Hungarian Rhapsody

Day 9: Budapest, Hungary

As I briefly touched on before, Budapest is divided into two parts by the Danube River: Buda and Pest. They were actually two separate towns that eventually merged together into the capital of Hungary. The Buda side is considered the historic area where the Romans first settled in ~100 AD. The Pest side is considered the "modern" area where most of the current commercial and governmental activities take place. Interestingly, Buda is super hilly, but once you cross over the Danube River, the land flattens out like a pancake (Pest-side and across the rest of eastern Hungary).

I really enjoyed walking through Budapest because I think I got a decent feel of the city in just a day. It's a wee bit more grungy than Krakow (which makes it look less like Disneyland), but there's much more to see than the traditional Old Town area. Don't get me wrong, the "Old Town section" is still the prettiest and most historical area of any European city, but at this point I was getting tired of seeing the usual Cobblestone Roads + Castle + Church + Black Plague Monument = Old Town equation.

Heroes' Square.

One of the defining landmarks of Budapest, which shows the 7 Magyar chieftains that led the Hungarian people into latter-day Hungary in the 9th Century, as well as other prominent Hungarian leaders. It was built in celebration of Budapest's millennium anniversary in 1896.

We spent most of the morning wandering through the Castle District, which was located on the highest peak in Buda. Unfortunately there was a lot of scaffolding going on and I wasn't able to take many good photos of the actual Old Town area, but the view across the Danube River over to Pest was clear and beautiful.

The view of Pest from the Fishermen's Bastion.

The red dome in the distance is the Hungarian Parliament, seriously one of the most gorgeous buildings I've ever seen.

Matyas Church.

I've never seen patterned tiles on the roof of a church before -- have you?

After WWII, most of the buildings in the Castle District were destroyed if not severely damaged. This is really the running theme of Central Europe... the Hungarians rebuilt their city, but left this former Ministry of Defense building in its bullet-ridden condition as a stark reminder of the war. If you looked closely you could still see blobs of molten lead in the center of each hole.

Hungary cat.

I found this little guy snarfing down food behind the building's boarded up window. It was a lucky shot, since I had to stick my camera blindly under the metal bars.

After the brief morning tour, my mom and I decided to wander Budapest by ourselves, starting along the main Pest river bank and then up Andrassy Avenue, where all the fancy shops, museums, and Opera House were located.

Inside St. Stephen's Basilica.

So unlike Poland where 90% of the country is Roman Catholic, only ~50% of all Hungarians consider themselves Catholic. St. Stephen, who was the first King of Hungary, introduced Christianity to his pagan country in 1000AD, and is actually one of the few saints recognized by both the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches.

St. Stephen's Basilica was ornate, decorated with marble of all colors. Guess what... this marble is FAKE. Fake fake fake! Hungary has a lot of raw materials, but marble is not one of them. Because they only wanted to construct its buildings out of domestically harvested materials for its millennium celebration in 1896, the Hungarians devised a method to make their own "marble" out of crushed stone, paint, wax, and adhesives. Wonder how St. Stephen's Basilica manages to have over 50 marble colors? Just take out your crayon box! Funny though since "fake marble" actually costs 3x more than real marble, but that's just another example why Hungarians are considered as a whole to be a very stubborn group of people.

At Market Hall where you can load up on souvenirs for all your foodie friends!

For lunch we âté goose pâté.

I noticed a pattern while travelling through these Central European countries -- each place had a landmark or an area that they called the "Paris of [ ______ ]", "Champs-Élysées of [ ______ ]", "Venice of [ ______ ]"... it's like they have some sort of inferior complex or something. Well here we are now at Andrassy Avenue, the "Champs-Élysées of [Budapest]".

The House of Terror Museum, former headquarters of the Hungarian Nazi Party.

The Hungarian State Opera House -- models posing together right after a fashion show.

Their lips/clothes were really THAT bright! They look good together, but which one of these outfits are actually wearable?

One of many beautiful yet vacant buildings on Andrassy Avenue.

