Buda-ful Budapest

Now that I've been to both Prague and Budapest, I find it rather ridiculous that people often lump them into the same category.  Sure, they are relatively close to each other geographically, and are both built around a river (the beautiful Danube runs through Budapest), but they are so different architecturally and culturally that it's like trying to compare apples and....goulash.

View down the Dannube (with Chain Bridge in background)

But, still, I'll try.  When we arrived (after a seven hour train ride) my initial impression was that Budapest seemed a bit more "real" than Prague.  It felt a lot less touristy, maybe a bit rougher around the edges, and somehow seemed a lot bigger (although, really, there isn't that much of a difference, with the populations of Budapest and Prague being 1.7 million and 1.2 million, respectively).  But, the city soon warmed on me and it quickly became became clear why Hungarians are so proud of their world-class capital. Honestly, it baffles me why this isn't a bigger vacation destination than it is.  

Although this area has been inhabited since ancient times, the modern city we now call Budapest only came into existence in 1873 when the former cities of Buda, Pest, and Obuda joined forces.  Buda is the older, hillier part of the city, which is located on the west bank, and Pest, on the east bank is its more modern and flat counterpart.  It's hard now, though, to imagine the cities as separate entities, since the two sides of town feel completely integrated and connected by many bridges (the most famous of which is the chain bridge).

View of Hungarian Parliament Building from Buda

Tom and I stayed on the Buda side of the river, and are glad we did, since its landscape and historical buildings made it our favorite part of the city.  Buda's "Castle District" is a gorgeous area to walk around, and contains some of the city's most beautiful buildings, including the Royal Palace (which arguably look a bit more like a typical government building than a palace), the Fisherman's Bastion (a beautiful terrace so-named after the fisherman who used to set up market there), and the colorful Matthias Church. And, of course, from Castle Hill you're treated to breathtaking views of the early 20th Century Hungarian Parliament Building.  Although we hear it was originally considered to be "too fancy" by the locals when it was built, this building has truly become the symbol of the city, and its enormous size and unique Renaissance Revival features, make it easy to spot from any high point in Budapest.

Royal Palace

Fisherman's Bastion

Hanging out on Castle Hill

Matthias Church

On Andrassy Street

By contrast, the Pest side of town feels a bit more like your typical big city.  In many areas, I could have easily believed that I was in New York or Chicago.  However, it still has a lot to offer a visitor, and Tom and I enjoyed our stroll down beautiful tree-lined Andrassy Street, which is Pest's main thoroughfare and home to its Opera House, as well as many other historical buildings.  At the end of the street is the beautiful Hero's Square (which commemorates the founders of Hungary), which leads into Budapest's City Park.  The park has a lot of attractions, including a bathing complex, but the highlight for us was taking in the view of the little lakeside castle.

Walkway Along the River in Pest

Statues in Hero's Square 

Church in City Park

Lake and Castle in City Park

Locals in the Park (note the guy on the tight rope!)

Budapest actually does a really good job with its green space.  There are numerous parks throughout the city, flower gardens on seemingly every street corner, and tons of bike paths.  (The city also has a great public transportation system, and was actually was the first or second city to ever have a metro, depending on who you ask...) Perhaps the most beautiful park in Budapest is Margaret Island, which is situated in the middle of the Danube.  The island, which was named after the king's daughter who was a nun on the island's convent, is now a favorite spot for bikers and runners.  We didn't make it around the entire island (the perimeter is about 5k), but we did bike and walk a good deal of it during our visit.  One of our best memories from our trip was catching the "water show" at the fountain near the park's entrance.  We stumbled upon it completely by happenstance, but had a fantastic time watching the water dance around to everything from CCR to classical pieces.  The best part, though is that the fountain contained an outer ring where you could dangle your feet in the water to cool off while sitting and enjoying the show.  

Musical Fountain on Margaret Island (with foot soaking space in the outer ring!)

Gellert Baths

As you've probably gathered, Budapest does many things well, but there are two things that it just might do better than any city in the world:  baths and night lights. Budapest is known for its natural hot springs, and has several bathing complexes where locals and visitors can relax in the warm water (which supposedly has healing properties).  On one day of our visit, Tom and I spent several hours at the Gellert Baths, on the south side of Buda. Outside the baths have a wave pool (at 26 degrees C), and a large warm pool (at 36 degrees C), as well as a sauna and a cold plunge pool.  However, the real treat is indoors where there are additional hot pools, done in the art nouveau style.  These pools were only desegregated by gender in January 2013, and I'm so glad we visited after that time, because the men's pool was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen (although I'm still a little upset as to why the men got such a better space than the women!).  The entire room is ornately decorated in hues of blue and green, and the back of each pool contained a beautiful fountains and statuary.  We both felt quite relaxed after our visit (although I have to say, I don't think it totally healed all of my chronic running injuries), and I feel like I really got a taste of what it would have been like to be an ancient Roman spending a day at the baths.

