It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. I love Buda & Pest. They are lovely towns connected and divided by the Danube river. I completely understand why there is such a large expat community in Budapest. The fantastic architecture, the thriving pub scene, the good weather, the great metro system, & the baths. Oh, the baths!
My trip originated as a vague impulse to go to Budapest and try out the different thermal bath houses. Then, in my research, I discovered how close Vienna and Bratislava are to Budapest and I decided to try those as well. Austria was lovely, Slovakia not-so-much, but Hungary is fantastic.
As you may recall, I cut short my trip in Slovakia (because of it sucking so much) and went to Budapest a day early. Actually, I feel certain that The Slovakian region was saying to itself, "Go, flee, we got rid of your ancestors almost 400 years ago! Don't come back!" My maternal grandfather's family was originally from outside Prague back when it was still Bohemia. Anyhoo, I have rarely been so happy to leave a country or so certain that I will not be back.
Maybe it was only the contrast or maybe Budapest really is one of the best cities ever. My mission was to visit as many of the thermal baths as possible. After dropping my stuff off at Carpe Noctem (the all-time best hostel - I love Susie & Ian!), I headed off to women-only day at Kiraly. This is a 500 year old Turkish bathhouse. When I say women-only, I mean because we were nekkid! It was fantastic. I was floating in a pool of hot mineral water, looking up at a 500 year old dome. I had momentary blips of time-displacement, imagining that I was different people in different phases of the baths' history.
After my soak, steam & sauna, & walked along the river on the Buda side. I stopped for a very strange tofu burger, then crossed over the Chain Bridge before continuing my amble on the Pest side of the river. I stopped again to watch a gorgeous sunset before heading back to the hostel for a rowdy night of partying. Well, everyone else was rowdy. I enjoyed their excitement.
The next day I went to visit St. Istvan's Basilica to see the famous incorruptible hand of St. Stephen. Yuck! I also climbed the stairs to the top of the dome, and took the elevator back down. After lunch and a short nap, I meandered around Margaret Island and then made my way (after much trial and tribulation) to Gellert Baths. Fantastic! This is baroque at its best. I loooove Gellert. There is a men's and women's segregated thermal area with changing rooms, massage rooms, different temp pools, sauna, steam room and showers. Then there is the main pool in a two story high open ceiling, columned neoclassical delight of a space. Upstairs and outside is the wave pool. It was fantastic. I also bought myself a 20 minute massage which turned out to be more of an oiled pinching session than a massage, but what the hell.
After that, I felt fantastic and so decided to climb Gellert Hill to the Citadel and explore a bit. I took silly photos & then tried to come down the other side of the hill on foot. Hah! After walking for 20 minutes, I flagged down a cab and discovered that I was so turned around that I was literally walking in the opposite direction from the river. Whoops! I got dropped off at the river and then went on an expedition in search of Eden Vegetarian Restaurant which was right there according to Lonely Planet. Harrumph! LP is normally my bible, but for Budapest, it sucks! Maybe things just change too quickly for LP to keep up, but it was unreliable.
I ended up walking all the way up to the metro line and had a fantastic couple of crepes at the 24hour crepe place. Then, I turned a corner, and there was Eden Vegetarian Restaurant. Unbelievable! I had spent almost an hour walking around in circles, asking random people and thinking, LP says that it's right here. Then, after giving up, in a completely different section of Buda, I randomly run across Eden's new location. Too strange. I then just had to have a second dinner. :)
That night was another party night at the hostel. It was also the night that an extra person was apparently booked into my dorm room. In around 3 in the morning, an extremely drunk Brazilian guy woke up the whole room by exclaiming, "This is my bed. You are in my bed." The sleeping German guy responded, "Yes, that is because she (Japanese girl) is in my bed." After a few repetitions, drunk Brazilian guy approaches sleeping Japanese girl and says, "We can share this bed, OK?" After she says, "NO!" he repeats this exchange about 5 times. The Japanese girl finally goes and sleeps on the couch. Whoops! Fun for the whole room.
The next morning, I headed of to Szechenyii baths with a lovely girl that I'd met. We walked down Andrassy Ut to get there, were passed by an intense motorcade (there was some sort of ceremony going on at Independence Square) and then discovered that the outside baths weren't open that day, only the inside thermal ones. Hmm. This is the point when I should have said, "Oh, I'll come back tomorrow." Instead, I decided that I was more interested in the thermal baths anyway. This was a HUGE mistake. After wandering around inside for 45 minutes (no one speaks English or is very helpful), I finally located a changing cabin, a bath sheet, and the entrance to the baths. Once inside, I saw three pools. I tried the water in all of them and was disappointed to find that none were very hot. I sat in the hottest one with about 20 other people, ick, and was disgusted to see crud floating in the water. I jumped back out and decided to go up, get my camera, take a few pictures and then leave. I got my brand new, 10x optical zoom, 9.2 MP camera that I loved like a child and took some fun shots of the main room, the side rooms with other (even colder) pools, including a great one of a senior citizens' water aerobics class, and then thought, "huh...I don't want this whole thing to have been a huge waste of money...I should at least go in the steam room for a few minutes." I didn't want to go to my cabin upstairs, come back down for two minutes and then go back upstairs, so I looked around, and decided that it'd be safe to leave my bag of stuff (water, book, camera, towel, cabin key, sunscreen) in one of the cubbyholes with everyone else's bags of stuff. I went and sat in the steam room for literally 120 seconds - I counted - then I rinsed off in the shower and came back to find my bag still there and my brand new camera gone.
Devastated, I made my way back to my hostel. I had lost my camera, my memory cards, my new camera case, my spare battery, but really I was most upset by the loss of my 2 memory cards. How could I bear losing all of those memories? At the hostel, the lovely Katie immediately poured 2 shots down my throat, the first a delicious St. Hubris (yes, really) and the second some homebrew palenka - a Hungarian liquor. I cried. Then, while I was still processing my loss, I looked in my purse for my chapstick and found...my 2gb memory card! Awesome! That card had filled up the night before at the Gellert Baths. I had switched it with the 1gb card that had some video footage of the big headed jazz musicians from Bratislava. I had still lost the camera and about 20 pictures as well as the video, but I had all of the other pictures with me. Thank God that I was too lazy to put the card back in my camera case the way that I should have.
Bolstered by my card and the two shots, I went off for my caving trip. If you are ever in Budapest, definitely try the caving excursion. It rocks! It's not that the caves are gorgeous, they aren't. It's just a ton of fun. Our guide took us through openings that I didn't think even a child could fit through. We elbow shimmied our way along passageways 100 meters under the surface. It was just so so much fun. I even liked being dressed like a miner. The coveralls have a lot of grip to them allowing me to get up rock surfaces that were too slick for my shoes to find purchase. My group were all young, thin and fit (our guide Laszlo's words), so we were able to take a very challenging route through the caves. Laszlo was awesome. Energetic, talkative, and cute!
After caving, I went home for a bit, had some dinner and then hit the pub crawl with the hostel crew. There were about 20 of us. I made it to the first bar and then skived off with 2 other girls to the hookah bar for some quiet conversation. I made it home by 1am only to be woken at 3, 4, 5, and 6am as successive waves of pub crawlers crept back home. We also had a repeat of the "this is my bed" conversation from the prior night. Unbelievable. All three people involved apparently thought that one of the others had moved to another room. Not to mention that there actually was a free bed in our room, they were all just too drunk to realize it.
My last day in Budapest, I finally went to Castle Hill. For some reason, I'd been resistant to the idea - I don't know why, too touristy? After taking the funicular to the top and wandering around, I was very glad that I came. It is beautiful in the old walled town of Buda. I didn't actually enter the castle, just wandered the streets and bought some souvenirs. After that, I rode the train over to Pest and visited the House of Terror. Wow. Horrible. I cried again, for something other than my camera. The Hungarian people were brutalized for decades. The stories of the people who were imprisoned in the 40s and 50s were horrific. The descriptions of the torture that happened in the rooms that I was standing in was so REAL by virtue of being there. I learned a lot about Hungarian history and saw some amazing Soviet art and came away ready for another trip to the baths.