Many of these houses were still boarded up, overgrown with weeds, empty. I'm sure that Budapest has made huge steps in revamping itself since the fall of Communism, but it's clear that there's still a ways to go for the city to regain its former glory.

In front of Vajdahunyad Castle in the City Park.

So THIS is the type of insanity that I had to deal with on this trip:

Mom: Ooh, look... I want to take a photo of that castle!

Me: Okay. [Looks down into purse to take out camera.]

Mom: [Already in position.] Look at me! Are you ready?!

Me: [Looks up. Feels an immediate hurling sensation.] What... are you doing?!

Mom: Yea, I look fabulous don't I? [Strikes 10 different poses.]

Me: I'm going to put an end to this.

[Snaps one and leaves the scene of the crime.]

On the Metro back to our hotel.

A lovely evening stroll across Chain-bridge, with a charming silhouette of Buda.

I soaked in thermal baths for each of the 3 nights that I was in Budapest. Apparently one of the main reasons why the Romans settled in Buda was so they could enjoy its thermal springs (how indulgent)! My hotel conveniently had a spa in its basement so I didn't have to travel to any of the public bath houses. Although the hotel bath were not nearly as fancy as the famous bath houses, it was still a fantastic way to unwind and decompress after punishing my feet for 8 hours straight. Ah, I miss Budapest...

Luscious Locks

Looking at this photo that my dad took 2 years ago really makes me wistful.

People say that I went to Taiwan and came back a fob.

But I dyed my hair brown because I finally could.

And I grew my hair an extra 6 inches because I finally could.

Finally, no one pressuring me about what I should.

I met quarter-life crisis head-on!

Examining at this photo, my first thoughts are: Hey, that's some seriously gorgeous hair.

Today my brown hair is dull, flat, and lank in comparison. But aren't we supposed to improve with age?

Sloggin' Thru Slovakia

Day 8: On the road from Krakow to Budapest, via the Slovak Republic

What to say about Slovakia? Well, it used to be part of CzechoSLOVAKIA until 1993... which is why my stagnated 4th Grade brain didn't really process that the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic had a divorce until very recently. Like a few weeks ago. I'm going to hide in a corner now!

Okay, I'm back from my self-imposed time out. Driving through Slovakia was a well-needed rest day from all the walking we were doing for the week before. We saw endless fields of domesticated vegetation (beets, corn, poppies?) and lush hills and valleys. We all caught up on sleep, especially my mom who decided to burka-burka the heck out. I also learned a fair amount about the country's history, but I'm going to opt out explaining it since I don't have a good picture-to-text ratio because I was on the bus most of the time. Go Wiki!

This is actually my scarf over her face. As you know, Asian women over the age of 10 are deadly afraid of sun rays. Even if they're already in an enclosed vehicle.

The border between Poland and Slovakia.

Yes, it's really that easy...

We Americans are surprised.

When we finally arrived in Budapest (Hungary), it was starting to get dark. Our hotel was at the end of Arpad Hid on the Buda side of the city, so my mom and I decided to take a sunset stroll across the bridge through Margit Island and over to Pest.

Midway over Arpad Hid.

So pretty, no photo retouching at all here!

Sunsets are always lovely, especially when you first land in a new place.

The air was teeming with mosquitoes!!! I seriously exposed my index finger to press the camera button for 2 seconds and within that moment an enterprising mosquito landed on it and took a big chomp. I guess it was a Hungary mosquito. *ahem*

Budapest.

Czechoslovakia.

Brangelina.

The Wharf

Last weekend I hitched a ride with my friends Jerry and Shawna down to Washington D.C. and crashed at their place for the first time. Their house is really comfy and spacious... I call house party at the Chantemsins!!! Wooooo~~

We bounced dinner suggestions off one another when we got close to D.C. One popular choice was Chipotle, since I haven't had any since getting back to the States. Shawna and I love Chipotle, but just between me and my readers, it's only because I could seriously just eat all their condiments (sour cream, corn salsa, guacamole) by themselves. Gross, I know, but at least I don't squirt whipped cream into my mouth. Anyway, so that brilliant idea was nixed by Our Great Leader and then I said I wanted to go to The Wharf. He grumbled something about your hands getting all smelly but gave in to our pleading chimes. What is The Wharf, you say? Well, I hadn't really the slightest clue since I've never been there before, but I knew there were fresh oysters and that's pretty much all I cared about.