Beautiful Indoor Baths

"Men's Bathing Room" (now co-ed)

Budapest by Night

As amazing as the baths were, the highlight of this portion of the trip for me may have been seeing Budapest at night. After sunset, the city completely transforms into a magnificent glimmering masterpiece.  Huge spotlights illuminate all of the city's major buildings and bridges, and its hard to imagine any city looking more sophisticated.  To celebrate our wedding anniversary (I can't believe how quickly the last three years have flown by!) we treated ourselves to an evening river cruise, where we were able to get a clear view of the entire city at night.  Despite the somewhat corny audio guide (which included the personified "walls" of the palace telling your their story), it was an incredibly special experience.

Parlament Building at Dusk

Royal Palace

Vegetarian Hungarian Goulash

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't say just a word or two about the food here.  On the whole, Hungarian food is really rich and heavy.  Once, Tom ordered a "baked potato with mushrooms" only to find that this meant mashed potatoes, which were then somehow fried and topped with creamy mushroom gravy and cheese.  However, it's not impossible to find healthier fare and we actually had one of the best meals of our lives here (and a price less than 40 dollars!).  Budapest is also known for its cake (which we made sure to try) and its goulash, which, in contrast to its Czech counterpart, is more like a hearty stew in a delicious spicy tomato sauce (the vegetarian version I found was amazing).  It's true that the service wasn't always the most friendly here, but we were able to communicate our basic wants and needs in English most places, and that's about as much as we could ask for.    

In the beginning we debated a bit between visiting Budapest and Vienna, and as amazing as I'm sure Vienna is, I'm very glad we chose to come here.  It was such a unique place, and one that's a bit off the beaten path for many European backpackers (although, of course, it still has its fair share of tourists). As always, we're a bit sad to go, but already excited about our upcoming adventures in Croatia!

Alla Prossima,
Erin    

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Thurs. July 18:  It's hot now!  Almost too hot in our non-air-conditioned rental apartment!

Bohemian Rhapsody: Our Visit to Cesky Krumlov

Currently, Tom and I are having a blast exploring Budapest.  Our rental apartment is little but charming (despite my poor cereal choices attracting a group of ants), and we have a beautiful balcony where we often spend the early morning drinking tea (coffee for Tom), enjoying the views, or even blogging.  But, before I tell you all about our adventures here, I wanted to share a bit about the day trip that we took to Cesky Krumlov back in the Czech Republic last week.

Enjoying the Views

Cesky Krumlov (the "Ce" in Cesky is pronounced like "Che") is a very small town about three hours south of Prague by bus. We found a great deal for a coach bus where we were served hot chocolates by a peppy young woman wearing a pink and white striped uniform.  We were also able to watch movies on our individual seat TVs (Tom opted for Sherlock Holmes while I, of course, chose the 1990s music video station).  Needless to say, the time went by relatively quickly.

We spent almost seven hours in town and loved every minute of it.  The highlight of Cesky Krumlov is its 13th Century castle (which was huge, considering the town's size), but the entire town is ridiculously picturesque- like something straight out of a postcard or a children's book of fairy tales.  The city was built on the Vtlava River (the same one that runs through Prague), and although the river is bit narrower in Cesky Krumlov, its dramatic bend almost creates the illusion of the town being an island from certain viewpoints. The river was moving at a fast pace at this point in the year, and a few dams even created some rapids.  One of the main attractions in the area is to raft down the river (there are little canals to avoid going over the dam), and although we didn't have the time (or the proper attire- it was cold!) to do it ourselves, we had a lot of fun watching the rafts from the town's many bridges and from our lunch spot along the river.

View of Cesky Krumlov From Above

Boat on the River 

Fairytale Scenery

Typical Town Street (with Castle in Background)

The town's main industry is tourism, and so there are tons of gift shops, restaurants (even a vegetarian one!), and craft booths everywhere you go.  As I've said before, though, it's almost always pretty easy to avoid the crowds if you try, and late in the afternoon, Tom and I enjoyed a quiet stroll along the river's backwaters.