Rudas Baths, another of the old Turkish baths from the days of the Ottoman empire, reopens its doors on Fridays and Saturdays from 10pm to 4am. I arrived soon after 10 to find a line to get in. It is co-ed on the night swims and there were lots of couples as well as big groups and a few singles like me. Rudas is great and the bath staff were the best that I encountered. The cabin attendant had full conversations with me despite the fact that neither of us spoke a word of the other's language. Gestures and grunts really do work when there is a genuine desire to communicate! There was an octagonal main hot pool; 4 small hot pools of different temperatures, one hot enough to boiled food in; a cold plunge; a sauna; a steam room; and on the other side of the changing cabins, a swimming pool. It is an extensive facility and a lot of fun. I stayed until around 12:30am. At that time, it was already starting to get a little raunchy. The couples had started making out. At one point, I was sitting in the main pool between two kissing couples who were each only 6-12 inches away from me. That was when I decided that it was time to call it a night. I did meet a big group of students enrolled in a Master's environmental studies program at Central European University which included a guy from Torrance. Funny, all the way around the world to meet a guy from the next town over from my hometown.
That was it. I stayed up that night for a little while drying my bathing suit, but then I slept for a couple of hours (the party was going all night) before getting up at 6am to get ready for my 6:30am taxi to the airport. I had an uneventful flight from Buda to London and then to San Francisco. I did have a momentary certainty that my flight would explode into a fireball, due to the run of bad luck that I'd had, but when we didn't explode, I relaxed and settled in for the ride.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Hydrofoil between Bratislava and Budapest
After arriving in Bratislava, I checked back into Downtown Backpacker's Hostel for the night and picked up my gear from the left luggage room. I was thrilled to find that my 3rd battery had retained its charge, and to be able to take photos again - though with restraint due to the loss of my 2nd battery. I splurged on a good dinner at an Italian restaurant in Old Town. Expensive but worth it. Then back to the hostel to combine my two bags and get some sleep.
In the morning, I was at the hydrofoil office by 9am for the 10:30 boat. I really did not want to miss it. Unfortunately, they were unable to sell me a ticket until 15 minutes before the boat came in, because they were unable to contact the captain to make sure that there was an available space on the boat. Yeah right. It was a non-holiday, non-high season Wednesday and a very expensive trip when the bus is both faster and about a fourth of the price. Somehow I managed to suppress my surprise to learn that yes, there was an unsold seat available. In fact, there were about 75 unsold seats available. :)
The ride down the Danube was gorgeous. The entire trip took 4.5 hours, with the first couple of hours in Slovakia being a fairly monotonous rural scene with the occasional town and/or light industry to break up the riverbank trees and fields. There were also some nice houses right up on the river with tiny beachfront areas that were just lovely. About an hour or two down the river, we went through a fairly intense lock. We descended about 18 meters before passing under a bridge that we were level with before going through the lock. Very cool.
After another hour or so, we started coming up on the more scenic sections. First, we passed the town of Esztergom, the center of the Roman-Catholic church in Hungary, and its amaying Basilica. I spotted it down the river earlier than my fellow passengers, and was able to snag the coveted near-side open door area from which to take photographs. Yes!
After Esztergom, we passed Visegrad and its 13th century castle. The castle was gorgeous enough, but what really made it special was the handful of paragliders circling over the castle. Unbelievable! Believe me, I tried to find out if this was an activity available to tourists, and reluctantly concluded that these were private individuals with their own gear. Bummer. That must have been such a rush, and such a great way to see the castle!
Those were the major highlights of the boat trip. I would definitely recommend it. Also, do not sit in the front part of the boat. Sure, you have a nice view through the glass, but if you sit on the right-hand side of the back section of the boat, in a row with a window, you'll have your own spot from which to photograph both the Basilica and the castle and won't have to fight the senior citizens for a place at the door. The ticket from Blava to Budapest cost 79 euros one-way or 99 for a return ticket, though why anyone would want to return to Bratislava after escaping...
The refreshments available onboard are extremely limited, so I would suggest stocking up on supplies. For example, the advertised cheese sandwich was unavailable, so I lunched on a (very sweet) blueberry muffin. It's also quite expensive, but they do accept Euros, Slovakian Crowns and Hungarian Forints and will provide change in the currency of your choice. So what I overpaid for my muffin, juice and coffee, I probably made up for in not paying a currency exchange fee.
My favorite thought on the river was that this was the Duna, the Great Mother River. I was flashing back to reading The Plains of Passage (by Jean Auel) and remembering Ayla and Jondalar's prehistoric journey along this river. It was very cool.
In the morning, I was at the hydrofoil office by 9am for the 10:30 boat. I really did not want to miss it. Unfortunately, they were unable to sell me a ticket until 15 minutes before the boat came in, because they were unable to contact the captain to make sure that there was an available space on the boat. Yeah right. It was a non-holiday, non-high season Wednesday and a very expensive trip when the bus is both faster and about a fourth of the price. Somehow I managed to suppress my surprise to learn that yes, there was an unsold seat available. In fact, there were about 75 unsold seats available. :)
The ride down the Danube was gorgeous. The entire trip took 4.5 hours, with the first couple of hours in Slovakia being a fairly monotonous rural scene with the occasional town and/or light industry to break up the riverbank trees and fields. There were also some nice houses right up on the river with tiny beachfront areas that were just lovely. About an hour or two down the river, we went through a fairly intense lock. We descended about 18 meters before passing under a bridge that we were level with before going through the lock. Very cool.
After another hour or so, we started coming up on the more scenic sections. First, we passed the town of Esztergom, the center of the Roman-Catholic church in Hungary, and its amaying Basilica. I spotted it down the river earlier than my fellow passengers, and was able to snag the coveted near-side open door area from which to take photographs. Yes!
After Esztergom, we passed Visegrad and its 13th century castle. The castle was gorgeous enough, but what really made it special was the handful of paragliders circling over the castle. Unbelievable! Believe me, I tried to find out if this was an activity available to tourists, and reluctantly concluded that these were private individuals with their own gear. Bummer. That must have been such a rush, and such a great way to see the castle!
Those were the major highlights of the boat trip. I would definitely recommend it. Also, do not sit in the front part of the boat. Sure, you have a nice view through the glass, but if you sit on the right-hand side of the back section of the boat, in a row with a window, you'll have your own spot from which to photograph both the Basilica and the castle and won't have to fight the senior citizens for a place at the door. The ticket from Blava to Budapest cost 79 euros one-way or 99 for a return ticket, though why anyone would want to return to Bratislava after escaping...
The refreshments available onboard are extremely limited, so I would suggest stocking up on supplies. For example, the advertised cheese sandwich was unavailable, so I lunched on a (very sweet) blueberry muffin. It's also quite expensive, but they do accept Euros, Slovakian Crowns and Hungarian Forints and will provide change in the currency of your choice. So what I overpaid for my muffin, juice and coffee, I probably made up for in not paying a currency exchange fee.
My favorite thought on the river was that this was the Duna, the Great Mother River. I was flashing back to reading The Plains of Passage (by Jean Auel) and remembering Ayla and Jondalar's prehistoric journey along this river. It was very cool.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Eastern Slovakia
My itinerary for Eastern Slovakia was very carefully planned - I even had a spreadsheet. Seriously. I had looked up all of my train timetables and bus connections. I had printed out a map of the trail that I wanted to take throught the High Tatras mountains - the red line, Magisterial Trail - and made all of my reservations at the mountain chatas (cabins) including vegetarian meal half-board (breakfast and dinner). The only thing that I didn't plan for was the snow.
