…and are sleeping sweetly in the hotel room. So far we have walked around a bit in the brutal sun, had some Roman pizza (Jon was surprised it came without tomato sauce, and had to order some on the side), and checked into our hotel. We have two small ajoining rooms with a private bathroom. It is nice.
We are going to wait for it to cool off a bit, and then take off to explore the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps. I’m looking forward to it!
Liz and I spent last night and today in Budapest. This is a city that I have always wanted to visit, and I’m very glad to finally have the chance! We woke up and walked into the center of the city, stopping at the McCafe for a cappuchino to go (a McDonald’s run classy coffee bar — we need these at home). We went to see Europe’s largest synagogue, which was gorgeous and well worth the ‘donation’. We browsed the museum there, but it was not particularly impressive.
After that we went to Gerbeaud Confectionary for coffee and cake for breakfast/lunch. This wonderful cafe has been operating continuously since 1858. It was delicious! We shared a cherry torte and a chocolate croissant.
We only have this one day to explore, so we decided to do a three hour tour on an open-topped bus. It had a live tour guide who spoke English and German (there are lots of German-speaking tourists here), and stopped at three of the major sites along the way: the castle, the fisherman’s bastion, and the plaza of heroes. We also drove by pretty much everything else interesting in the city, including the bridges, various churches, embassies, and stadiums. It was a bit cheesy, but the tour was a good way to see a lot of things in a limited time.
After the tour, we returned to the hotel so that Liz could fix her socks (don’t ask). Then we went back to the city center and ate at a Hungarian restaurant. The portions were huge, and the food was very good. I got the special of the day, which was a beef consumme, followed by a chicken breast smothered in a tomato-based sauce with onions, peppers (just a few, so I could pull them out 
and lots of papricka. The dish was accompanied by a cabbage salad and a stack of potatoes with herbs. After dinner, we went to an ice cream shop called “Spaghetti Ice” for mochachinos and a tiramisu sunday, with tiramisu flavored ice cream, coffee liquor, whipped cream, and lady fingers. Yum.
Finally, we strolled along the Pest-side bank of the Danube river, watching the sun set and buildings light up. It’s really lovely. It started to rain, so we took the tram #2 back along the river, and then walked back to our hotel.
We’ll be up early tomorrow, so that Liz can go to Florence, and I can fly to Casablanca for G.O. Morocco. I’m not sure when I’ll have internet access, so wish me luck.
Most of that shopping that I mentioned happend in and around Wencelas Square. It’s the same size as the Prague castle grounds, from end to end. Amid the crazy numbers of tourists, shoppers, and locals, you can see a few statues, monuments, and interesting buildings.
Lots of these buildings have alleyways, or courtyards, that have been covered and converted to mini-shopping centers. In one of these we found a wonderful ice cream place, with fruit icecream. We also found a statue of Wencelas on an upside-down horse, and some cool art neuvo buildings. I’ll post my own photos of that soon, but for now, enjoy this picture of me and Liz with the square stretched out behind us.
Today is my last day in Prague. I’ve been trying to relax and did a little shopping.
We did this: Bohemian Bagel for breakfast, visited the Charles Bridge, walked to the Old Town Square, went to the Church of St Nicholas, watched the Zodiac Clock do it’s thing, walked to the Jewish Cemetery, walked around the old Jewish Quarter, window shopped at expensive stores, walked to Prague Castle, saw part of the changing of the guard, walked through, around, in, and under Prague Castle, walked down, visited the John Lennon wall, walked some more, took the metro, ate at an excellent Italian restaurant, walked more, read some things, slept.
Lauren and I spent a wonderful day running around Vienna. We woke up early enough to go to Schonbrunn, which was the emperor’s summer palace. The complex was quite large, and even though we arrived reasonable early, we had to wait in a long line to buy tickets, and then another hour to take our self-guided audio tour. In the meantime, we wandered around the gardens, which would have been spectacular if we hadn’t been getting rained on.
We took the metro to Stephensplatz, and wandered around the outside of St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Lauren sketched some things, and I took pictures and a short walk. We met up with a very cool guy that I met at the www conference, and he showed us around the center of Vienna. Despite claims to the contrary, he was a wonderful tour guide, and he invited us to dinner with his family. There’s nothing like hearing about a city from someone who grew up there! It was wonderful, and I would love to return to Vienna and explore some more.
There’s a kooky (in a good way) retired history professor staying at this hostel. He offers a tour around Prague and donates the proceeds to fund a documentary about WWII survivors. Though it’s not a tour — it’s a “history class” (this allows him to take groups off of the legally regulated tour path).
The tour took about five hours, including a break for lunch, and was fantastic! Steven knows the typical history of Prague - of which there is quite a bit - and also knows a lot of stories, most of which were pretty hilarious.
Later, I went with three other people up to the castle. It’s lit at night, and the entire place is almost empty. I’m going to upload some of those photos now…
My major adventure for today was visiting “The Real Mary King’s Close”. Apparently, in the late 1800s, the government decided to build a national building right on top of an occupied city block. The buildings were on a very steep hill, so rather than filling them in, they just shaved a layer off the top to create a flat surface. This left up to three stories of buildings underground, beneath the foundation of the building.
The tour is a little cheesy, complete with ghost story and plastic models of people with the plague (illuminated in flickering, faint light, of course). But the building itself is really cool. In some places, you can see the original prints on the walls, and some of the plaster, which was apparently made with human ashes. I really enjoyed it.
I also found a cafe with free wifi. It’s across the street from the convention center, and it’s called the ‘All Good’ cafe. Cheap food, coffee, and wifi… go there.
I’ll post the rest of my conference (work) notes soon, but now for some fun…
The conference ended last night, and after watching an insane British kinky mystery on TV, I fell asleep. I deliberately didn’t set an alarm and slept until 11am, which tells me that I am finally adjusted to this time zone.
I had no goals for today other than to explore, perhaps learn something, and relax, so I packed up my camera, umbrella (this was very smart), and notebook, and set off. I wandered from the hotel/convention center toward Edinburgh Castle, and eventually found myself in Hunter Square, where I discovered the Best Coffee Shop Ever. It’s called “Chocolate Soup”, and they specialize in chocolate-based hot drinks. They also have a savory hot soup bar, where I had a very nice spinach and brocolli soup with fresh onion bread (along with a very, very decadent mocha). I want one of these in downtown Providence!
I picked up some postcards and wrote them out, then I walked the entire Royal Mile. There was a wedding at one of the churches, and I caught a few great photos of the procession. I also visited the Museum of Childhood (there were lots of live, modern children in here, too), and the Museum of Edinburgh (history of the city since the 1700s, which was fascinating). At some point, I got rained on for about ten minutes.
Finally, I went shopping on Princes St. Everyone reading this ought to know that for me, shopping means either computer bits (I went to two stores, but neither had a CF card reader) or books (I picked up three British scifi books that aren’t available at home yet).
Oh, and the cows! Edinburgh has its own collection of fiberglass cows, pseudorandomly distributed around the city. I have photos of cows alone, cows with children on them, cows with teenagers on them, cows with spiky-haired bikers hugging them, cows ignoring crowds of people with cameras, and cows getting things thrown at them. Overall, my feelings about them are mixed. They are a bit odd and don’t fit with the atmosphere of the city at all, but they do provide a continually source of amusement. And I can’t stop taking photos of them.
I’m off to find some fish and chips for dinner. Cheers!
