Hegeyshalom Budapest

For starters, Hegeyshalom is actually a town in Hungary, on the Austrian border. It was the town David had to pass through on the train when crossing into Hungary, long story. Basically, it sounded similar to the way they say 'cheers' in Hungarian, which was a bitch to pronounce, so for some reason, Hegeyshalom just kept making it's way out. As you may be able to see, we hung out in some fairly dilapidated looking places. Our first night in town, we had a low-key, but delicious dinner out at Cafe Kor, which will be first on the list to go eat at, if we ever return to Budapest. Thursday night, we met up with Cynthia at an unmarked, underground club. There was no sign, just an open garage door to welcome you into what was a completely abandoned warehouse, minus for the 3rd floor, where the club was. There was a huge balcony out the back, with railings at roughly my hip level, typical European issue. If you're too drunk or stupid that you fall off, it's your own problem. So, according to Cynthia, the place had been re-done. Fresh drywall with caulk spots everywhere, re-model style in Budapest. Not to mention the bits of dangling ceiling & presence of 7 year-olds in said club. But, the highlight of the club, was of course, the old homeless man throat singer, who we paid a $5 cover to see. Literally, none of us knew how to react. Instead of lose our minds, we headed out to Szimpla, a bar we had heard about from our free walking tour guide as well. The interior of the place is like nothing I have ever seen, or expect to see again in my liiife. Most of the place was inside until you reach the back which is housed in what appeared to be a giant tent. There was grafitti, bathtubs, unmatching furniture, giant 'outdoor heaters' inside the tent, and that only the ground floor! We were overwhelmed. It was too much to take in.
So, we returned, on Saturday night, which was one of the best nights of David's visit. We decided upon arrival that Szimpla is too complicated a place for just one spot. So, we said with every new drink, we'd move to a new spot in the place. Hence, the private room & the keyboards. Classic.
Lastly, on Easter Sunday, we bumped into a huge outdoor wine tasting, complete with live music on our way back to the hotel for a quick pre-dinner freshen-up. We arrived back to the wine tasting about 6pm, soon enough our dinner reservation time came & went & we continued to sit in the late afternoon warmth, playing cards, drinking wine & eating fresh-made chips. It's hard to find that kind of contentment, the feeling that you could just stay freeze-dried in that moment. The only worries consisted of navigating a toilet paper-less john-on-the-spot & communicating to passerbys that no, that seats not free, I don't actually drink three glasses of wine & play cards with my imaginary friends. Although, I don't think I could create better imaginary friends if I tried.
Thanks boys, for the extra kilo I'm blaming on you & for an altogether fantastic time!

I Gotta Feeling

Our spinning teacher asked me last night if I bike a lot, because I have quote "good rhythm and keep the tempo well." Maybe it's all that dancing to homeless old man throat singer. Seriously people, that sound at the end, similar to a goat bleeting, that's him.

Budapest, by Day

I'm trying out a new approach for this trip, as the night life in Budapest was so vibrant, and different, that really, it deserves it's own post. So, hopefully this isn't too disjointed. We all arrived to Budapest Wednesday evening, after a short, low-key flight for l&j versus a long, trying day for David navigating the Vienna public transportation system with flawed information. Thursday we opted for a Free Walking tour which Joe had read about on trip advisor. It was a great way to get the lay of the land and learn more about the history, economy & culture of the city. They gave advise on prices, areas, food & bars to try. We did a bit more walking ourselves after the guided tour & then met up with Cynthia, who is a friend of Christine's from Dartmouth for a bit more advise & information on the city that she currently calls home. We sat at a cafe and enjoyed the late afternoon sunshine while we all got to know each other & hear a bit about Budapest. It wasn't long before we were all in need of some dinner, so we headed over to Vorosmarty ter where a huge, outdoor market was in place for the Easter holiday. There were enormous pans full of gorgeous meats, vegetables & sauces all on display, their aromas making us all the more hungry (in hungary -- i did, terrible, i know). So, we grabbed some dinner & a spot on a picnic bench & settled in for what ended up to be a huge, not cheap dining experience. Then, we decided to meet up later to go to an 'underground club' that Cynthia was talking about to hear some live Hungarian music. So, we broke for a bit, only to meet up later for what was quite an experience.

