Long Time No Talk - and lots of Magyar & Slovak in Between
Okay, kids - sorry to leave you hanging...internet access hasn't been as plentiful as I'd hoped, but the amount of alcohol I've had on the cheap has more than compensated... I have been a very intoxicated girl lately, and on that note let me just add that I want to be able to drink on the street wherever I go from now on.
We've just arrived in Amsterdam today from Bratislava, which was way cute despite Rick Steve's not-so-good review of the place. (Lady, we are still getting his faces tattooed on our asses, right?) Beer was wicked cheap, and Lady and I went for a run through the Old Town and along the banks of the Danube between our very interesting train ride from Budapest to Bratislava (a very Communist bloc sort of train, but we had a good time)and our eventual dinner on a boat on the Danube. I can't say enough good things about Budapest and Bratislava - eastern Europe fucking rocks my socks, even if I have to resort to pointing and gesturing when in need of anything other than an espresso, which is apparently universal. (This has been the trip of cafes - tons of leisurely espresso and half litres of beer - and all sooooooo cheap... to return to the Euro in Holland is quite difficult after living like kings - or queens, Lady would correct me - for the last few days.) It felt great to be in a place so beautiful, so polite, and SO cheap - as low on the food chain as I am in terms of salary, I was able to treat my friends as much as I wanted, which makes me happier than I can say. For instance, at our last dinner there, we went to a little Italian trattoria on the Raday Utca, and I bought two bottles of Hungarian red wine for all of us for only 2500 HUF each - something like $12 a piece!!! In a NICE restaurant! (I feel like I'm rambling, but I'm such a state of Europhile euphoria that I can't quite focus... that and I've been drinking loads and not sleeping as much as I probably should.)
Two random things I must report but am too lazy to work into paragraphs:
-Alcohol report: beers I've had since we left: Young's Bitter, Caffrey's, Scrumpy Jack's (cider), Fuller's London Portor, Amstel (not light), Dreher, Arany Azok, Gosser, Edelweiss, and Kosovice. The local liquor in Hungary is called Unicum - Rob and Lady and I tried it on our first night and almost barfed, but we can say we've tried it. And I keep reading that it grows on you...
-Yes, we were there for the protests/riots in Budapest. We even went to the protest the day after the really bad riots just to check it out. It wasn't really that scary and I sense that much of the crowd was spectators anyway...
So it was super super fantastic to meet up with Lady in Budapest. Rob and I have a great time solo (DUH!), but those of you who know Lady's true identity know how much I LOVE her, so it was just the perfect mix of people for a few days. (You should have seen me run across the street like a little kid when Lady walked around the corner to meet us at the cafe on the square across from our flat - I know I looked like an idiot, but I had been drinking so cut me some slack! (Did I tell you I've been drinking?) Plus, in Budapest we got to hang out with Lady's friend Kate and Kate's friend Kata, who fucking rock.
I'm sorry to report that I cannot upload pictures right now - this particular cafe (operated by the same folks as EasyJet, so everything is orange - appropriate, though, for Holland, I guess) has a USB port and advertises uploads/downloads, but I can't get the fucker to recognize my camera. I promise I'll try again somewhere else as soon as I can - the pictures from Budapest (especially on Chain Bridge and from the huge hill in Buda) are really amazing.
This trip is so relaxing and awesome and exactly what I needed, and I'm getting a hell of a lot of passport stamps this time around. These are the best traveling companions I could ask for (well, except maybe in the punctuality category - you know who you are! but I love you anyway), and I'm having so much fun I don't know what to do with myself. America has got to catch onto the sidewalk/square cafe thing... I swear we went to the same place on the square outside our Budapest flat like a million times... (Then again, Europe could use a few customer service lessons from America, but then again their utter disregard for time is charming in its own way... They don't hurry, so I don't feel like I have to either.)
Feel like I'm probably beginning to bore you - especially w/o pictures, so I'll end it here. I hope you're all doing well, and I'll see many of you soon.
We've just arrived in Amsterdam today from Bratislava, which was way cute despite Rick Steve's not-so-good review of the place. (Lady, we are still getting his faces tattooed on our asses, right?) Beer was wicked cheap, and Lady and I went for a run through the Old Town and along the banks of the Danube between our very interesting train ride from Budapest to Bratislava (a very Communist bloc sort of train, but we had a good time)and our eventual dinner on a boat on the Danube. I can't say enough good things about Budapest and Bratislava - eastern Europe fucking rocks my socks, even if I have to resort to pointing and gesturing when in need of anything other than an espresso, which is apparently universal. (This has been the trip of cafes - tons of leisurely espresso and half litres of beer - and all sooooooo cheap... to return to the Euro in Holland is quite difficult after living like kings - or queens, Lady would correct me - for the last few days.) It felt great to be in a place so beautiful, so polite, and SO cheap - as low on the food chain as I am in terms of salary, I was able to treat my friends as much as I wanted, which makes me happier than I can say. For instance, at our last dinner there, we went to a little Italian trattoria on the Raday Utca, and I bought two bottles of Hungarian red wine for all of us for only 2500 HUF each - something like $12 a piece!!! In a NICE restaurant! (I feel like I'm rambling, but I'm such a state of Europhile euphoria that I can't quite focus... that and I've been drinking loads and not sleeping as much as I probably should.)
Two random things I must report but am too lazy to work into paragraphs:
-Alcohol report: beers I've had since we left: Young's Bitter, Caffrey's, Scrumpy Jack's (cider), Fuller's London Portor, Amstel (not light), Dreher, Arany Azok, Gosser, Edelweiss, and Kosovice. The local liquor in Hungary is called Unicum - Rob and Lady and I tried it on our first night and almost barfed, but we can say we've tried it. And I keep reading that it grows on you...
-Yes, we were there for the protests/riots in Budapest. We even went to the protest the day after the really bad riots just to check it out. It wasn't really that scary and I sense that much of the crowd was spectators anyway...
So it was super super fantastic to meet up with Lady in Budapest. Rob and I have a great time solo (DUH!), but those of you who know Lady's true identity know how much I LOVE her, so it was just the perfect mix of people for a few days. (You should have seen me run across the street like a little kid when Lady walked around the corner to meet us at the cafe on the square across from our flat - I know I looked like an idiot, but I had been drinking so cut me some slack! (Did I tell you I've been drinking?) Plus, in Budapest we got to hang out with Lady's friend Kate and Kate's friend Kata, who fucking rock.
I'm sorry to report that I cannot upload pictures right now - this particular cafe (operated by the same folks as EasyJet, so everything is orange - appropriate, though, for Holland, I guess) has a USB port and advertises uploads/downloads, but I can't get the fucker to recognize my camera. I promise I'll try again somewhere else as soon as I can - the pictures from Budapest (especially on Chain Bridge and from the huge hill in Buda) are really amazing.
This trip is so relaxing and awesome and exactly what I needed, and I'm getting a hell of a lot of passport stamps this time around. These are the best traveling companions I could ask for (well, except maybe in the punctuality category - you know who you are! but I love you anyway), and I'm having so much fun I don't know what to do with myself. America has got to catch onto the sidewalk/square cafe thing... I swear we went to the same place on the square outside our Budapest flat like a million times... (Then again, Europe could use a few customer service lessons from America, but then again their utter disregard for time is charming in its own way... They don't hurry, so I don't feel like I have to either.)
Feel like I'm probably beginning to bore you - especially w/o pictures, so I'll end it here. I hope you're all doing well, and I'll see many of you soon.
posted by Sally O'Malley at 9:10 AM
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