Castle Complex from Tower

Earlier in the day, we spent a couple of hours exploring the beautiful castle grounds, including climbing the tower for amazing views of the city.  (It seems that climbing towers is really starting to be our "thing.")  The castle complex is huge, and even included a "moat" where some bears lived to "protect" the castle.  (Although that part was actually a bit depressing since the conditions were very low-budget-zoo-like and the bears seemed to do more sleeping than anything else.)  Aside from the amazing views everywhere you looked, the highlight of the castle was probably the gardens, which are free and open to the public. There were traditional landscaped gardens, but also a huge "nature" area full of lush foliage and even a pond with a little dock.  As different as the buildings, food, and culture are in the Czech Republic, the natural scenery actually reminded me a lot of Minnesota at times.

View from the Tower

Castle Tower

Bears in the Moat

Landscaped Castle Gardens

Castle Gardens Pond

Hedges in Castle Gardens

Tom Crossing the Bridge to the Castle

We actually decided to visit Cesky Krumlov a bit randomly (we wanted to do a day-trip and saw some promising online reviews of the town), but now I can't imagine taking a trip to Prague and not coming here. If I'm ever lucky enough to return, I might even stay the night (or five) next time.

Alla Prossima,
Erin

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Tues. July 16:  It was a bit chilly in Cesky Krumlov and the weather in Budapest has been surprisingly mild, too.  We were told it would be ridiculously hot, but we've actually been cold at times!  Highs have been in the upper 70s, but it's been getting down into the 50s at night (and it's been a bit slow to warm in the morning). Maybe I'll have to wait until Croatia to get some really hot days!

We're in Prague, Czech it Out! (This Title Brought to You by Tom)

When Tom and I learned we were moving to Rome, we almost immediately made plans to do some traveling toward the end of the year.  After some quick research (which, frankly, involved a lot of "Google image" searches), we came up with the plan of seeing Prague, Budapest, and a couple different spots in Croatia. Although there's a difference in opinion as to whose plan this originally was (although, really, let's face it, we all know who the planner of the family is...), we both now agree that it was completely genius.  Neither of us have ever been to this corner of the world before, and with bus and train travel it's really quite easy to make our way around relatively cheaply.

View of Prague's Castle from Across the River

However, after spending a few days in Prague, I have to say that our other destinations really have their work cut out for them.  People talk about how beautiful Croatia is and how much fun Budapest is, but I really have a hard time imagining a place more beautiful and/or fun than Prague.  I literally spent my first day here constantly jumping up and down out of excitement (and if you know me well, you know that sort of behavior is not exactly "normal" for me).  It's true that it's extremely touristy in some places (something you may not be able to tell from the pictures, since I have a habit of avoiding crowded shots), but it's really not too hard to get away from the crowds.  And, Prague is really completely unlike anywhere I've ever been before.  It has such a different "feel" and "look" from anywhere in Western Europe, and we've spent hours just strolling through the scenic city streets and admiring the architecture.

Streets of Prague

View from the Castle (with Charles Bridge in center)

Prague is located in the northern part of the Czech Republic, and has a very long and interesting history.  It was part of the Bohemian Empire, and in the 14th Century was the third largest city in Europe (after Rome and Constantinople).  Many of the city's most famous buildings and churches were built around this time.  In 1618, an incident in the Prague Castle (where Protestants literally pushed four Catholic officials out of a window) provoked the 30 Year War, which began a long period of decline for the city.  More recently, following WWI, Prague became part of Czechoslovakia, and then became the capital of the Czech Republic in 1993 after the split (Bratislava is now the capital of Slovakia).  Today (at least to me), the city seems to be thriving. Prague effortlessly mixes the new with the old, and, of course, all of the tourists seem to be pouring plenty of money into the local economy.

Old Town Square (from the Tower)

The Vltava River runs through Prague, and the city's many bridges allow cars and pedestrians to cross from one side to the other and admire the beautiful shoreline. The most famous of these bridges is the Charles Bridge (pedestrian only), which is constantly flooded with hundreds of tourists, as well as local musicians, artists, and vendors.  The north side of the river is home to Prague's castle, and on the south side (a few blocks off of the river), tourists flock to the Old Town Square, which houses (among other things) a famous Medieval astrological clock, the Gothic Tyn Chruch, and the Baroque St. Nicholas's Church.  Prague is a very walkable city but the city's public transportation system is also amazing (or, at least, much better than Rome's!).  Between the bus, metro, and street car (my favorite, after years of living in San Francisco), you can easily get anywhere you want to go (although, as always, Tom and I often prefer walking)   

Tyn Church

St. Nicholas's Chruch

Astrological Clock

Not a Bad Birthday View!