Needless to say, we didn't jump out of bed Friday morning. After a later start, we arrived to Market Hall, which has an enormous array of products for sale. Basement, live fishes, fish heads, stank, trauma. Ground floor, butchers, fruit & veggie stalls, the grocery store, but inside a gorgeous old building. Top floor, which is basically just a balcony that looks down onto the ground floor stalls, is where all the tourist shops & cafes are located. It's bargain time & it's apparent we all suck at it. Ah well, fighting over what is the equivalent of $1-$2 for us, when the people living there make, on average 500euros a month, just isn't really worth it.
Then we headed over to the mall which we'd seen had a TGIFridays for a chicken finger BLT for Joe, some things never change. Next we went over to the Opera House to see if there were any tickets available in the cheap seats for the upcoming days. Turned out Friday was the only day that still had cheap ($5) seats, so we bought them & headed down to the Terror Museum for a quick visit before the opera began. It ended up to be quite an interesting visit --- with information sheets in each room in English & Hungarian. On one of the museum walls were photos and names of all the people who died in labor camps, or were executed for being enemies of the state during the Communist rule. It was quite a powerful, well-done space that brought home the stark, if not solely negative, reality of living under the Communist rule.

Now, off to the Opera. I think we were all a bit underwhelmed. It was old, and it looked it. There were plastic pallets in the staircase. There was a surly usher who insisted on David checking his coat, rendering us M&Mless (they were in the coat pocket) and David, we would later find, with a dirty coat. There were rock hard seats (despite the presence of what looked like padding), and there was about 10 inches between us and the row in front. Even I felt the squeeze. However, when the lights when down, the orchestra began to play & the first singer came out singing in German, it didn't take more than 5 minutes for both David & I to pass the f out, despite the relative discomfort of the space. Hey, it'd been a long day, it was dark, and we were without M&Ms. I know our parents certainly couldn't blame us, after all, they are the reason we can sleep under such conditions. However, at one point during the opera, a woman screams & both David & I jerked our heads forward. I looked over at Joe & he was laughing, his body shaking as he tried to stifle his amusement. David wasn't even aware of it after the fact, but I recall it because Joe just looked so amused & probably annoyed that he couldn't sleep as well. So, we spent $5 for a nap. Certainly sounds like monies well spent. We didn't even last through the first act. At 6.45 (it started at 5.15), we woke David up & snuck out. It was painfully boring. We are not opera people, or ballet people. We just aren't. I don't care if it's the thing to do in a place. We aren't doing it anymore just to do. Later we learned, we aren't into some other 'must-do' things as well.

Saturday, we woke up real early to grab our rental car & visit Eger, a small town in northeastern Hungary. Joe was awfully excited about the opportunity to drive through for McDs breakfast. Odd note: no hash browns for you in Hungary, they go straight to the good stuff, fries, in the am. So, we arrived to Eger at about 9.15 and headed up to the castle grounds where the boys got to shoot some bows & arrows. We milled around, but it was a bit run down, so we headed into town, which I felt was pretty much the same story. Nothing too interesting to the place. So, rather than just walk aimlessly, we headed out to the wine caves, which are about a 5 minute drive outside of town. There are all these little, dark places carved into the side of the earth & they all make their own wine. It was fantastic. We grabbed a table outside in the sun & picked our place (R. Steves recommended), then went in to order a glass. And this was when we realized that outside of the city, Hungary can still be a really, really cheap place as it was $2 for all three glass of wine. We played some cards and just enjoyed being outside together. We tried one other place, then got back in the car to head to Szetendre, which is a small town just west of Budapest. To no one's surprise, David & I passed out in the car on the way there. It was just a gorgeous, clear day though & it was nice to be out in the countryside. Eventually, we reached the town, parked the car & realized, we needed to have the rental car back in just about 2 hours. No one was all that motivated anyways, so we just walked through the town, looked at the Danube (just looks like any other wide river), and decided rather than wander aimlessly in a starved fashion, we'd just head back to the city & eat something there. We were getting close when the GPS died & would not turn back on. Somehow, after some bickering, confusion about one-way streets (people park anywhich direction they prefer in Hungary), we began to recognize some area we'd walked in before, located ourselves on our Budapest map & a bit more bickering later, arrived to Avis. We didn't do much else but grab a snack, go into St. Istvans & then, headed back to the hotel for a break before dinner & Saturday night, Szimpla style.

