Yesterday in Kyiv, I was walking along a path through a park on my way to the Caves Monastary. I was taking a couple of pictures and there were a few other people nearby in the park. Two police officers in uniform approached me and said something in Ukrainian. I told them I did not understand. One of them laughed and said 'Passport.' I instantly knew I was in big trouble. I stayed calm and asked what the problem was, told them I was a tourist, showed them my camera, and asked if I was going the right way to the Monastary. They hardly spoke more than a few words of English, but they persisted and asked for my passport. I told them I didn't have it with me. I actually did have it in my pocket, I always carry it with me. But I am learning how these encounters work and expected that if I handed over my passport, they would be in control of the situation. They told me I had to have an ID card or a passport and began threatening to take me to jail. They patted me down and said something about 'weapons.' Then they asked me to show them what was in my pockets. I showed them most everything except what was in my left pocket, which had my passport and a bunch of random scraps of paper (maps, receipts, directions, phone numbers). They demanded I pull everything out, but I refused to pull everything out of that pocket. They said 'OK' and pulled out the handcuffs. They cuffed me behind my back and said something about 'police station.' I said 'OK, let's go.' I was pretty sure they were still just trying to scare me.
We started walking, only about 5 meters, when they stopped and again told me to empty my pockets. I told them I didn't understand what the problem was, and could I speak with someone who spoke English. They called up the police station on a cell phone and got me some lady who spoke decent English. She said I was required to show them my passport and because I didn't have it, they had to take me to the station. Then came my favorite part of the entire ordeal. I asked her if I had done something wrong, or whether there was some reason the cops had stopped me. She said that yes, there was a very good reason they stopped me: 'Because you are a stranger.' LOL, funniest thing I have ever heard.
I asked her if I were to show my passport, would they let me on my way? She said they would. So I got off the phone, asked the cops to show me their IDs, which they did. I assume they were legit even though I couldn't read them. I fished out the stuff in my left pocket to show them, then said 'Oh, what do ya know, my passport is here! Thought I had left it at home.' They looked it over for about 5 minutes and spoke on their phones again. Then they put it next to my face and determined that it was not in fact my passport. I think I started laughing which did not make them happy. I then told them every piece of information on my passport, and I guess they started to believe me. So I asked if I could go, but of course not yet. They asked if I had my 'immigration card.' I filled out a standard customs type card when I entered the country, and was told to show it when I exited the country. It was in my bag at Yulia's apartment. So I told them nope, and then we went through the same ordeal with them pulling out the handcuffs and telling me it was police station time. I still wasn't intimidated and told them OK. They started asking me when I entered the country and where I was staying. I told them the truth, and finally asked if they could speak with Yulia. I thought about it and decided that might not be a terrible idea.
So I called her up (she had let me borrow a cell phone so I could stay in touch with her) and explained the situation. She spoke with the cops for awhile and then they handed the phone back to me. Next was the moment I had been waiting for. She told me to pay them 50 hrz (4 euros or so) and I could leave. I know that amount of money is basically nothing, but it just feels wrong to pay an obvious bribe. I told Yulia I wasn't going to pay them anything. She said OK and spoke with the cops again. After a few minutes, they hung up and handed me back the phone and my passport. They spoke with each other for a bit, then shrugged, looked at me, and said 'Goodbye.' Victory!!
Yulia later told me about the conversation. Legally, the cops can ask anyone at anytime for their ID card or their passport (which I knew). The law used to say that tourists had to carry their immigration card with them, but that is not true anymore. The law also used to say tourists had to register in every city they visited in Ukraine! The cops told her that I hadn't registered in L'viv or Kyiv. Yulia told them she knew that wasn't the law. But apparently she had read about a bomb scare that day nearby where I was. She though maybe the cops were enforcing some sort of 'state of emergency' type situation and she then asked what I could do to leave. She offered that I pay the 50 hrz because it would be much easier than going to the police station. The cops agreed to her that they would let me go if I paid them. When I told her I wasn't going to pay, she told them and then said I would go with them to the station. then asked which police station we were going to so she could come help me. They told her something like 'OK, nevermind' and hung up on her!
The whole thing lasted maybe 30-40 mins. I am proud to say I didn't panic and have avoided paying a bribe or being arrested twice in a row now!
October 27, 2009
October 26, 2009
Kyiv is Unbelievable! Most beautiful city in Europe?!
On Monday I went to Auschwitz. It took an hour or so to get there by bus. But it took nearly an hour to find the right bus! I think they make it difficult because they want people to pay more money and take the group tour. I was told by several people that seeing Auschwitz was a very intense and emotional experience. I suppose that helped me prepare myself for what I was going to see, but I was extremely moved nonetheless. I met a couple of girls on the bus, and we took the obligatory guided tour together. It began with a film about the liberation of the camp by the Soviets. Then we walked through the complex and went into several buildings with different exhibitions. Some of the buildings and most of the stuff inside have been recreated. I think the Germans destroyed much of the camp when they knew the Russians were getting close. But there are still some original things: a room filled with human hair was one of the more disturbing things. There was literally 2 tons of hair they had shaved off of the Jews after they killed them. They used it to make clothing. There were also collections of luggage, brushes, eyeglasses, little kids shoes, etc. The sheer numbers were incredible, I would guess there were several hundred thousand pairs of little girls' shoes. After we toured the main camp, we got on a shuttle out to Birkenau (Auschwitz II). The Nazis opened this camp when the original began filling up. It is much, much bigger than the original, it held many more people and many more people were killed there. The majority of people sent to Birkenau didn't even stay there. They got off the train and were marched directly to the gas chambers. This camp was so massive it is hard to describe. Nothing has been reconstructed here, so the camp looks as it did in 1945. There are brick chimneys as far as the eye can see because the Nazis burned down the wooden buildings as they left. The gas chambers in the back of the camp are still in ruins, but there is one that you can walk into and even see the ovens. All in all, I am glad I saw Auschwitz, I think it is something to see once in a lifetime. Oh, there were also a few huge groups of loud, wild Israeli kids there, all wore the Israeli flag on their back like a cape. They ran around yelling and sticking tiny Israeli flags to every monument they saw. Kind of strange and interesting to see.
The tour lasted 4 hours or so, then I got back on the bus to Krakow. Monday evening was pretty slow. I met up with Pawel because we had planned on checking out the music festival. It turned out the first few days of it did not include any music, just record release parties, fan meet and greet type things. So we went out to dinner and had a few drinks in a bar, then called it a night. Tuesday was my next day trip, this one on a much lighter note. I went to the Wieliczka Salt Mines. These have been around for nearly a thousand years, and are still used today. Again, it was a bit complicated for me to find the correct bus, but the people at my hostel helped me find the right one. I went down into the mineshaft on a guided tour, which is the only way in. We began walking down flights of stairs, and after quite a while, we exited and were 80 meters underground! The mines are like a labyrinth with tunnels heading every direction. Several rooms open up and many include sculptures and churches, all made out of salt of course. We learned about how the mine operated and all the famous people who have visited the mine. I'm not sure why they visited, but there is a salt statue for most of them, including Pope John Paul II, Goethe, Copernicus, and many more. We trekked for 3 km and went down to 135 meters underground. Only 1% of the mines are open to tourists, the whole complex is 300 km and over 500 meters underground! After the 3 hour tour, we were led to a big restaurant and bar, a concert hall, and much more, all 135 meters down.
That evening, I met up with Pawel and we walked into the main part of town. We met a couple of French speaking girls when we were eating dinner, who in turn met a Spanish speaking couple as we left. The 6 of us all went to Pies, which is Pawel's favorite bar. I had now been there about 6 times in less than a week! The group turned out to be a quite a mix of people because niether of the French speaking girls were actually French. I discovered there were at least 7 languages spoken and 6 nationalities represented at the table. It was, as usual, very humbling to be the only person there who spoke just a single language. I will fix that this winter!
Wednesday was my day to leave Krakow. I got on a train to L'viv in western Ukraine. I still don't understand why, but it appears to be about 250 km from Krakow on the map, yet the train takes 9 or 10 hours. The train seemed to be moving fast and in a generally straight direction. True, the border crossing took awhile and was a bit of an ordeal. As I was leaving the Schengen zone, the border guards take their jobs (far too) seriously. They took my passport on the Polish side of the border and said they would give it back to me in an hour. That was kind of scary, I still don't know why they cared so much about me leaving Poland. Then we spent an hour watching the train 'change' tracks. The people next to me explained that the width or guage of Russian (and Ukrainian) train tracks differs from that of Western Europe (and Poland). So they had to basically jack my train car up off the ground and replace the undercarriage and wheels. The process took a long time while the train moved forward and backward, shook constantly, and made a lot of loud noises. On the other side of the border, the Ukrainian border people basically just took a glance at my passport, thanked me, and moved on.
I arrived in L'viv near midnight. As soon as I got off the train, I realized that while I thought I had been travelling in Eastern Europe, I was very wrong. Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland do not even compare to the Eastern Europe feel of Ukraine. There are no tourists, no tourist information, no English signs, no English speaking people! The toughest part is that the language is entirely different. I mean the actualy alphabet is so different that it is difficult to even ask for help. I decided to try and walk to my hostel anyway, though I didn't have a map and only really knew the street name. I walked for an hour in the cold, asked many 8 people along the way who gave me a variety of answers. Another hour and I was pretty sure I was getting close, though I had been going in circles due to the conflicting directions. I finally figured out that my street name is also the name of a monument, plus there are a couple of other streets with the same name. I finally did the one thing that I absolutely loathe: I got in a taxi. I felt so defeated, especially when the drive took about 3 minutes and an hour earlier I had been about 50 meters away from the hostel. The hostel was ridiculously cheap (2.35 euros a night!). I guess I got what I paid for because it was quite a dive. I had to wake someone up to get inside, after I finally got my bunk up on the 7th floor I managed to sleep only to wake up shivering at 6 in the morning. Very few of the lights worked, particularly the ones in the bathroom. I was told there was no hot water in the morning anyway. Strange thing is, the hostel had Wi-Fi with a perfectly strong signal!
I checked out but left my bag at the hostel the next morning. I spent the entire day exploring L'viv, which is a very pretty city with cool architecture and nice monuments. After several hours, I had seen most of the main part of the city (a lot of which I had seen the night before). I ate at a couple of different street vendors selling food for absurdly low prices (about 60 Euro cents for a footlong sub sandwich). In the evening, I saw a very interesting musical street performance in one of the main squares. I couldn't believe my eyes, but the musicians were Native Americans! The Ukrainian crowd was in awe of course. I am still trying to decide for sure if they were actually American or not, but you can take a look when I post the pictures. I went back to the hostel to pick up my bag, then out to the train station for the night train to Kyiv! I think one day was plenty for me in L'viv. The train was fairly painless, and I arrived in Kyiv at 7:30 Friday morning. After navigating the metro, difficult because the alphabet is so foreign to me, I found Yulia! We went back to her amazing apartment. She lives in the northern part of the city that has several massive apartment buildings. Hers is on the 13th floor and is huge. She has an enclosed sun deck type of room with fantastic views of the city.
Yulia helped me settle in but then left for work. I spent all day Friday exploring Kyiv. This city is absolutely phenomenal. I couldn't stop saying 'Wow' everywhere I went. It might be the coolest looking city in Europe! The city is very spread out, so the metro is essential. It is very quick and efficient, and easy to use once I started recognizing the names of the stops. I started out in the city's main plaza, called Independence Square. This was the sight of the Orange Revolution, more on that later. There are amazing buildings and fountains and monuments everywhere you turn. I spotted a gigantic golden-domed church and began walking towards it. Turns out this city is filled with golden-domed churches. They literally dot the skyline and are all incredible. I got to St. Sophia's, which is the 2nd most important religious site in Kyiv. It was really breathtaking as I walked into the cloister and explored the grounds. This one was all original and built in the 11 century. Afterwards, I went to a very similar golden-domed church that faces St. Sophia's down a busy boulevard. This one was destroyed by the Communists to make room for some stupid concrete and building which they never built. So the church was rebuilt ten years ago. The inside was filled with amazing golden art and architecture. I headed out to the main river running through town and through a park with great views. To get down to the river, I took one of the oldest streets in town called Andrew's Descent. It is cobblestoned and steep and lined with souvenir shops. I climbed a couple of nearby hills to see more great views of the city. I walked for an hour or more along the river until I found the Caves Monastary. This is the most important religious place in Kyiv and all of Ukraine. Unfortunately I got there too late to go underground so instead I saw the churches and chapels and the other sights on the monastary grounds.