I woke up Sunday morning at 4:30am, feeling surprisingly alert and ready to go. I made it to the train station with time to spare before the 5:40 intercity train to Poprad-Tatry. I tried to sleep on the train, but had trouble doing so because I was so excited to finally be going to the place that I had spent so much time thinking about over the last few months. I did doze off at one point. I know this because I suddenly opened my eyes to find an old lady laying on the row of seats across from me, staring at me. Ack! Let me explain. Slovakian trains along the main Bratislava-Kosice line are cabins with two facing rows of three seats in each cabin. I had a cabin all to myself since it was such an early train. I was stretched out on one row with my bag on the row across from me. The bag was apparently what lured my traveling companion. She passed my cabin, looked in, and thought, "My, what a nice place to prop up my congested chest." She then proceeded to spray me with her TB laden coughs for the next hour or so, smiling radiantly.
After 4 hours, we arrived in Poprad-Tatry. Because of my research, I knew to go upstairs to board the electric train to Tatranska Lomnicka, which would be departing in 10 minutes. I made it and had a very nice man translate for me while I bought my ticket onboard. After another 30 minutes, I disembarked at T. L. This is when things started to go off schedule. First, it started to rain. Not in the plan, but I had brought an emergency rain poncho, the same one that I've been bringing with me on trips for the last 5 years, never actually needing it. Well, its aversive charms had finally worn off. I put on the poncho and after eating breakfast (crepes with berry jam, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce) headed up the hill to the cable car up the mountain to Skalnate Pleso, 1788m. From there, my itinerary called for me to take a trip up the 2nd cable car to Lomnicky Stit, 2634m, take some photographs and then descend back to Skalnate Pleso where my trailhead was. Unfortunately, when I got to Skalnate Pleso, my trail was covered in 2 feet of snow and more was falling from the sky.
I had a brief moment of insanity where I actually thought, "hmm, I can do this." Then, I stepped outside and found out that my light trail runners offer neither traction nor waterproofing. Agh! I purchased a return ticket on the chair lift and glumly started thinking about Plan B. Actually, I didn't have a Plan B, because the trails had been open for over a month. How could there still be snow??? Anyhoo, back at T.L., I found the local internet cafe and began frantically searching out options. My first thought was Slovensky Raj, Slovak Paradise National Park. I knew that it was in the area and had great hiking. Sounds promising. I looked into it and it looked good. The best hiking seemed to be within striking range from a place called Podlesok. I made my way down to the train stop to find that the next train back to Poprad wasn't leaving for 3 hrs. Great. I could see that my string of bad luck was just starting.
After eating scrambled eggs that first came with chunks of ham (not on the menu) and then came seriously runny (hello, salmonella), I sat dismally at the stop with the other disappointed hikers. We got back to Poprad by 3pm, and I made my way next door to the bus station. There, I found a bus that went to Hrabusice in an hour and settled in to wait for it. I remembered from my research online that Podlesok was only 2km from Hrabusice and this seemed perfect. Unfortunately, when the bus came, the driver (through the international language of gestures) made me to understand that the bus didn't go to Hrab. on Sunday. I asked how close it went. He said very far. I asked if it was closer than Poprad and he said yes, so I got on. After riding for awhile, the driver let me off on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. He pointed down the road in the direction that I should take and I set off into adventure.
The first bit of the trek was actually fun. The sun had peaked out and I was happy not to be waiting at a station anymore. At least walking, I was in control of how fast I was moving. The road seemed to have lots of signs for Slovensky Raj and I was confident that I would find the place. The countryside was gorgeous and I was going to take a bunch of bucolic photos. I started off photographing some snails crossing the road because they looked interesting and it was something to do. When my camera started flashing the low battery symbol, I decided that I might as well switch to my spare battery right then. That was when the new disaster struck. Somehow it had lost the charge. I was screwed. I had left 1/2 of my stuff at the hostel in Bratislava, to lighten my pack since I would be carrying it for 3 days of hiking in the Tatras. Hah! Not only was I not hiking in the Tatras, my 3rd battery, which hopefully had retained its charge, was sitting in my purse in the left luggage room at Downtown Backpackers, Bratislava. I had who knows how many pics remaining on my good battery and certainly couldn't pass the time in idle photography. Not to mention, I had done it again and had not brought my charger. I thought that 3 full batteries for a week and a half trip was plenty. Why take the risk of losing my charger? Now, I only had 2 batteries, one of which was currently unavailable. Then, it started to rain.
6 miles later, I finally arrived at Podlesok, which rather than being a town near a state park, is in the state park. At a fork in the entrance road, I turned left rather than right and ended up at Podlesok Ranch, an amazing family-run hotel rather than at the autocamp cabins - much cheaper and much less atmospheric. I'm not sure whether that was still bad luck or if that was good luck. Either way, I was thrilled to be dry, fed and housed. My room had a flat screen TV, a private bathroom and wall lamps for reading. There was no one else in the room. I had a beautiful view out to a small creek, a wooded area, and the village of Hrabusice. I was fed the "coyboy's dinner" of local Slovak food which since it was homemade, was actually delicious. The blue cheese gnocchi was amazing and the piroshki were just fantastic. Paradise.
The next day, I got up for breakfast at 8am, then went back to bed 'til 11am, just to catch up on sleep and enjoy my solitude. I set off on my hike at 11:30. By 12 noon, I was in a small restaurant having missed the trail, gotten lost, spooked a deer and thought about what predators might be around, slipped on a wet rock and fallen on my face, then got caught in a torrential downpour. My luck hadn't changed.
In the afternoon, I walked into Hrabusice to the bus stop to try to get to Poprad to visit the NAY Elektrodom, my one faint hope of acquiring either a new battery or a charger. I walked through the rain to the stop, to find out that the next bus wasn't due to arrive for another 3 hours. I just could not do that again. My time is worth more than that. I managed to get a cab driver to agree to drive me to NAY, wait, then return me to Podlesok for the low low price of 650 Slovakian crowns. Since this came out to 32 dollars and change, it seemed a good tradeoff for an afternoon and evening of extreme aggravation. NOTE: If you intend to travel to Eastern Slovakia (I do not recommend it), get a rental car!!! Life without a car in SK seriously sucks. A 10 minute drive turns into an all day excursion. The only people who ride the bus are the Rom (gypsies) and schoolchildren. Everyone else has a car, so they don't care that there are only 3 buses per day to the most popular destinations.
Of course, NAY did not carry my battery nor a charger for my battery. This is the downside of having a brand-spanking-new camera. It just came out in March 2008 and has not made it to SK. In fact I have version 5 of my camera - they carry version 1. A wasted trip behind me, I had dinner, read, and went to sleep.
In the morning, I was determined to salvage something from this debacle. Come rain or shine, I was going to hike. I made it to Sucha Bela (Dry White Gorge), which is an amazing hike up a stream bed gorge that was running fairly high due to the very wet winter. The trail description said that it was technically difficult. I took this to mean that it would be very steep in sections and quite arduous. Well, it was steep, but it was also technically difficult. If you do not have either an excellent sense of balance or galoshes, don't make this hike. There were ladders, stepping stones, rolling logs that were covered in slime and were about 5 inches in diameter. It was exhiliarating! I can't say that it made the whole trip worth it, but it did make up for quite a bit. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the end of the trail, because I wasn't sure that I'd have enough time before my bus came and didn't want to chance risking it. I turned around after the waterfall and hiked back down the same trail rather than around the top of the ridge and back down a different trail the way that I had planned. It was more important to me to make the one bus at 12:30 to Poprad and not have to wait for the next one at 4:30. The hike was still fab and my battery held out for a few pics of the trail and one of my hotel before finally dying.
I decided to scrub the plan to go to Spis castle (used as a location in Kull the Conqueror) and to catch my flight from Kosice to Bratislava. Instead, I returned to Blava a day early without trusting my bad luck on a plane. After all, what's the point of spending all day, numerous buses, a 45 minute hike out and another back all to visit a castle that I couldn't photograph. I wish that I were the sort of person to whom the picture doesn't matter, but I'm not and it does.