Again, Sunday morning was a slow start. We headed out to a recommended cafe for some brunch which was quite pleasant, although too brisk to sit outside (which we were doing). Then we planned to head out to Hero's Park & the Szecheny baths. The park was filled with statues, trash, and people. Nothing too enticing there. So, we found the bath & went in. We figured out what we needed somehow & all headed in to our respective locker rooms. I wish we would have just aborted mission then. The locker rooms were packed, hairy, unclean affairs. The outside was similiar, packed, hairy, huge men in tiny speedos, cold air, weird smells. People had been saying & we'd been reading, you must go to the bath, it's so healthy for you, etc. etc. As David said, "these people sure aren't the picture of health." It was certainly a cultural experience, the only benefit coming from being able to say we've done it now. And yet, another thing I will not be rushing back to despite the fact we'll be in Turkey in 6 weeks, I'll pass on another bath experience.

Sunday evening ended up to be fantastic, a random, unplanned affair. And then David left early Monday morning to train it from Budapest to Vienna to tackle their public transport system again. He left plenty of time to see some of the city, but similar to our day in Budapest, it was cold & rainy all day. We didn't do much but return to the cafe we'd had dinner at the first night, check out the art museum, made to-do lists for our return home and generally tried to stay warm & dry. We did pass a random, out-door fashion show that was blasting pop music while women strutted by in sleeveless dresses and little girls danced next to us. It kind of summed up Budapest for me. You never know what will happen here it said. Honestly, I would hardly believe some of the places we were, some of the music we heard & some of places we sat if I hadn't been there living it.

Mum, where are my crisps?

We all arrived to London at different times, and all encountered the insane commute to our respective hotels/places of work that is London. Wow. I can barely handle it for a long weekend, living, there's just no way. So, I spent Thursday in Islington (a London neighborhood) that a friend told me to check-out. Basically, I just wandered about & ate a heavenly lunch at Ottolengi . I was told best brownies in the world, and oh delectableinsanegoodness. Please, if you go to London ever, go, get the brownies, eat the salads, love the life. I continued to walk around for a while & was asked by a few individuals if I would be interviewed on camera about coffee. So, I did it. According to them, "that was a sound-bite," (relating to a comment I made.) Booyah. Afterwards, I headed to Greenwich, which I also really enjoyed. They have a gorgeous maritime museum, the queen's house (which pretty mundane), and a look-out point over London that's also the prime meridian. All of these nice attractions were free. PartyBonus! Plus, the town is really gorgeous to boot.

We spent the evening out for dinner with one of Joe's co-workers. Incidentally, across the street from our hotel, there was an Asian restaurant complete with DJ, alternating light-up dance floor, disco ball & Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody." Literally, it was surreal. There were probably 20 round tables of 10, instantly making us believe we'd wrongly entered a private party, but no, every Thursday, Friday & Saturday night, the restaurant also moonlights as a sad 'club' for all the middle aged, heavy-set Londoners who want to eat big Chinese dinners, then watch 3 sad, rythymless, middle aged, heavy-set women hit the dance floor.

The next morning I headed into the city to meet David & Joe went to work again, hey, someone's got to make money to pay for more of those brownies. David arrived only a few minutes after I & we were lucky enough to get into our room immediately. He decided to shower, which was quite a good move, because he stunk. I've obviously spent a lot of time around him, and I've never wanted to pass out in his presence until Friday (amy on the other hand --- that time david had his wisdom teeth pulled before south haven, she may have another opinion on the matter). It was really disconcerting & seemed to be mostly coming from his feet. Although, I'll admit, when he got in the shower, I smelled his shoes & they smelled fine. Odd. Ah well, he's a boy I figured. So, after we were all settled in, we headed out to the London Tower, which is not free, not free at all. But, it is quite interesting. We opted for a fish & chips afterwards, as a guy David knows told him that the fish & chips they sell directly outside the tower is delicious. However, there are two stands & I'm pretty sure, we chose the wrong one considering our fish still had skin on it, underneath the breading. I used a bit of my surgical skills though & managed to get most of it off. Friday afternoon, we hit up the British Museum, after David had a bit of a nap.