Friday evening I met up with Yulia back at her place. A friend of her's came over and the three of us went downtown and found two different pubs with live music. Yulia and I got a slow start on Saturday, but made it out to see a few more sights in town, including two museums. We also climbed the bell tower at St. Sophia's which was lots of fun. We walked through a brand new, rich neighborhood of Kyiv. It is filled with houses of cool colors and interesting architecture. After eating dinner at a traditional Ukrainian restaurant, Yulia informed me that Saturday evening would be The Orange Revolution - Part 2! She didn't tell me much more than that so I was pretty excited. In short, the Orange Revolution was a populist movement in 2004 after a fraudulent and corrupt election. The people protested in masses in Kyiv for a couple of months until the courts declared a new election, which the original winner then actually won. 'Part 2' probably wasn't quite as exciting, but I sure enjoyed it. We went to Independence Square, which was absolutely packed with people. There were easily several hundred thousand people, maybe even half a million or so. It was a political rally for the current Prime Minister who is running for president. We muscled through the crowds while several people spoke on the podium, then found a spot right in the middle about 50 meters from the stage. Their PM (named Yulia as well) looks like a beautiful doll, not a politician. After she spoke, several famous Ukrainian musicians came out and played, then fireworks finished off the night.
For some reason I have been seeing a lot of politics in the last couple of months. First was the vote on the Lisbon Treaty when I was in Dublin. Next was the German elections when I was in Hannover and Munich. Then I stumbled upon that right-wing rally in Budapest. Now a Ukrainian rally as well. The politics here are pretty unusual. The guy who the PM is running against is the same guy who initially 'won' the corrupt election in 2004. He has also been to prison 3 times, including once for rape! I don't understand how a convicted rapist can become president. The guy is actually leading in the polls!
Yesterday, Sunday, Yulia and I took the metro and then a bus just outside of the city to an open-air museum. It was actually kind of an old Ukrainian village that has been set up to see how people used to live. It is in a massive park, basically, so we walked through and saw old straw huts, windmills, wooden churches, barns, and a lot of other cool stuff. We stayed there till dark. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home so I could cook dinner. Yulia has been really nice to let me stay at her place and show me around. I cooked Italian food last night to help repay her. Today, she is off at work and I am planning on heading back to the Caves Monastary to go underground. I hope to also see the WWII museum.
A few things about Ukraine. The currency here is the hryvnia which is difficult to pronounce, so I don't really try. There about 12 of them to one euro. Yet they have a one hryvnia note and all the coins are even smaller. By comparison, the smallest euro note is 5, which is about 60 hryvnias. So everyone constantly uses notes here to pay for even the smallest things which is pretty strange. The public transportation is unbelievably cheap. The tram in L'viv cost 1 hryvnia to use which is 8 cents! I am glad I bought tickets though because the ticket police checked me 3 different times. In Kyiv, the metro tickets are a whopping 1.70 hryvnia. Apparently they used to be .50 and people threw a fit when they upped it by so much. For the metro, you buy little plastic tokens instead of a ticket. I really like this method, much better than having a ticket stamped or punched. You put your token in and walk through, nothing to carry on you to show anybody. People here are also extremely religious. Nearly every person that even walks past a church or monument crosses themself. Many of them even go kiss the monument as well. Even the most famous churches are actually filled with people praying, not just tourists like most places. Every person here speaks two languages as well! They speak Ukrainian and Russian, which are quite similar. But in Kyiv, it is 50-50. I don't know of any other city that has an even split of two spoken languages where everyone understands both.
I have my plans for the next few weeks as well. Last Wednesday, I bought 3 plane tickets! I am flying from Kyiv to London this Friday. I am going to hang out with Cameron and I'm sure go to a fun Halloween party. Then on the 7th I fly back to Krakow! It is going to be a reunion with Cameron, Vincent, Clement, and Pawel. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun even though I was just there. I will try and do a day trip to either Wroclaw or Warsaw. On the 11th, I head back to London. I would like to explore England a bit (I have only been to London so far) until the 18th when I have to get to Franfurt for my flight to Seattle. As for this week, I will spend the next two days here in Kyiv. Then on Wednesday I am going to take a bus down to Odessa on the Black Sea. It is a big beach party city during the summer, but I think it is pretty laid back this time of year. Yulia has a friend who I can stay with and who will show me around. I will probably head back Thursday night before my Friday morning flight. I am really enjoying Ukraine. It is very different from anywhere I have been so far! I am trying to learn a bit of Russian as well :)
The tour lasted 4 hours or so, then I got back on the bus to Krakow. Monday evening was pretty slow. I met up with Pawel because we had planned on checking out the music festival. It turned out the first few days of it did not include any music, just record release parties, fan meet and greet type things. So we went out to dinner and had a few drinks in a bar, then called it a night. Tuesday was my next day trip, this one on a much lighter note. I went to the Wieliczka Salt Mines. These have been around for nearly a thousand years, and are still used today. Again, it was a bit complicated for me to find the correct bus, but the people at my hostel helped me find the right one. I went down into the mineshaft on a guided tour, which is the only way in. We began walking down flights of stairs, and after quite a while, we exited and were 80 meters underground! The mines are like a labyrinth with tunnels heading every direction. Several rooms open up and many include sculptures and churches, all made out of salt of course. We learned about how the mine operated and all the famous people who have visited the mine. I'm not sure why they visited, but there is a salt statue for most of them, including Pope John Paul II, Goethe, Copernicus, and many more. We trekked for 3 km and went down to 135 meters underground. Only 1% of the mines are open to tourists, the whole complex is 300 km and over 500 meters underground! After the 3 hour tour, we were led to a big restaurant and bar, a concert hall, and much more, all 135 meters down.
That evening, I met up with Pawel and we walked into the main part of town. We met a couple of French speaking girls when we were eating dinner, who in turn met a Spanish speaking couple as we left. The 6 of us all went to Pies, which is Pawel's favorite bar. I had now been there about 6 times in less than a week! The group turned out to be a quite a mix of people because niether of the French speaking girls were actually French. I discovered there were at least 7 languages spoken and 6 nationalities represented at the table. It was, as usual, very humbling to be the only person there who spoke just a single language. I will fix that this winter!
Wednesday was my day to leave Krakow. I got on a train to L'viv in western Ukraine. I still don't understand why, but it appears to be about 250 km from Krakow on the map, yet the train takes 9 or 10 hours. The train seemed to be moving fast and in a generally straight direction. True, the border crossing took awhile and was a bit of an ordeal. As I was leaving the Schengen zone, the border guards take their jobs (far too) seriously. They took my passport on the Polish side of the border and said they would give it back to me in an hour. That was kind of scary, I still don't know why they cared so much about me leaving Poland. Then we spent an hour watching the train 'change' tracks. The people next to me explained that the width or guage of Russian (and Ukrainian) train tracks differs from that of Western Europe (and Poland). So they had to basically jack my train car up off the ground and replace the undercarriage and wheels. The process took a long time while the train moved forward and backward, shook constantly, and made a lot of loud noises. On the other side of the border, the Ukrainian border people basically just took a glance at my passport, thanked me, and moved on.
I arrived in L'viv near midnight. As soon as I got off the train, I realized that while I thought I had been travelling in Eastern Europe, I was very wrong. Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland do not even compare to the Eastern Europe feel of Ukraine. There are no tourists, no tourist information, no English signs, no English speaking people! The toughest part is that the language is entirely different. I mean the actualy alphabet is so different that it is difficult to even ask for help. I decided to try and walk to my hostel anyway, though I didn't have a map and only really knew the street name. I walked for an hour in the cold, asked many 8 people along the way who gave me a variety of answers. Another hour and I was pretty sure I was getting close, though I had been going in circles due to the conflicting directions. I finally figured out that my street name is also the name of a monument, plus there are a couple of other streets with the same name. I finally did the one thing that I absolutely loathe: I got in a taxi. I felt so defeated, especially when the drive took about 3 minutes and an hour earlier I had been about 50 meters away from the hostel. The hostel was ridiculously cheap (2.35 euros a night!). I guess I got what I paid for because it was quite a dive. I had to wake someone up to get inside, after I finally got my bunk up on the 7th floor I managed to sleep only to wake up shivering at 6 in the morning. Very few of the lights worked, particularly the ones in the bathroom. I was told there was no hot water in the morning anyway. Strange thing is, the hostel had Wi-Fi with a perfectly strong signal!
I checked out but left my bag at the hostel the next morning. I spent the entire day exploring L'viv, which is a very pretty city with cool architecture and nice monuments. After several hours, I had seen most of the main part of the city (a lot of which I had seen the night before). I ate at a couple of different street vendors selling food for absurdly low prices (about 60 Euro cents for a footlong sub sandwich). In the evening, I saw a very interesting musical street performance in one of the main squares. I couldn't believe my eyes, but the musicians were Native Americans! The Ukrainian crowd was in awe of course. I am still trying to decide for sure if they were actually American or not, but you can take a look when I post the pictures. I went back to the hostel to pick up my bag, then out to the train station for the night train to Kyiv! I think one day was plenty for me in L'viv. The train was fairly painless, and I arrived in Kyiv at 7:30 Friday morning. After navigating the metro, difficult because the alphabet is so foreign to me, I found Yulia! We went back to her amazing apartment. She lives in the northern part of the city that has several massive apartment buildings. Hers is on the 13th floor and is huge. She has an enclosed sun deck type of room with fantastic views of the city.
Yulia helped me settle in but then left for work. I spent all day Friday exploring Kyiv. This city is absolutely phenomenal. I couldn't stop saying 'Wow' everywhere I went. It might be the coolest looking city in Europe! The city is very spread out, so the metro is essential. It is very quick and efficient, and easy to use once I started recognizing the names of the stops. I started out in the city's main plaza, called Independence Square. This was the sight of the Orange Revolution, more on that later. There are amazing buildings and fountains and monuments everywhere you turn. I spotted a gigantic golden-domed church and began walking towards it. Turns out this city is filled with golden-domed churches. They literally dot the skyline and are all incredible. I got to St. Sophia's, which is the 2nd most important religious site in Kyiv. It was really breathtaking as I walked into the cloister and explored the grounds. This one was all original and built in the 11 century. Afterwards, I went to a very similar golden-domed church that faces St. Sophia's down a busy boulevard. This one was destroyed by the Communists to make room for some stupid concrete and building which they never built. So the church was rebuilt ten years ago. The inside was filled with amazing golden art and architecture. I headed out to the main river running through town and through a park with great views. To get down to the river, I took one of the oldest streets in town called Andrew's Descent. It is cobblestoned and steep and lined with souvenir shops. I climbed a couple of nearby hills to see more great views of the city. I walked for an hour or more along the river until I found the Caves Monastary. This is the most important religious place in Kyiv and all of Ukraine. Unfortunately I got there too late to go underground so instead I saw the churches and chapels and the other sights on the monastary grounds.
Friday evening I met up with Yulia back at her place. A friend of her's came over and the three of us went downtown and found two different pubs with live music. Yulia and I got a slow start on Saturday, but made it out to see a few more sights in town, including two museums. We also climbed the bell tower at St. Sophia's which was lots of fun. We walked through a brand new, rich neighborhood of Kyiv. It is filled with houses of cool colors and interesting architecture. After eating dinner at a traditional Ukrainian restaurant, Yulia informed me that Saturday evening would be The Orange Revolution - Part 2! She didn't tell me much more than that so I was pretty excited. In short, the Orange Revolution was a populist movement in 2004 after a fraudulent and corrupt election. The people protested in masses in Kyiv for a couple of months until the courts declared a new election, which the original winner then actually won. 'Part 2' probably wasn't quite as exciting, but I sure enjoyed it. We went to Independence Square, which was absolutely packed with people. There were easily several hundred thousand people, maybe even half a million or so. It was a political rally for the current Prime Minister who is running for president. We muscled through the crowds while several people spoke on the podium, then found a spot right in the middle about 50 meters from the stage. Their PM (named Yulia as well) looks like a beautiful doll, not a politician. After she spoke, several famous Ukrainian musicians came out and played, then fireworks finished off the night.
