The Hungary Family Plan

When I asked my mother what she most wanted to see while she was in eastern Europe, she said "Budapest!" So I booked a weekend for the family in Hungary's capital.

family on the hill

As witnessed in this blog, I've been to Budapest several times before. I love the city - there's just something about it that really appeals to me! I was happy to share the experience with my family, though it was trying at times to get through, since none of us knows Hungarian.

Mom's favorite quotable moment was on the bus. We were trying to find the guest house apartment I had booked for us, and accidentally took the right bus the wrong way. In an unfamiliar part of town, we are speaking English (loudly) and attempting not to start a fight on the bus (at least I am) when my mom asks a middle-aged man how to get from where we are to the apartment.

"You are English?" he asks.
"No, American."
"Oh. America is very big country."
"Yes," agrees Mom.
"You like Budapest?"
"Very much so far."
"Budapest is nice city."
"The weather is nice."
"You like Budapest. Budapest is nice city."
"Yes."
"Budapest is nice city. You like?"

At that point, it was apparent to me the man had exhausted his English vocabulary. However, he was light years friendlier than anyone my parents had met in Austria! It was charming of him to try, in any case.

We made it to the apartment all right and in one piece. Our delightful host Tibor mentioned this-and-that monument, restaurant, museum, pub. The apartment was adorable and spotless, and these greeted us from across the street:

famous Hungarians?

 After we settled in, we wandered around to the banks of the Danube, across the bridge from Pest to Buda, and  walked through the park, up the Buda Hills to the Liberty monument and back down. Some pictures from that excursion:

For dinner, we went to this restaurant that played "Gypsy music." I had always wanted to go to one of those shows, and convinced the family to do it. Unfortunately, as Dad put it, "They put the 'gyp' in Gypsy," charging a ridiculously high "cover charge" to hear the musicians and tasted the "complimentary" wine that turned out to complement very little. Thus is the woe of the naive traveler!

The next day, we went to the baths - the Szechenyi spa - and had a lovely time lounging around, though the weather was in the 70s, and a bit cooler than what we could have hoped for for the outdoor pool.

On the way home, we saw a hubbub in the park - it was a wine festival! I just had to see what was up! We bought glasses of different kind of wines to taste. The festival seemed like an annual thing. Mom and I enjoyed it, but Dad and Sam are just not wine drinkers! Perhaps I will have the chance to do it again...

We also went to St. Stephen's cathedral, the Fisherman's Bastion, and other Budapest sights. There were two weddings taking place at the Fisherman's Bastion (it is wedding season, after all!) but we did not take pictures. In my opinion, it's a little (or a lot) weird to take a picture of a stranger's wedding.



On the way home, we ran into a school group of graduating high school seniors on their way to one of their teacher's houses to say goodbye and wish her well in song. It is a tradition called "serenade" in Hungary (I heard the explanation eavesdropping on a couple sitting at an outdoor cafe) and the graduating class goes to every teacher's house the day before their ceremony. Their voices were beautiful, lifting through the trees: poetic, romantic, tragic; soothing and lyrical, yet sad.

It made me wonder what teaching in Hungary would be like - better or worse than in Austria? How different? How similar? Would my lack of Hungarian pose a problem? One semester of the language (as a student in Berlin) has allowed me to introduce myself, list off the colors, and get into trouble with men named Attlia. (That's a story I will not share on the internet)...

Although I have friends who have braved teaching in a foreign culture without first learning the language, I am not so brave. I'd rather stick to living in a country where I can at least converse in the language before I agree to move there. Perhaps this is unremarkable, but I always know I can discipline the kids myself if they get bad enough (and they'll know exactly what I mean).

I think everybody enjoyed themselves, but with Sam and Dad, it's sort of hard to tell sometimes. The weather's been nice, and no one has been complaining outright and constantly, all very good signs! I joke, but only slightly...

parliament building 

chain bridge

The next leg of our journey is to Prague. More on that later!

Linzer Weekend

A few weekends ago, I went to Linz for the weekend to catch up with some old friends from Amstetten, and accompany Jake in meeting some of his distant relatives in Bad Ischl. It was an interesting experience.

