Z Growth

Bratislava Ballers

Day 7 - 9/10/07 - Bratislava

We checked out of the Hotel Matyas in Budapest this morning.  Overall, it was a great place to stay.  The rooms were very simple, but the breakfast was awesome and the location is really hard to beat.

We hopped a train to Bratislava from Budapest's main train station.  Quite a crazy scene and we were amazed at the amount of people drinking beers in the terminal bars at 9AM.  The countryside between Hungary and Slovakia was gorgeous and hilly.  The train hugged the Danube for most of the trip and then the terrain turned to farmland outside Bratislava.

Took a bus to our hotel, Chez David, a small Jewish pension at the foot the castle.  The people were very friendly and our room was about 200 square feet, but immaculate.  Off to check out the town...

Bratislava is much much smaller than Budapest, but still has lots of sights and things to check out.  Old Town Bratislava is very quaint with lots of cafes and shops, with tiny streets that wind back on themselves.  Our favorite part of town was the plaza in front of the National Theater, which was fairly new, full of people, and full of vendors (shopping...aka Margie's favorite).  We also walked down by the Danube to see the botels (hotels that are boats) because Margie really wanted to stay at one, but we weren't able to.  She was mad.

Had the best potato and ham dumplings for lunch.  Lauren had his with kraut and M argie with sheep's cheese.  Fantastic.  We noticed right away that the people weren't as outgoing as in Budapest and that much less English was spoken.

Dinner was at the aptly named, "Cafe Cafe".  Being a Monday night, we were the only tourists in the joint and it was fun to socialize with some of the locals.  Every single person in the bar had a smoke in their mouth the entire time we were there.  Mellencamp-style.  Ended the night at Stanely's Pub for a few more $2 liters of beer.

Hungarian Heavy Head

Day 6 - 9/9/07 - Budapest

Groggy from the Dreher and Sapporoni, we slept in past breakfast.  We'd like to think the extra sleep was due to the time change, but...

After yesterday's sightseeing overload, we only saw the Hungarian National Museum today.  It did a great job of showing the history of Hungary.  It was amazing to us the struggles that the country had to endure and that it had been around for well over 1000 years.  American is working on 250 years.

When in Hungary, you have to go to a bath house.  We went to the Gellert Hotel's spa/bath and had an awesome time.  There were indoor pools, hot pools, saunas, and a salt steam room that was aggressive, but great.  The baths are very communal and people just went to hang out.  We did expect more speedos though and Lauren wasn't out of place in his board shorts.

We ended our stay in Budapest with a fantastic night at the Opera.  Probably the best deal in Budapest, we saw La Traviata.  Our seats were to the side of the stage so we had to lean over the balcony to see the whole stage.  Had Lauren not known the story from the program, he would have fallen asleep, but we both liked the show.  We thought it was a good summary of our stay that the opera was sung in Italian, the couple next to us spoke German, and the songs were translated on a screen in Hungarian.  Small world.

Beers in Budapest

Day 5 - 9/8/07 - Budapest

Our hotel room included a breakfast every day and it was huge.  Great way to fuel up for the day.  We left breakfast and headed to the Central Market, which is a local open market full of produce, meat, and "Budapest is for Lovers" t-shirts.  It was a good place to see locals shop, but also pick up some souvenirs.

Today was the day we decided to see more of the Buda side of the city.  While Pest is flat and developed, the Buda side is hilly and wooded.  We crossed the bridge over the Danube River by our hotel and walked to the St. Gellert statue.  It's a monument visible to all of Budapest that sits on a hill overlooking the river.  Allegedly, he was a priest that the locals rolled down the hill in a barrell.  Ouch.

We walked/hiked from the St. Gellert statue to the Castle District, Royal Palace, and the rest of old Buda.  To really see Buda, be ready to walk some hills and climb some stairs.  We were sweating and it was about 65 degrees.  The Royal Palace is really a sight to see and the National Gallery inside has some amazing art.  We don't really consider ourselves artsy folks, but it was a great museum.  We both were amazed at how much great Hungarian art there is...who knew?

The rest of old Buda was a quaint little section of town with cobblestone streets, colorful apartments, and tiny parking spots.  As an American, it's hard to understand how really old the streets are.  Hungary had their 1000th anniversary in 1898.

From Buda we grabbed the subway (through the Danube) to Parliament, which is the best looking building in Budapest.  Huge and right on the river, it's awesome.  Plus, we saw a car get stolen from in front of it.  It drove away with the hatchback open and the owner running after it.

Done with sightseeing, we decided to tie one on for the night.  We grabbed some goulash and beers at a cafe by our hotel.  Had a great traditional Hungarian dinner and hit up two or three local bars for more drinks and good times.  We ended up at Cheers,  which had literally 7 seats in it and a bartender who didn't speak English.  Holler.