For some reason I have been seeing a lot of politics in the last couple of months. First was the vote on the Lisbon Treaty when I was in Dublin. Next was the German elections when I was in Hannover and Munich. Then I stumbled upon that right-wing rally in Budapest. Now a Ukrainian rally as well. The politics here are pretty unusual. The guy who the PM is running against is the same guy who initially 'won' the corrupt election in 2004. He has also been to prison 3 times, including once for rape! I don't understand how a convicted rapist can become president. The guy is actually leading in the polls!
Yesterday, Sunday, Yulia and I took the metro and then a bus just outside of the city to an open-air museum. It was actually kind of an old Ukrainian village that has been set up to see how people used to live. It is in a massive park, basically, so we walked through and saw old straw huts, windmills, wooden churches, barns, and a lot of other cool stuff. We stayed there till dark. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home so I could cook dinner. Yulia has been really nice to let me stay at her place and show me around. I cooked Italian food last night to help repay her. Today, she is off at work and I am planning on heading back to the Caves Monastary to go underground. I hope to also see the WWII museum.
A few things about Ukraine. The currency here is the hryvnia which is difficult to pronounce, so I don't really try. There about 12 of them to one euro. Yet they have a one hryvnia note and all the coins are even smaller. By comparison, the smallest euro note is 5, which is about 60 hryvnias. So everyone constantly uses notes here to pay for even the smallest things which is pretty strange. The public transportation is unbelievably cheap. The tram in L'viv cost 1 hryvnia to use which is 8 cents! I am glad I bought tickets though because the ticket police checked me 3 different times. In Kyiv, the metro tickets are a whopping 1.70 hryvnia. Apparently they used to be .50 and people threw a fit when they upped it by so much. For the metro, you buy little plastic tokens instead of a ticket. I really like this method, much better than having a ticket stamped or punched. You put your token in and walk through, nothing to carry on you to show anybody. People here are also extremely religious. Nearly every person that even walks past a church or monument crosses themself. Many of them even go kiss the monument as well. Even the most famous churches are actually filled with people praying, not just tourists like most places. Every person here speaks two languages as well! They speak Ukrainian and Russian, which are quite similar. But in Kyiv, it is 50-50. I don't know of any other city that has an even split of two spoken languages where everyone understands both.
I have my plans for the next few weeks as well. Last Wednesday, I bought 3 plane tickets! I am flying from Kyiv to London this Friday. I am going to hang out with Cameron and I'm sure go to a fun Halloween party. Then on the 7th I fly back to Krakow! It is going to be a reunion with Cameron, Vincent, Clement, and Pawel. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun even though I was just there. I will try and do a day trip to either Wroclaw or Warsaw. On the 11th, I head back to London. I would like to explore England a bit (I have only been to London so far) until the 18th when I have to get to Franfurt for my flight to Seattle. As for this week, I will spend the next two days here in Kyiv. Then on Wednesday I am going to take a bus down to Odessa on the Black Sea. It is a big beach party city during the summer, but I think it is pretty laid back this time of year. Yulia has a friend who I can stay with and who will show me around. I will probably head back Thursday night before my Friday morning flight. I am really enjoying Ukraine. It is very different from anywhere I have been so far! I am trying to learn a bit of Russian as well :)
October 18, 2009
It's cold in Krakow! Next stop Ukraine!
On my final day in Budapest, I headed out to Memento Park just outside the city. After a tram ride and a bus ride, I made it out to see the Communist sculptures. After the fall of communism, the city moved all of the various pieces of Soviet art around the city to this park. It was fairly interesting, especially seeing Stalin's boots. They are a famous symbol of Hungary, I guess they destroyed this huge statue of Stalin except for his boots. I headed back into town and went to the Jewish Quarter. There I headed for the synagogue, which is apparently the second largest one in the world. Who woulda thought that would be in Budapest? The inside was very lavish and impressive. Later that day back at my hostel, I was hanging out in the common area when a girl (Lia) came to check in. I heard her say she was from Seattle, which is strange enough considering I have not met a single person from Seattle in the last 4 months of travelling. I got to talking with her, turns out she is from Mill Creek (where I used to live). We figured out that we knew all of the same places and used to go to one particular bar in the Mill Creek Town Center called Azul. My old flatmate Megan used to work there so I went a lot. After talking with her longer, we both finally realized that we actually met at Azul back in March. My friend and I went into Seattle with Lia and her boyfriend at the time and partied all night! We had both obviously not recognized each other or remembered each other's name. Small world! Can't believe she was staying at my tiny little hostel in Budapest!
My bus ride to Krakow was leaving at 6 am the next morning, so while any normal person would get to bed early to make sure they woke up at 5 am, that's just not my style. Plus I would probably have slept in no matter when I got to bed. So I decided to head out with Lia! We went to a few bars, sang karaoke, and met a whole bunch of people, including some Hungarians that took us to a fun club. We stayed out until 5 am when I had to head back to get on my bus. The bus ride took 8 hours, and went straight through the beautiful mountains of Slovakia. I didn't get as much sleep as I had hoped for, but I am glad I got to see a little bit more of Slovakia. When I got to Krakow, it was snowing!! I stepped off the bus into -1 C degree weather and a near blizzard! OK, maybe blizzard is an exaggeration, but it was really coming down! I met a couple of Polish guys from Krakow on the bus who told me they have never seen snow in October. They showed me around a bit and gave me some tips before I headed to my hostel. I dropped off my stuff and headed to the main square in town to meet up with Pawel. It was pretty funny when I found him because neither of us had any warm clothes at all! We both had just light rain jackets on and were freezing.
Pawel is both French and Polish and speaks both languages. His father lived in Krakow for 40 years and was an important anti-communist activist. Everybody in this city knows him apparently, and Pawel therefore knows a whole bunch of people in town. Pawel is doing an internship at the company of one of his father's friends (Tommy). He is also living at the guy's apartment, it is his first time living in Poland. We headed out for a beer after we met up, then went to go see his flat. The place takes up the top two floors of the complex which is really cool. I met Mishka, who lives there as well, she is Tommy's daughter.
Pawel and I headed to one of his favorite places for dinner. It was kind of a German beer hall themed restaurant with huge portions of cheap Polish food. We each had a liter of beer, a plate full of pierogi, then shared a massive platter of Polish meat. There was multiple types of sausage, chicken, pork, steak, and other stuff I couldn't identify. Of course there was 2 of everything, plus vegetables and rice. It was a ridiculous amount of food that we couldn't quite finish. It cost 50 zlotys each which is about 12 euros. And that is by far the most you would ever pay for food in this city. I have been eating lunch at restaurants for about 3 euros. You can eat the Polish version of fast food for about 2 euros or less.
On Thursday, I headed into the main part of the city, the old town. Krakow is very compact and you can walk just about everywhere. I went to the church in the main square which was absolutely stunning inside. I explored the old town some more, then headed to the main shopping mall. I went straight to H & M, of course, and bought a jacket, gloves, hat, and scarf for about 60 euros. The jacket was more expensive than I had planned, but it is exactly the kind I wanted and very warm. I am both relieved and excited to start preparing for winter weather! I changed into all my new stuff back at my hostel and re-entered Krakow warm and cozy! I explored Kazimierz, the Jewish section of town, which also has some of the scenes from Schindler's List. Pawel had some other plans Thursday night, so I decided to go out on my own. I found some tasty Polish food, then went to a couple of bars.
Most of the bars in Krakow are underground in brick cellars. Often there is hardly even a sign and you walk down stairs having no idea what to expect. They usually have small rooms connected by passageways, some of them actually have dozens of rooms! I found a cool one and ordered a beer, which costs about 1.5 euros and comes with a shot of cherry vodka! Some people pour the vodka into the beer which I tried, it actually tastes pretty good. I was then told that a 'concert' was about to begin so I headed to that room. There was a projector with some strange and random images in crazy colors. There was a guy on a laptop controlling the image and the sounds. The sound was not music, it was mainly static that was played at a deafeningly loud level. It was a very bizarre attempt at modern art that in my opinion failed miserably.
On Friday I slept in and barely made it to my hostel's breakfast which ended at noon. I did my laundry as well, then went to Wawel where Krakow's castle is. The castle is huge and you can tell it was built in sections over a very long time period. There are many clashing architectural styles. The castle is up on a hill with some good views of the city. I went to the cathedral and climbed up the bell tower. It was probably the biggest bell I have ever seen, it weighs 12,600 kilos! I also went into the crypt which has tons of Polish royalty. After that, I checked out the museum/treasury/art gallery and learned a bit about Poland's history. I met up with Pawel later in the day and we got ready for the 'big party' he had been telling me about. He and Mishka and I went over to one of their friend's places and got a group of people together. We drank Polish vodka, of course, and headed out to their usual string of bars and clubs. There is no way I would have ever been able to find some of those places on my own. I walked down a sidestreet, into an alley, around a corner, down several flights of stairs into basically a dungeon, only to find a bar packed with Polish people drinking and dancing. Definitely not a tourist place. We had a great night and I ended up sleeping on Pawel's couch when we got home.
Saturday was a bit of a slow day. When we finally got moving, Pawel and Mishka and I went to Kazimierz where Mishka is working on an apartment. She is an architect and interior designer. Her father bought a flat there and is letting her basically do whatever she wants with it. It is pretty run down, so she is basically acting as contractor to fix the place up. We checked the place out while Mishka talked with the electrician. Then we got lunch at a famous Polish fast food place. I also picked up my backpack from my hostel and moved to a new hostel where I am now that is only one block from Pawel's place. It is making things a lot easier. That evening, Pawel and I went into the old town. We found a traditional Polish cellar restaurant and paid about 8 euros for a full meal with drinks. We met up with one of Pawel's friends and drank cherry vodka at several places until the wee hours of the morning.
Today, Sunday, Pawel and I went to a museum that is named after a famous royal Polish family that Pawel is a member of. I guess there are quite a few people in Krakow that have the same last name as the name of the museum. It had some interesting art in it, including a famous Leonardo da Vinci painting. We went to the mall to get some warm clothes for Pawel, then found a spot for lunch, borsch and pierogi! We lounged around his apartment for awhile and watched a Polish football match. Tomorrow I am going to Auschwitz. There are a bunch of tours that head out there, but I am going to do it on my own. I think the bus takes an hour and a half so it will probably be an all day trip. A weeklong music festival starts tomorrow in Krakow, so Pawel and I will go check that out tomorrow night. Sometime this week, I am leaving Krakow. My next stop is Ukraine! I have a couple of reasons for going there. The first is to visit my friend Yulia who I met in Budapest. She lives in Kyiv (Kiev) and invited me there. The second reason has to do with the Schengen zone, my lack of a visa, my future plans in Austria, etc. It is complicated, but basically I need to leave the main part of Europe now so that I am able to get back in safely later. I will probably spend a few days in Lviv (I don't know how to pronounce that either), then on to Kyiv.
Oh, I also have my next flight booked! On Nov. 28th, I fly from Seattle to Paris, just in time to get to Austria on Dec. 1st! Thanks mom!
For my memory mostly, here's a quick recap of the cities I have stayed in during my trip, in order: London, Dublin, Galway, Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh, London, Paris, Caen, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Tangier, Fez, Sahara Desert, Oarzazate, Marrakesh, Essaouira, Casablanca, Marrakesh, Seville, Albufeira, Lagos, Lisbon, Valencia, Madrid, Venice, Verona, Balogna, Paris, La Houssaye-en-Brie, Nantes, Dublin, Hannover, Ingolstadt (oops!), Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Krakow...
