Hello,
Dakota and I got into Budapest Friday evening after a few hours on the train. We set out to figure out the public transit here and find our hostel. This, however took far longer than expected due the "off-yonder-ness" of our hostel. There were no resturants nearby and the so called "10 minutes to downtown" was really "a 15 minute tram ride to the metro station which you then have to take to get downtown." It seemed like a pretty chill place but it was loud with this annoying dog, needless to say we found plenty of faults. So, we packed up the next morning checked out four nights early and moved to a hostel that was actually in the city. Our new hostel has been nice. There is free internet and our room has these cool little balconies. Also there are numerous resturants, bars, and signs of life nearby.
So far in Budapest we've visited a House of Terror Museum which was about the Nazi occupation soon followed by the Communist regime. We visited replicas of their prison and execution room, fun. Also, we spent a wonderful saturday night at the Turkish baths. That was very relaxing although we smelled like sulfur after. Sunday we ventured across the rive to the Buda side of things where there are several old churches, a labrinyth, and of course a palace which is home to the current Hungarian president. All of this is on top of a hill with a fabulous view of the Danube and the Parliament building (where we are heading today). From up there we saw some type of street fair taking place on one of the bridges so we trekked it downhill and found a neat arts and crafts type fair. There was music and performances on the far side of the bridge so we wandered all the way across before heading back to our hostel. Last night was also the Finals for Euro 2008 between Spain and Germany. We got great seats outside of this bar called Jolly Rogers with a big TV and surround by football fans. It was very unAmerican haha :)
Anyhow we're off to see more of the Pest side today. And kota is anxious to check her email so until later.
Love,
Cara
Monday, June 30, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Slovakia
Hello Again, sorry for my tardiness between posts.
We just got settled in our second hostel in Budapest, the first one didn't work out too well. But more about that later. We had a fun last night in Prague, which included meeting a street performer from Montreal named Alex who was really quite entertaining. We also ended up going out to possibly the coolest club I've ever been to. From the courtyard, to the bar, to the dancefloor everything was made from recycled industrial materials, mostly from the communist area apparently. There were light fixtures made from tire wells and irons (there were little blinky lights coming through the holes in the irons). And the entire outside/balcony was an intricate work of metal. I'm not quite sure how structurally sound it was but it looked cool.
Tuesday morning (not too early though) we took off for Bratislava the capital of Slovakia. It was suppose to be a 4 hour train ride but it ended up taking a little more than 6 so most of our day was spent traveling. Bratislava is a good size city along the Danube and was the site of many Hungarian coronations, fyi. I won't regurgitate much more from the tour book but we did visit this Palace which is now the Presidential residence and has less obvious security than the American embassy (surprise, surprise). They also have a castle too which was fun to walk around. And of course cheap beer. We liked that about Slovakia. We spent our first day walking around the Old Town and seeing most of the major sights(there really aren't that many especially if you only visit one church, like us). The next day we took a ferry boat that was really cool it went 62 km/h through the narrow canals of the Danube all the way to Vienna for the day. Unbeknowst to us this was the day of the semifinal game between Russia and Spain(woot woot). The streets were filled with fans and the Imperial Palace was home to a "FanZone." Which kind of ruined the effect. It was pretty wild and the Spanish fans were by far the more enthusastic group. We only got to see a few main sights in part because of the game and in part because of the intense thunderstorms that set in.
For example, it was overcast but still warm and we were wandering around outside of the main cathedral when all of a sudden I see all the fans that had been partying in the street running towards us. Not quite sure what was going on Kota and I ran too just as we felt the rain pelting our backs. We hid in an exspensive scarf store while it was absolutely pouring and the gargoyles on the church were releasing impressive streams of water. Nearly everyone had taken cover and the ladies in the store were really nice, but we still didnt touch anything. Like I said, it was pretty wild. We returned to Bratislava that evening where it was storming beyond belief. Winds, rain, thunder, lightning, the whole deal. We made it back to our hostel eventually but nonetheless we were pretty wet and carrying our purses in trash bags they gave us on the ferry. We stayed in after that.
Our last day in Bratislava we mostly hung around, had a nice lunch and some ice cream, then headed to the train station for Budapest, Hungary which we are exploring now.
More to come soon (I swear) I just hate to monopolize the computer.
Love,
Cara
p.s. I can not for the life of me find an exclamation point on this keyboard so please bear with me and just imagine my exclamations. Kisses and hugs(imagine...)
We just got settled in our second hostel in Budapest, the first one didn't work out too well. But more about that later. We had a fun last night in Prague, which included meeting a street performer from Montreal named Alex who was really quite entertaining. We also ended up going out to possibly the coolest club I've ever been to. From the courtyard, to the bar, to the dancefloor everything was made from recycled industrial materials, mostly from the communist area apparently. There were light fixtures made from tire wells and irons (there were little blinky lights coming through the holes in the irons). And the entire outside/balcony was an intricate work of metal. I'm not quite sure how structurally sound it was but it looked cool.