Live freshly shucked oysters are one of my three culinary sins, the other two being foie gras (torturing geese) and otoro (endangered species?). Generally speaking, I shun killing anything, meaning I will not eat fish/shrimp that has been plucked out of the tank for my personal consumption, I usually do not eat live crab/lobster, I will not squish a fly. But, I will eat oysters and I'm ashamed to say that I haven't the slightest inclination to wean myself off this evil desire. I tell myself that oysters aren't really alive... I mean LOOK at them. They're just lazy lumps. Delicious creamy briny lumps. No, they certainly are not alive... practically vegetables, I say.

Food stamp cards accepted.

I don't know how I feel about people on welfare dining on freshly shucked clams and oysters when they should be buying bread and fruit... ah well, just another government loophole.

When we got to The Wharf, it was a bit smaller and smellier than I had expected, but it had all the proper goods. People were lined up for all types of seafood, but mainly crustaceans. And by people I meant Black people and Asian people. I was a bit surprised by the homogeneity of the crowd, but you can interpret it as you will.

They were very very good. And I'm an expert.

There was no sitting room at The Wharf, only messy eating stations where you stood with platefuls (or boxfuls) of seafood. I bought half a dozen oysters for $7, and a batch of snow crab legs for also $7. It was cheap and delicious, if you didn't mind eating like a Neanderthal. Soon after attempting to tackle my snow crab, I realized that I couldn't rip open its carapace with my teeth and nails, and so I bought a handy dandy wooden mallet for $1. That was a dollar well-spent, and I happily bashed my way through the rest of dinner. [Disclaimer: the crab was already split and steamed when I bought it, so it's exempt from my no killing rule since I didn't kill it. I know, it's a shifting of guilt/responsibility but I haven't reached saint status quite yet!]

Krakow (Part II)

Day 6, 7: Krakow, Poland (continued)

The best thing about Krakow was the opportunity to see slivers of non-touristy stuff (museums, churches, and the like). We were lucky enough to stumble upon a Polish Renaissance Faire, which totally made my day!! It was a weekend event along the Vistula River under Wawel Hill, and most of the people there seemed to be from the area.

This was a station where you could make those traditional Polish hair wreaths.

Now you see why lots of fashion models come from Eastern Europe...

The Old Town square was pretty fun for people-watching. As I mentioned earlier, I liked this area a lot because it was really really big and clean, lined with cafes and their brightly colored potted plants. It was a real local feel. Of course there were some touristy stuff, like...

I love the expression on my mom's face, it's like she's seeing a leprechaun or unicorn... except this is a sad old trick, commonly executed in Times Square, New York! To be fair, their costumes WERE the best I've seen on a "human statue", and my mom was so tickled that she paid to take a picture with them. Stimulating the local economy is never a bad thing. :)

Pigeons. Also known as cockroaches that fly.

I yelped while taking this photo... some guy thought it'd be hilarious to start throwing bread crumbs at me.

Here are some unavoidable jumping shots, which were fun for the first minute until I realized that my mom had nooooooooo idea how to take a picture, making me jump literally a hundred times with no air to show for it. (I seriously think that 99.99% of Asian mothers are technologically incompetent, often choosing to physically unplug the TV rather than push the on/off button on a remote control.) This is one of the less awkward ones that she took, which doesn't have me looking like I'm squatting to take a crap. My mom looks fabulous though. :)

We also went to the weekend flea market in Kazimierz, the old Jewish district. The market was at their main square called Plac Nowy, which was actually quite dirty and unkempt. If you only had one day in Krakow, I'd recommend you skip out on Kazimierz. The stalls did have a few interesting things, but New York also has some pretty kick-ass flea markets and at the end of the day, unless you know what you're looking for, your eyes start to get swirly real fast.