My bus ride to Krakow was leaving at 6 am the next morning, so while any normal person would get to bed early to make sure they woke up at 5 am, that's just not my style. Plus I would probably have slept in no matter when I got to bed. So I decided to head out with Lia! We went to a few bars, sang karaoke, and met a whole bunch of people, including some Hungarians that took us to a fun club. We stayed out until 5 am when I had to head back to get on my bus. The bus ride took 8 hours, and went straight through the beautiful mountains of Slovakia. I didn't get as much sleep as I had hoped for, but I am glad I got to see a little bit more of Slovakia. When I got to Krakow, it was snowing!! I stepped off the bus into -1 C degree weather and a near blizzard! OK, maybe blizzard is an exaggeration, but it was really coming down! I met a couple of Polish guys from Krakow on the bus who told me they have never seen snow in October. They showed me around a bit and gave me some tips before I headed to my hostel. I dropped off my stuff and headed to the main square in town to meet up with Pawel. It was pretty funny when I found him because neither of us had any warm clothes at all! We both had just light rain jackets on and were freezing.
Pawel is both French and Polish and speaks both languages. His father lived in Krakow for 40 years and was an important anti-communist activist. Everybody in this city knows him apparently, and Pawel therefore knows a whole bunch of people in town. Pawel is doing an internship at the company of one of his father's friends (Tommy). He is also living at the guy's apartment, it is his first time living in Poland. We headed out for a beer after we met up, then went to go see his flat. The place takes up the top two floors of the complex which is really cool. I met Mishka, who lives there as well, she is Tommy's daughter.
Pawel and I headed to one of his favorite places for dinner. It was kind of a German beer hall themed restaurant with huge portions of cheap Polish food. We each had a liter of beer, a plate full of pierogi, then shared a massive platter of Polish meat. There was multiple types of sausage, chicken, pork, steak, and other stuff I couldn't identify. Of course there was 2 of everything, plus vegetables and rice. It was a ridiculous amount of food that we couldn't quite finish. It cost 50 zlotys each which is about 12 euros. And that is by far the most you would ever pay for food in this city. I have been eating lunch at restaurants for about 3 euros. You can eat the Polish version of fast food for about 2 euros or less.
On Thursday, I headed into the main part of the city, the old town. Krakow is very compact and you can walk just about everywhere. I went to the church in the main square which was absolutely stunning inside. I explored the old town some more, then headed to the main shopping mall. I went straight to H & M, of course, and bought a jacket, gloves, hat, and scarf for about 60 euros. The jacket was more expensive than I had planned, but it is exactly the kind I wanted and very warm. I am both relieved and excited to start preparing for winter weather! I changed into all my new stuff back at my hostel and re-entered Krakow warm and cozy! I explored Kazimierz, the Jewish section of town, which also has some of the scenes from Schindler's List. Pawel had some other plans Thursday night, so I decided to go out on my own. I found some tasty Polish food, then went to a couple of bars.
Most of the bars in Krakow are underground in brick cellars. Often there is hardly even a sign and you walk down stairs having no idea what to expect. They usually have small rooms connected by passageways, some of them actually have dozens of rooms! I found a cool one and ordered a beer, which costs about 1.5 euros and comes with a shot of cherry vodka! Some people pour the vodka into the beer which I tried, it actually tastes pretty good. I was then told that a 'concert' was about to begin so I headed to that room. There was a projector with some strange and random images in crazy colors. There was a guy on a laptop controlling the image and the sounds. The sound was not music, it was mainly static that was played at a deafeningly loud level. It was a very bizarre attempt at modern art that in my opinion failed miserably.
On Friday I slept in and barely made it to my hostel's breakfast which ended at noon. I did my laundry as well, then went to Wawel where Krakow's castle is. The castle is huge and you can tell it was built in sections over a very long time period. There are many clashing architectural styles. The castle is up on a hill with some good views of the city. I went to the cathedral and climbed up the bell tower. It was probably the biggest bell I have ever seen, it weighs 12,600 kilos! I also went into the crypt which has tons of Polish royalty. After that, I checked out the museum/treasury/art gallery and learned a bit about Poland's history. I met up with Pawel later in the day and we got ready for the 'big party' he had been telling me about. He and Mishka and I went over to one of their friend's places and got a group of people together. We drank Polish vodka, of course, and headed out to their usual string of bars and clubs. There is no way I would have ever been able to find some of those places on my own. I walked down a sidestreet, into an alley, around a corner, down several flights of stairs into basically a dungeon, only to find a bar packed with Polish people drinking and dancing. Definitely not a tourist place. We had a great night and I ended up sleeping on Pawel's couch when we got home.
Saturday was a bit of a slow day. When we finally got moving, Pawel and Mishka and I went to Kazimierz where Mishka is working on an apartment. She is an architect and interior designer. Her father bought a flat there and is letting her basically do whatever she wants with it. It is pretty run down, so she is basically acting as contractor to fix the place up. We checked the place out while Mishka talked with the electrician. Then we got lunch at a famous Polish fast food place. I also picked up my backpack from my hostel and moved to a new hostel where I am now that is only one block from Pawel's place. It is making things a lot easier. That evening, Pawel and I went into the old town. We found a traditional Polish cellar restaurant and paid about 8 euros for a full meal with drinks. We met up with one of Pawel's friends and drank cherry vodka at several places until the wee hours of the morning.
Today, Sunday, Pawel and I went to a museum that is named after a famous royal Polish family that Pawel is a member of. I guess there are quite a few people in Krakow that have the same last name as the name of the museum. It had some interesting art in it, including a famous Leonardo da Vinci painting. We went to the mall to get some warm clothes for Pawel, then found a spot for lunch, borsch and pierogi! We lounged around his apartment for awhile and watched a Polish football match. Tomorrow I am going to Auschwitz. There are a bunch of tours that head out there, but I am going to do it on my own. I think the bus takes an hour and a half so it will probably be an all day trip. A weeklong music festival starts tomorrow in Krakow, so Pawel and I will go check that out tomorrow night. Sometime this week, I am leaving Krakow. My next stop is Ukraine! I have a couple of reasons for going there. The first is to visit my friend Yulia who I met in Budapest. She lives in Kyiv (Kiev) and invited me there. The second reason has to do with the Schengen zone, my lack of a visa, my future plans in Austria, etc. It is complicated, but basically I need to leave the main part of Europe now so that I am able to get back in safely later. I will probably spend a few days in Lviv (I don't know how to pronounce that either), then on to Kyiv.
Oh, I also have my next flight booked! On Nov. 28th, I fly from Seattle to Paris, just in time to get to Austria on Dec. 1st! Thanks mom!
For my memory mostly, here's a quick recap of the cities I have stayed in during my trip, in order: London, Dublin, Galway, Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh, London, Paris, Caen, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Tangier, Fez, Sahara Desert, Oarzazate, Marrakesh, Essaouira, Casablanca, Marrakesh, Seville, Albufeira, Lagos, Lisbon, Valencia, Madrid, Venice, Verona, Balogna, Paris, La Houssaye-en-Brie, Nantes, Dublin, Hannover, Ingolstadt (oops!), Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Krakow...
October 12, 2009
Spectacular Budapest! Krakow next! Plus, plans revealed...
My last night in Bratislava I went out with Jan, Ben, and Lenke, a Slovakian girl who worked at our hostel. We went back to the bar from the previous night and had loads of fun. The same singer was there, though he now had a new guitarist and drummer. The band was really good and the whole scene was a lot of fun. We met quite a few people, including some Slovakians and some American art students. At some point as we were leaving I lost track of Jan, Ben, and Lenke, and headed off with the artists to a couple of other bars. I didn't make it back to the hostel until very late. There I found Ben having a beer that this funny drunk Scottish guy had bought for him. He demanded I have one as well, so I didn't get to sleep until nearly 6 am!! I set my alarm, but no use, I slept in and missed my bus. Oh well, it was only 4.5 euros. I ended up taking a train that cost 13 euros instead. That turned out to be quite an ordeal, however. I got the schedule from my hostel. There were direct trains from Bratislava to Budapest leaving later in the day. They recommended one of them because it would be easier, but I preferred to get to Budapest a bit earlier. So I chose the 3-connections route through Vienna.
I bought a ticket at the train station that simply listed Bratislava to Vienna, with no connections mentioned as well as no departure time. I figure that meant I could take any way I wanted. I asked the ticket person, but she didn't understand a word I was saying. I used the printout my hostel had given me and took a couple trains through to Vienna, then just made the one to Budapest. I was halfway through Hungary when I was finally asked for my ticket aboard the train. Some Hungarian lady told me my ticket wasn't valid. She didn't give me any explanation why despite me asking over and over. She plugged some numbers in her little machine and said I owed her 31 euros! Of course I refused and promptly got kicked off the train at the next stop! What a joke, I still have no idea what was wrong with my ticket. I still wasn't going to pay any more money, so I waited about 10 minutes till another train came along which said Budapest. I hopped on and sweated the whole way waiting till I got kicked off again. When the ticket guy came by, I was pretty nervous. He studied my ticket for about 30 seconds, then shrugged and said 'OK'. I was incredible relieved.
I got into Budapest last Thursday and walked through town to my hostel. The town is separated by the Danube into Buda and Pest, I am staying in Pest, the newer city. My hostel has been rated highly and won a bunch of awards. It is very poorly labeled from the street, and once I got in it looked like a very run down apartment building. I got up to the floor where the hostel was and couldn't believe the place. It is called Home Made Hostel, and every stick of furniture in the place is really interesting and bizarre. The staff are the some of the friendliest people I have ever met, and the people staying here are all incredibly nice. A huge variety of people as well. In my first 4 nights here, I had to switch beds every night! They are constantly juggling me around to make sure I can stay here even though they are fully booked. One night I had to sleep on a makeshift bed on the couch, but I didn't mind one bit. I only planned about 3 days here, but I love the hostel and love the city even more, so it became 6 nights! I didn't do too much on Thursday after I arrived. That evening, I decided to go out for dinner. I met an Irish girl named Ruth and we found a local place with excellent Hungarian food for fairly cheap.
On Friday I went sightseeing on my own. I went in St. Stephen's Basilica nearby which is supposedly the most impressive church in town. I walked over the Chain Bridge to Buda and saw the castle along with several other sights up on the hill overlooking the river and the whole city. I went into two museums, the first was an art gallery. It was entirely Hungarian art from the 19th and 20th centuries. I didn't really know what Hungarian art was prior to that, but I was extremely impressed! Most of the 19th century stuff was gorgeous, while the modern art was much more fascinating than most of the modern art I have seen. The next museum was the Budapest History Museum which took me through the 7000 year history of the city. That evening, I went out for dinner with an American couple from Oregon and a Scottish guy. Had some great food again and a few beers. I planned on a fairly early night, but then I met a group of 4 French guys from Paris at around 11:30. Next thing I knew I was having a few beers and then heading out for a big night! (I know, I know, this blog definitely makes me sound like an alcoholic) We found a pub fairly close to the hostel, then discovered there was a club downstairs. We spent the entire night dancing down there. We met a whole bunch of people, Hungarians and travellers, and the French guys probably took 1000 photos! Made it back home around 4 or 5...
On Saturday, I went out for some more sightseeing on my own. I first headed to the Parliament building, which is probably the coolest building in town. All of the architecture in Budapest is stunning, and this building is the highlight. When I got close, I discovered there was some political rally taking place. I watched for a bit and grabbed a pamphlet. I didn't understand a word of it, so I later asked at my hostel and they told me those were the radical right-wingers! I walked up to the north part of town to an island in the Danube. There wasn't much to see there, but it was a nice walk with good views. I took a short nap back at the hostel, then headed out with Ruth and a couple of English girls I met at the hostel. We went to a truly amazing place, it is called a 'ruined bar', which are unique to Budapest. It was basically a huge, old, run down building with a very strange floorplan that has been converted into a bar. It was filled with random, crazy furniture and a mish-mash of art, lighting, and decorations. It had two foors with a massive courtyard. I drank some great Hungarian beer and we basically just hung out at a table for most of the night.