Our first full day in Prague happened to be my birthday, and I'm sure it's one I'll never forget.  Due to its northern location and somewhat high elevation, Prague is a bit cooler in the summer than many other European cities (the July high averages around 72 degrees).  But, the birthday gods must have been smiling down on me because we woke up to an unusually hot and sunny day (which was absolutely perfect in my opinion).  We spent the morning rambling around Petrin Park, which has amazing views of the city as well as a beautiful rose garden, a small "Eiffel tower" like structure (that seems huge but is only about 1/5 of the size of the real thing), and a mirror maze (which Tom went nuts over).  Then, later on in the afternoon, we rented a peddle boat and spent a glorious hour out on the river, sunbathing and touring around the bridges.

Which is the real Tom?!

Rose Garden

A Little Piece of Paris in Prague

Tom Enjoying the Peddle Boat (and not doing much peddling at the moment)

Beautiful Views!

Visiting Prague Castle

On other days, we visited the Prague Castle, the Jewish Quarter, the "New Town" area, climbed the tower in the Old Town Square, and even took a day trip to Cesky Krumlov (although I'll save that visit for another blog post).

We also spent a lot of time dining, since after almost a year of eating Italian food, it's been amazing to suddenly have so much variety!  During our five days in the Czech Republic, we've had Mexican, Chinese, Indian, and, of course, some more traditional Czech food, too.  We spent one evening at a beer hall where we had some delicious beer and Tom tried the goulash (which was basically pieces of beef and white bread swimming in a beef gravy).  Hungary also has its own variety of goulash, so I look forward to hearing which he prefers.  (As a vegetarian, I ordered the mushroom barley dish.)  We also fell in love with the crepes, known as palacinky (our favorite was the cherry), and also trdelink, which are hollow cylindrical pastries often covered in cinnamon or almond.  Between this and the abundance of vegetarian restaurants, I'm basically in culinary heaven!

Inside Prague Castle

Trdlo!! (singular form of Trdelink)

Look, it's not wine!

Goulash and Mushroom Barley

I've probably already told you way more than you wanted to know about Prague, but before I sign off, here are just a few random observations:

1)  Prague has to have the highest number of KFCs per capita of any city in the world (and, yes, that's as in Kentucky Fried Chicken fast food joints).  There seriously seems to be one on every corner (and they are definitely far more prevalent than McDonalds is here).

2)  Tom and I must look more Czech than Italian.  In Italy people almost immediately assumed we spoke English or could tell as soon as we spoke a few words in Italian.  Here, though, (even in the most touristy areas), people address us in Czech and almost seem embarrassed when they realize we don't understand them.  When we try to speak a few words in Czech (thank you, hello, etc), they also continue on in Czech as if we were native speakers.

3)  There really is something to that "Bohemian" label.  Maybe there are just a lot of college age kids who backpack through Europe, but I have seen a lot more drum circles, hippie skirts, dreadlocks, and vegetarian restaurants (all fine by me) here in Prague than I have elsewhere in Europe (especially compared to Italy).

4)  Czech seems a very "cutesy" language to English speakers.  Plural words often end in "y' so you see all sorts of funny looking words like "plasticy," cigarettey," "desserty," etc.  But, of course, most of Czech is very different from English, and many elements of the language are harsher sounding, including some sounds that I'm pretty sure I could never pronounce after years of practice.

5)  The '80s Rocker look is very in here (for men).  I'm not sure what more I can say about this.

Okay, back to the pictures:

More Views Along the River

Restaurant Boats

Balloon Above the Vltava

After having such a wonderful time, we're very sad to be leaving Prague but also looking forward to seeing Budapest (although we're not especially excited about the seven hour train ride to get there!).  I have to say that this might be the most "leisurely" vacation I've ever taken (we're not at all rushed for time- I mean, look, I have time to blog after sight seeing and we've been taking afternoon naps!), and I'm loving every minute of it.  Many Europeans get the whole month of August off to take trips just of this nature, so I like to think we're just blending in (even if a month early).

Alla Prossima,
Erin

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Sun. July 14:  The weather in Prague has been great (although a bit chilly at times).  Mornings start out cool (in the upper 50s) and it warms up to around 70 by mid-afternoon (with the exception of my birthday, which was downright hot!)  

Hot Town Summer in the (Eternal) City

Perhaps not everyone would agree, but summer has always been my favorite season.  The days are long and hot, and the air is filled with the calming hum of overworked air conditioners and the smell of nearby barbecues.  As a kid growing up in Minnesota, I'd insist on wearing shorts any time the temperature hit 60, and on those rare occasions when it reached 100, I was truly in heaven.  But, of course, more than anything, summer meant water.  Mornings at the lake were followed by afternoon walks along the river, and if I was lucky, I might have even gotten a nice late-night thunderstorm to lull me to sleep.