I made it to Poprad in time to catch the 1:51 intercity train back to Blava and called it a draw. Slovakia had not quite succeeded in beating me into the ground. I met some lovely people out in Paradise and had a fantastic hike. Even the 6 mile hike through the rain makes an excellent story. I was satisfied to call it a day.
I woke up Sunday morning at 4:30am, feeling surprisingly alert and ready to go. I made it to the train station with time to spare before the 5:40 intercity train to Poprad-Tatry. I tried to sleep on the train, but had trouble doing so because I was so excited to finally be going to the place that I had spent so much time thinking about over the last few months. I did doze off at one point. I know this because I suddenly opened my eyes to find an old lady laying on the row of seats across from me, staring at me. Ack! Let me explain. Slovakian trains along the main Bratislava-Kosice line are cabins with two facing rows of three seats in each cabin. I had a cabin all to myself since it was such an early train. I was stretched out on one row with my bag on the row across from me. The bag was apparently what lured my traveling companion. She passed my cabin, looked in, and thought, "My, what a nice place to prop up my congested chest." She then proceeded to spray me with her TB laden coughs for the next hour or so, smiling radiantly.
After 4 hours, we arrived in Poprad-Tatry. Because of my research, I knew to go upstairs to board the electric train to Tatranska Lomnicka, which would be departing in 10 minutes. I made it and had a very nice man translate for me while I bought my ticket onboard. After another 30 minutes, I disembarked at T. L. This is when things started to go off schedule. First, it started to rain. Not in the plan, but I had brought an emergency rain poncho, the same one that I've been bringing with me on trips for the last 5 years, never actually needing it. Well, its aversive charms had finally worn off. I put on the poncho and after eating breakfast (crepes with berry jam, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce) headed up the hill to the cable car up the mountain to Skalnate Pleso, 1788m. From there, my itinerary called for me to take a trip up the 2nd cable car to Lomnicky Stit, 2634m, take some photographs and then descend back to Skalnate Pleso where my trailhead was. Unfortunately, when I got to Skalnate Pleso, my trail was covered in 2 feet of snow and more was falling from the sky.
I had a brief moment of insanity where I actually thought, "hmm, I can do this." Then, I stepped outside and found out that my light trail runners offer neither traction nor waterproofing. Agh! I purchased a return ticket on the chair lift and glumly started thinking about Plan B. Actually, I didn't have a Plan B, because the trails had been open for over a month. How could there still be snow??? Anyhoo, back at T.L., I found the local internet cafe and began frantically searching out options. My first thought was Slovensky Raj, Slovak Paradise National Park. I knew that it was in the area and had great hiking. Sounds promising. I looked into it and it looked good. The best hiking seemed to be within striking range from a place called Podlesok. I made my way down to the train stop to find that the next train back to Poprad wasn't leaving for 3 hrs. Great. I could see that my string of bad luck was just starting.
After eating scrambled eggs that first came with chunks of ham (not on the menu) and then came seriously runny (hello, salmonella), I sat dismally at the stop with the other disappointed hikers. We got back to Poprad by 3pm, and I made my way next door to the bus station. There, I found a bus that went to Hrabusice in an hour and settled in to wait for it. I remembered from my research online that Podlesok was only 2km from Hrabusice and this seemed perfect. Unfortunately, when the bus came, the driver (through the international language of gestures) made me to understand that the bus didn't go to Hrab. on Sunday. I asked how close it went. He said very far. I asked if it was closer than Poprad and he said yes, so I got on. After riding for awhile, the driver let me off on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. He pointed down the road in the direction that I should take and I set off into adventure.
The first bit of the trek was actually fun. The sun had peaked out and I was happy not to be waiting at a station anymore. At least walking, I was in control of how fast I was moving. The road seemed to have lots of signs for Slovensky Raj and I was confident that I would find the place. The countryside was gorgeous and I was going to take a bunch of bucolic photos. I started off photographing some snails crossing the road because they looked interesting and it was something to do. When my camera started flashing the low battery symbol, I decided that I might as well switch to my spare battery right then. That was when the new disaster struck. Somehow it had lost the charge. I was screwed. I had left 1/2 of my stuff at the hostel in Bratislava, to lighten my pack since I would be carrying it for 3 days of hiking in the Tatras. Hah! Not only was I not hiking in the Tatras, my 3rd battery, which hopefully had retained its charge, was sitting in my purse in the left luggage room at Downtown Backpackers, Bratislava. I had who knows how many pics remaining on my good battery and certainly couldn't pass the time in idle photography. Not to mention, I had done it again and had not brought my charger. I thought that 3 full batteries for a week and a half trip was plenty. Why take the risk of losing my charger? Now, I only had 2 batteries, one of which was currently unavailable. Then, it started to rain.
6 miles later, I finally arrived at Podlesok, which rather than being a town near a state park, is in the state park. At a fork in the entrance road, I turned left rather than right and ended up at Podlesok Ranch, an amazing family-run hotel rather than at the autocamp cabins - much cheaper and much less atmospheric. I'm not sure whether that was still bad luck or if that was good luck. Either way, I was thrilled to be dry, fed and housed. My room had a flat screen TV, a private bathroom and wall lamps for reading. There was no one else in the room. I had a beautiful view out to a small creek, a wooded area, and the village of Hrabusice. I was fed the "coyboy's dinner" of local Slovak food which since it was homemade, was actually delicious. The blue cheese gnocchi was amazing and the piroshki were just fantastic. Paradise.
The next day, I got up for breakfast at 8am, then went back to bed 'til 11am, just to catch up on sleep and enjoy my solitude. I set off on my hike at 11:30. By 12 noon, I was in a small restaurant having missed the trail, gotten lost, spooked a deer and thought about what predators might be around, slipped on a wet rock and fallen on my face, then got caught in a torrential downpour. My luck hadn't changed.
In the afternoon, I walked into Hrabusice to the bus stop to try to get to Poprad to visit the NAY Elektrodom, my one faint hope of acquiring either a new battery or a charger. I walked through the rain to the stop, to find out that the next bus wasn't due to arrive for another 3 hours. I just could not do that again. My time is worth more than that. I managed to get a cab driver to agree to drive me to NAY, wait, then return me to Podlesok for the low low price of 650 Slovakian crowns. Since this came out to 32 dollars and change, it seemed a good tradeoff for an afternoon and evening of extreme aggravation. NOTE: If you intend to travel to Eastern Slovakia (I do not recommend it), get a rental car!!! Life without a car in SK seriously sucks. A 10 minute drive turns into an all day excursion. The only people who ride the bus are the Rom (gypsies) and schoolchildren. Everyone else has a car, so they don't care that there are only 3 buses per day to the most popular destinations.
Of course, NAY did not carry my battery nor a charger for my battery. This is the downside of having a brand-spanking-new camera. It just came out in March 2008 and has not made it to SK. In fact I have version 5 of my camera - they carry version 1. A wasted trip behind me, I had dinner, read, and went to sleep.
In the morning, I was determined to salvage something from this debacle. Come rain or shine, I was going to hike. I made it to Sucha Bela (Dry White Gorge), which is an amazing hike up a stream bed gorge that was running fairly high due to the very wet winter. The trail description said that it was technically difficult. I took this to mean that it would be very steep in sections and quite arduous. Well, it was steep, but it was also technically difficult. If you do not have either an excellent sense of balance or galoshes, don't make this hike. There were ladders, stepping stones, rolling logs that were covered in slime and were about 5 inches in diameter. It was exhiliarating! I can't say that it made the whole trip worth it, but it did make up for quite a bit. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the end of the trail, because I wasn't sure that I'd have enough time before my bus came and didn't want to chance risking it. I turned around after the waterfall and hiked back down the same trail rather than around the top of the ridge and back down a different trail the way that I had planned. It was more important to me to make the one bus at 12:30 to Poprad and not have to wait for the next one at 4:30. The hike was still fab and my battery held out for a few pics of the trail and one of my hotel before finally dying.