Then, we headed over to this pub, the Lowlander, that was nearby the British museum & was highly recommended. They have all sorts of Belgian beers, so David & I settled in for pint. The beer was just so delicious though, so we thought, we'll just have Joe meet us here & he can have a delicious beer & some dinner with us after a long day at work. However, Joe also happened to have his computer bag & his fold-over suitcase, which combined weigh 764 pounds & do not have wheels. I instructed Joe on how to get to the bar. Over 1 hour later, one hour of walking with said 764 pounds on one's shoulders, he arrived to the bar. He was not a happy camper. And, it was 'all my fault,' apparently due to shoddy directions. I may have stated, "if you see a fork in the road, you've gone too far." Unfortunately, I didn't notice & David was in a zombie-like state, that there was in fact two splits in the road, and the one Joe saw was not at all the one I was referencing, which was more like the road exploding & diverging into 3 different, and totally new roads. Thanks, you have neat roads London. To his credit, Joe did shake it off, and we all had a fun time. And, he also got to experience toxic David feet that evening when we got back to the hotel.

Saturday, we got out relatively early & arrived to the Churchill Museum & Cabinet War Rooms a few minutes after opening time. The Churchill area was built in 2005 & is one of the most dynamic & insanely dense parts of a museum that I've ever seen. I have never in my life ever thought I would be exposed to so much information about Churchill. To sum it up: he was a badass. We also saw Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, went in the National Gallery (where 'mum, where are my crisps' was overheard) & this was all before we met up with an old grade school friend & her husband, Gemma & Matt, who are living in London, for a late lunch at Borough Market. We waited in the excessive line for what we heard was 'the best coffee.' A guy comes up to get your order, like at Portillos, except you have no idea what you want & this guy has a hole in his ear as big as Kansas. So, we say we've never been here before and he tells us you can get anything here that you can get at a Starbucks, minus the syrups and such. I order what he recommends & then David says, 'I'll take a red eye' to which giant hole says 'what's that?' and David tells him 'it's a coffee with a shot of espresso in it.' Giant hole man looks at David like he is a re-tard & says 'we don't do that,' while continuing to stare incredulously at him. It put us all a bit on edge. So finally, we enter the store, as the line was out the door, and see what we've just ordered. It's like a coffee filter, in a porcelain filter & they pour hot water into the filter, then it bubbles up, and coffee starts to drip out of the bottom of the contraption & into a paper cup. So, unlike the brownies, it was not the best in the world, it was just different.

We spent Saturday afternoon around Harrods, omg, never again, and then headed out to another recommended restaurant, which was delicious but a serious pain in the ass to get to considering all the line closures that happen every weekend in London. Ugh, the boys kept threatening, 'it better be worth it.' I had an amazing dish, soft shell crab with asparagus, & spicy deliciousness. My mouth was on fire, but gdamn, it was good. The boys both had pad thai, so sorry if your lameness in ordering didn't make it feel like the place was worth it.

Sunday we spent the morning at Spitalfield's market & the boys got some KFC (joe had talked about it non-stop on Saturday night). The market had all these independent artists with a whole range of jewelry, purses, scarves, artworks, clothes, etc. I could have spent a few more hours wandering about, but the boys were growing weary & hungry again, so we headed in for lunch at Gourmet Burger Kitchen, which is another must if ever in London. It was delicious, American-like burgers & chicken. Afterwards, we quickly hit up the Imperial War Museum, where both David & I took minis. London is an exhausting place, I'm sure every single one of us could have spent more time in certain places, and less time in others, but we seemed to find a way to please everyone.