The lack of "real summer" was one of my (few) major complaints about living in San Francisco, and so getting to experience summer in Rome (despite its late arrival) has been fantastic (not to mention good preparation for moving to very hot and sticky Eastern Virginia).  Really, though, the whole city seems to be buzzing with activity after a relatively sleepy winter, and many of our usual haunts seem familiar, yet somehow radically transformed.  It's a bit like returning to school the summer after 7th grade only to discover that the boys now sound like men, the girls look more like women, and everyone is about four inches taller.

Tents Along the Tiber

Here in Rome, the most noticeable change is down along the Tiber where a mile or so of my old running path (as well as all of Tiber island) has been transformed into an area that can only be described as a Bohemian Beer Garden Carnival Bonanza. Basically, hundreds of independent shops, restaurants, and bars have set up temporary space under little white tents all along the river and around the island.  However, their creative use of lighting, comfortable furniture, and trendy design often gives the illusion of permanency. There's also all kinds of entertainment available- everything from outdoor movies to foosball tables, to carnies challenging you to knock over all the bottles and win a prize.   

Transformed Bike Path

Being the lame 30-somethings that we are, Tom and I have really only been down there on a couple of occasions, and have always headed home by 10 or 11.  But, we've really had a lot of fun walking around, people-watching, and breathing the fried cheese-curd like scent that fills the air.  (Unfortunately, if cheese curds really exist here, we haven't yet found them.)  However, the real party usually seems to just be getting started around the time that we're heading home.  At that time, hundreds of scantily-dressed teens and college kids begin to converge along the river, where I imagine they will hang out and drink (and get sick) until the wee hours of the morning.  (The drinking age here in Italy is only 16.)  Really, I'm quite happy to get out of there before that scene really gets going!

In addition to our trips to the river, our summer in Rome has been filled with lots of our other favorite warm-weather activities like barbecues in the Bass Garden, warm weather runs in the park (at least for one of us), and even fireworks, which are occasionally shot off during weddings or charity events at the Villa Aurelia.  (We have a fantastic view of these fireworks from the 4th floor balcony of our building.)  However, the one glaring omission in our summer fun was sufficient time in the water, and so last week Tom and I took a day trip up to Lake Bracciano.

Lake Bracciano From Town

Town Square and Castle

Lake Bracciano is a fairly large lake (it's more than 20 miles around) located an hour north of Rome by train.  There are a few different towns along the lake, but we stopped at Bracciano, which, like most small Italian towns, was quaint and Medieval looking.  However, unlike many other towns, this one had its very own castle (which, apparently, was the latest-occupied castle in all of Europe).  From town, it was about a fifteen minute downhill walk to the lake, and although we knew we were headed in the right direction, the whole area felt strangely rural and deserted.

When we finally made it down to the shore, we were amazed by what we found.  Not only was the view completely breathtaking (the landscape reminded us of a strange (but awesome) mix between Minnesota and California wine country), but the scene was surprisingly quiet and relaxed for a hot day in the middle of summer.  Of course, there were quite a few people out enjoying the beautiful weather, but there were still plenty of open spots on the pebble-covered beach and the lakeside restaurants were virtually empty (and completely affordable).

Enjoying Some Pizzas and a Beautiful View (I really should have used the flash on this one...)

View From our Beach Spot

(We had so much fun that we even took this ridiculous self-portrait)

Is it possible that Lake Bracciano is one of the few spots in Italy still virtually undiscovered by tourists?  I'm truly shocked that a place so beautiful isn't already completely overtaken by 5-star hotels and shoreline bars serving 12 Euro martinis.  I can't tell you how glad I am that it's not, though.  So, when I say that I now think of Bracciano as "the poor man's Lake Como," I really mean that as the highest compliment.  Sure, maybe it can't quite match Northern Italy's Como in size, beauty, or elegance (at least from what I've heard- I've never been), but the lazy day we spent on the beach, reading, swimming and watching the ducks and boats float by is one of the best days I've spent here in Italy.  And the fact that we got to do all of that away from crowds of people and fancy restaurants that we can't afford made the experience even better!  

Ducks!

Boats!

In a way, I'm very sad to be leaving Rome right as things here are (literally) heating up.  But, I really can't complain when we have three weeks of exciting Eastern European adventures coming up.  And soon after that we'll be back in the US buying all the Trader Joes's "Fruit Frenzy" popsicles we can eat.  (If you haven't tried them, do yourself a favor and buy some on your next trip!)  Call me crazy, but when it's this hot, I'd take popsicles over gelato any day.

Alla Prossima,
Erin

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Sat. July 6:  It's "real summer."  Sunny with highs in the mid to upper 80s.  There's no air conditioning at the Academy, but our open window and ceiling fan keeps things decently cool.