On Sunday, I went back to the Parliament building because I wanted to take a tour inside. The only way to get a ticket is to show up that morning and get one for the afternoon. On Saturday they were sold out when I got there, and the same thing happened on Sunday! So I walked around a bit more, then headed to the Terror Museum. This was in a building where both the Nazis and the Communists had the headquarters of the Secret Police. The museum covered the whole history of the Nazi and Communist occupations and the methods they used to suppress people, interrogate them, and even torture them. It was very interesting, and I learned a lot of history. The final two rooms had photos of the 'victims' then the 'victimizers' and it was pretty intense. I walked to Heroes Square which is just a huge courtyard with some gigantic monuments in it. I walked through the city park just past it. That evening, I decided I wanted to see the opera. I had been looking up tickets to it the previous couple of days, but all the shows I wanted to see were sold out. Ruth had already bought a couple of tickets before she arrived, so she had seen the ballet on Saturday and was getting ready to go to the opera on Sunday. I decided to head over there with her to see if I could grab a ticket at the door. I'm glad I bought a new long sleeve dress shirt a week ago because people really dress up nice for the opera! At the door, everyone seemed to deny me entry, claiming there were no tickets and there wouldn't be any empty seats. I couldn't find any scalpers outside either. I think Ruth felt really bad as she walked in without me, but I stuck around a bit longer. Right as the show was getting ready to begin, I asked a ticket lady again and she told me that there were seats available if I didn't mind not being able to see the stage. I couldn't believe no one had told me that earlier! I bought a ticket for about 2.50 euros (no joke!) and got up to the third floor about 2 minutes before the show began. I never even went to my seat of course, I just stood in the back leaning against a column. The theatre is so small, though, that my view was perfect! The opera house is truly an amazing feat of architecture. I would have paid that much just to walk in and see the place. The opera was a famous Hungarian opera called Bluebeard's Castle. It is kind of a dark fairly tale about a king that kills all his wives, and his new wife has just moved in. The music and singing was fantastic, and I found Ruth sitting right nearby me at the intermission. The opera is only one act which is just over an hour long. The second half was basically a replay of the first half which seemed rather strange, but they added some interesting twists. After the show, Ruth and I headed out to a restaurant for a bite to eat and a bottle of wine. By the way, she is a very interesting person. She hasn't lived in Ireland for 5 years. She moved to Moscow after getting her Master's to be a TV producer at a government run news channel. After that, she moved to Paris where she lives now to work for a TV station there. She speaks fluent Russian and French and travels a lot! We planned on heading to the famous Budapest baths the next morning.
Monday morning I slept in and woke up to a rainy, cold day. My first day in Budapest was really warm, I think it was 25 degrees! Now it is getting very cold, and the forecast has snow on Wednesday and Thursday. Ruth and I decided to wait till the afternoons for the baths to see if the weather cleared because some of them are outdoors. I walked down to the Parliament building again for a ticket. They told me the building will be closed for the next few days, so I went 0-3 in trips to get a ticket! Oh well... I bought a new pair of flip flops I was going to need at the baths, I destroyed/lost my others at Oktoberfest. I took a nap back at the hostel, then Ruth and I headed to the baths. We went to the famous and popular one in town. The building itself was really spectacular. It was a bit difficult to figure out the protocol, but I eventually got a locker and changed. The number of baths was incredible, each of them are labelled with the temperature. They are of all shapes and sizes, in large rooms and down tiny corridors. There are plenty of saunas as well. Ruth and I headed to one of the huge outdoor baths despite the rainy, cold weather. It was actually very refreshing to jump into the warm water with steam rising from it. We basically ran back inside afterwards because it was so cold. I went into one of the 16 degree cold plunge baths inside, then into a 40 degree jacuzzi immediately after, lots of fun! The whole thing was really relaxing and we stayed until it closed at 7.
After the baths tonight, Ruth and I headed out for dinner. She found a Roma (Gypsy) restaurant in a guidebook that was nearby. The place was really unbelievable, probably one of the more unique experiences I have had on my trip so far. We walked down the stairs from the street into a cellar. There were two guys playing these cool Hungarian Gypsy instrument called the Cimbalom. It is an upright, piano-like string instrument, they tap the strings with what looks like drum sticks. The restaurant was only one room, with brick walls and ceiling, and had only 3 tables, all of which were empty. Our server spoke a bit of English, yet told us the menu was only in Hungarian. We quickly found out there was only one choice of food anyway, and I don't think a menu even existed. We got a bottle of red wine and the dish of the day, which was delicious though I can hardly describe what was in it. The musicians were very friendly and played the whole time. They tried to get us to buy their CD as well. We finished our meal and got a shot of Schnapps each, which is the traditional Hungarian thing to do after the meal. We ended up buying a shot each for the musicians as well. A couple of other groups came into the restaurant for drinks. A third musician joined as well, a violinist. He was really incredible, so Ruth and I decided to stay and have another drink and watch. I think we must have stayed for about 3 hours after we had finished our meal! They played all sorts of Hungarian and Roma music. The violinist spent half the night playing just for Ruth and I, probably because we seemed to be enjoying it the most. A few other Roma guys showed up as well, they all looked like they were in the mafia. One of them took over for another guy on the cimbalom which was really surprising. The whole evening was really amazing as it was like experiencing a culture within a culture.
I'm spending one more full day in Budapest tomorrow. I'm hoping to make it out to the Communist Sculpture park which should be interesting. On Wednesday morning, I have a bus booked for Krakow! My French friend Pawel lives there, so it will be really cool to see him and have him show me the city. I'm not sure how long I will stay there and have no plans afterwards.
Alright, now to reveal my plans! Thanks to my mom, I have changed my itinerary for my flight home. I will be back in Seattle November 18th! 'But wait,' you say, 'I thought you wanted to travel forever?' Very true, I am not done with my travels. I will be booking a flight in the next couple of days for my return to Europe! I plan on flying back here around the 28th of November. So I will only have about 10 days in Seattle. I plan on selling my car, selling all the crap I have in storage, packing up a bunch of warm clothes, taking care of a few other loose ends, and of course seeing friends and family (hopefully Thanksgiving in Oregon!). So why only 10 days? Because I have somewhere to be on December 1st!!! I will be heading to Kirchberg, Austria to work the entire winter ski season! Alright, so I don't have a specific job lined up, I don't have a work or travel visa, and it all probably sounds a bit shady. But I got this particular idea from speaking with some Aussies in Munich that did it last year. They hooked me up with an Aussie guy that lives in Kirchberg and runs a hostel. He puts together a 'ski bum' type deal every year where he lets a few travellers stay with him for a week or two. He helps them find jobs and places to stay. The jobs are nothing exciting or well paying, but they pay cash which is what I am looking for. One of the girls I spoke with ended up washing dishes in a restaurant for a few months getting 8 or 9 euros an hour. But she stayed in a house with a bunch of other travellers doing similar types of work and her rent was 5 euros a day. She boarded the entire season and had a blast, even saved a bit of money. Ideally, considering I am a fairly avid skiier, I will find a job giving ski lessons to tourists who speak English. That might be tough to pull off, but I will certainly give it a try. Either way, I am determined to make this happen and continue my travels. Though I will have go under the radar when it comes to immigration... but I have a few plans in mind for how to resolve that issue.
Well, hope to see family and friends at the end of November! After that, I might not be back to Seattle until May! I am having the time of my life!
I bought a ticket at the train station that simply listed Bratislava to Vienna, with no connections mentioned as well as no departure time. I figure that meant I could take any way I wanted. I asked the ticket person, but she didn't understand a word I was saying. I used the printout my hostel had given me and took a couple trains through to Vienna, then just made the one to Budapest. I was halfway through Hungary when I was finally asked for my ticket aboard the train. Some Hungarian lady told me my ticket wasn't valid. She didn't give me any explanation why despite me asking over and over. She plugged some numbers in her little machine and said I owed her 31 euros! Of course I refused and promptly got kicked off the train at the next stop! What a joke, I still have no idea what was wrong with my ticket. I still wasn't going to pay any more money, so I waited about 10 minutes till another train came along which said Budapest. I hopped on and sweated the whole way waiting till I got kicked off again. When the ticket guy came by, I was pretty nervous. He studied my ticket for about 30 seconds, then shrugged and said 'OK'. I was incredible relieved.
I got into Budapest last Thursday and walked through town to my hostel. The town is separated by the Danube into Buda and Pest, I am staying in Pest, the newer city. My hostel has been rated highly and won a bunch of awards. It is very poorly labeled from the street, and once I got in it looked like a very run down apartment building. I got up to the floor where the hostel was and couldn't believe the place. It is called Home Made Hostel, and every stick of furniture in the place is really interesting and bizarre. The staff are the some of the friendliest people I have ever met, and the people staying here are all incredibly nice. A huge variety of people as well. In my first 4 nights here, I had to switch beds every night! They are constantly juggling me around to make sure I can stay here even though they are fully booked. One night I had to sleep on a makeshift bed on the couch, but I didn't mind one bit. I only planned about 3 days here, but I love the hostel and love the city even more, so it became 6 nights! I didn't do too much on Thursday after I arrived. That evening, I decided to go out for dinner. I met an Irish girl named Ruth and we found a local place with excellent Hungarian food for fairly cheap.
On Friday I went sightseeing on my own. I went in St. Stephen's Basilica nearby which is supposedly the most impressive church in town. I walked over the Chain Bridge to Buda and saw the castle along with several other sights up on the hill overlooking the river and the whole city. I went into two museums, the first was an art gallery. It was entirely Hungarian art from the 19th and 20th centuries. I didn't really know what Hungarian art was prior to that, but I was extremely impressed! Most of the 19th century stuff was gorgeous, while the modern art was much more fascinating than most of the modern art I have seen. The next museum was the Budapest History Museum which took me through the 7000 year history of the city. That evening, I went out for dinner with an American couple from Oregon and a Scottish guy. Had some great food again and a few beers. I planned on a fairly early night, but then I met a group of 4 French guys from Paris at around 11:30. Next thing I knew I was having a few beers and then heading out for a big night! (I know, I know, this blog definitely makes me sound like an alcoholic) We found a pub fairly close to the hostel, then discovered there was a club downstairs. We spent the entire night dancing down there. We met a whole bunch of people, Hungarians and travellers, and the French guys probably took 1000 photos! Made it back home around 4 or 5...
On Saturday, I went out for some more sightseeing on my own. I first headed to the Parliament building, which is probably the coolest building in town. All of the architecture in Budapest is stunning, and this building is the highlight. When I got close, I discovered there was some political rally taking place. I watched for a bit and grabbed a pamphlet. I didn't understand a word of it, so I later asked at my hostel and they told me those were the radical right-wingers! I walked up to the north part of town to an island in the Danube. There wasn't much to see there, but it was a nice walk with good views. I took a short nap back at the hostel, then headed out with Ruth and a couple of English girls I met at the hostel. We went to a truly amazing place, it is called a 'ruined bar', which are unique to Budapest. It was basically a huge, old, run down building with a very strange floorplan that has been converted into a bar. It was filled with random, crazy furniture and a mish-mash of art, lighting, and decorations. It had two foors with a massive courtyard. I drank some great Hungarian beer and we basically just hung out at a table for most of the night.