First, on Friday, I went to a whiskey convention (my first) at the Arcotel convention center with several other teaching assistants in Linz, which, I'll be honest, I didn't really enjoy. I'm definitely more of a wine gal, so the whiskey - even the good stuff - was lost on me. I'd like to try new things, and I did end up enjoying some of the Scotches they had on sample, but I don't know the  first thing about a good whiskey. And, predictably, my taste runs expensive. After an afternoon of sampling, I guess for now I'll stick with wine.

There was also a wine convention (festival?) in Linz at the mall on Saturday. I would have liked to stay and go through the different wines, like we did with the whiskey, but we had to get to Bad Ischl. Seems either the hangovers were too much to plunge in, or I'm the only wino in the bunch. Anyway, I stayed long enough to get a couple of bottles of wine, which will certainly go up on Wine Snobbery on a Budget.

Jen, Jake and I went to a pottery class at the Volkshochschule. That was possibly the most fun of the weekend. I hadn't worked with clay since elementary school, and I had never thrown anything on a wheel before. I tried, but my technique needs lots of improvement. I didn't make anything except blobs that fell apart on the wheel, so I stuck with hand molding, and made this person:

I call it "Napping Nude #1" !

And there were other, finished pieces that had already been fired and glazed. They looked pretty good. A lot of creativity running around Linz! Jen did some great stuff, and this one guy made a fountain.

Saturday saw us taking the train to Bad Ischl to meet Jake's relatives his mother found through genealogical research. I think it's wonderful to have found them, and to share all of this family history, but I couldn't help but feel, though he and Eleonora, the woman we met, share a common ancestor four generations back (her grandfather and his great-grandfather were brothers), having coffee with them, family tree spread across the small round marble cafe table, reinforced the fact that they were still strangers despite this connection.

To be honest, I've never really cared much for genealogy, though it is amazing the facts you can dig up by following someone's family line. I guess to me the interesting part would be not who is related to whom, but more the stories you could find from learning about people in the past - your past. Or your present. I doubt I will ever meet Eleonora again, but it was curious to see how a life can be altered by one person moving to a new country. It makes me wonder how globalization will change immigration.

 Here are photos of Bad Ischl:

view from the train

Bad Ischl is famous for being a spa/resort town, the one in fact where the empress Sophie (mother of Franz Joseph I) came to get infertility treatments...they must have worked, since she conceived Franz Joseph. It was also a favorite of Franz Joseph's wife, Sisi. Though, she did take any excuse for a vacation. The Kursalons (spa centers) are still being run and going strong, though they're quite pricey for being given in such a famous place.

downtown

very famous "Trinkhaus"

I will curb my ranting for some beautiful scenery, namely the river Ischl:

And back to Linz: this is the house Johannes Kelper (the father of modern astronomy) lived in:

And the Marienkirche (practically every town in Austria has one):

And a beautifully blossoming tree in the courtyard of the Standesamt:

Waldviertel Pur

I really need to start bringing my camera with me on my walks around Vienna.

This is sort of a rehashing of an earlier post where I said the same thing, but, it still holds true.

On the 31st of August, I wandered around on my usual route and, walking through the Burggarten, stumbled upon all of these tents in the nearby Heldenplatz. Well, upon taking a closer look, I realized it was Waldviertel Pur, which is basically a big fat tourism promotion for the Austrian Waldviertel, which is close enough to Vienna that it makes sense they would try to lure city folk with the joys of "country living" such as wooden carvings, handmade baskets, a hundred different types of cured meat, and a thousand different types of cheeses.

There was also a band (don't know if they come from the Waldviertel) and brochures on hiking and other outdoor activities. But the piece de resistance was all of the food you could sample, or buy to take home. I've realized that most of these "event" situations are more or less about eating food and drinking alcohol. Plenty of delicacies to choose from: Wine, beer, and Sturm.

Yes, they have officially started selling Sturm for the season! Sturm, for those unfamiliar with the Austrian wine-making process, is wine in its very first fermentation of the year. It's a lot like grape cider, with the possibility of as much alcohol content as the wine it will become, but tastes just like juice, so you don't feel like you're drinking wine. Thus the name, "storm," which refers most undoubtedly to the hangover you get the next day...like a hurricane in your head. However, since it is only produced for a few short weeks, typically September through October each year, it is a rarity and an indulgence.

