Well it is Saturday morning and the golasch from last night is taking it's revenge. Thank goodness for Pepto Bismol caplets. I walked up and down Vaci utci last night. It is the main pedestrian road with lots of shopping. I was debating whether or not to go into my favorite store, Jackpot and Cottonfield, when this guy started talking to me. I mumbled a couple words - a little English, a little German, a little Czech - he most have thought I was crazy. He started talking in English and realized that the blank look on my face was gone [View Full Entry]

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budapest - not the bestest city in the world in my opinion but the thermal baths make up for any shortcomings!! the city is pretty normal, just the usual city things - castles, palaces museums etc. but the thermal baths are awesome. yesterday i did a walking tour in the morning. it was pouring the whole way but it was still fun. after that we came back to our room and dried out a bit. then.... went to the baths. the lok exactly like they do in all the pictures. the old men playing chess that look like they've been there [View Full Entry]

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Today started with a three hour tour of the city in a big white bus with a tour guide named Georgiana, thankfully not Skipper or Gilligan. I was hoping to get a good feel for the city and the layout but we made so many turns and went back and forth so much that I am totally disoriented. When I went back out on my own this afternoon I got quite lost, multiple times. It didn't help that I had lost my map along the way. Anyways, back to this morning. The three hour tour started with a couple main sites [View Full Entry]

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It only took 48+ hours, three flights on three different airlines, but I have arrived in Budapest. My luggage has not and I hope it follows soon as I am sick of wearing these clothes. The weather is overcast and drizzlely - just like home! After being on a plane for so long my head is still swirling. I have so far met some very nice Maygars that have been very helpful and speak great English. After filing a report for my missing luggage I went out to meet my driver. There was no one in the waiting area with a [View Full Entry]

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arrived here in budapest this arvo so havent done much yet. its absolutely pouring today - not happy!! yesterday was great though. i found another random concert at the palace when i went in the arvo. it was a tribute to austria and had these awesome rock/pop bands. they were really good so i had abit of a dance!! went back in the evening for the classical concert. also very good. they had fireworks and everything at this free concert. thousands of people went even though it was so cold!! very spectacular setting. [View Full Entry]

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Get ready for some non-stop journal action with updates on my final day and a half in Athens and my initial thoughts on Budapest We started yesterday, Tuesday, by going to the Jewish Museum of Greece. It is a small museum that represents the small Jewish population of the country. Before World War II there were 80,000 Greek Jews. 88% of them were eliminated by the end of the war. The museum featured some old synagogue relics and a lot of basic information about the religion, a good starting point for your average Greek Orthodox person. After the museum, we grabbed [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from gloomy eastern Europe! It turns out being post-communist means that buildings come in many different colors which are all shades of grey. The light drizzle didn't help matters, but the Hotel that I am staying in is pure luxury -- we have a shower door, a dresser and carpeting, which are three firsts for this trip. I'm very excited about sleeping there tonight, I'm hoping the positive atmosphere will stop Richard's ear-splitting snoring, which could wake the dead. He must be stopped if I am going to get a good night's sleep on this trip. I will start with [View Full Entry]

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Hey kids, So, when Liz last wrote we had just arrived in scorchingly hot Brasov, where we ended up staying for four days. We stayed in a wonderful hostel, and met some really awesome travellers, and basically did a whole lot of nothing. My birthday was low-key and very relaxing (and thanks to everyone for the birthday props). We basically drank, and ate, and Liz somehow snuck out and bought me a chocolate eclair, which was delicious, and it was just a really good day. Oh, we also took a cable car up the side of this mountain that overlooks all [View Full Entry]

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I’ve been accused of sounding like Rick Steves in my blogs so I’m attempting to find a new writing voice. Bear with me…. This is absolutely my favourite stop! Budapest just feels good. And I’m so sorry I didn’t have/make time for one of the bath houses that it is so famous for. Then again, visiting one of those may have ruined me for the other spa I frequent. Maybe this was a good thing…no…it wasn’t. My first night in town I took advantage of an after-dark tour of the city. This included a trip to the top of Gellert Hill [View Full Entry]

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Aaaahhh.... Budapest. Home to the impressive Heroes' Square, the relaxing thermal baths, spectacular views from the Royal Palace on the Varhegy (Castle Hill)... and a heap of other things we didn't get to see because we ran out of time. I was disappointed not to see the roman ruins of Obuda, the park of now homeless communist monuments, Margaret Island in the centre of the Danube and some of the many, many museums throughout the city. Cathy and I flew in really late last Thursday night and managed to get ourselves to the hostel.... which was not quite the quality place [View Full Entry]

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