I decided to scrub the plan to go to Spis castle (used as a location in Kull the Conqueror) and to catch my flight from Kosice to Bratislava. Instead, I returned to Blava a day early without trusting my bad luck on a plane. After all, what's the point of spending all day, numerous buses, a 45 minute hike out and another back all to visit a castle that I couldn't photograph. I wish that I were the sort of person to whom the picture doesn't matter, but I'm not and it does.
I made it to Poprad in time to catch the 1:51 intercity train back to Blava and called it a draw. Slovakia had not quite succeeded in beating me into the ground. I met some lovely people out in Paradise and had a fantastic hike. Even the 6 mile hike through the rain makes an excellent story. I was satisfied to call it a day.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of the Slovak Republic. It is also a mere 40 miles or so from Vienna, and not much further from Budapest. In fact, that is what sparked my visit here. Back in December, I was thinking about where I wanted to go for my next trip - I am almost always thinking about my next trip. I decided on Budapest as a destination and a week and a half for my duration. Well, then I thought about what I could do around Buda for a week or so and discovered that hey! right along the Danube river are 3 national capitals: Budapest, Hungary; Bratislava, Slovakia; and Vienna, Austria. I had me an idea.
After reading an Eastern Europe guidebook, a trip began to take shape. I wanted to end my trip in Budapest. Logically then, I should fly into Vienna, make my way to Bratislava and from there on to Budapest. Hmm. That still left a couple of days. I started looking into the Slovak Republic. Slovakia has been independant since 1993 only because the Czech Republic couldn´t believe their good luck that the Slovakś wanted to be independant, since all of the wealth lay on the Czech side of the border. I discovered that this land was the frontier of the Ottoman-Christian battleground and is dotted with over 300 castles. It is undeveloped when compared to other European states, but has a disproportianate number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. I thought that this bore looking into and decided to spend a good chunk of my trip in Slovakia.
Accordingly, from Vienna, I boarded my train and was whisked off to Bratislava, without even needing to pass through customs or to have my passport stamped. I arrived at around 9pm at the main train station. The directions from my hostel, Downtown Backpackers, was to board bus number 93 from in front of the station and ride it 2 stops. Easier said than done. It took me a couple of tries to locate the bus stop. Then, the next 93 wasn´t coming for about 15 minutes. I used that time to attempt to purchase a bus ticket. There were a good dozen machines that looked like parking meters. Like parking meters, they only accept coins. Currency exchanges do not trade in coins, only paper. I had a huge wad of useless paper money and no bus ticket. To add insult to injury, while I was figuring this out and trying to shove a bill in the ticket dispenser, a man standing right next to me let loose with a loud fart. Lovely. I decided to try inside the station for an information booth, etc. No luck. There was a tabak stand, which I approached thinking that like in Vienna, they might also sell bus tickets. Nope. So I bought some water, thinking to get change. The vendor gave me back paper currency and just kept shaking her head when I pointed to the huge pile of coins clearly visible in her drawer. After that joy, I went outside the station to see my bus pulling up to the stop. Ack! I ran and barely jumped on before it took off. I had no ticket, but luckily no one checked. I say luckily because it is a 70 USD fine to be caught on the bus without a validated ticket - you must buy the ticket, which is good for 10 minutes, ahead of time and then validate it in a time and date stamp machine on the bus.
After 2 stops, I got off of the bus and looked blankly around the stop. That took me to the end of my instructions and I had no clue where the hostel was from there. Luckily, I picked the correct direction on the first try and found the hostel almost immediately. They had my reservation so that was fine, but I almost wish that they had lost my reservation. The place opens into a bar. It is filled with smoke and incredibly loud. The dreadlocked guy working the reservations desk seemed to know very little about anything. Not bus tickets, train times, restaurant locations, laundry, etc. etc. He was cute, but not much help. He did succeed in checking me in though. I dropped off my bag, made myself a cheese sandwich from my Viennese provisions and settled in with my book. I was asleep by 11:30, thinking that I´d get an early start in the morning and catch the early light for some photos.
The best laid plans of mice and men... 3 drunk New Zealand boys came stumbling and laughing into the room at 4am. They proceeded to turn on the light and to loudly start rehashing their night. Great. I got up, went to the bathroom, came back, put in my ear plugs, and finally asked, "can you please be quiet?" They eventually turned out the light and went to sleep, but this was no better. 2 of the 3 were champion snorers, one on the bunk above me and one on the bunk across from me. Earplugs could do nothing against such a concerted attack. Then their somnambulant forms began releasing gas. I was still awake at 7:30am, which is when I had planned to get up and explore Blava. Instead, I finally got back to sleep and didn´t get up ´til 9:30. The charming fellows in my room did act as alarm clocks. When I say that I got up at 9:30, I really mean that they did. They started throwing things at each other and calling each other names and laughing like hyenas. Apparently, no one ever taught them a little thing called consideration for others. When I got up and went off to the showers, one apologized for waking me up. I pointed out that actually not only had they woken me but had then kept me up for 3.5 hrs. They found that very amusing and told me that that's what hostels are all about.
Well, my hostel is also filthy. The showers were disgusting. Nor do they serve any sort of breakfast. The downstairs bar was still filthy and smoky from the night before. I got out of there as quickly as possible and made my way to Old Town. Ahhh. Finally, some beauty. I wandered without a map or a definite destination, but still managed to see the major sights: Michaelś Gate, Bratislava Hrad (Castle), and St. Martin's Cathedral. Almost everything is under construction, which is what I assume the guides mean when they say that Blava is undergoing a "renaissance", but it's charming and looks to be even better when the construction is complete. I enjoyed my wandering, especially after having a (bad) croissant and a (good) cup of coffee. It is amusing that Blava is also having a festival this weekend and I heard some awesome music by 4 musicians with huge heads, literally - check out the photos!
The castle was nice, but it is closed for renovations and strongly reminds me of similar "historical" edifices in Russia that have all been built over the last 20 years. Yet, even knowing that it is nowhere near historical, the castle is still beautiful. By then, I had worked up an appetite. I had passed a Mexican restaurant near the main square and decided that a quesadilla sounded like just the thing for lunch. That was a big big mistake. When I got to the restaurant, all of the sidewalk seats were taken. I should have moved on. Instead, I sat at a table with a view out the window. Then, the waiter never came to take my order. I finally flagged him down after about 20 minutes. I really should have left, but I had chosen my meal and really wanted it. I ordered. He immediately brought me an opened bottle of Bonaqua (was it really tap water?) which I drank. The thought of paying four dollars for tap water and having to start over somewhere new is the only thing that kept me there over the next 1/2 hour. Seriously, 30 minutes. That was when my waiter appeared to tell me that they did not have my cheese and spinach quesadilla and that I would have to have ham and cheese. I told him that I am a vegetarian and asked if I could just have a cheese quesadilla. He got a strange look on his face and disappeared. I assumed that meant yes. I did think that it may be that the quesadillas are not actually made on site, just defrosted, which would entail them picking bits of ham out of my cheese quesadilla, but I carefully didn´t ask, preserving my veggie hear's plausible deniability. Then, 15 minutes later, he brought me my quesadilla and potato salad (don´t ask, it seemed like a good combination). However, my quesadilla and guacamole had turned into quesadilla and spaghetti sauce. They don´t seem to have fully grasped the concept of salsa here. I called the waiter over and asked where my guac was. He said that the ham and cheese quesadilla came with salsa. I said, yes, but I ordered the cheese quesadilla that came with guacamole. He asked if I wanted guac to which I gave him an exasperated, "yes!" The food was OK. Definitely not worth the 20 dollars I paid for crappy mini quesadillas and a side of potato salad, but OK. I had to wait another 10 minutes after finishing my meal for the check, during which time the lady behind me loudly passed gas. I´m beginning to think that Slovakia's state motto should be The Land of the Speaking Ass. Then I see that I have been charged for the guacamole which was supposed to be part of my order. That was it. I was already pissed by the lack of service and opened bottle of water, the crappy food, and the foul odor - now I wasn´t going to take it anymore. I confronted the waiter and he insisted that the charge remain. I could have spoken with his manager and blasted them, but I was too angry to hold it together. I paid for the meal and told him, "You are a horrible waiter," and walked out to the sound of him asking me why I would say that. What a joke. I guess that this is another reason not to go to developing countries - they also have developing wait staff. Needless to say, I left no tip. Let him drink my leftover marina sauce/salsa if he wants a tip.