The drink, known as "must" in English, appears in other wine-making cultures. But, I ask you, where else but in Vienna would you find sturm sold in such disparate places as: 1) a traditional Kaffeehaus, 2) a ritzy restaurant in the Museums Quartier, 3) a street festival, and 4) an Aldi (Austrian = Hofer)? If you have an idea, let me know.

900 Jahre Amstetten

This year, Amstetten is turning 900 - kind of amazing, huh?

photo courtesy of meinbezirk.at

The town has begun to celebrate in May, with posters displayed all around the downtown area, espeically the Hauptplatz. Other festivites include: a farmer's market in, a tractor pull (I feel like I'm back in Wisconsin!) and live bands on the weekend. One ice cream shop even has as "Mostviertel" flavor, which I have not tried.

Amstetten has been populated since prehistoric times, through the Roman settlement of the Danube (at one point, a fort dedicated to Jupiter stood in the area); Schloss Ulmerfeld, erected in 995, lies at about a 15 minute bus ride from Amstetten, and was at one point considered the seat of Amstetten...back when the ruling body came out of Passau. Amstetten was first known as "Passauer Markt Amstetten" in 1111, the date at which Amstetten was "founded."

The town was protected by the bishop of Passau during the Ottoman-Habsburg wars, but nevertheless razed twice, once in 1509 and again in 1529, and basically abandoned from 1542. Later, a hospital was founded (around 1660). I am not sure if this is the same hospital that exists in the town now, and sometimes serves as doctor-training/residency facilities. If it is, I'm sure it's not the same building.

Amstetten wasn't much more than a market until 1858, when the Empress-Elisabeth-Rail was put into operation. That meant a direct train route from Vienna to Linz (currently still running, thank God) and easy access to other larger cities, including Salzburg, Munich, Budapest, etc. Also used by the Nazis, which unfortunately led to the bombing of Amstetten by the Russians. Which ruined most of the cool architecture. I, for one, continue to be outraged. In fact, another unfortunate news case for the city (after just getting over Frtizl, really!), Hitler was, up until very recently a citizen of honor in Amstetten, due mostly to oversight by past and present mayors and city council members. He is no longer.

Today, roughly 23,000 people live in Bezirk Amstetten (including the surrounding towns of Preinsbach, Allersdorf, Eisenreindornach, Greinsfurth,Viehdorf, Neufurth, Boxhofen, Ulmerfeld, and Pittersberg). The town of Amstetten has a population of circa 13,000.

Cinque Terre: Another Look at Italy

Callie and Sarah: Vernazza from the pier

I have so many pictures of the Cinque Terre - mostly because of all of the beautiful scenery - and, seeing as we mostly just hiked and ate delicious food and drank too much wine I can't think of a reason to give my usual lengthy explanations of any of them.
I will, however, clarify what the Cinque Terre is, for those unfamiliar: it is both a national park in Italy (protected wildlife and all that...camping, hiking trails, etc.) and five towns near the national park, which, if I may, are basically an Italian Door County (i.e. tourist destination) with overpriced restaurants, charming views, cozy B&Bs, and the odd cultural event.

Onto the photos:

VERNAZZA (where we stayed)

MONTEROSSO

lemon groves

more lemon groves

Vernazza from the trail

Callie and Sarah on the trail

CORNIGLIA

from the trail

at the train station

Funny story: there was this refrigerator on the trail
<--
We had to wait for it to pass before we could continue. Guess that proves people really do live up in these hills...

Me and Sarah on the trail

My happy-face Latte :)

MANAROLA

A church in Manarola - we did not go in.

Callie & Sarah on the Vineyard walk

view of town

RIOMAGGIORE

The "Via dell'Amore" - Way of Love :)

Amore

Portofino: where the movie stars hang

And last but not least, Portofino (not technically part of the Cinque Terre, but part of the Italian Riviera)!

We went to scope it out...and maybe hope to do a little celebrity stalking ;) - but to no avail! Ah, well.