I'm sorta on a roll right now so I figured I'd keep writing. If only I was on a roll like this with my presentation for Athenian Democracy. So blah, blah, blah I forget what happened during the week between Prague and Budapest so I'm just gonna start with my journey from Athens to Budapest.
It was my first time traveling on my own since I've been here so I was a bit nervous. I got to the airport with plenty of time (after leaving my Latin class early) only to discover that, of course, my flight to Munich was delayed an hour. Normally, that would not be the end of the world. But when there is only one, maybe two, direct flights from Athens to Budapest and only a couple more connecting flights per day? NOT OK. I quickly ran over to the Lufthansa desk and asked if I would definitely miss my flight. To their credit, they immediately ripped up my old boarding pass and put me on the flight connecting through Frankfurt instead. Which is great, except that it had started boarding at 5:30. They handed me my new boarding pass at 5:50. The flight was scheduled to depart at 6:00. By the time I got to security, they were calling my name over the loudspeaker. When security stopped me and had me open my bag, I started crying. A man came in to security yelling for passengers for my flight. When he saw me, he immediately started trying to get me to stop crying and told me it would be alright.
I made it onto the plane with a minute to spare. The German lady next to me was very nice but didn't seem to realize I wasn't German (I get that a lot in Europe) until after talking to me for several minutes I still just looked at her with utter bewilderment. Two glasses of wine later, I was landing in Frankfurt, only for the flight attendant to tell us that the local time was 8:50. My connecting flight was scheduled to leave at 8:45. I started tearing up again only for my iPhone to reset its clock and inform me that the flight attendant was just an idiot and that it was only 7:50. I ran into another girl from CYA who was on my flight and heading to Dublin, and we set off through the airport together.
The rest of the trip was relatively easy and another glass of wine later, I was in Budapest. When I got to the hotel, my mom and dad were there waiting for me with a bag of bagels from HOBAGS. I miss hobags so freaking much it's a bit ridiculous. That night, I got to sleep in a real bed with clean sheets in my own room in a real hotel with real locks on the door and a real bathroom that was actually clean and it was heaven.
The next day, my mom's birthday (11/11/11), we crossed the bridge into Buda.
A view from the bridge of the Matthias Church:
Parliament in Pest:
Looking back at Pest and our hotel:
We took the funicular up the hill to the castle and president's house where we saw the changing of the guard (I think I like their outfits best of all the guards I've seen so far):
I really like the silver trim on their jackets and their hats with the feather:
The president's house I think:
Then we made our way over to Matthias Church, also known as the Church of the Coronation. The church (cathedral?) was decorated in a way that made it distinctly Eastern-European or folksy, and I really liked it. It's definitely one of my favorite churches I've visited thus far and I've seen quite a few.
Church of the Coronation:
Across the square (usually there's a little cafe set up under the arches):
More views of the church:
I love the tiled roof:
More tiled roof:
Inside the church:
A CROWN:
It has little painted scenes on it...
Best part was that they let you go upstairs and the stairwell looked like this:
Everything was brightly colored and had beautiful stenciled paintings:
And I found my favorite stained glass window, ever. Which is pretty high praise because I LOVE stained glass windows:
I like how it looks more like a fabric or embroidery pattern than anything religious. I think it makes it more unique than the token scenes portrayed on the stained glass in most churches.
Also, it's just really really pretty:
Outside, a statue of Saint Sebastian (one of the only saints I can recognize in art):
One last view of the church:
Afterward, my parents and I went to a local coffee shop to get sweets and try the Hungarian specialty of cremes. I got the last one and it was the best thing I've ever had in my life:
LOOK HOW FLUFFY.
After that, we wandered around in Buda (where my great-grandfather used to live when he was little) a little more before heading back to Pest.
Budapest suffered a lot of destruction during wartime and here in this building you can actually see bullet holes from WWII (I think).
Once we were back in Pest, we tried to go see the Great Synagogue which is the largest in Europe and only second in the world to New York's. Unfortunately, I couldn't go inside because we went right before Friday night services so they had closed early. http://www.greatsynagogue.hu/gallery_syn.html
During World War II, the synagogue was part of the Jewish ghetto and had to add a graveyard because of the huge number of deaths, despite the fact that it is against religious law to bury people on the grounds of a synagogue.
In the gardens, there are also several very moving memorials to those who died in the Holocaust.
On each of the leaves of this weeping willow there is a name engraved:
There are also memorials devoted to some of the heroes who helped to save as many of Hungary's Jewish population as they could. I don't think I got a picture of these, but here is another link for more information about the synagogue: http://www.budapest-tourist-guide.com/budapest-great-synagogue.html
After we saw the synagogue, we wandered around and looked at local crafts and did some souvenir shopping before heading to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We had dinner at Gundel's (Gundel Budapest) which was amazing. The restaurant is next to the zoo and a park where my mom told me that my great-grandfather used to play when he was little. The food there is incredible. They also came and sang to my mom for her birthday which was hilarious.