Tuesday morning (not too early though) we took off for Bratislava the capital of Slovakia. It was suppose to be a 4 hour train ride but it ended up taking a little more than 6 so most of our day was spent traveling. Bratislava is a good size city along the Danube and was the site of many Hungarian coronations, fyi. I won't regurgitate much more from the tour book but we did visit this Palace which is now the Presidential residence and has less obvious security than the American embassy (surprise, surprise). They also have a castle too which was fun to walk around. And of course cheap beer. We liked that about Slovakia. We spent our first day walking around the Old Town and seeing most of the major sights(there really aren't that many especially if you only visit one church, like us). The next day we took a ferry boat that was really cool it went 62 km/h through the narrow canals of the Danube all the way to Vienna for the day. Unbeknowst to us this was the day of the semifinal game between Russia and Spain(woot woot). The streets were filled with fans and the Imperial Palace was home to a "FanZone." Which kind of ruined the effect. It was pretty wild and the Spanish fans were by far the more enthusastic group. We only got to see a few main sights in part because of the game and in part because of the intense thunderstorms that set in.
For example, it was overcast but still warm and we were wandering around outside of the main cathedral when all of a sudden I see all the fans that had been partying in the street running towards us. Not quite sure what was going on Kota and I ran too just as we felt the rain pelting our backs. We hid in an exspensive scarf store while it was absolutely pouring and the gargoyles on the church were releasing impressive streams of water. Nearly everyone had taken cover and the ladies in the store were really nice, but we still didnt touch anything. Like I said, it was pretty wild. We returned to Bratislava that evening where it was storming beyond belief. Winds, rain, thunder, lightning, the whole deal. We made it back to our hostel eventually but nonetheless we were pretty wet and carrying our purses in trash bags they gave us on the ferry. We stayed in after that.
Our last day in Bratislava we mostly hung around, had a nice lunch and some ice cream, then headed to the train station for Budapest, Hungary which we are exploring now.
More to come soon (I swear) I just hate to monopolize the computer.
Love,
Cara
p.s. I can not for the life of me find an exclamation point on this keyboard so please bear with me and just imagine my exclamations. Kisses and hugs(imagine...)
Monday, June 23, 2008
Prague-ness
Hi!
Today is our last night in Prague and we just got back from buying our train tickets. We head to Bratislava just before midday tomorrow and should be there by late afternoon. Prague has been great! Our first day we mostly wandered around the district we are staying in called Zizkov, which is pretty laid back. The next day, Saturday we headed to "Old Town" and saw some of the more famous sights like the Astronomical Clock and the Jewish Ghetto where there's this insane graveyard that is crowded beyond belief! It looks like something out of a Tim Burton film. It was a really nice day until we got fined on the metro :( our bad for not having tickets. That's just how the cookie crumbles. Sunday we visited a contemporary art museum that was...interesting, very interesting. We also got tickets for a classical music concert at the Rudolphium which is a gorgeous building and the show itself was pretty epic. Today we got up and out to see the Charles Bridge and Prague Castle two of the major tourist spots. (Liz, I took a photo in front of your saintly likeness). The weather has been really really warm which is a very nice change from Oregon but drains my energy. Between that and all the walking we've done I will sleep really well tonight!
Love,
Cara
Today is our last night in Prague and we just got back from buying our train tickets. We head to Bratislava just before midday tomorrow and should be there by late afternoon. Prague has been great! Our first day we mostly wandered around the district we are staying in called Zizkov, which is pretty laid back. The next day, Saturday we headed to "Old Town" and saw some of the more famous sights like the Astronomical Clock and the Jewish Ghetto where there's this insane graveyard that is crowded beyond belief! It looks like something out of a Tim Burton film. It was a really nice day until we got fined on the metro :( our bad for not having tickets. That's just how the cookie crumbles. Sunday we visited a contemporary art museum that was...interesting, very interesting. We also got tickets for a classical music concert at the Rudolphium which is a gorgeous building and the show itself was pretty epic. Today we got up and out to see the Charles Bridge and Prague Castle two of the major tourist spots. (Liz, I took a photo in front of your saintly likeness). The weather has been really really warm which is a very nice change from Oregon but drains my energy. Between that and all the walking we've done I will sleep really well tonight!
Love,
Cara
Thursday, June 19, 2008
The Clown and Bard
Hello!
Now over 19 hours after we left home, Dakota and I have reached Prague and our hostel. We both took wonderful naps during our five hour layover in Frankfurt and now are trying to stay awake long enough to be on Prague time. Nothing too exciting has happened which is a good thing in many ways. We'll be here for like five nights so we have a real chance to see a lot of the city.
Love,
Cara
Now over 19 hours after we left home, Dakota and I have reached Prague and our hostel. We both took wonderful naps during our five hour layover in Frankfurt and now are trying to stay awake long enough to be on Prague time. Nothing too exciting has happened which is a good thing in many ways. We'll be here for like five nights so we have a real chance to see a lot of the city.
Love,
Cara
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Preparations
Hi all,
Today Kota and I begin packing for our Prague/Bratislava/Budapest trip. We fly out from SFO tomorrow at 1:00 which is the beginning of a very very long travel day. We'll arrive in Prague at 5:30 on Thursday local time which is 8:30 a.m. West Coast time. Dakota and I are having a panini breakfast with the girls tomorrow morning before heading out to the airport. Next time I post I will have officially begun my trip!
Until then,
Cara
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