After that debacle, I felt sick to my stomach from the conflict and needed to chill, so I stepped into a lovely indoor courtyard and sat myself down in the internet cafe. Thereś nothing like blogging to soothe the savage breast.
Downtown Backpackers actually offered a pretty good 2nd night. I got to meet a very cool French chef from Brittany. He works at one of the resorts there and works 9 months on, 3 months off. Nice. He commented on the fact that he never meets working class Americans abroad. I tried to explain the difficulties of buying a thousand dollar plane ticket on a minimum wage budget, but he still seemed dissatisfied. I felt obscurely guilty for not being a blue collar worker. Brotherhood, fraternity... it is always fun to get the Socialist point of view. I also chatted up 2 US students from Tulane and Loyola who are studying in Dublin and Brno, Czech Republic. It seems like the only people traveling from the US are students, and here I thought that I timed my trip to avoid the summer/winter school holidays!
The two Louisianians headed off to Sub Club for a drum and bass set, and I headed off to sleep not sorry to be leaving Bratislava but happy to have seen it. The next morning, I needed to be up early to leave for my big three day hike of the Carpathian mountains!
After reading an Eastern Europe guidebook, a trip began to take shape. I wanted to end my trip in Budapest. Logically then, I should fly into Vienna, make my way to Bratislava and from there on to Budapest. Hmm. That still left a couple of days. I started looking into the Slovak Republic. Slovakia has been independant since 1993 only because the Czech Republic couldn´t believe their good luck that the Slovakś wanted to be independant, since all of the wealth lay on the Czech side of the border. I discovered that this land was the frontier of the Ottoman-Christian battleground and is dotted with over 300 castles. It is undeveloped when compared to other European states, but has a disproportianate number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. I thought that this bore looking into and decided to spend a good chunk of my trip in Slovakia.
Accordingly, from Vienna, I boarded my train and was whisked off to Bratislava, without even needing to pass through customs or to have my passport stamped. I arrived at around 9pm at the main train station. The directions from my hostel, Downtown Backpackers, was to board bus number 93 from in front of the station and ride it 2 stops. Easier said than done. It took me a couple of tries to locate the bus stop. Then, the next 93 wasn´t coming for about 15 minutes. I used that time to attempt to purchase a bus ticket. There were a good dozen machines that looked like parking meters. Like parking meters, they only accept coins. Currency exchanges do not trade in coins, only paper. I had a huge wad of useless paper money and no bus ticket. To add insult to injury, while I was figuring this out and trying to shove a bill in the ticket dispenser, a man standing right next to me let loose with a loud fart. Lovely. I decided to try inside the station for an information booth, etc. No luck. There was a tabak stand, which I approached thinking that like in Vienna, they might also sell bus tickets. Nope. So I bought some water, thinking to get change. The vendor gave me back paper currency and just kept shaking her head when I pointed to the huge pile of coins clearly visible in her drawer. After that joy, I went outside the station to see my bus pulling up to the stop. Ack! I ran and barely jumped on before it took off. I had no ticket, but luckily no one checked. I say luckily because it is a 70 USD fine to be caught on the bus without a validated ticket - you must buy the ticket, which is good for 10 minutes, ahead of time and then validate it in a time and date stamp machine on the bus.
After 2 stops, I got off of the bus and looked blankly around the stop. That took me to the end of my instructions and I had no clue where the hostel was from there. Luckily, I picked the correct direction on the first try and found the hostel almost immediately. They had my reservation so that was fine, but I almost wish that they had lost my reservation. The place opens into a bar. It is filled with smoke and incredibly loud. The dreadlocked guy working the reservations desk seemed to know very little about anything. Not bus tickets, train times, restaurant locations, laundry, etc. etc. He was cute, but not much help. He did succeed in checking me in though. I dropped off my bag, made myself a cheese sandwich from my Viennese provisions and settled in with my book. I was asleep by 11:30, thinking that I´d get an early start in the morning and catch the early light for some photos.
The best laid plans of mice and men... 3 drunk New Zealand boys came stumbling and laughing into the room at 4am. They proceeded to turn on the light and to loudly start rehashing their night. Great. I got up, went to the bathroom, came back, put in my ear plugs, and finally asked, "can you please be quiet?" They eventually turned out the light and went to sleep, but this was no better. 2 of the 3 were champion snorers, one on the bunk above me and one on the bunk across from me. Earplugs could do nothing against such a concerted attack. Then their somnambulant forms began releasing gas. I was still awake at 7:30am, which is when I had planned to get up and explore Blava. Instead, I finally got back to sleep and didn´t get up ´til 9:30. The charming fellows in my room did act as alarm clocks. When I say that I got up at 9:30, I really mean that they did. They started throwing things at each other and calling each other names and laughing like hyenas. Apparently, no one ever taught them a little thing called consideration for others. When I got up and went off to the showers, one apologized for waking me up. I pointed out that actually not only had they woken me but had then kept me up for 3.5 hrs. They found that very amusing and told me that that's what hostels are all about.
Well, my hostel is also filthy. The showers were disgusting. Nor do they serve any sort of breakfast. The downstairs bar was still filthy and smoky from the night before. I got out of there as quickly as possible and made my way to Old Town. Ahhh. Finally, some beauty. I wandered without a map or a definite destination, but still managed to see the major sights: Michaelś Gate, Bratislava Hrad (Castle), and St. Martin's Cathedral. Almost everything is under construction, which is what I assume the guides mean when they say that Blava is undergoing a "renaissance", but it's charming and looks to be even better when the construction is complete. I enjoyed my wandering, especially after having a (bad) croissant and a (good) cup of coffee. It is amusing that Blava is also having a festival this weekend and I heard some awesome music by 4 musicians with huge heads, literally - check out the photos!
The castle was nice, but it is closed for renovations and strongly reminds me of similar "historical" edifices in Russia that have all been built over the last 20 years. Yet, even knowing that it is nowhere near historical, the castle is still beautiful. By then, I had worked up an appetite. I had passed a Mexican restaurant near the main square and decided that a quesadilla sounded like just the thing for lunch. That was a big big mistake. When I got to the restaurant, all of the sidewalk seats were taken. I should have moved on. Instead, I sat at a table with a view out the window. Then, the waiter never came to take my order. I finally flagged him down after about 20 minutes. I really should have left, but I had chosen my meal and really wanted it. I ordered. He immediately brought me an opened bottle of Bonaqua (was it really tap water?) which I drank. The thought of paying four dollars for tap water and having to start over somewhere new is the only thing that kept me there over the next 1/2 hour. Seriously, 30 minutes. That was when my waiter appeared to tell me that they did not have my cheese and spinach quesadilla and that I would have to have ham and cheese. I told him that I am a vegetarian and asked if I could just have a cheese quesadilla. He got a strange look on his face and disappeared. I assumed that meant yes. I did think that it may be that the quesadillas are not actually made on site, just defrosted, which would entail them picking bits of ham out of my cheese quesadilla, but I carefully didn´t ask, preserving my veggie hear's plausible deniability. Then, 15 minutes later, he brought me my quesadilla and potato salad (don´t ask, it seemed like a good combination). However, my quesadilla and guacamole had turned into quesadilla and spaghetti sauce. They don´t seem to have fully grasped the concept of salsa here. I called the waiter over and asked where my guac was. He said that the ham and cheese quesadilla came with salsa. I said, yes, but I ordered the cheese quesadilla that came with guacamole. He asked if I wanted guac to which I gave him an exasperated, "yes!" The food was OK. Definitely not worth the 20 dollars I paid for crappy mini quesadillas and a side of potato salad, but OK. I had to wait another 10 minutes after finishing my meal for the check, during which time the lady behind me loudly passed gas. I´m beginning to think that Slovakia's state motto should be The Land of the Speaking Ass. Then I see that I have been charged for the guacamole which was supposed to be part of my order. That was it. I was already pissed by the lack of service and opened bottle of water, the crappy food, and the foul odor - now I wasn´t going to take it anymore. I confronted the waiter and he insisted that the charge remain. I could have spoken with his manager and blasted them, but I was too angry to hold it together. I paid for the meal and told him, "You are a horrible waiter," and walked out to the sound of him asking me why I would say that. What a joke. I guess that this is another reason not to go to developing countries - they also have developing wait staff. Needless to say, I left no tip. Let him drink my leftover marina sauce/salsa if he wants a tip.
