Budapest, Hungary

So I know it's been forever since I've updated, but I wanted to just say that right now I'm sitting in a coffeeshop in Budapest that's called "California Coffee Company." Surreal!

Be sure to look backwards through this blog, since I will be adding Tunisia, Austria and Slovakia in chronological order.

I miss everyone! Write me an email - it's really sad when I finally get to the internet and don't have any from *real* people.

Erica

Bratislava, Slovakia

Nov. 27, 2009
I. Absolutely. Love. Bratislava. I definitely claim Slovak blood after seeing this wonderful capital city. Bratislava is a small, quaint city with an infusion of history and culture incredibly rich and the mighty Danube River cutting right through the middle.
Ben and I were lucky to have our own personal tour guide - a friend of mine is in his last year of medical school in Bratislava. Brano's lived in the capital for his entire life, and proved to be a wonderful guide. We walked along the coronation route (marked with crowns in the cobblestone streets and lending its history to the city's nickname, Coronation City) that the monarchs of the Hungarian empire took to the cathedral to be crowned. We also saw iconic statues of "the watcher" and "the paparazzi." After hiking up to the Bratislava castle, Brano bought us hot honey wine at the Christmas market in the center of the city that was surprisingly good. We even got to watch the mayor announce the official first lighting of the city Christmas tree! It was a great time, and I would come back to Bratislava in a heartbeat.

Vienna, Austria

November 26, 2009

The land of Mozart and wiener schnitzel! Ben and I are in Vienna at the beginning of the Christmas season, a perfect time to go. The Christmas market, with booths selling handmade crafts, was in full force and the city had decorations up everywhere. We walked around town for a few hours taking in the beautiful city in the crisp, sunny weather before taking the bus to Bratislava, Slovakia.

Carthage, Tunisia

Nov. 7, 2009

Ben, Judy and I took public transport to Carthage, Tunisia (about 20 minutes away.) It's the site of a lot of ancient Roman ruins. The contrast between the loud, bustling, vibrant Tunis and refined, classy, calm Carthage was like night and day. When not touring the ruins, we enjoyed walking around the town and seeing the gorgeous houses and wonderful Mediterranean Sea view. Great day!

Tunis, Tunisia

Tunis, Tunisia
Nov. 5 - 9, 2009

I've made it to AFRICA!!! It was not easy - our tickets (paper tickets; apparently TunisAir hasn't made the switch to the 21st century) were changed three times before the trip, on the day of the trip Ben and his mom were put on a different flight then I was, and then at the airport when we had it all figured out with the same itineraries (first we were flying through Lyon, then Paris, then Rome) -- our first flight was delayed! We missed our connection in Rome, so we ended up spending the night there and catching a flight out to Tunisia the next morning. At least the three of us were together, though. When I woke up in Holland on the morning of the trip, I never expected to be spending that night in Italy!

So anyways - we arrived in Tunis and after bumbling my way through an immigration check at the airport (arrival card was only in Arabic and French) we got to go through a temperature checker! (I'm sure there's a more scientific term for that.) Guess they don't want any swine flu. To top off our difficulties with getting there, we waited for about an hour for Judy's luggage with the other passengers only to be told that there had been a strike in Rome and the baggage was never loaded onto the airplane. "It should arrive tonight at midnight." Ah well. Judy got her stuff eventually!

Tunisia itself - it's a country with a complex mix of Arabic culture with French colonial remnants. The capital, Tunis, could be a Western Europe city with its sidewalk cafes and wide, tree-lined boulevards. Walking around, though, one begins to realize that the ratio of men to women is unnaturally high. There are women out, for sure, and not even the majority of them wear headscarves, but there still are many more men. The sidewalk cafes, with their tables lining either side of the sidewalk, start to feel like a gauntlet with gobs of men stopping their conversation to stare at you as you walk by. I discovered that the last thing they expect is for you to stare back at them. It's kinda fun to beat them at their own game...or so I told myself.

The old city of Tunis, otherwise known as the Medina, is part of the city enclosed by centuries-old walls. There are winding, narrow roads with tons of shopowners hawking their wares in between colorful apartment doors and mosques. Very high-pressure, bargaining type of shopping - not for the faint of heart. I watched several British, American and Japanese tourist groups being completely hounded by these retailers and even being chased after when they decided not to purchase. Yikes.

Porto, Portugal

10/14/09 - 10/16/09

I flew to Portugal for a couple days on a cheap Ryanair flight, and it was sooo nice to be in good weather again! Porto is the second largest city in Portugal, and it's situated on a river at the point where it runs into the Atlantic.

Portugal felt somewhat similar to Spain, and I got away with using my horrible Spanish. One could tell that the country prides itself on having a distinct culture, though, and the atmosphere definitely had its own Portuguese flavor. I can't really put it into words, but it was lovely!