Budapest or Bust

Day 4 - 9/7/07 - Budapest

Got up at the buttcrack of dawn (3AM) to catch our flight from Warsaw to Budapest.  Thanks so much to Margie's cousin Ewa for going into work about 6 hours early to drive us to the airport.

Arrived in Budapest after the 1.5 hour flight and took a shuttle to our hotel.  Hotel Matyas couldn't have been in a better location and we dropped our bags off and hit the town.  We had been warned by lots of people and travel books to be careful for pickpockets and beggars when in Budapest.  Admittedly we were on our guard more than usual, but the advice couldn't have been further from the truth.  The people of the city were outgoing, friendly, and had zero time when we felt unsafe (even the walk/stumble home from the bars on Saturday night).

Budapest is the combination of what was once two cities...Buda and Pest.  Our hotel was on the Pest side and we spent today walking all over that section.  We hit up Vaci St, which is a very new and trendy street that is basically the Michigan Avenue of Budapest.  Lots of cafes, bars, and shops.

We saw lots of beautiful sites and old buildings.  St. Stephen's cathedral is the nicest either of us had ever seen and the State Opera House is amazing.  We bought tickets for Sunday night's show...$4 each!

We noticed two things immediately about Budapest.  One good: everyone speaks English well, which is good since Hungarian is very hard to pronounce.  One bad: as with many Eastern European cities, there is a lot of graffiti on buildings.

At night, we walked up to the Buda Castle district and went to a Hungarian wine festival that was going on.  It was a great time, with booths set up inside the Royal Palace showing off difference Hungarian wines.  Totally fun, totally good drink, and totally Hungarian.  We didn't hear English the whole night.  We were lucky to find this.

Walking Warsaw

Day 3 - 9/6/07 - Warsaw

We woke up after surprisingly sleeping a full night.  Everyone warned us that we'd need about three days to adjust to the time change, but we were actually fine the whole time.  Lack of sleep threw us off a bit, but the time change didnt seem to be an issue.

Today was the grand tour of Warsaw.  Fortunately, we had some of the city's best tour guides in Margie's cousins Ania, Sywia, and Krzyszek.  We saw lots of Poland's biggest city starting in Praga, where Ewa's shop was.  We took the tram to the Kings Palace in Old Town first.  The Old Town Square and Kings Palace were beautiful parts of town which were rebuilt after getting demolished in WW2.  It's amazing to see the pictures of the rubble in 1945 versus what the place looks like today.

We walked from Old Town to New World, full of trendy apartments, shops, and the University of Warsaw.  Sylwia and Krzyszek graduated from U. of Warsaw and showed us around the gorgeous campus.  We walked past the president's house, which is coincidentally white, and the hideous US embassy.  Awesome sights to see everywhere.

Lunch was about the most legit perogis you can get and cold beers.  A huge billboard of Pierce Brosnan advertising men's clothes watched us eat lunch.

We ended the tour with Lazenki Park, which was Lauren's favorite part of the city.  A massive and immaculate city park that was full of ponds, trails, and hills.  It didn't seem like you were in a city at all.

We can't thank the cousins enough for showing us the real Warsaw.  We'd never have been able to cover as much ground, or have such tasty perogis, without you.

Off to Budapest tomorrow.

   

Welcome to Warsaw

Day 1 and 2 – 9/4/07 and 9/5/07 – Flight to Warsaw

Arrived in Zurich on Wednesday morning.  Our Swiss Air flight left on time and was a great trip.  We had both a tasty dinner and breakfast.  We were also able to sleep about 4 hours, which did us great for adjusting to the time change.  Also had time to throw in some Pirates of the Caribbean too.

Zurich looks like a pretty place to visit, as much as you can tell from the airport terminal.  Hilly, green, and mostly wooded.  Our flight from Zurich to Warsaw was an uneventful two hours and we arrived on time.

Margie’s aunt Ewa and cousin Ania met us at the airport with tears, hugs, and kisses.  We had not seen Margie’s family from Warsaw in about 3 years, so everyone was very excited.  The ride from the airport to Ewa’s business in Warsaw was about an hour.  She owns a store that sells fabrics and materials used mostly for drapes and curtains.  It’s a tidy shop down a side street and right next to Poland’s oldest outdoor market.

At the store, Margie’s other cousin Sylvia and her boyfriend Krzyszek met up with us.  We all went back to Ewa’s house for dinner, being sure to stop at the market to pick up some bread and booze.  Margie’s uncle Wlodek met us at home as well.

Dinner with Margie’s family was a lot of fun and everyone had tons of laughs while catching up.  There was flaczki (cow tripe soup), Lauren trying to keep up with the 100% Polish speaking (which he did a decent job of), and lots of Sex on the Beach (the hottest drink in Warsaw right now).

After dinner, Margie got a big birthday cake as a late, Polish celebration of turning 29.  We went to bed around 11, exhausted and ready to see more of Warsaw in the morning.