Vienna and Budapest with Joey - guest entry
Trip Start
Apr 06, 2003
1
57
69
Trip End
Ongoing
Budapest,
Hungary
Monday, February 21, 2005
But without further adieu, Josef's t-pod (spelling errors and all)...
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Wow!!! What a trip. I've been looking forward to this Europe trip for a very long time now and it was everything I'd hoped it would be
01. Just 4 more weeks!
. I was especially excited to be spending 9 days traveling around Vienna, Budapest, and Bratislava with my good friend Julie and her personal assistant, whatever his name is. I will save all of the specific details of our trip because we all know that is what Julie pays that guy the big bucks for.The trip for me started out with my arrival in Amsterdam on a Friday morning, right around sunrise and Julie's Assistant met me at the airport. We walked from Central Station through the streets of Amsterdam on the way back to the Kantor Canal House. Since this was my first exposure to being in a European City I was finding myself constantly looking up at all the amazing artcutecture and how old everything looked. Julie's place is incredible. They have this unbelievable view of the canal from their place. It's really nice. I was also very happy to see my futon that was stolen from me 2 years ago. It looked good. A couple scratches that weren't there
Before but that is ok, they haven't seen what has happened with their couch in my place. The only thing is the climb up the stairs to their place. I felt like I should have brought my hiking boots with me. That night the 3 of us made our way to the airport for our flight to Bratislava. It turned out our flight was still in Rome and wouldn't be back to pick us up for 7 more hours. I think I know every corner of Schipol Airport now.
I will spare you most of the details from the trip because I know they will be mentioned in great detail later but some of my highlights in Vienna were:
Our first night in Vienna Julie's Assistant, Stephen (glad I remembered his name) forced us to find a place to watch the Wisconsin-Illinois basketball game
02. Look how cute Julie looks with her new haircut
. This was funny for a few reasons. First, you go to Vienna and instead of finding the local cuisine and beer he finds us an Australian bar with a satellite. Foster's Beer is especially good in Australia not Austria. Second, Stephen had convinced the guys who work at this bar to put the game on when none of the other customers wanted to watch this game. Third, the guys at the bar told Stephen they didn't know if their satellite would keep the entire game on and if it was still on after watching 10 minutes then we would be able to watch the entire game. So Stephen waited through the first 10 minutes of the game (Wisconsin was down big by this point) and the game remained on. After about 30 minutes the game was "lost from satellite." At least that is what the guys working at the bar told Stephen. I think they had enough and turned it off themselves.
The catacombs of St. Stephens Cathedral. Pretty scary to walk down a corridor and look in a room and to see thousands of human bones stacked on top of one another. It was pretty cool though. The Hofburg Palace was also a very interesting place to see. The palace is where the Austrian Hapsburgs ruled much of Europe up until World War I. At the Hofburg we also had a
chance see the Vienna Boys Choir. It was interesting how these young boys are treated like rock stars. After their performance all the tourists wanted to take pictures and get autographs. I don't remember signing any autographs when I was eleven.
I was also surprised by the food in Vienna and for that matter the food throughout Europe. It was all really good but really heavy. Everything seems to have lots of cream or other types of dairy. I was happy when I got back to the states to actually have just a grilled chicken breast again.
While in Vienna we spent everyday trying out a different cafe. The cappuccinos and different types of pastries were all incredible.
We had a great time in Vienna and then it was onto Budapest which got really interesting. One funny thing that happened on the train was Julie trying to teach Stephen how to knit. The disturbing thing was I think he actually enjoyed it. Stephen, I am still waiting on the sweater you promised to make me.
I really enjoyed Budapest. I felt like we had to chance to experience everything Budapest had to offer. Some of the things I liked most were walking these beautiful old bridges to cross the Danube River and then to experience the Buda or old side of Budapest. I also thought the Great
Synagogue was very interesting. It is huge. There is also a plaque mentioning this was the place Theodore Herzl was born. I was very surprised to see what a large and thriving Jewish Community Budapest still has.
One night we went to a really upscale restaurant in Budapest called Gundel's. So swanky Stephen and I needed to wear coats. I am sure I looked really good especially since the sleeves on the coat were a couple inches too long. But Stephen looked as only he can.
Another totally new experience for me was going to the Opera. We went to see the Marriage of Figaro and I thought it was incredible. I understood nothing but Stephen being as organized (or sick, depending on how you look at it) had printed off a description of the story before he left Amsterdam. That gave us a decent understanding of what was going on.
The day trip to Statue Park was also a good time. We took a bus to this park just outside of Budapest where they housed all the Communist Era Statues. It was bitterly cold and snow all over. A perfect time to throw snow balls at Stephen. Julie did it too, so she isn't as innocent as she looks.
While in Budapest we also had a chance to check out the Thermal Baths or Baaaaaathes as Stephen kept calling them. This was interesting because in the middle of winter it seemed like the whole city would go to these community places to bath. The color of the water was greenish-blue and is supposed to have healing properties. One of the trips to the Baaaaaathes was to an outdoor pool. This was pretty cool but Stephen and I were in our bathing suits trying to hustle as best we could into the water. Not a pretty picture. The water was around 100 degrees but outside it was probably only 30 degrees.
After Budapest we got on the train to Bratislava where we could check out the town before later that evening flying back to Amsterdam. Bratislava seemed pretty uninteresting but what was funny was that there were all these Americans in suits around the Residence Inn. They all seemed very out of place. We later found out President Bush and Vladimir Putin were going
To having a summit in Bratislava later that week. You'd think they could spring for a nicer hotel.
Once back in Amsterdam I needed to relax for a day before my week of museums, lunches with Julie, and meeting Stephen and Julie's friends. I really enjoyed Amsterdam. It is so small. Seems like you can walk from one end to the other in 20 minutes. Julie was a great tour guide. She first
introduced me to the goat cheese, walnut and honey sandwich. Great stuff. Another day we went to the Van Gogh museum. While she checked out one of their newer exhibits I got a chance to see the Van Gogh paintings. We later went to the Rijksmuseum as well to see the Rembrandts which was also very interesting. I did most of the tourist stuff in Amsterdam. Went to the Anne
Frank House, saw the old Portuguese Synagogue, the Heineken Brewery, and of course a very quick walk through the Red-light district.
I also really enjoyed meeting many of the new people Julie and Stephen have become friends with. They all seem really nice. Maybe they don't know Stephen well enough yet. One night Stephen, his friend Chris and I went to see some live music at a small venue called the Milkweg. It was some guy named Kevin Kinney. He was alright but the few beers we had helped make for a good time. This was also the night I borrowed Julie's bike and tried to navigate the streets of Amsterdam while Stephen ditched me.
I had a great time in Amsterdam and the rest of my trip. I was very happy to see what Stephen and Julie's lives are like and how much they are enjoying this whole experience. I don't know how they can stand being as far from me as long as they have though. It was really special to be able to spend all that time with them exploring places I would have never thought I'd get a chance to see. It was also really great to see how excited Stephen and Julie are for their upcoming addition to the Kantor family. I know I speak for everyone when I say we are all very excited for them.
If any of you haven't had a chance to visit Stephen and Julie yet you need to go, you'll have a great time.
Joey