After that debacle, I felt sick to my stomach from the conflict and needed to chill, so I stepped into a lovely indoor courtyard and sat myself down in the internet cafe. Thereś nothing like blogging to soothe the savage breast.
Downtown Backpackers actually offered a pretty good 2nd night. I got to meet a very cool French chef from Brittany. He works at one of the resorts there and works 9 months on, 3 months off. Nice. He commented on the fact that he never meets working class Americans abroad. I tried to explain the difficulties of buying a thousand dollar plane ticket on a minimum wage budget, but he still seemed dissatisfied. I felt obscurely guilty for not being a blue collar worker. Brotherhood, fraternity... it is always fun to get the Socialist point of view. I also chatted up 2 US students from Tulane and Loyola who are studying in Dublin and Brno, Czech Republic. It seems like the only people traveling from the US are students, and here I thought that I timed my trip to avoid the summer/winter school holidays!
The two Louisianians headed off to Sub Club for a drum and bass set, and I headed off to sleep not sorry to be leaving Bratislava but happy to have seen it. The next morning, I needed to be up early to leave for my big three day hike of the Carpathian mountains!
Wien - Vienna
What an amazing place! I absolutely love Vienna. I can´t say that I did anything too terribly exciting, but just being there and chilling out during the May Day holidays was fantastic.
After my brutally long flight (16 hrs with a layover in London), I checked in to Wombats: The Lounge. Wombats hostel is fabulous. It is spotlessly clean; there are electronic keycards for the doors and for the in-room lockers; there is a bar, a kitchen, a cafe for breakfast, a lounge area with cushions, an internet kiosk, a luggage storage area, and a pool table. Can anyone ask for more in a hostel?
I lucked out right from the start by meeting up with a fun trio from the San Diego area. Amanda, Dani and Hans are taking a few weeks off from school to learn firsthand about Europe and strange drinking habits. I met them in our shared dormitory and then joined them down in the bar for drinks. Itś a good omen to have a great first night, especially when jet lagged and staying in a dorm room.
After having brekky and waving adieu to my new chums, I headed off to see the morning training of the Lippizaner stallions at the Spanish Riding School at Hofburg Palace. I have been reading about these horses since I was a horse-mad little girl, so it was the number one item on my Vienna To Do list. I made my way from Wombats down Mariahilfer Strasse to the Palace complex. Once there, I discovered that a Vienna radio station was throwing a festival. The grounds were being set up and a band was running their soundcheck from the stage. Then, the song 99 Red Balloons started to play and I was just so so happy.
I found the entrance to the Riding School and joined the line for tickets. Immediately, a German woman and her son tried to cut in front of me, but I had been through the wars in China and carefully shoved my elbow in front of her face to let her know (subtly) that she needed to BACK OFF! This worked, and we had a pleasant exchange regarding her travels in the United States. However, at some point, I became distracted and a whole Portuguese family of five shoved their way in front of me. With no common language and with a formidable foe in the form of the family matron, I conceded defeat and stewed, muttering "queu jumpers" under my breath and glaring. Such is life: you win some, you lose some.
The stress of the line was worth it. Those horses are amazing. I couldn´t believe that I was actually there. The building itself is a gorgeous 3 story baroque masterpiece. It is a temple to horses. The riders were mostly training the horses in simple manuevers, so I didn´t see any of the tricks like having them walk on two legs (crow hopping), etc. However, just seeing them was enough for me. I took loads of pictures just like everyone around me, and was stunned when a steward approached me and told me that pictures aren´t allowed. Itś like when the speed of traffic on a freeway edges up to 80 and you are the one pulled over. Why did the copper have to pick on you??? I put my camera away, climbed up to the second balcony level, and started snapping away again. By this time, I had discovered that I´ve developed a brand new allergy...to horses! Between the runny nose, watering eyes, and constant sneezing, I was almost pleased to be caught with my camera out a second time, because I chose to take it as a sign that it was time to leave. By that point, my throat had began swelling shut. I love allergies!
After the horsies, the only thing left on my to-do list was to explore the Inner Stadt, and to sit in a coffee house drinking espresso and eating appel struedel. I began with the wandering. I made my way over to Stephansdom, the most famous church from the Hapsburg epoch. It is the most stunning cathedral that I have ever seen - the interior, the exterior is undergoing rehabilitation and is not-so lovely right now. If you are ever there, be sure to ascend the North tower. The South tower has the famous stairs, which are a great workout, but terminates inside a tower. The North tower has an elevator and terminates in an outdoor viewing platform above the bell tower with fantastic views. I was even able to see the famous ferris wheel that was featured in the classic Orson Wells movie, The Third Man. It is amazing. The cathedral has so much detail and is so inspiring. There was a menś choir singing while I was there and I had a strong understanding of why religion was so popular for so many years. Imagine a life with no books, no TV, no world travel, no cheap dyes for clothing, no easy access to bath water. The most beautiful thing in life would be that cathedral. 600 years ago, I would definitely have made the pilgrimage along with the rest of my village.
The whole Inner Stadt is fantastic. I especially love how tall the buildings are. Most are 7 stories high, with a few mere 5 story buildings. This makes for interesting winding streets and shady passageways. I didn´t set a destination, just wandered around. I did stop for a plate of tofu and veggies at a Chinese restaurant, then kept wandering. Eventually, when my feet were really hurting from the cobblestones, I made my way out to the Ring Road and hopped on the number one tram that circumnavigates the Inner Stadt. I jumped off at Parliament for another photo op and then made my way to Cafe Central, the kaffee haus that Trotsky used to hang out at. However, I don´t think that he had to wait an hour for a table, or paid 4 euro for a cup of joe. I regretfully decided to head elsewhere. :(
A good story regarding the start of the Viennese coffee house tradition says that following the Ottoman siege of Vienna, the Turkish army decamped so rapidly that they left behind a big bag of coffee beans. No one knew what these strange things were, except for one man who ground them up and began serving the first coffee in the Western world. He founded the first Viennese coffee house and is directly responsible for my morning addiction. Just as a note, another good story from that siege is that when the army arrived, the Ottoman Sultan declared that by the end of three days, he would be having breakfast inside the cityś walls. Well, Vienna was a tough nut to crack, and on the morning of the third day, the Viennese commander called down a message to the Sultan. He said, "Tell the Sultan that his breakfast is getting cold!"