On Sunday, I went back to the Parliament building because I wanted to take a tour inside. The only way to get a ticket is to show up that morning and get one for the afternoon. On Saturday they were sold out when I got there, and the same thing happened on Sunday! So I walked around a bit more, then headed to the Terror Museum. This was in a building where both the Nazis and the Communists had the headquarters of the Secret Police. The museum covered the whole history of the Nazi and Communist occupations and the methods they used to suppress people, interrogate them, and even torture them. It was very interesting, and I learned a lot of history. The final two rooms had photos of the 'victims' then the 'victimizers' and it was pretty intense. I walked to Heroes Square which is just a huge courtyard with some gigantic monuments in it. I walked through the city park just past it. That evening, I decided I wanted to see the opera. I had been looking up tickets to it the previous couple of days, but all the shows I wanted to see were sold out. Ruth had already bought a couple of tickets before she arrived, so she had seen the ballet on Saturday and was getting ready to go to the opera on Sunday. I decided to head over there with her to see if I could grab a ticket at the door. I'm glad I bought a new long sleeve dress shirt a week ago because people really dress up nice for the opera! At the door, everyone seemed to deny me entry, claiming there were no tickets and there wouldn't be any empty seats. I couldn't find any scalpers outside either. I think Ruth felt really bad as she walked in without me, but I stuck around a bit longer. Right as the show was getting ready to begin, I asked a ticket lady again and she told me that there were seats available if I didn't mind not being able to see the stage. I couldn't believe no one had told me that earlier! I bought a ticket for about 2.50 euros (no joke!) and got up to the third floor about 2 minutes before the show began. I never even went to my seat of course, I just stood in the back leaning against a column. The theatre is so small, though, that my view was perfect! The opera house is truly an amazing feat of architecture. I would have paid that much just to walk in and see the place. The opera was a famous Hungarian opera called Bluebeard's Castle. It is kind of a dark fairly tale about a king that kills all his wives, and his new wife has just moved in. The music and singing was fantastic, and I found Ruth sitting right nearby me at the intermission. The opera is only one act which is just over an hour long. The second half was basically a replay of the first half which seemed rather strange, but they added some interesting twists. After the show, Ruth and I headed out to a restaurant for a bite to eat and a bottle of wine. By the way, she is a very interesting person. She hasn't lived in Ireland for 5 years. She moved to Moscow after getting her Master's to be a TV producer at a government run news channel. After that, she moved to Paris where she lives now to work for a TV station there. She speaks fluent Russian and French and travels a lot! We planned on heading to the famous Budapest baths the next morning.
Monday morning I slept in and woke up to a rainy, cold day. My first day in Budapest was really warm, I think it was 25 degrees! Now it is getting very cold, and the forecast has snow on Wednesday and Thursday. Ruth and I decided to wait till the afternoons for the baths to see if the weather cleared because some of them are outdoors. I walked down to the Parliament building again for a ticket. They told me the building will be closed for the next few days, so I went 0-3 in trips to get a ticket! Oh well... I bought a new pair of flip flops I was going to need at the baths, I destroyed/lost my others at Oktoberfest. I took a nap back at the hostel, then Ruth and I headed to the baths. We went to the famous and popular one in town. The building itself was really spectacular. It was a bit difficult to figure out the protocol, but I eventually got a locker and changed. The number of baths was incredible, each of them are labelled with the temperature. They are of all shapes and sizes, in large rooms and down tiny corridors. There are plenty of saunas as well. Ruth and I headed to one of the huge outdoor baths despite the rainy, cold weather. It was actually very refreshing to jump into the warm water with steam rising from it. We basically ran back inside afterwards because it was so cold. I went into one of the 16 degree cold plunge baths inside, then into a 40 degree jacuzzi immediately after, lots of fun! The whole thing was really relaxing and we stayed until it closed at 7.
After the baths tonight, Ruth and I headed out for dinner. She found a Roma (Gypsy) restaurant in a guidebook that was nearby. The place was really unbelievable, probably one of the more unique experiences I have had on my trip so far. We walked down the stairs from the street into a cellar. There were two guys playing these cool Hungarian Gypsy instrument called the Cimbalom. It is an upright, piano-like string instrument, they tap the strings with what looks like drum sticks. The restaurant was only one room, with brick walls and ceiling, and had only 3 tables, all of which were empty. Our server spoke a bit of English, yet told us the menu was only in Hungarian. We quickly found out there was only one choice of food anyway, and I don't think a menu even existed. We got a bottle of red wine and the dish of the day, which was delicious though I can hardly describe what was in it. The musicians were very friendly and played the whole time. They tried to get us to buy their CD as well. We finished our meal and got a shot of Schnapps each, which is the traditional Hungarian thing to do after the meal. We ended up buying a shot each for the musicians as well. A couple of other groups came into the restaurant for drinks. A third musician joined as well, a violinist. He was really incredible, so Ruth and I decided to stay and have another drink and watch. I think we must have stayed for about 3 hours after we had finished our meal! They played all sorts of Hungarian and Roma music. The violinist spent half the night playing just for Ruth and I, probably because we seemed to be enjoying it the most. A few other Roma guys showed up as well, they all looked like they were in the mafia. One of them took over for another guy on the cimbalom which was really surprising. The whole evening was really amazing as it was like experiencing a culture within a culture.
I'm spending one more full day in Budapest tomorrow. I'm hoping to make it out to the Communist Sculpture park which should be interesting. On Wednesday morning, I have a bus booked for Krakow! My French friend Pawel lives there, so it will be really cool to see him and have him show me the city. I'm not sure how long I will stay there and have no plans afterwards.
Alright, now to reveal my plans! Thanks to my mom, I have changed my itinerary for my flight home. I will be back in Seattle November 18th! 'But wait,' you say, 'I thought you wanted to travel forever?' Very true, I am not done with my travels. I will be booking a flight in the next couple of days for my return to Europe! I plan on flying back here around the 28th of November. So I will only have about 10 days in Seattle. I plan on selling my car, selling all the crap I have in storage, packing up a bunch of warm clothes, taking care of a few other loose ends, and of course seeing friends and family (hopefully Thanksgiving in Oregon!). So why only 10 days? Because I have somewhere to be on December 1st!!! I will be heading to Kirchberg, Austria to work the entire winter ski season! Alright, so I don't have a specific job lined up, I don't have a work or travel visa, and it all probably sounds a bit shady. But I got this particular idea from speaking with some Aussies in Munich that did it last year. They hooked me up with an Aussie guy that lives in Kirchberg and runs a hostel. He puts together a 'ski bum' type deal every year where he lets a few travellers stay with him for a week or two. He helps them find jobs and places to stay. The jobs are nothing exciting or well paying, but they pay cash which is what I am looking for. One of the girls I spoke with ended up washing dishes in a restaurant for a few months getting 8 or 9 euros an hour. But she stayed in a house with a bunch of other travellers doing similar types of work and her rent was 5 euros a day. She boarded the entire season and had a blast, even saved a bit of money. Ideally, considering I am a fairly avid skiier, I will find a job giving ski lessons to tourists who speak English. That might be tough to pull off, but I will certainly give it a try. Either way, I am determined to make this happen and continue my travels. Though I will have go under the radar when it comes to immigration... but I have a few plans in mind for how to resolve that issue.
Well, hope to see family and friends at the end of November! After that, I might not be back to Seattle until May! I am having the time of my life!
October 7, 2009
Bratislava is so underrated! Budapest tomorrow!
I took the train to Vienna last Friday which was quick and easy. I showed up at Wombat's Hostel which was just as good as I expected. A little bit pricey considering it didn't include breakfast, but worth it for the atmosphere. They give you a coupon for a free beer in their bar right when you walk in. The scene is so good there that a lot of people stay at other, cheaper hostels and just walk over to Wombat's to hang out. There was a massive bed in the lounge area that fit about 15 people napping in the afternoon. The bar was open till about 2 or 3 am every night. My room was absolutely huge, could have fit a lot more than 6 bunks in it. I didn't do too much on Friday around town. Just walked into the city center for a bit and looked around. There is a huge outdoor screen showing the the live opera almost every night. I never made it to the opera, but at least I got to see a bit from the outside. I bought some groceries as well, 3 breakfasts and 3 lunches plus a few beers for 9 euros! I hung out around the hostel and met some cool people at the bar downstairs.
On Saturday I went sightseeing. I got a 72 hour public transport pass and went to the main cathedral in town, St. Stephen's, which was impressive. I walked along the Danube for the first time. I went to the palace (Schonn Brunn) and walked through the amazing gardens for quite awhile. There were some really cool fountains and a great view of the city from the top of a hill. I went to the market next, which had a flea market as well on Saturday. The place was packed with people. When I got back to the hostel, I found out that I had picked a great time to come to Vienna. Saturday night was a once-a-year event called 'Long Night at the Museums' I think would be the way to translate it. Every museum in town (there are 94!) was open from 6 pm to 1 am and could be entered for one flat rate of 13 euros. This was an incredible deal considering most museums were 10 euros each. I went with an American guy named Mike who was staying in my room. I wish we had planned it a bit better and mapped out where we would go, because you definitely have to pick and choose which museums you want to hit. We did see quite a bit though. We saw one of the main art galleries which had a lot of Dutch and Flemish art, including some Rembrandts. It also had Greek and Egyptian sculptures which were very cool. Next was the Natural History Museum which had a lot of interesting rocks and minerals, including a 60 kilo amethyst and a bunch more! Next was the Treasury which had crowns and swords and stuff from the Hapsburg empire. Next was the Leopold Museum with a huge amount of contemporary art. We ate dinner somewhere in there as well, and left the last museum at nearly 1 am. Back to the Wombar for drinks!
I went sightseeing on my own on Sunday. After a long ordeal, I made it to the massive cemetary south of Vienna. I thought that one in Paris was big, but this one dwarfed that one. There are over 2.5 million people buried at this one! I had to wander for quite awhile before I found what I was looking for: a special section with the graves of Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, and a couple of others. They all had really impressive headstones. I love Vienna's art and musical history, it was definitely a popular place! After that I went to the Belvedere Palace and gardens. These gardens were pretty amazing as well, and the art museum was really nice. It had a big collection of Klimt works, he is pretty much the most famous Viennese artist. His most famous work was there, it's called The Kiss. Ended up back at the Wombar as usual. The bar was packed because one of those huge groups had piled in to the hostel that day. I was hanging out with a couple American guys and a Canadian girl when the awesome bartender announced that every time a song came on, the first person to yell out the artist got a free shot at the bar. The bar was mostly filled with Aussies, so maybe the 4 of us had an advantage considering most popular music comes from America. The four of us nailed the first 20 or so songs!!! We usually all yelled the artist right when we heard the first note, so the bartender just gave a shot to each of us. I didn't pay for a drink the rest of the night and we stayed until 3 am when the bar closed! It was a whole lot of fun.
I went to the Sigmund Freud museum the next day, which is in the apartment he used to live in and work out of. It was nothing special, but I am glad I got a picture of the famous couch! Though I doubt it was the same one... I saw another impressive church, then headed back to the Wombat for a nap. Monday evening I met a cool Aussie couple. I found Mike and the four of us headed to a local brewery. Took awhile to get to it, but it was definitely worth it. The pub had a really good atmosphere and they had some bizarre beers on tap. The first one I had was the hemp beer, which somehow tasted like how I imagined it would, minus the mental effects. We had the chili beer next, which was really hot! Had a great night and ended up back at the Wombar of course. The Aussies and Mike went to bed, but I stayed until close again and met a bunch of fun people.
Yesterday, Tuesday, I hopped on a bus to Bratislava! I wish I could have taken the hydrofoil down the Danube, but it was just too expensive. You can actually take it all the way to Budapest, though that is 60 euros or something. I took a 6 euro bus ride, and I just booked my bus ride to Budapest for tomorrow morning, only 4.50 euros! I absolutely love Bratislava! I heard some negative things about it, a lot of people say to just do it on a day trip from Vienna. It's true there are not a whole lot of sights to see, but the city is beautiful and the people are really nice. My first mishap was right off the bus though. I got off and was waiting for the driver to open the luggage compartment under the bus where my backpack was. I turned to look at something, turned back and the bus was driving away! So I had to trek it to tourist information, then to my hostel and have them call the company and bring my bag back! That was pretty embarrassing, though that driver really should have paid more attention. I spent yesterday seeing all the sights in town. I went to the main castle overlooking the city. I also checked out a museum with some Slovak art, old stuff and modern. I spent awhile just walking the streets of the city. There is a reputation that Slovakia is filled with beautiful women. I can only speak for Bratislava, but it is definitely true! I still can't believe the ratio of attractive women here in a city that is not that big, they are everywhere you turn!
