood and the architecture.

Next, I wondered down to the smallest narrowest street in the world. I patiently waited approximately two hours before I could get alone enough to have a very nice person take a photo of me.

Then, after grabbing a muffin for lunch, I headed to the Swedish palace, which unfortunately, I do not have pictures of. Because Sweden is lame. And evidently their royalty is protected by copyright laws or something silly like that. So this is the palace at night.

And this is one of the more impressive rooms that I was able to find on the internet. There were others that were way cooler, but this is at least an example of the rooms.

After about ten minutes with the tour guide, I knew that a "45 minute" tour was going to get us to approximately two rooms with no actual useful information, so I split from the group. After examining everything, including the shield with the coat of arms they made for Lech Walesa in 1993 - featuring a crown, fleur d'lis, and a cross (of course), I headed across to the next island over where I went to the Modern Art Museum.

Unfortunately, their regular exhibit was closed. So they had only a special exhibit about Monet, Turner, and Twombly. Two of which I'd heard of before. They also had a photography exhibit, but modern photography as art is not my favorite thing. At least not the stuff that would end up in modern art museums. At least not the stuff that isn't American.

There were some real winning moments, though. Like the beautiful irises.

I returned to the hostel after dinner and more walking around Old Town to realize that my hostel roommates were gone, and the room was all to myself! I stayed up reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in celebration of my Stockholmness and prepared for an exciting Sunday.

All Saint's Day Weekend

On Friday, I went with Kristine to fulfill the rest of her wishlist. This included trekking all over the city to get a photograph of some statue/monument, eating breakfast at an expensive cafe, and going to the Copernicus Science Museum - a children's science museum. The science museum was surprisingly fun, although environments like that one (surrounded with children) make me question the sanity of people who have more than one child. I would've skipped the museum altogether, but as I was getting Kristine's ticket for her, this nice man gave us multiple entry tickets.

After stopping in Old Town for some lody and helping Kristine haggle for some souvenirs, we caught the bus back to the apartment. I then went and got my hair cut (finally) while Kristine and Lola went for pierogi and then to see Midnight in Paris - which I watched on the plane to Poland and didn't feel the need to watch again.

Saturday was another fun experience in teaching. As usual. Afterwards, I managed to catch up with Kristine and Lola before they went hashing.

After a beautiful walk in a national park north of Warsaw, we consumed beer and ended the evening at a British style pub close to Centrum. The next morning, Kristine left the country, and I went for yet another exhausting day of teaching. Making me realize that teachers really are saints. Although, I still believe professors have it better. Perhaps most of this is that I'm not used to this school system.

Monday was Halloween, but nothing much happens in Warsaw on Halloween. There were some parties at the clubs, but we stayed in. I celebrated by watching horror movies and preparing for NaNoWriMo, which began at midnight November 1.

November 1 is a national holiday. Everyone goes to Mass and then decorates the graves of their relatives. I, did not go decorate the graves of my relatives. Because I highly doubt I have relatives with graves in Warsaw. But I did make a delicious meal for myself (Look, Mom. I do too eat healthy!)

The decorations on the graves really is something that needs to be experienced, but these are some of the best photos of the whole thing.

Finally, that night, Lola and I went to see Jane Eyre in the movie theater. I was pleasantly surprised with the film. While there were obviously things that were not true to the book, the way they chose to adapt it made more sense to me than some of the other movie adaptations. Highly recommended.

Visitors part 2

Tuesday, I dropped Kristine off at the train station before heading to work. I was quite early, so I ended up commandeering the printer in my shared office, printing plenty of information about Sweden. I realized then that I don't have class on Tuesday. So I need to make a point of going into work on Thursday to print my plane tickets. And I need to buy travel bottles. SO MUCH TO DO!

Classes were fine. While working on narrative writing, one of my students shared an amusing anecdote about being mistaken for a hooker in Amsterdam. I thought this was quite funny, because she's not in the least hookerish.

