Austria-Hungary

So, now halfway through February - a month that is quite full of stuff to do!

The first weekend in February, Rachel and I went to Vienna. It was very cold and (dangerously) icy but we managed to see a lot and get a lot done! Highlights included the Schönbrunner Palace and grounds, eating Schnitzel, seeing the ballet Romeo and Juliet at the Opera House, walking on the (frozen) Danube river, very sex-oriented exhibit at the Modern Art museum, Exhibits on Andy Warhol's Cars and Various Impressionists at the Albertina Gallery, Sachertorte and Sacherkaffee at Sacher Eck (though the torte was more of a disappointment), Goulasch, Beer, Mozart related paraphernalia, and of course cool old European Buildings.

While we enjoyed our time there, we felt that it seemed quite lifeless and empty. It was often (disconcertingly) quiet and there were times we found ourselves wondering just where the f*** everyone got to. It probably didn't help that we were staying in what appeared to be the red-light district (judging from the oh-so-important hooker to not-a-hooker ratio). Also, there was a distinct surplus of canine fecal matter. Grody.

This past weekend we had a great time in Budapest. It was an exceptionally likable place and, thanks to our hostel, our impressions were good from the get-go.We arrived to our hostel a bit late thanks to our flight but we were still greeted at the door with a smile, the lady introducing herself to us and asking us our names. She then led us inside, introduced us to some other couples staying there and then sat us down to get our names and money. She then offered us each a shot of what I can only describe as Hungarian Moonshine (I can't pronounce let alone spell the actual name) that had at least 50% ABV (probably more) and was distilled by her very own father. Despite being a kick in the ol' teeth at first it was quite tasty! After this, she gave us a map and proceeded to circle every noteable site, pub, restaurant, club, market, store, cafe and street for us. It was really helpful! She then led us to our room where we settled in for the night.

On saturday we began by heading to one of the recommended cafes for coffee and breakfast. I had a deep-fried egg-covered ham and cheese sandwich (essentially a french toast sandwich) and a latte macchiato. Good. We then walked to the famous market hall, perused that for a while, considered crossing the Danube but deemed it too cold and windy for the moment. We took a stroll down a recommended walking street after which we headed across the river from Pest to Buda. We climbed the hill to the Castle/Palace and explored the grounds for a while. We decided to take a trip into the Labyrinths beneath the hill but ended up being disappointed by the lack of authenticity. We continued to the beautiful Fisherman's Bastion where we soon realized we were hungry. We took a metro back to Pest and got a good Hungarian lunch of goulash soup, paprika chicken and hungarian dumplings followed by a cottage cheese filled crepe with hot vanilla sauce for dessert. We then headed back to the hostel for a nap before joining the others in the common room for a free hungarian dinner prepared by the woman that had greeted us the night before. While we ate, we met and talked with some other coupes and eventually decided to take a stroll to the turkish baths at about 10:30PM. We were there until about 1AM and they were really cool. Pools of varying temperatures, steam rooms and saunas. A good way to spend the night!

Sunday, Valentine's day, we set out to find fabled hungarian 'hot bread tubes' aka chimney cake aka Kürtőskalács. Deliscious. Also had a coffee. From here we walked across pest to eventually end up at the Heroes Square. Here was a cool monument flanked by 2 cool looking museums (that we didn't go into). The park behind these buildings contained a sweet castle and also a very famous hungarian thermal bath. We headed in there for a couple of hours. It was very nice but a bit of a system shock when you had to get out of the 38 degree water and walk quite far in 2 degree weather to get back inside... After the bath's we went to a local Hungarian restaurant (again recommended) and had a really tasty meal of potatoes, bacon, pork, and various other things together on a plate.. For dessert we made our way back for hot bread tubes and, because they recognized us from the morning, they gave us a 20% discount! Bonus! Having to get up early the next morning to get to the airport, we headed back to the Hostel and had an early-ish night.


We also saw Honza and Claire right before we went to Vienna and Ksenija is apparently in town this week so i'm sure we'll see her too!


So far a very good February!

January!

So it seems that the relationship between time since one's last blog post and the difficulty of getting back into blogging is one of exponential growth. In an effort to stay on top of what I've been doing, this post will be more of a quick summary. I may or may not get around to flushing in more detail!

First weekend after New Years: Friday night went bowling with Rachel, her brother and sister and their girlfriend/boyfriend. Can't remember the rest of that weekend...

Weekend of the 16th: Went Skiing with Rachel on the saturday. She hadn't snowboarded in a long time so it was a bit slow. Chilled out the rest of the weekend, Rachel got sick :( Monday saw Holly who was visiting from Germany.

Weekend of the 23rd: Went skiing with Chris and Bianca to Hoch-Ybrig. Really nice day, great snowboarding, good snow, fun jumps - had a good time! Went to Rachel's brother's place that night for dinner.

Last weekend in January: On the 29th went to Rachel's mom's house for Rachel's sister's birthday. Had a nice apero, good dinner and lots of dessert. Got a cool Second hand sweater as a gift/attempt to clear out unwanted junk. Didn't matter, I appreciated it! Next day went to Technorama, the science museum in Winterthur. That was pretty cool, enjoyed it quite a bit actually!

That's more or less all I can remember at the moment, will try and add more later!