The atmosphere in this city is pretty surprising for a European capital. It is almost as if the city is asleep, or in slow-motion. There are no crowds of people and none of the hustle you see everywhere else. People sit out at cafes drinking coffee or beer just like in Vienna. But here, even the main square feels like a very lazy place. I find it really enjoyable actually. My hostel here is dirt cheap yet really nice. Last night I took a free walking tour of the city which they organized. I learned quite a bit about the history of Slovakia and Bratislava. Our tour guide told us all about what it was like during the Velvet Revolution when communism died. It was very interesting, the Slovakian people have never in their 1000+ year history been independent, yet for the last 16 years have had their own country. They got the Euro earlier this year, yet most places publish prices in euros and crowns (think thats what it was called). After the walking tour, 5 of us headed to the Slovak Pub, which we were told had the best traditional food. All 5 of us ordered the exact same thing: this potato pasta dish with sheep's cheese and bacon. It got mixed reviews, though I personally loved it! We all also got the famous local grape soda, then a beer after we ate. Only cost 6 euros each! I love the cheap prices here, I think I will have to stay in Eastern Europe for awhile to save money!
After dinner I headed back to my hostel and met a couple of German guys, Jan and Ben. We decided to head out to check out the nightlife. The people working at our hostel are really friendly and helpful, so they gave a bunch of recommendations. We went to a bar called Alligator, which had live music. The place was an underground smoky pub with mostly locals. The band played a bunch of cover songs, they were actually really talented. We had a blast and stayed there all night till the band left. We chatted with some of the local people, many of whom speak English fairly well. Then we left the bar and had a very interesting experience.
We had just left and were only 100 meters away from the bar when a couple of cops stopped us. The woman didn't say a word but the guy spoke to us in broken English. He told us that some people living in the area had called them because we were being too loud. This was of course ridiculous because we had just left the bar one minute earlier and were just talking in the street. The cop didn't seem to care or understand when we told him this. He said it was 'quiet hour' and we had to pay a fine of 20 euros each. This was the most corrupt bullshit I've seen! It became clear to me he was just going to try and pocket the money. We refused to pay the fine and asked what law we had broken. He didn't understand the words 'law' or 'crime' which made the conversation pretty difficult. He kept threatening to take us back to the police station where there would be a 'big penalty'. After awhile he said we would only have to pay one fine of 20 euros for all three of us. That's when I definitely knew this was a scam. We refused to pay it and spent about 20 minutes haggling with the guy until he finally let us go. He basically gave up when I said I didn't care if the fine was only one euro, I wasn't going to pay him because I didn't do anything wrong. He told us to be quiet and go home. Of course that made us want to stay out later and cause a riot! So we found another bar, an Irish pub, and drank a few more beers, then as we left we saw the cops again! We ran down a few streets until we lost them! About 3:30 we finally made it back to our hostel. It was a really fun night!
Today I slept in, then got on a bus for a day trip out to Devin Castle just outside of town on the Danube. The place has a 7000 year history, though it sucks the place is still in ruins from when Napoleon's army destroyed most of it. It was still very interesting and I got some great pictures. Tonight I am planning on heading out soon with Jan and Ben. We might go to the same bar to see another band we heard was very good. Tomorrow morning I am on the bus to Budapest!
On Saturday I went sightseeing. I got a 72 hour public transport pass and went to the main cathedral in town, St. Stephen's, which was impressive. I walked along the Danube for the first time. I went to the palace (Schonn Brunn) and walked through the amazing gardens for quite awhile. There were some really cool fountains and a great view of the city from the top of a hill. I went to the market next, which had a flea market as well on Saturday. The place was packed with people. When I got back to the hostel, I found out that I had picked a great time to come to Vienna. Saturday night was a once-a-year event called 'Long Night at the Museums' I think would be the way to translate it. Every museum in town (there are 94!) was open from 6 pm to 1 am and could be entered for one flat rate of 13 euros. This was an incredible deal considering most museums were 10 euros each. I went with an American guy named Mike who was staying in my room. I wish we had planned it a bit better and mapped out where we would go, because you definitely have to pick and choose which museums you want to hit. We did see quite a bit though. We saw one of the main art galleries which had a lot of Dutch and Flemish art, including some Rembrandts. It also had Greek and Egyptian sculptures which were very cool. Next was the Natural History Museum which had a lot of interesting rocks and minerals, including a 60 kilo amethyst and a bunch more! Next was the Treasury which had crowns and swords and stuff from the Hapsburg empire. Next was the Leopold Museum with a huge amount of contemporary art. We ate dinner somewhere in there as well, and left the last museum at nearly 1 am. Back to the Wombar for drinks!
I went sightseeing on my own on Sunday. After a long ordeal, I made it to the massive cemetary south of Vienna. I thought that one in Paris was big, but this one dwarfed that one. There are over 2.5 million people buried at this one! I had to wander for quite awhile before I found what I was looking for: a special section with the graves of Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, and a couple of others. They all had really impressive headstones. I love Vienna's art and musical history, it was definitely a popular place! After that I went to the Belvedere Palace and gardens. These gardens were pretty amazing as well, and the art museum was really nice. It had a big collection of Klimt works, he is pretty much the most famous Viennese artist. His most famous work was there, it's called The Kiss. Ended up back at the Wombar as usual. The bar was packed because one of those huge groups had piled in to the hostel that day. I was hanging out with a couple American guys and a Canadian girl when the awesome bartender announced that every time a song came on, the first person to yell out the artist got a free shot at the bar. The bar was mostly filled with Aussies, so maybe the 4 of us had an advantage considering most popular music comes from America. The four of us nailed the first 20 or so songs!!! We usually all yelled the artist right when we heard the first note, so the bartender just gave a shot to each of us. I didn't pay for a drink the rest of the night and we stayed until 3 am when the bar closed! It was a whole lot of fun.
I went to the Sigmund Freud museum the next day, which is in the apartment he used to live in and work out of. It was nothing special, but I am glad I got a picture of the famous couch! Though I doubt it was the same one... I saw another impressive church, then headed back to the Wombat for a nap. Monday evening I met a cool Aussie couple. I found Mike and the four of us headed to a local brewery. Took awhile to get to it, but it was definitely worth it. The pub had a really good atmosphere and they had some bizarre beers on tap. The first one I had was the hemp beer, which somehow tasted like how I imagined it would, minus the mental effects. We had the chili beer next, which was really hot! Had a great night and ended up back at the Wombar of course. The Aussies and Mike went to bed, but I stayed until close again and met a bunch of fun people.
Yesterday, Tuesday, I hopped on a bus to Bratislava! I wish I could have taken the hydrofoil down the Danube, but it was just too expensive. You can actually take it all the way to Budapest, though that is 60 euros or something. I took a 6 euro bus ride, and I just booked my bus ride to Budapest for tomorrow morning, only 4.50 euros! I absolutely love Bratislava! I heard some negative things about it, a lot of people say to just do it on a day trip from Vienna. It's true there are not a whole lot of sights to see, but the city is beautiful and the people are really nice. My first mishap was right off the bus though. I got off and was waiting for the driver to open the luggage compartment under the bus where my backpack was. I turned to look at something, turned back and the bus was driving away! So I had to trek it to tourist information, then to my hostel and have them call the company and bring my bag back! That was pretty embarrassing, though that driver really should have paid more attention. I spent yesterday seeing all the sights in town. I went to the main castle overlooking the city. I also checked out a museum with some Slovak art, old stuff and modern. I spent awhile just walking the streets of the city. There is a reputation that Slovakia is filled with beautiful women. I can only speak for Bratislava, but it is definitely true! I still can't believe the ratio of attractive women here in a city that is not that big, they are everywhere you turn!
The atmosphere in this city is pretty surprising for a European capital. It is almost as if the city is asleep, or in slow-motion. There are no crowds of people and none of the hustle you see everywhere else. People sit out at cafes drinking coffee or beer just like in Vienna. But here, even the main square feels like a very lazy place. I find it really enjoyable actually. My hostel here is dirt cheap yet really nice. Last night I took a free walking tour of the city which they organized. I learned quite a bit about the history of Slovakia and Bratislava. Our tour guide told us all about what it was like during the Velvet Revolution when communism died. It was very interesting, the Slovakian people have never in their 1000+ year history been independent, yet for the last 16 years have had their own country. They got the Euro earlier this year, yet most places publish prices in euros and crowns (think thats what it was called). After the walking tour, 5 of us headed to the Slovak Pub, which we were told had the best traditional food. All 5 of us ordered the exact same thing: this potato pasta dish with sheep's cheese and bacon. It got mixed reviews, though I personally loved it! We all also got the famous local grape soda, then a beer after we ate. Only cost 6 euros each! I love the cheap prices here, I think I will have to stay in Eastern Europe for awhile to save money!
After dinner I headed back to my hostel and met a couple of German guys, Jan and Ben. We decided to head out to check out the nightlife. The people working at our hostel are really friendly and helpful, so they gave a bunch of recommendations. We went to a bar called Alligator, which had live music. The place was an underground smoky pub with mostly locals. The band played a bunch of cover songs, they were actually really talented. We had a blast and stayed there all night till the band left. We chatted with some of the local people, many of whom speak English fairly well. Then we left the bar and had a very interesting experience.
We had just left and were only 100 meters away from the bar when a couple of cops stopped us. The woman didn't say a word but the guy spoke to us in broken English. He told us that some people living in the area had called them because we were being too loud. This was of course ridiculous because we had just left the bar one minute earlier and were just talking in the street. The cop didn't seem to care or understand when we told him this. He said it was 'quiet hour' and we had to pay a fine of 20 euros each. This was the most corrupt bullshit I've seen! It became clear to me he was just going to try and pocket the money. We refused to pay the fine and asked what law we had broken. He didn't understand the words 'law' or 'crime' which made the conversation pretty difficult. He kept threatening to take us back to the police station where there would be a 'big penalty'. After awhile he said we would only have to pay one fine of 20 euros for all three of us. That's when I definitely knew this was a scam. We refused to pay it and spent about 20 minutes haggling with the guy until he finally let us go. He basically gave up when I said I didn't care if the fine was only one euro, I wasn't going to pay him because I didn't do anything wrong. He told us to be quiet and go home. Of course that made us want to stay out later and cause a riot! So we found another bar, an Irish pub, and drank a few more beers, then as we left we saw the cops again! We ran down a few streets until we lost them! About 3:30 we finally made it back to our hostel. It was a really fun night!
Today I slept in, then got on a bus for a day trip out to Devin Castle just outside of town on the Danube. The place has a 7000 year history, though it sucks the place is still in ruins from when Napoleon's army destroyed most of it. It was still very interesting and I got some great pictures. Tonight I am planning on heading out soon with Jan and Ben. We might go to the same bar to see another band we heard was very good. Tomorrow morning I am on the bus to Budapest!
October 1, 2009
So many sights to see in Salzburg!
I better write this blog now before I forgot all of the amazing things I have done in Salzburg! As I wrote before, on Monday I just hung out at my hostel, relaxed and recovered. One of my Aussie friends from Munich, Lonnie (sp?), showed up as well. I met several other people here and hung out with a few of them over the last few days. I watched The Sound of Music that night with a huge group at my hostel. They play it every night here! Salzburg is where it takes place and you can see many of the sights from the movie all around town. That is probably the 2nd most famous thing about Salzburg, with the first being Mozart.
On my first full day here, Tuesday, after poring over all the brochures and maps of the sights in town, I decided to buy a 3-day Salzburg card and do it all! Paid 37 euros for it, and it covered every attraction in town plus public transport. I calculated today (my last day of the card) that the full price of everything I did was 138 euros! Not a bad deal...