Turns out David's feet were so toxic because he had a fungus. We went Monday to the pharmacy, after he once again, almost killed me when he took off his shoes. And, David almost died when the lady told him it was 17.50 for Lamisil. After one day of treatment, we are happy to report, the smell was gone, and after two days, his feet looked back to normal. Certainly worth the 17.50! We've had good weather the past few days in Zurich. David & I saw the city, had a great hike, had friends over for drinks, played cards & planned out the rest of his visit. We are leaving in a few hours for Easter in Budapest, David's navigating Vienna on his own right now, then will catch a train into Budapest from there. Hoping you all have a great Easter weekend!

Happy Birthday Nickerbocker! Here's a virtual fist bump for you!

Zermatt: "The Best Day I've Ever Had in Switzerland"

We headed out to Zermatt mid-day Friday to meet up with all our friends for a weekend of skiing, snowshoeing, drinking, gorgeous views & loving of life. The weather was impeccable the entire weekend, not a cloud in the sky & bright sunshine despite the negative temperatures. Friday evening we stayed in town at the youth hostel which also provided us with a stunning view of the Matterhorn right out the window of both the 'boys' & 'girls' rooms (both nights our rooms were equipped with bunkbeds & slept 4, so we seperated along gender lines). Friday night we went out for a few drinks & ended up in a gorgeous hotel bar with cushy leather couches, a huge fireplace & for the boys, a pool table. We later looked up the hotel, turns out the cheapest room in the place goes for 630 a night. Guess we'll stick to enjoying their bar next time we're in Zermatt (and trust me, there will be a next time & a next time & well, hopefully a next time). The girls were all tired so we retired to the hostel early while the boys enjoyed the pool table & a few more beers.

Saturday morning we were up early enough to catch the sun rising on the Matterhorn from our hostel window. Seriously phenomenal. The skiing crew got out of town early & onto the extensive range of slopes that Zermatt has to offer. I stayed in town with Adam & Trish for a while before the 3 of us headed up as well. We all lunched together at the point where our snowshoe hike was to begin, sat on the terrace & enjoyed the bright bright sun. We started our hike at about 2900m & ascended to 3480m. The entire hike we were alongside one of the ski pistes, so we had the chance to see the others ski, Lachie rock the halfpipe & Joe & Erin attempting a 'jump' which Joe crashed & burned on the landing. However, they returned later in the day & Lachie filmed while Joe & Erin both attempted the jumps again, which they both landed beautifully. A, T & I were definitely sweating by the time we reached the hut, our lungs were burning & Trish '6 knee surgeries' Moyer had a swollen knee. Luckily, it was nothing that a little bit of rest, snow in a bag & Advil couldn't solve. So, the three of us hung about the hut, re-hydrating & eating trail mix until the rest of the group began to slowly file in for the night.

The hut was certainly interesting, nothing really like our last hut experience. Again we had 2 rooms of 4, complete with short bunks & enough space between the bunks for a maximum of 1 person to move about at a time. Additionally, the hut had one functioning toilet for all guests & other skiiers who were there for a bite to eat or apero. There was a sink outside of the toilet, but no running water. Luxurious, I know. ThankGod from all 8 of us that I remembered to pack the travel sized hand sanitizer, or else, yeah, I just don't really need to go down that road. Another exciting note, beside our group of 8, there was another couple & then a whole pack of Italian children ranging in age from 6-14/15, there with a few of there young adult male ski instructors. The kids were excited, loud & the leaders were not so much interested in quieting them down, a few occassional 'shushes' before they turned back to each other & their bottle of red wine. All in all, for kids, they were pretty well behaved, but still, none of got nearly as much sleep as we had hoped. Again, dinner was provided by the hut & it was actually quite good (we were in Italy after all) --- that's right, we snowshoed from Switzerland to Italy! We played a rowdy game of Taboo, enjoyed a night sky full of more stars than I've ever seen & looked down into the Italian valley where a gorgeous little town backlit almost an entire mountain peak. It was brisk enough to make a few minutes of awestruck staring sufficient before we hustled back into the warmth & glow of our friends & the hut. And this, was Joe's "best day I've ever had in Switzerland." Honestly though, I don't imagine life can really get all that much better.

