Bed at Sunrise

Budapest Day 2 - July 2

After our epic night on the town, we dragged ourself out of bed at the crack of noon just in time to grab a quick bite at the BK Lounge (note to self: stop eating fast food. Note to the world: stop making it so much cheaper than anything else...this is why you're fat, America) before heading to the walking tour of Buda.

Jamie and John introduced me to this concept...basically all the hostels advertise free walking tours. You show up at the meeting point at the designated time, and don't pay a cent to be shown the city sights. All they ask is that if you like the tour, you tip the guide at the end. I think this is a great bargain for travelers on a budget, and allows you to get a real feel for the city from someone who cares if you get something out of the tour. You might even learn a few things guidebooks won't tell you.

Our guide, Tomi, spoke the most fluent English I've heard in Hungary so far. We chatted a bit and found out he's a student at the university in Budapest and also studied political science, like me.

He took us down by the river, across the Chain Bridge, up to the castle, parliament, and the Fisherman's Bastion. We learned that Katy Perry shot her music video for "Firework" at this castle, and that Buda is mainly residential. We also discovered that the city has a lively history, being destroyed and rebuilt numerous times, whether it was flood, plague, or war that wiped the city out. One of the Hapsburg descendants even occupied the castle for a while--was neat to understand that after having just visited Schonnbrunn a few days earlier.

The fisherman's bastion is GORGEOUS- I have seen it quite a few times on travel photography sites, and it does not disappoint. It was really full of people, but I saw a wedding party doing their pictures there, and I can imagine that it is just magical when devoid of crowds.

After the tour, Tomi took a few of us from the tour to this little hole in the wall place (literally--it was a shop built into the walls of one of the gates in the city) that had fresh baked strudel, a Hungarian treat. I watched my cherry strudel being taken out of the oven...it doesn't get better than that. So yummy!

We walked down the street to a local grocery store and picked up some supplies. I made dinner (penne with homemade bolognaise sauce--I added zucchini, onion, peppers, tomatoes, and lots of garlic to a store-bought sauce; salad to complement) and we had a hearty meal at the hostel.

We're pretty pooched from last night so we didn't do much tonight--sometimes it's nice to just relax for a bit.

I booked my next destination (it's a surprise...I know you're dying to hear where in the world I'm going next!), but other than that it's early to bed, and up for a walking tour of Pest. That's all for now! Gonna go try to catch some Zzz's, but between it being Saturday night, 2 pubs outside our window, and Jamie's tendency to sleep on his back, it's looking like an earplug night is in order.

Wienerschnitzel and the Opera: Traditional Vienna

Vienna Day 3 - Thurs 30 Today was our 2nd day in Vienna for sightseeing, so we had breakfast in the hostel and headed out to Schonnbrunn Palace, another Hapsburg Dynasty creation.

This palace was originally a summer hunting lodge for the royal family, but it was equally impressive to the first place we saw. We did the Grand Tour which was $9.50 Euros (student discount) and included 25 rooms. There was a 40 room tour for 13.50 but we decided the smaller tour was enough. The preservation of the palace was incredible--they have restored everything perfectly, so it really feels like you're seeing what life was like back then.

I didn't realize Marie Antoinette and Archduke Franz Ferdinand were descendants of the Hapsburg dynasty. I read on Wikipedia that the dynasty ruled the Austro-Hungarian Empire for 6 centuries, until incest and inbreeding eventually wiped the line out completely. Fun Fact about the royals.

After the tour, we headed around the palace to the back gardens, where I'm assuming the hunting happened. The grounds were massive, yet perfectly manicured. There were extensive gardens, with a hill at the back, which we climbed. At the top you could look out and see all of Vienna--great view.

By that point it was about 2:30 so it was time to head back to the hostel and get ready to hit the Opera (after a quick pit stop at McDonald's, of course). We heard you can get standing room only tickets for under 5 Euros, but you have to go really early and wait in line. Since tonight was the last performance of the opera before they go on hiatus for the summer, we expected it to be packed, and we were right. Luckily we planned for this, and went 3 hours early to wait in line--there were about 25 people in front of us. It's a good thing we dressed up a bit too; people were getting turned away at the doors for wearing shorts (apparently t-shirts were fine..I was not impressed though. You look like a tourist, not someone who belongs at the opera. I always dress up to go to the symphony or the ballet, it's almost like a sign of respect to the performance. So I wore my birthday dress and felt like I belonged.)

