I totally haven’t posted in awhile, because I totally keep looking at my to do list: update blog of past trips before you go on blabbing about new ones.  Also, I often feel like my trips while back here in the US aren’t nearly as exciting as the trips I used to take while living in Praha.  But this weekend I headed up to Schroon Lake in the Adirondacks Mountain region.  Upstate NY for short.  My boyfriend’s family has a lake-house up there and the area is quite beautiful.

This weekend including day cuddling (gag, I know), hungover hiking, and a BREATH-TAKING (for reals) meteor shower. Cosmic trash actually. New band name?

BUDApest, Hungary!

Bri and I set out for who BIG adventure to Hungary.  We planned.  We begged for money. We packed. We waited in anticipation.  The first bump in the road was somehow not realizing it was an 8 hour bus ride away, but we did book an overnight bus.  That first oversight set the tone for the rest of the vacation.

We arrived in a seedy looking area of the city and had no way to get on to the metro.  The machines only took coins and the man at the booth only took bills less than 5000 or so Forint. After finding a stand that would allow us to buy only water and break change, we made our way to the hostel.  The hostel was located in an old building (go figure) with a beautiful winding staircase.  Like many old European buildings the courtyard extended eight floors up.  Meaning, the building layout was wrap around hallways with no center.  Our room was perfect.  Bohemian meets vintage meets Bhudda.  I fell in love in an instant.  We set up shop and went on a free walking tour to meet the city, both BUDA and pest.  Bri was very taken with the history..for about the first three minutes of the store and then his attention quickly turned to gummy bears.  I ran behind the guide quoting Rick Steves right along with her, quite upset that she couldn’t give any new information.  Yes, I know those are bullet holes from WWII.  

I was pretty excited about the food in Hungary, but one night we just couldn’t seem to get it right.  We finally ended up eating in what can only be described as a basement with a man behind a keyboard.  There was one other table packed with old man glaring at us.  We ordered the typical Hungarian food and were soon presented with what comes to mind when you hear “goulas”.  Luckily a ruins bar after made up for the dinner.  Our dinner the next time around was much better and we even met a couple from the states.  She had lived abroad years ago and she let me that I would be devastated upon returning home. Thanks.

The next part of our trip was a trip to Lake Balaton, known as the Hungarian Sea!! I have never been so excited to see something resembling the ocean.  This is the part of the trip were most the bumps occurred.  We got off the train with out 20 young men partying hard, wasted mid afternoon.  We arrived at our hotel and had to wait an hour while Bri tried to get cash and ultimately had to ride with the woman who spoke no English to get to a bank.  This is where we realized we were no where near anything.  Even finding a restaurant to eat that night was a nightmare.  Finally, a hotel agreed to make us a few snacks.  After saying yes to whatever they were offering we got a bowl of pickles.  We had no idea if anything else was coming.  And of course they electricity went out and we were alone in a big empty room. We left money and hurried back to our tiny hotel room.  The next morning we made our way to the lake.  Did I mention that this week it was freezing? As we walked up and down the boardwalk we were quick to realize that Lake Balaton is reminiscent of the Jersey Shore. Around every corner there was a new hilarious bump in the road.  Even our waiter told us “there is just simply nothing to do when it’s raining here”.  After three days in a small hotel room we headed back to Budapest.

Our final days in Budapest were great.  Lots of history, good food, and great nightlife.  I also got an email that my skype interview at AFL needed to be moved up on that day.  I had no computer, was unprepared, and with the time difference had about an hour to figure it out.  I downloaded skype onto the hostel computer and tried it out a couple of times.  It wouldn’t work.  Then the woman working at the hostel let me use the desk computer and that wouldn’t work either.  Eventually, she ran home to get her personal computer, installed skype and I was able to call the woman from AFL for a two hour phone interview.  Brian sat out in the courtyard smoking a cigar and the woman from the hostel checked people in out in the hall way so I could have the lobby undisturbed.  9 months later I work at AFL!

Szechenyi Baths is part of a tradition of baths that started during Turkish occupation of the area 600 years ago.

Hero’s square

House of Terror

Grand Bazaar