Sunday the skiiers took off for a morning ski run into Italy in which they were the only ones on the piste. Can you imagine? The lifts weren't even running when we stepped out of the hut, (after a rough night of sleep & indigestion issues for the whole group of us --- apparently altitude affects more than just the old lungs;) and they enjoyed a completely untouched run. We also saw barely a soul for the first 90% of our descent on the snowshoes. As Trish said: "I feel like I'm on the Discovery channel." All we could hear were the crunch of our snowshoes & the occassional howl of wind. It really made me understand how people can risk their lives to get to the top of a peak or go off on their own to explore uncharted ground. The feeling of being surrounded by 360* of jagged cliffs, icy glaciers & pure quiet, the infinite scope & glory of nature, made me feel completely alive, totally calm.

We couldn't have hoped for a better weekend of weather, nor could we have ever dreamed how content gorgeous scenery, bodies strong enough to accomplish days of skiing/snowshoeing, plus a fabulous group of friends can make us feel.

Eckstein's live The Swiss Life

We had a great, whirlwind of a typical Swiss weekend with Mary, Margaret & Linda. They arrived early on Saturday morning & just landed before a virtual blizzard descended on the city. Of course, this coincided perfectly with our trek to the apartment mit luggage. Honestly, a snowflake somehow got past my glasses and straight into my eye ball. Welcome to Zurich ladies! But, it really did cast a gorgeous glow over the city. We spent Saturday doing all the typical Zurich sites, walking the Bahnhof, climbing to the top of the Grossmunster, partaking in a delicious hot chocolate & generally, freezing our butts off. Luckily, we had time to all mix in mid-afternoon naps before we headed out to Zeughauskeller for a traditional Swiss dinner & then to Aelpi bar for a drink & to listen to some fun live music. Aunt Margaret was in a bit of shock about the prices, esp. the 5 dollar Cokes! The fact that it doesn't even phaz me anymore should be more of a worry, to be honest;)
Sunday Joe & Mary got an early start to the day when they got up a bit early to pick up the rental car so we could head out to the mountains. It definitely looked iffy as we were driving out there & I was really starting to fear that we were going to drive all that way just to have another overcast mountain experience. It was spotty over the highest peaks, but all the surrounding mountains were clear. However, it could not have been more than 4 degrees....I pretty much immediately started tearing up, so was quite glad that I'd opted to hang out in the lodge with Margaret rather than sledge. Soon after we arrived, Joe, Mary & Linda took off on their sledges. Mary took a few rolling tumbles, while Linda got yelled at by a Swiss lady for not 'being able to control her sledge & wearing the wrong shoes for sledging,' typical Swiss. They were wet & cold by the time they made it into the lodge, but had definitely enjoyed the Swiss sledging experience! We made raclette for dinner which is another Swiss meal. It's basically an insane amount of cheese, smothered over whatever you like, chicken, sausages, shrimp, bread, potatoes, brocolli, etc. Honestly, I have no idea how the Swiss are all so tiny considering the 'typical Swiss fare.'
Monday both Joe & I had to work, so the ladies took the car out for an adventure of their own into Liechtenstein & Austria. Monday evening we enjoyed a delicious meal & great company at one of our fav Zurich restaurants, Nagasui. They took off early, early Tuesday morning to France to spend time with Margaret's daughter, Therese who is living in Limoges & are still enjoying their time with her as I type. It was a serious whirlwind & obviously not enough time, but we enjoyed every minute of it & look forward to their next visit!

Oh you crazy kids...

 

So, this is one of my fav lil guys, just chillin, on the sledging day that I attended with the kids. He is one of the most frequently quoted lil dudes. It's pretty evident why, yes?, he's got mad style already at 6...
The most phenomenal thing I heard on the sledging day: another lil guy starts singing, in a thick German accent, "i'm a barbie girl in a barbie world." Then looks to me & asks if I know that song. I look at him totally incredulously & reply 'yes.' Then he states, "I like that song, but I don't like barbies." Um, well, sure. How is a 6 year old singing a song that was (I just googled it, please don't think I can just pull off the top of my head when that song was released) in 1997 & more importantly, is Turrible.
And lastly, yesterday a few of the more 'refined' of the girls in the class (term used loosely) were talking about the reasons they were sick. "I threw up 19 times, 2 more times than R." R looks to me & says, "I threw up 17 times." Ladies, firstly my math is not That bad & secondly, AWESOME!