We finally bought our tickets and headed into the theatre, where there were several rows of steps where you stand and tie a scarf or something on a railing in front of you to mark your place; they really cram you in there, but people are pretty respectful of the place you marked.

The performance started, and it was Katja (......), which I had never heard of. I was kind of hoping for something traditional like Die Zauberfloete, so some of the melodies I heard my mom singing as a child would be familiar, but no dice. This was a really confusing story in Russian, so I was glad they had the words (in English) on little screens where we were standing. The opera was about a married Russian woman who has an affair, feels guilty and spills the beans, then kills herself. Also included: Monster-in-law mother who practices S&M on the side, and unlikeable main character. The singing was fantastic, though. Kind of balanced out the strange story we witnessed.

We exited the theatre to weather 15 degrees colder than when we entered. After that, we figured we'd give our quest for TRUE Wienerschnitzel one more shot. John caved and had pizza, but Jamie and I held out, and boy were we glad we did. We were basically wandering the streets of Vienna looking for any place that had the traditional dish for under 15 Euros (we saw a few places in the 20 E range, no thanks. I'm not paying more for my meal than my accommodations), and we found this place that was in the basement of a building. Kind of sketchy, but we were starving so we thought let's give it a shot. We headed down 3 flights of stairs into this dungeon with a vaulted ceiling and discovered it had been a restaurant since 1591, pretty cool. Our schnitzel came and it was DELICIOUS. I devoured mine, my salad, and Jamie's too. He had a tougher time finishing but he made a valiant effort.

So. Traditional Viennese cuisine can be checked off my list. I didn't get to a dance class, but I did waltz on the subway, so I'm going to count that.

Tomorrow is Canada Day, and we're catching a train to Budapest, Hungary. Sad I'm missing the fireworks, so I'm repping my Canada t-shirt on the train today. Will be interesting to see how we fare in a country that speaks broken English at best, and we don't know a single word of Hungarian. Yikes.

Hofburg Palace, Freud, and Tourist Traps

Vienna Day 2 - Wed 29th Last night I managed to navigate the subways of Vienna and make it to the hostel with only a few wrong turns and a detour into the wrong hostel. I met Jamie and John in the lobby, and we went up to the room so I could get organized. We're staying in a 6 person dorm (so 3 sets of bunks...I felt like a little kid again), but so far this is night 2 and no one has joined us--knock on wood--so we basically have this entire room to ourselves, with our own bathroom. Not bad.

The hostel is clean, new, and nice...but the crowd is kind of weird. I'm pretty sure we're staying with about 5 groups of grade 12 German grad trips, so we feel old. And in a hostel, that's saying something.

The free housekeeping and breakfast is definitely nice, though. Wifi only in the common room, so it's a pain to walk down 4 flights of stairs to send an email. They have towels you can rent (not a bad idea, considering a)I forgot to pack one and b)this way you're not carrying around a giant mildewing sack from city to city), as well as laundry, but I opted out of the latter. Mostly because I brought enough clothes to last me a month. But I do have Tide sink-washing detergent packs--thanks, Shoppers travel section!

This is my first hostel experience, so I'm glad I came with people I know so I can ease into it. But it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

After Jamie and I took advantage of our free breakfast (and for those of you that know me know I hate breakfast, so this is definitely about scoring a great deal--free food is free food), we roused John and made our way to the subway for a day of seeing what Vienna has to offer.

...not gonna lie, I thought Vienna was way up in the Alps. Whoops. Way off. Looks like my cartography skills could use some work. We navigated to Stephansplatz where there is a huge cathedral, very beautiful. In one of the towers, you could climb the stairs to the top, so naturally we decide to try it. 3.50 Euros later, we arrive, sweaty and out of breath, to the top, and are greeted by none other than a giant gift shop. In the top of the church. SO TACKY. Then, on the way down, you got so dizzy because of the spiral stairs, and my flip flops were not enjoying the smoothed edges of thousand year old steps. I almost slid down the entire staircase, ass over teakettle. Multiple times. Needless to say, this was most definitely a huge tourist trap...we basically paid 5 bucks to work out. Not impressed.