I decided that I had seen enough of the Inner Stadt and that it was time to jump over to the Museum Quarter. This is a relatively new area of Vienna. Itś the site of a dozen or so museums and is a wonderful gathering spot for Viennaś citizens, young and old. Here, I had my apfelstruedel and kaffee (fantastic), and people-watched to my heartś content. I had planned to just stop by, and ended up staying for an hour before heading off to the Volkstheater underground station to catch the U3 line back to Westbahnhoff station - very near my hostel. The Vienna underground is excellent. There are plenty of electronic kiosks, with many languages programmed, from which to purchase tickets; the signs are in both German and English; there are metro system maps all over the place; and there are electonic signboards to tell you when the next couple of trains will arrive.
After picking up my pack and purchasing provisions (bread, cheese and water), I took tram 18 to Sudbahnhoff train station to catch a train to Bratislava. I am on a tight schedule and didn´t have time to linger, but Vienna is certainly a place to linger if at all possible. Especially fun was looking around and seeing my hair color, my pink skin tone, my grandfatherś eyes and my brotherś nose. I never realized how German I look until now. My favorite phrase had to be "Spriechen zie Inglitsh?" because people kept speaking to me in German. Oh, and just to be topical, it was interesting to be in Vienna during the international scandal regarding the man who imprisoned and bred with his daughter, creating 6 (grand)children. It was on the cover of ever newspaper that I saw.
All in all, I would highly recommend a weekend in Vienna to whomever can arrange one. Itś a beautiful city with friendly people, wonderful food, and great weather. I wish that I´d had more time, but themś the breaks. If wishes were fishes...
After my brutally long flight (16 hrs with a layover in London), I checked in to Wombats: The Lounge. Wombats hostel is fabulous. It is spotlessly clean; there are electronic keycards for the doors and for the in-room lockers; there is a bar, a kitchen, a cafe for breakfast, a lounge area with cushions, an internet kiosk, a luggage storage area, and a pool table. Can anyone ask for more in a hostel?
I lucked out right from the start by meeting up with a fun trio from the San Diego area. Amanda, Dani and Hans are taking a few weeks off from school to learn firsthand about Europe and strange drinking habits. I met them in our shared dormitory and then joined them down in the bar for drinks. Itś a good omen to have a great first night, especially when jet lagged and staying in a dorm room.
After having brekky and waving adieu to my new chums, I headed off to see the morning training of the Lippizaner stallions at the Spanish Riding School at Hofburg Palace. I have been reading about these horses since I was a horse-mad little girl, so it was the number one item on my Vienna To Do list. I made my way from Wombats down Mariahilfer Strasse to the Palace complex. Once there, I discovered that a Vienna radio station was throwing a festival. The grounds were being set up and a band was running their soundcheck from the stage. Then, the song 99 Red Balloons started to play and I was just so so happy.
I found the entrance to the Riding School and joined the line for tickets. Immediately, a German woman and her son tried to cut in front of me, but I had been through the wars in China and carefully shoved my elbow in front of her face to let her know (subtly) that she needed to BACK OFF! This worked, and we had a pleasant exchange regarding her travels in the United States. However, at some point, I became distracted and a whole Portuguese family of five shoved their way in front of me. With no common language and with a formidable foe in the form of the family matron, I conceded defeat and stewed, muttering "queu jumpers" under my breath and glaring. Such is life: you win some, you lose some.
The stress of the line was worth it. Those horses are amazing. I couldn´t believe that I was actually there. The building itself is a gorgeous 3 story baroque masterpiece. It is a temple to horses. The riders were mostly training the horses in simple manuevers, so I didn´t see any of the tricks like having them walk on two legs (crow hopping), etc. However, just seeing them was enough for me. I took loads of pictures just like everyone around me, and was stunned when a steward approached me and told me that pictures aren´t allowed. Itś like when the speed of traffic on a freeway edges up to 80 and you are the one pulled over. Why did the copper have to pick on you??? I put my camera away, climbed up to the second balcony level, and started snapping away again. By this time, I had discovered that I´ve developed a brand new allergy...to horses! Between the runny nose, watering eyes, and constant sneezing, I was almost pleased to be caught with my camera out a second time, because I chose to take it as a sign that it was time to leave. By that point, my throat had began swelling shut. I love allergies!
After the horsies, the only thing left on my to-do list was to explore the Inner Stadt, and to sit in a coffee house drinking espresso and eating appel struedel. I began with the wandering. I made my way over to Stephansdom, the most famous church from the Hapsburg epoch. It is the most stunning cathedral that I have ever seen - the interior, the exterior is undergoing rehabilitation and is not-so lovely right now. If you are ever there, be sure to ascend the North tower. The South tower has the famous stairs, which are a great workout, but terminates inside a tower. The North tower has an elevator and terminates in an outdoor viewing platform above the bell tower with fantastic views. I was even able to see the famous ferris wheel that was featured in the classic Orson Wells movie, The Third Man. It is amazing. The cathedral has so much detail and is so inspiring. There was a menś choir singing while I was there and I had a strong understanding of why religion was so popular for so many years. Imagine a life with no books, no TV, no world travel, no cheap dyes for clothing, no easy access to bath water. The most beautiful thing in life would be that cathedral. 600 years ago, I would definitely have made the pilgrimage along with the rest of my village.
The whole Inner Stadt is fantastic. I especially love how tall the buildings are. Most are 7 stories high, with a few mere 5 story buildings. This makes for interesting winding streets and shady passageways. I didn´t set a destination, just wandered around. I did stop for a plate of tofu and veggies at a Chinese restaurant, then kept wandering. Eventually, when my feet were really hurting from the cobblestones, I made my way out to the Ring Road and hopped on the number one tram that circumnavigates the Inner Stadt. I jumped off at Parliament for another photo op and then made my way to Cafe Central, the kaffee haus that Trotsky used to hang out at. However, I don´t think that he had to wait an hour for a table, or paid 4 euro for a cup of joe. I regretfully decided to head elsewhere. :(
A good story regarding the start of the Viennese coffee house tradition says that following the Ottoman siege of Vienna, the Turkish army decamped so rapidly that they left behind a big bag of coffee beans. No one knew what these strange things were, except for one man who ground them up and began serving the first coffee in the Western world. He founded the first Viennese coffee house and is directly responsible for my morning addiction. Just as a note, another good story from that siege is that when the army arrived, the Ottoman Sultan declared that by the end of three days, he would be having breakfast inside the cityś walls. Well, Vienna was a tough nut to crack, and on the morning of the third day, the Viennese commander called down a message to the Sultan. He said, "Tell the Sultan that his breakfast is getting cold!"
I decided that I had seen enough of the Inner Stadt and that it was time to jump over to the Museum Quarter. This is a relatively new area of Vienna. Itś the site of a dozen or so museums and is a wonderful gathering spot for Viennaś citizens, young and old. Here, I had my apfelstruedel and kaffee (fantastic), and people-watched to my heartś content. I had planned to just stop by, and ended up staying for an hour before heading off to the Volkstheater underground station to catch the U3 line back to Westbahnhoff station - very near my hostel. The Vienna underground is excellent. There are plenty of electronic kiosks, with many languages programmed, from which to purchase tickets; the signs are in both German and English; there are metro system maps all over the place; and there are electonic signboards to tell you when the next couple of trains will arrive.
After picking up my pack and purchasing provisions (bread, cheese and water), I took tram 18 to Sudbahnhoff train station to catch a train to Bratislava. I am on a tight schedule and didn´t have time to linger, but Vienna is certainly a place to linger if at all possible. Especially fun was looking around and seeing my hair color, my pink skin tone, my grandfatherś eyes and my brotherś nose. I never realized how German I look until now. My favorite phrase had to be "Spriechen zie Inglitsh?" because people kept speaking to me in German. Oh, and just to be topical, it was interesting to be in Vienna during the international scandal regarding the man who imprisoned and bred with his daughter, creating 6 (grand)children. It was on the cover of ever newspaper that I saw.
All in all, I would highly recommend a weekend in Vienna to whomever can arrange one. Itś a beautiful city with friendly people, wonderful food, and great weather. I wish that I´d had more time, but themś the breaks. If wishes were fishes...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
