I realize that over a month has passed since my Toussaint vacation, but I figured I owe it to the few people that are interested in my travels and haven't yet hopped on the facebook bandwagon. Those of you who have looked at the hundreds of photos from the trip, you're welcome to read on or use this time to Sporcle.
Our trip took place during France's Toussaint holiday at the end of October. Some other teaching assistants had been planning a trip to Eastern Europe and, at the last minute, I decided to tag along. Best decision ever! There were six of us altogether and we all got along swimmingly. We visited Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, and Prague. I had never seen any of these places and, frankly, I knew very little about them. As we are but humble assistants, on assistant's salaries, we spent most of our time wandering around the cities, enjoying all that we could see for free. I must admit, most of my money was spent on food, which was really a key component of the trip. Here are some pictures and highlights from each of the places we visited:
Vienna, Austria:
I have always wanted to go to Vienna because I have read so much John Irving and have always been enchanted with his descriptions and apparent obsession with the place. Though the weather wasn't terrific, the sights were pretty incredible and I adored the Viennese cafes.
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| Stephansdom or St. Stephan's Cathedral |
Walking around Stephansdom, one runs the risk of being pounced on by one of the many guys dressed up as Mozart trying to sell concert tickets. I realize that going to Vienna and not attending some sort of musical event is a little pathetic, but these concerts were expensive! Personally, I was just as happy strolling by the accordion player near Karlskirche.
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| Karlskirche or St. Charles's Church |
Our first night there, we found a local bar that served us our first taste of goulash and Austrian beer. We also ate at the Hotel Sacher to try the famous, original Sacher-torte. (John Irving loved Sacher-torte so much, he named his dog after it...or so the legend says.) The sacher-torte itself was okay. It's a chocolate cake with apricot in the middle. But the cafe was very fancy, complete with a mandatory coat check.
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| Sacher-torte! |
We didn't have much time or money to hit too many museums, but on our last morning we splurged on the Belvedere, a palace/art museum. There were some strange modern art exhibits and a cool Klimt exhibit. There's something so authentic feeling about seeing an artist's exhibit in his or her own country.
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| The grounds at the Belvedere |
We spent our last afternoon at a market in the rain. Normally, I would have been miserable, but we had some pretty excellent falafel sandwiches that really made my day.
Bratislava, Slovakia:
We only stayed in Bratislava for one night, which was perfectly adequate considering the size of the town. By the end of our time there, we had made the rounds in the compact city center a couple of times. Bratislava was awesome because it wasn't full of tourists and it was really cheap. The food was great, too. We found one restaurant called the Slovak pub which was so good that we went back the next day for lunch. The first night I was there I had this really rich dish: pierogis in goat cheese...or was it lamb's milk? I don't remember.
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| Statues like this are all over the city center |
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| The castle in Bratislava |
As we had some pastry enthusiasts on the trip, we made frequent stops at pastries and cafes. On one of these stops, we spotted a pastry that looked either really disgusting or really delicious. After some post-vacation research, I've identified the pastry as Kolache, a dessert with fruit, poppy seeds, and some form of cheese.
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| My traveling companions trying the mystery dessert |
The best dessert in Bratislava, by far, was hot chocolate from a hot chocolate cafe. I ordered the dark chocolate and almond hot chocolate. It was really thick, soupy, and delicious!!
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| Dark chocolate soup! |
From Bratislava, we took a really cheap bus to Budapest (less than 5 Euros for me because I'm a student!) The bus was great because it took a lot less time than scheduled AND they showed My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Friends.
Budapest, Hungary:
Budapest definitely had my favorite river view. Buda and Pest lie on either side of the Danube and each had their marvelous landscapes to behold. Our hostel was on the Pest side, as were many of the sights and restaurants we visited. The Buda side had the castle, the labyrinth, and the park of Communist mementos.
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| The Buda side of the Danube |
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| Parliament on the Pest side of the Danube |
Our hostel, I decided, was really just a three bedroom apartment that someone turned into a hostel. We stayed in one of the bedrooms, with several other people. We shared two bathrooms with 20 or more other guests. And the common living room was shared with reception. It was crowded, but it was cheap and had a kitchen, so we couldn't complain.
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| Making dinner at the hostel in Budapest |
I loved the market that was right around the corner from the hostel. We made many stops for meal supplies and souvenir shopping. I tried goulash here that was delicious, but it burned my tongue. I also got a delicious chocolate marzipan cake here. Mmmm.
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| The main market in Budapest |
The receptionist at or hostel told us we had to check out the labyrinth under the castle. Well, we did, but we weren't that impressed. There was no guesswork involved. Maps were posted and there were few opportunities to even choose a path. There was another really strange modern art exhibit down there, too.
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| The group with our lanterns in the labyrinth |
The best pastry we tried in Budapest was Somloi. It was just cake, chocolate, whipped cream, and nuts(maybe?) in a cup...but it was delicious. After spending three days in Budapest, we hopped on the night bus to Prague. This was a terrible experience for some of us...but my ride was pretty smooth and I actually slept some.
Prague, Czech Republic:
Arriving at 6am in the frigid cold was not an ideal introduction to Prague. It didn't help that we had a grumpy welcome at the hostel and the only place open was McDo's. Once we had some caffeine in our systems and the sun came out, Prague started to look pretty okay. Prague was probably the most touristy of all the places we went, but understandably so; there was a lot to see and do.
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| The astronomical clock in the town square |
There was a big square with an astronomical clock and trumpeter. We had the best timing with the trumpeter. Every time we got to the square, I wondered why so many people were gathered around the clock. Then, as we made our way through the crowd, the trumpeter would play and I would realize we were passing the clock on the hour...again.
Little cobblestoned streets with all sorts of shops fanned out from the town square. Eventually, if we followed the flow of tourists, we would end up at the Charles Bridge. This is a pedestrian bridge full of vendors and artists. It was pretty cool but definitely not a good route to take if you want to get somewhere quickly.
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| Posing in front of the Charles Bridge |
On the other side of the river, we found a park, some cafes, and the John Lennon Wall. The John Lennon wall was pretty cool. It was fun trying to pick out all the pieces of Beatles songs that I knew. I like thinking that the next time I see this wall it will probably look completely different.
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| The John Lennon Wall |
On Halloween morning, some of us decided to wake up before sunrise to go to the Charles Bridge before the tourists were out and about. The bridge was really foggy and eerie; perfect for Halloween. As it turned out, only photographers had the same idea as us. There was a whole group of them taking photos of the statues and fog. I like to think that my foggy silhouette will probably be on postcards and photo books for years to come.
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| The Charles Bridge on Halloween morning, sans tourists |
We had to make a stop at the Prague Castle: the biggest castle complex in the world. Even the cathedral inside the complex was huge. I'm glad we toured some of the castle. I think I enjoyed the climb and the view from the castle even more, though.
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| Prague Castle gates |
Catching the train on the last morning in Prague almost didn't happen. We were trying to spend our last Czech koruna on coffees. The barista was infuriatingly slow, though, and Chrissy and I ended up making a mad dash for the train, coffees in hand. I was sad to leave Prague, but exhausted from our whirlwind tour of Eastern Europe.
If you would like to see more pictures from the trip, you should definitely check out Chrissy's Photos. She is an amazing photographer and I was thankful to have her on the trip!