Next, we walked up Kärterstrasse, which is one of the big shopping streets downtown. One of the really nice things about Vienna is the amount of pedestrian only areas it has. We made a quick stop at the BK Lounge so John could eat, since he missed breakfast. Something I've noticed about fast food in Europe--there are no garbages; you're supposed to leave your tray on the table and someone will clean it up for you. Also, the interior had marble and crown molding...like it was legitimately nicer than many houses I've been in. You stay classy, Austria.

After that, we saw Hofburg Palace, home of the Hapsburg Dynasty, which was absolutely insane to me. I think I took about 200 photos today alone, because from then on, my afternoon was one giant architectural orgasm. I'm not kidding, this place made Buckingham Palace look like a joke. It now houses the National Library, as well as a few museums.

We then walked across the street where two identical, yet equally impressive palaces stood, facing each other. They are also now art galleries and museums, all of which you have to pay for, so we opted for an exterior self-tour instead. (I can google whatever's inside...when seeing something like that is going to be so touristy, it's usually not worth the money)

We walked some more and just kept finding gorgeous building after gorgeous building--theatres, palaces, museums, etc. We ended by walking through the gardens,which were perfectly manicured, and ended up in the big square where the Spanish Riding School is. I really wanted to go watch, but to watch a horseback riding lesson for 12 Euros wasn't worth it to any of us, and the shows are on hiatus for the summer. But we went inside, at least.

After a tumble down some more marble steps--they should really fix that, you know--we made our way to a nearby cafe so Jamie and I could have some lunch. I had a mixed salad and spaghetti bolognese; I just wanted something simple, as my stomach was still recovering from the unknown substance posing as McDonald's that entered my body for dinner the night before.

We decided to check out the Freud Museum, at Jamie's suggestion, and I'm really glad we did -- I studied his work a little in university, and found the bits that I became familiar with to be really interesting. The museum was $7 euros or 4.50 for students (bring your student card everywhere if you have one--you never know what you can get a discount on, and it never hurts to flash it--the worst thing they'll do is charge you full price anyway...like those church stairs....383 divided by 3.50..that's like 1.09 cents per step! Rip. Off.) Anyway, the museum was interesting, it gave a really good picture of Freud's life, some excerpts of his material, and what was going on externally that affected his work (WWII, his emigration to London, etc). I learned a lot.

We came back to the hostel, showered and changed (well, I did--backpacking boys will be smelly boys...thank god I brought my febreeze), and headed out for some dinner. We were on the hunt for traditional Wienerschnitzel. After wandering around a bit to try and find the place recommended by a few places online, we realized it had no patio, so we opted for a different spot. We ordered and basically got veal scallopini with white wine sauce. After 2 hours of waiting. And 2 flies in my glass of wine. UGH. Don't get me wrong, the food was very good once it got there, but they forgot our appetizers, gave me polenta instead of noodles, and it wasn't traditional schnitzel like I specifically asked when we ordered! I guess they take this no tips business seriously in Europe -- I would've never made that mistake while working. What an amateur haha. So I'm a little disappointed and may renew my quest for the Holy Grail of Vienna again tomorrow--the REAL schnitzel deal this time. Deep fried with no sauce, just lemon and potato salad.

Oh yeah, one thing that worries me a bit is that my debit card doesn't work in Austria. I tried 3 different banks, all of which rejected the card saying it wasn't valid when I tried to withdraw money. Jamie's RBC card worked fine, so I know it's not a Canadian thing. It's not a big deal, because I have my Visa which works and some Canadian cash I can change in a pinch, but Goddamn, Scotia..I'm so switching when I get home. Useless!

Tomorrow we are going to relax, take it easy, maybe do a wine tour since we saw most of the sights today. Perhaps have a Viennese coffee, at my Mom's suggestion, and then get in line for those cheap tickets for the Opera. It's a must do, and their last show before they go on holiday for the summer!