The next day, we went to a local market for more souvenirs and to buy good paprika and other things:
Afterward, we got lunch at a really good cafe where I had the same brand of beer that I had in Oktoberfest! I was very excited. Then, we headed over to Saint Stephen's Basilica:
Saint Stephen's is beautiful. Sain Stephen was the first king of Hungary and is now their patron saint. His right hand is mummified in the basilica:
After this, I got my nails done in the hotel spa (yay) and we had an early dinner before going to the Budapest opera house. We saw a production of Rossini's La Cenerentola which was incredible and made up somewhat for not seeing a concert when I was in Prague:
The next morning, on our way to the airport, our driver made sure we got to see the front of Parliament:
We flew to Athens without mishap. My parents were staying at one of the nicest hotels in Athens but unfortunately it was in Syntagma which was all blocked off in preparations for the demonstration and march on November 17th (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens_Polytechnic_uprising). Eventually we made it there, and that night we had dinner with Alex and Rosie in the rooftop restaurant.
I don't have any more pictures from this week but here's a run-down of what we did:
Monday: POET SANDALMAKER and Monastiraki. We had sushi that night (yum) at Kiku. Which is more than NYC prices... ugh.
Tuesday: National Archaeological Museum with my Art and Archaeology class, then I had class all day (my mom joined me for Latin too). We had dinner at a really fancy restaurant (Spondi?) that night.
Wednesday: I had to do some work on my papers but I showed my parents around in the afternoon. That night we went to a cute local taverna in Plaka.
Thursday: Acropolis Museum with my Art and Archaeology class, then they went to see the temple of Poseidon at Sounio while I went to classes. That night, they joined me and some of my friends for dinner at my favorite taverna.
Friday: I went to northern Greece and they went home to NYC :(
Note: NEITHER GOT PICK-POCKETED. Success.
It was my first time traveling on my own since I've been here so I was a bit nervous. I got to the airport with plenty of time (after leaving my Latin class early) only to discover that, of course, my flight to Munich was delayed an hour. Normally, that would not be the end of the world. But when there is only one, maybe two, direct flights from Athens to Budapest and only a couple more connecting flights per day? NOT OK. I quickly ran over to the Lufthansa desk and asked if I would definitely miss my flight. To their credit, they immediately ripped up my old boarding pass and put me on the flight connecting through Frankfurt instead. Which is great, except that it had started boarding at 5:30. They handed me my new boarding pass at 5:50. The flight was scheduled to depart at 6:00. By the time I got to security, they were calling my name over the loudspeaker. When security stopped me and had me open my bag, I started crying. A man came in to security yelling for passengers for my flight. When he saw me, he immediately started trying to get me to stop crying and told me it would be alright.
I made it onto the plane with a minute to spare. The German lady next to me was very nice but didn't seem to realize I wasn't German (I get that a lot in Europe) until after talking to me for several minutes I still just looked at her with utter bewilderment. Two glasses of wine later, I was landing in Frankfurt, only for the flight attendant to tell us that the local time was 8:50. My connecting flight was scheduled to leave at 8:45. I started tearing up again only for my iPhone to reset its clock and inform me that the flight attendant was just an idiot and that it was only 7:50. I ran into another girl from CYA who was on my flight and heading to Dublin, and we set off through the airport together.
The rest of the trip was relatively easy and another glass of wine later, I was in Budapest. When I got to the hotel, my mom and dad were there waiting for me with a bag of bagels from HOBAGS. I miss hobags so freaking much it's a bit ridiculous. That night, I got to sleep in a real bed with clean sheets in my own room in a real hotel with real locks on the door and a real bathroom that was actually clean and it was heaven.
The next day, my mom's birthday (11/11/11), we crossed the bridge into Buda.
We took the funicular up the hill to the castle and president's house where we saw the changing of the guard (I think I like their outfits best of all the guards I've seen so far):
After that, we wandered around in Buda (where my great-grandfather used to live when he was little) a little more before heading back to Pest.
Budapest suffered a lot of destruction during wartime and here in this building you can actually see bullet holes from WWII (I think).
In the gardens, there are also several very moving memorials to those who died in the Holocaust.
On each of the leaves of this weeping willow there is a name engraved:
After we saw the synagogue, we wandered around and looked at local crafts and did some souvenir shopping before heading to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We had dinner at Gundel's (Gundel Budapest) which was amazing. The restaurant is next to the zoo and a park where my mom told me that my great-grandfather used to play when he was little. The food there is incredible. They also came and sang to my mom for her birthday which was hilarious.
The next day, we went to a local market for more souvenirs and to buy good paprika and other things:
The next morning, on our way to the airport, our driver made sure we got to see the front of Parliament:
I don't have any more pictures from this week but here's a run-down of what we did:
Monday: POET SANDALMAKER and Monastiraki. We had sushi that night (yum) at Kiku. Which is more than NYC prices... ugh.
Tuesday: National Archaeological Museum with my Art and Archaeology class, then I had class all day (my mom joined me for Latin too). We had dinner at a really fancy restaurant (Spondi?) that night.
Wednesday: I had to do some work on my papers but I showed my parents around in the afternoon. That night we went to a cute local taverna in Plaka.
Thursday: Acropolis Museum with my Art and Archaeology class, then they went to see the temple of Poseidon at Sounio while I went to classes. That night, they joined me and some of my friends for dinner at my favorite taverna.
Friday: I went to northern Greece and they went home to NYC :(
Note: NEITHER GOT PICK-POCKETED. Success.
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