I spent large portions of Tuesday and Wednesday working on Polish and Swedish language learning. Mainly, I want to know enough Swedish to say Hello, Thank You, Please, I don't understand, and Do you speak English?

I also booked my tour and flights to Italy. That's right. Italy. For my birthday. The entire state. I don't know if I'm more nervous about going to Italy or going to Sweden. In one situation, I will have English speaking comrades. Hopefully that will include an old couple who will take a shining to me because I remind them of the granddaughter they always wanted. And that old couple will have a handsome grandson that they want to hook me up with. Then I return back to America and live happily ever after. In the other situation, I function entirely by myself. But they equally intimidate me.

Thursday afternoon, I picked Kristine up from the train station, and we headed to Lazienki park. While I imagine it will be much prettier in the spring when the roses are all blooming around the Chopin statue, it was gorgeous with the fall leaves.

We saw the Palace on the Water then wandered around the rest of the beautiful park before heading home on a crowded bus. We stopped by the grocery store for dinner and watched Despicable Me. All in all, a wonderful homebody evening during which my movie collection saved the day yet again.

Visitors part 1

My Sunday began at the airport, where I picked up Kristen who had just flown in from France. We returned to the apartment where Kristen asked if we were going to Mass. Of course, the next Mass was at one o'clock. It was 12:53. So, I waited for Kristen to sort her stuff out before we flew down the street to Church. I brought my Polish/English Mass parts book, but I was still confused. 

Afterwards, we caught the number 10 tram all the way up to the Uprising Museum. The Uprising Museum is free on Sundays (yay!). That was especially nice as this would have been my second time to the museum in as many weeks. Plus the hours I spent exploring it the first time I ever went there. I'm a bit museumed out. That, combined with my lack of food intake and my low blood sugar, made for a very slow moving Amanda. So, I sat down and watched this really long film they have. Then I went up to the cafe and got a pot of tea while I waited for Kristen to slowly really examine everything they have in the museum.

While in the museum, we met up with Andrew who was visiting his "girlfriend" Anna. So, we met up with them for pierogi after the museum closed. Good times were had by all. Especially me, since I was eating apple, raisin, and cinnamon pierogi. I'm a sucker for the dessert ones.

The evening wound down to a close shortly after that.

The next day, we went to Browarnia. I ate delicious kielbasa and garlic bread and the best french fries ever, paired with a delicious stout. Afterwards, we checked out the Warsaw University campus, the Nicolaus Koperniki statue, and the church where Chopin's heart is buried in the wall. I showed Kristen all the old palaces that belonged to Polish nobility. Then we went to Saxon Garden (another example of old school Polish nobility caring more about their comfort than the wealth of their people).

The park is right behind Plac Jozef Pilsudskiego. Pilsudski had a really serious walrus mustache and is known as a freedom fighter for Poland in a lot of ways. Even though he ruled Poland with a kind of dictatorial edge during the few years of freedom it had in the early twentieth century. The square is also where they have the tomb of the unknown soldier, so Kristen and I lingered a little bit to see the changing of the guards.

Afterwards, we slowly made our way up Old Town where I showed Kristen the interesting things that she missed when we were there in the daylight before. We went back to the Uprising Monument.

Then we walked along the barbican until we came to the little boy soldier. This is a surprisingly hidden statue for how awesome it is.

By then, it was nearly too dark to see anything else. We dilly dallied everywhere so much that we didn't get to go to the Museum of Technology inside the Palace of Science and Culture. But maybe that's something I can talk Lola into doing with me next Monday. It was too dark to wander down to Lazienki park, too.

Now Kristen is in Krakow for two and a half days doing the Krakow thing. Hopefully she can fit it all in, especially now that I realize she's a very thorough tourist. As in, she sees everything very slowly. Which actually I guess is a not very thorough way to travel. Because then you don't see as much...