We've been pretty low-key in Vienna so far--it's quite expensive to go out, so I think we will take a little more advantage in Budapest starting Thursday. We're just preparing ourselves.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Happy Birthday to me! I woke up this morning not really feeling any different--it's strange not seeing my Mom though. Olly offered to take me for lunch to celebrate, so I met him at his office near Victoria station and we went to this cute place called Bumble. I tried lamb meatballs with spaghetti (SO not a fan), and tried to order a mimosa but discovered they don't exist in England. Olly was very amused. After that, I went back to Gavin's and just relaxed for a bit before heading to Gordon Ramsay's York & Albany restaurant for a birthday dinner. He has seven different restaurants in London, but this one was the closest (and most affordable--Savoy for $300 each? Maybe after I head to Mumbai and  become a famous Bollywood star. It's obviously going to happen. Can't wait to write that post). It was, in a word, disappointing. 

Gavin had the asparagus for an appetizer, and I had the warm goat cheese salad, which wasn't warm at all.  For some unknown reason I decided to be adventurous and order the "fish of the day", which was haddock with braised cabbage and mustard-egg ravioli. I thought, why not try some true English cuisine? 

Should've known it would  be terrible. The fish was overcooked and unbearably salty, and the egg ravioli...well lets just say I hate eggs for a reason. Gavin had the pizza, which he actually enjoyed, but I was so disappointed. Also, our food didn't come out to the table together; I was waiting about 10 minutes for mine. I've watched chef Ramsay yell at his contestants on Hell's Kitchen when this happens, so I just assumed he would require the same standards of service at his restaurants. GUESS NOT. I definitely will not be returning, I should have gone to Nobu instead. Maybe in October. I do think it's funny that the worst meal I had while in London was:  -on my birthday -supposed to be the best meal I had in London

After dinner, my friend from home Chris and his girlfriend Jen came by Gavin's flat, and we all headed out to go dancing. I had no idea Chris wasn't 18 yet, so he couldn't get in to the places we wanted to go--they ended up parting ways with us, and Gavin and I wandered around endlessly because he was SURE there was a great "hidden club, very posh" that he was at earlier in the week. Problem was, every time we used our GPS to locate it, its location would move. Walk to one spot, it jumps on the map. Walk again, it's no longer where it said it was. Damn you, Blackberry!

After a quick pit stop at McDonalds (.99 chicken burger, unreal--I would definitely be obese if I lived in London), we took a rickshaw (those tricycle things that the guys bike us to where we want to go? Not sure if this is the right term) to G-A-Y Late, one of London's best gay clubs. I'd never been to a gay club before, but I honestly had the time of my life there! It is definitely strange being on the outside of what's going on...no one cared what I did while I was there haha but at the same time that's what made it amazing! I could dance and just have a good time celebrating my birthday and the fact that I'm in London, for goodness' sake! We were also celebrating Gavin that night, as it turns out, he was named one of Canada's Top 40 under 40--so congrats Gav! So proud of you!

The night ended with a wander into Leicester Square, and finally a taxi home, none of which Gavin remembers. Good thing someone's responsible on her birthday :)

Rain Means Retail Therapy

Today it rained, so Gavin and I went shopping on Oxford Street. I needed to get at least a raincoat and a jacket, and ended up buying some shoes too. Oops. I tried to remember I have to carry this stuff with me everywhere I go, but a girl's gotta do what her feet tell her to, and mine said "wear these!" I listened. And now I regret having an extra pair of shoes.

We grabbed a quick lunch at Pret a Manger, this chain of sandwiches to go,  and then headed home in the afternoon.

I forgot to tell you yesterday that I had an authentic English Lunch! Fish and Chips...and mushy peas. Blech! So disgusting. We also had Pimms, an english drink with strawberries and cucumber in it, very summery.

Alright, where was I? I think I went home and napped for a bit, then got ready to meet Olly in Covent Garden. I underestimated the amount of time it took to get there and was almost half an hour late--I felt awful! Thank god Olly was a good sport about it and actually waited for me! We had a great time learning about our cultural differences, me trying not to let it show that I couldn't understand about every other word...those English accents are tricky! He took me to a pub called the Porterhouse, where they brew their own ale, so of course I had to try it--surprise, I loved it! He was a great host, and I wish him luck on his adventure race this weekend...hopefully he makes it through 2 days and 12 hours of racing! CRAZY I tell you. I hope we can meet up again when I go back through London in October. I forgot to take a picture with him, so you'll just have to imagine a dashing young Englishman.

Tomorrow is my birthday (23rd)!