Knick-knacks.

FACTOID: Did you know bagels originated from Krakow?!

An obwarzanek krakowski stand with its sour-faced owner. I asked his permission to take this photo, actually. I'm also probably the nth person that day to do so (but no I didn't buy a bagel, haha).

I was tired of Polish cuisine at this point and all their pierogi Chinese dumpling business, so I decided to try some Russian fare for change since I figured this was the closest I'd get to its borders. Since I couldn't read the menu, I asked the waitress for some authentic dishes to recommend, and THIS is what she brought me:

... freaking Russian wontons. GAHHHHHH!!! After looking this up online, I think they're called pelmeni.

You like pierogi, I like pelmeni. You like tomato, I like tomahto.

Pierogi, pelmeni, tomato, tomahto... let's call the whole thing off!

But then I had a splendid dark Ukrainian beer, got tipsy, and forgot how much I disliked pierogi/pelmeni in no time. :)

To Jewel or Not to Jewel

A huge round of applause from me for this super fuzzy feel-good Funny or Die project :D

I grew up on Jewel! Love her. Love her songs, especially You Were Meant For Me.

Undercover Karaoke with Jewel from Jewel

Krakow (Part I)

Day 6, 7: Krakow, Poland

Ohhhh boy! I have too many photos of Krakow, all of them worth sharing. I think for this post I'll focus on the main attractions, and for the next one I'll cover more of the quirky things I observed.

Stare Miastro (Old Town), Krakow

Bunny ear covers (or devil horns)!

I loved Krakow. It was virtually unscathed from WWII and has thus been able to successfully preserve its historic architecture and wonderful old town feel. Krakow is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and I recommend everyone travelling through the Central European region to spend at least a day or two in town. Out of all the places that I've been on this trip, Krakow is by far the cleanest and most navigable city. My mom loved going into all the cute shops, which were interesting because they were mostly small mom n' pop and locally owned (I can't stand going to globally branded shops when I'm on a trip, unless I've run out of underwear or something). I can't even tell you just how many amber jewelry stores went into, but whatever makes mom happy... :) As you can see, there are also a lot of street-side cafes in the old town market square, which were all very nice for people/horse-watching and well-brewed cappuccinos.

St. Peter & Paul's Cathedral (1600's - late Renaissance) // Church of St. Andrew (1000's - Romanesque)

Having these two churches stand next to one another makes me ponder about the cultural evolution of mankind (deep, I know... haha).

Legend has it that Krakow began as a settlement on Wawel Hill, which overlooks the Vistula River. Unfortunately, there was a dragon that liked to snack on fair maidens living in a cave under the hill (I think we know where this story is going). Some clever guy killed the dragon by tricking it into eating sulfur, which made it really thirsty and so it subsequently drank itself to death. Haha, what a silly dragon!

Smok Wawelski (the Dragon of Wawel Hill)

Oh how far you have fallen...

Once able to bring terror into peoples' hearts, now just a lowly babysitter.

Krakow was the seat of Polish royalty for hundreds of years until 1596, when a Polish-Lithuanian alliance made it more logical to move the capital to Warsaw for geographical reasons. Even still, Krakow has always maintained its position as the cultural hub of Poland.

THIS is how you move the capital of Poland.

I may read too many fantasy books.

Wawel Hill.

By the way, the Poles pronounce their "W's" like "V's", so the correct way to call it is "Vavel". i.e. Warsaw = Varshava.

St. Mary's Basilica.

This hall was so freaking bad-ass. Visitors had to pay extra to take photos inside this church, but I managed to sneak a haphazard one in. There were tons of people who got caught (The Fine = 6 zloty & lots of evil stink-eye).

'God in the Act of Creation' by Stanislaw Wyspianski in St. Francis' Basilica.

I dragged my mom to see this, which is considered one of the greatest modern stained glass windows in the world. It makes me so not want to mess with God.

To Be Continued...