After eating a huge buffet breakfast at my hostel, I spent all day sightseeing on my own Tuesday, 8 and a half straight hours! I ended up taking over 400 pictures! I still have no idea how I could have taken that many. I will go through and delete quite a few that aren't that interesting, just keep the better ones. First stop was the huge fortress on the hill overlooking all of Salzburg (it is in the background of a lot of Sound of Music scenes). I took the funicular (tram) up the side of the mountain and got amazing views of the city. The castle was pretty big and fairly interesting. There were plenty of small museums throughout, but the views were the highlight. I walked into the beautiful old town next, poked around the cathedral and the monuments in the various squares. I went to the Salzburg Museum which gave a history of the town and the important people that have lived here. Went to the Salzburg Gallery which actually had a whole lot of Dutch and Flemish paintings, including some Rembrandts, plus some modern art. I hopped on the bus next and headed south of the town to Hellbrunn. This was a pleasure palace built by the royalty in the 17th century, I believe. The palace was pretty uneventful, though the gardens were beautiful. The real highlight, however, is the trick water fountain tour. It was a guided outdoor tour behind the palace through a long series of fountains and water devices that some king used to entertain his guests. Everyone gets pretty wet, because the guide turns on the various jets at different times, and you have no idea where the water will come from. There were a couple grottos where we walked in dry and came out running from the spray! There was also a stone table and chairs, the only chair without a jet in it is for the king at the head of the table. That's where the control for the jet is, of course.
After the water sports, I walked through the gardens, up the hill to the Folklore Museum. Not too exciting so I hiked further up for some fantastic views before heading to the zoo nearby. The zoo was fairly impressive, there were separate sections for Africa, South America, Asia, and Austrian, among others. The snow leopards were pretty cool looking, the brown bears were the cutest swimming and playing with each other. Didn't see the falcons, they must have been sleeping. I got back on the bus and headed even further south to a small town. I got on a cable car (gondola, basically) that took me all the way up into the mountains! It was about a 12 min ride to get to the 1900 meter peak where the views were incredible. I could see the Austrian Alps, lakes, villages, Salzburg in the distance. I got lucky that the only clouds were on the way up the cable car, but it was very clear up top. I wish I had gotten there earlier because there were hiking trails all over the place. I got there so late in the day I had only 20 mins before the last car down. It was very cold and windy up there, but the views were so good I didn't mind one bit. I headed back to my hostel after an exhausting day. I grabbed some food, hung out in the lounge, and uploaded all my photos.
Yesterday, Wednesday, I decided to slow it down a bit with the sightseeing. I had done so much, I realized I was going to get through my 3 day Salzburg card in only 2 days! And you can't do any of the sights twice... So I stayed close by, saw the 4th century Christian Catacombs, then hit the two modern art museums. The first was mostly landscape photography and not so interesting considering all the pictures I have taken myself on this trip! The much bigger Salzburg Modern Art Museum up on the hill adjacent to the fortress was very impressive. I took the lift straight up to the top of the mountain. The museum had a lot of stuff, but the best was the sculptures. I generally prefer paintains over sculptures, but this modern art was really fascinating. I spent awhile just walking around a few of them and staring. I got caught taking pictures of them (it's happened a lot on this trip!) so I had to put my camera away halfway through. I still don't understand why they care so much about a photo of a stone object. After the museums I walked down to the river for a cruise! It was on a medium sized boat for about 45 mins and I saw most of Salzburg. The river moves pretty quick so the boat has a couple of jet engines to move upstream. It was a nice relaxing way to sightsee while Mozart played in between the commentary. Next was the Mozart Residence where he lived as a kid. Not particularly interesting, mostly stuff about his family, nothing about his music/compositions. I went to the main park in town next and ran into Lonnie and another friend from my hostel. We walked through the beautiful park, saw some of the settings from the Sound of Music (the rows of trees they danced through) and took some fun pictures. The three of us headed back to the river, bought a couple of beers a piece from the store, and hung out next to the bike path right on the river. We chatted for a couple of hours and headed back to the hostel when it started getting cold. I stuffed myself at the all-you-can-eat buffet at my hostel for dinner. Hung out in the lounge again last night with some new people that showed up.
This morning, I headed out to the train station to meet my friend Uttara who I met in Munich at the Hofbrauhaus. She is from North Carolina (though born in India). She missed her first train, so I had to wait an hour for her to get there. No matter, she only had one day in town, and as I seem to have become the expert on Salzburg (people at my hostel ask me every question about the sights), I showed her around to some of the cool places. We went to the last two things on my Salzburg card I wanted to see as well. First was Mozart's birthplace, which was much more interesting and had a better museum than the residence where he lived later on. Next thing was to walk through the tunnel under the mountain to the other side of town for the Stiegler Brewery tour. I obviously saved the brewery tour and tasting for the last stop on my Salzburg card! We did the self guided tour and enjoyed the beer tastings outside. That brewery is pretty old, started in 1492. After we walked back into town, did some window shopping, and found a very good Austrian restaurant for dinner. I don't think my meal could have been more authentic, it was rolled ham, pork, sausage, potatoes, dumpling, and sauerkraut! A whole lot of food which tasted fantastic. After dinner we walked along the river and over the bridge and I got some nice night pictures of Salzburg. I walked Uttara back to the train station and she headed back to Munich.
Tomorrow morning I am getting on a train to Vienna! I booked a hostel for tomorrow night that has a reputation of being a place to party. I had been hoping to go to somewhere else in Austria first, like Graz, but trains are the only real transportation in this country, and it costs 50 euros to go anywhere. So Vienna is next, not sure for how long. I am excited for some fun this weekend in addition to the amazing sights Vienna has to offer! After Vienna will be Bratislava. It's right next to Vienna in Slovakia. So my first excursion on this trip into Eastern Europe will begin soon! Might go to Budapest after that, but I can't say for sure as I never plan more a day or two ahead. Well, it's October now, the month I am supposed to return home. I will announce now that I will not be on my originally schedule flight home on October 22nd. I'm not quite ready to divulge my plans as I am still mulling my options and I have not made any firm decisions. All I have to say is I love Europe and won't be returning home in the immediate future!
On my first full day here, Tuesday, after poring over all the brochures and maps of the sights in town, I decided to buy a 3-day Salzburg card and do it all! Paid 37 euros for it, and it covered every attraction in town plus public transport. I calculated today (my last day of the card) that the full price of everything I did was 138 euros! Not a bad deal...
After eating a huge buffet breakfast at my hostel, I spent all day sightseeing on my own Tuesday, 8 and a half straight hours! I ended up taking over 400 pictures! I still have no idea how I could have taken that many. I will go through and delete quite a few that aren't that interesting, just keep the better ones. First stop was the huge fortress on the hill overlooking all of Salzburg (it is in the background of a lot of Sound of Music scenes). I took the funicular (tram) up the side of the mountain and got amazing views of the city. The castle was pretty big and fairly interesting. There were plenty of small museums throughout, but the views were the highlight. I walked into the beautiful old town next, poked around the cathedral and the monuments in the various squares. I went to the Salzburg Museum which gave a history of the town and the important people that have lived here. Went to the Salzburg Gallery which actually had a whole lot of Dutch and Flemish paintings, including some Rembrandts, plus some modern art. I hopped on the bus next and headed south of the town to Hellbrunn. This was a pleasure palace built by the royalty in the 17th century, I believe. The palace was pretty uneventful, though the gardens were beautiful. The real highlight, however, is the trick water fountain tour. It was a guided outdoor tour behind the palace through a long series of fountains and water devices that some king used to entertain his guests. Everyone gets pretty wet, because the guide turns on the various jets at different times, and you have no idea where the water will come from. There were a couple grottos where we walked in dry and came out running from the spray! There was also a stone table and chairs, the only chair without a jet in it is for the king at the head of the table. That's where the control for the jet is, of course.
After the water sports, I walked through the gardens, up the hill to the Folklore Museum. Not too exciting so I hiked further up for some fantastic views before heading to the zoo nearby. The zoo was fairly impressive, there were separate sections for Africa, South America, Asia, and Austrian, among others. The snow leopards were pretty cool looking, the brown bears were the cutest swimming and playing with each other. Didn't see the falcons, they must have been sleeping. I got back on the bus and headed even further south to a small town. I got on a cable car (gondola, basically) that took me all the way up into the mountains! It was about a 12 min ride to get to the 1900 meter peak where the views were incredible. I could see the Austrian Alps, lakes, villages, Salzburg in the distance. I got lucky that the only clouds were on the way up the cable car, but it was very clear up top. I wish I had gotten there earlier because there were hiking trails all over the place. I got there so late in the day I had only 20 mins before the last car down. It was very cold and windy up there, but the views were so good I didn't mind one bit. I headed back to my hostel after an exhausting day. I grabbed some food, hung out in the lounge, and uploaded all my photos.
Yesterday, Wednesday, I decided to slow it down a bit with the sightseeing. I had done so much, I realized I was going to get through my 3 day Salzburg card in only 2 days! And you can't do any of the sights twice... So I stayed close by, saw the 4th century Christian Catacombs, then hit the two modern art museums. The first was mostly landscape photography and not so interesting considering all the pictures I have taken myself on this trip! The much bigger Salzburg Modern Art Museum up on the hill adjacent to the fortress was very impressive. I took the lift straight up to the top of the mountain. The museum had a lot of stuff, but the best was the sculptures. I generally prefer paintains over sculptures, but this modern art was really fascinating. I spent awhile just walking around a few of them and staring. I got caught taking pictures of them (it's happened a lot on this trip!) so I had to put my camera away halfway through. I still don't understand why they care so much about a photo of a stone object. After the museums I walked down to the river for a cruise! It was on a medium sized boat for about 45 mins and I saw most of Salzburg. The river moves pretty quick so the boat has a couple of jet engines to move upstream. It was a nice relaxing way to sightsee while Mozart played in between the commentary. Next was the Mozart Residence where he lived as a kid. Not particularly interesting, mostly stuff about his family, nothing about his music/compositions. I went to the main park in town next and ran into Lonnie and another friend from my hostel. We walked through the beautiful park, saw some of the settings from the Sound of Music (the rows of trees they danced through) and took some fun pictures. The three of us headed back to the river, bought a couple of beers a piece from the store, and hung out next to the bike path right on the river. We chatted for a couple of hours and headed back to the hostel when it started getting cold. I stuffed myself at the all-you-can-eat buffet at my hostel for dinner. Hung out in the lounge again last night with some new people that showed up.
This morning, I headed out to the train station to meet my friend Uttara who I met in Munich at the Hofbrauhaus. She is from North Carolina (though born in India). She missed her first train, so I had to wait an hour for her to get there. No matter, she only had one day in town, and as I seem to have become the expert on Salzburg (people at my hostel ask me every question about the sights), I showed her around to some of the cool places. We went to the last two things on my Salzburg card I wanted to see as well. First was Mozart's birthplace, which was much more interesting and had a better museum than the residence where he lived later on. Next thing was to walk through the tunnel under the mountain to the other side of town for the Stiegler Brewery tour. I obviously saved the brewery tour and tasting for the last stop on my Salzburg card! We did the self guided tour and enjoyed the beer tastings outside. That brewery is pretty old, started in 1492. After we walked back into town, did some window shopping, and found a very good Austrian restaurant for dinner. I don't think my meal could have been more authentic, it was rolled ham, pork, sausage, potatoes, dumpling, and sauerkraut! A whole lot of food which tasted fantastic. After dinner we walked along the river and over the bridge and I got some nice night pictures of Salzburg. I walked Uttara back to the train station and she headed back to Munich.
Tomorrow morning I am getting on a train to Vienna! I booked a hostel for tomorrow night that has a reputation of being a place to party. I had been hoping to go to somewhere else in Austria first, like Graz, but trains are the only real transportation in this country, and it costs 50 euros to go anywhere. So Vienna is next, not sure for how long. I am excited for some fun this weekend in addition to the amazing sights Vienna has to offer! After Vienna will be Bratislava. It's right next to Vienna in Slovakia. So my first excursion on this trip into Eastern Europe will begin soon! Might go to Budapest after that, but I can't say for sure as I never plan more a day or two ahead. Well, it's October now, the month I am supposed to return home. I will announce now that I will not be on my originally schedule flight home on October 22nd. I'm not quite ready to divulge my plans as I am still mulling my options and I have not made any firm decisions. All I have to say is I love Europe and won't be returning home in the immediate future!
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