The hostel was one of my favorites thus far. It's in an old three-story house with large ceilings and wooden floors. I woke up the first morning to the cutest kitten coming to cuddle with me - turned out (thankfully) to be the hostel's resident!

Also, northern Portugal is much more affordable than anywhere else I've been in Western Europe. The Big Mac meal was almost the same price as it is in the US!

Bergamo, Italy

10/11/09

For my last night on this trip I decided to stay in a smaller town called Bergamo, Italy. (It also happens to be where the cheap airport is located!) I spent the day walking around their old city center and taking in the authentic Italian atmosphere.

I did not get a picture, but I also have to say that even though it was the fifth time I had eaten pizza in three days, my pizza in Bergamo was the best I've ever had. Yum!

Lugano, Switzerland

10/10/09 - waaaaaay after the fact

After finding out that it can be quite challenging to get a train out of Italy without reservations, I finally crossed the border and made it to the land of watches and sketchy tax-free bank accounts.

I spent the day and night in beautiful Lugano - it's a city on a lake with the Alps in the distant background. The city center was full of typical Europeanness - beautiful churches, sidewalk cafes on a large, picturesque plaza, parks everywhere.

This is me studying by the lake:

Berlin, Germany (I know, I'm out of order!)

10/08/09

I totally forgot to mention the awesome museum I went to in Berlin - it's called the Ddr Museum, and it's dedicated to showing how life was really like in Communist East Germany. They have all kinds of hands-on exhibits. It somewhat reminded me of the Communist Museum in Prague, but I actually think that this museum in Berlin felt more honest in its portrayal of communism. Here they didn't seem to have an agenda - they made fun of the ridiculousness, but were sure to point out when things had a positive slant too. It definitely wasn't pro-Communist, but the Prague museum had felt very anti-Communist. Does that make sense?

Anyway, they had a section with a car from the era - the Trabant. Apparently it had only two cylinders.

They also had a model house that you could go through - they had a living room, bathroom and kitchen. It didn't feel so much Communist as it did just 1960s. The kitchen had a sign that explained that women were equal to men officially under the regime, and they could hold jobs and whatnot. They were still tied to traditional gender roles, though, so basically they would work the same hours as their husband but then when they came home they had to do all the housework, childcare and cooking. Hmmmm...not so different from modern US surveys...

They had "collective potty breaks" in kindergarten...every kid sat on a toilet all in a row, and no one could get up until the last one was done. This was supposed to "socialize" them, but at least one criminologist has blamed this practice for the extreme right-wing political trend they see in some adults who grew up in that era.

The best part of the museum, though, was the exhibit on vacations. Since the citizens of East Germany were very restricted in their travel, they could only go to other Communist countries. With these limited options, an interesting phenomenon developed - just about every vacation spot became a nudist spot! They had all these photos of smiling East Berliners totally in the buff - playing beach volleyball, follicking in the ocean, having picnics. Old people, kids, everyone - there were several family photos. It was hilarious! The Communist government tried to curb this exhibitionism, but to no avail - it's theorized that this was one way people under Communism were able to really liberate themselves from under the rigid rules.

I wanted to take pictures of the exhibit itself, but felt really awkward taking photos of naked people in pictures. I did snap a quick picture of the diarama with naked dolls, though -

Milan, Italy - I made a friend!!

10/09/09

I met Fabricio while eating gelato at a gelateria and he invited me to eat dinner with him at his pizzeria down the street. So Italian and a lot of fun!! He has been making pizza for many years, and this past May he opened his own pizzeria - he is very proud of it!

Milan, Italy - Cathedral

10/09/09

I visited the two most famous Milanese sites - the Cathedral (Duomo) and the Victor Emmanuel II Galleria. The first was beautiful - here it is in all its glory:

Inside the galleria there's a tile mosaic of a bull in the middle of the floor. Apparently legend says that it's good luck to "spin on a bull's balls." No joke. So now everyone takes a spin, and certain nether regions of the poor animal have been worn down to the cement. I took a spin, but I had way more fun watching the older Asian tourists in suits having their turn...

I think my favorite part of the afternoon was when an old man asked me (in Italian) if I needed help while I was looking lost with my map, and when I answered that I don't know Italian he switched to English. (It's hard to find northern Italians who speak English.) He then offered to walk me to my destination since it was on the way to the cinema. I asked him how he knows English, and he said that it's his third language - he was an interpreter for the war, so he knew Italian and German. He said that when they figured out the British were coming, he taught himself English at night. He then learned French, Spanish, Russian, Latin and Greek...isn't that crazy!??! He was really delightful to talk to, especially considering it was my first time talking to a veteran of WWII on the other side. (No picture of him, I'm afraid.)

Milan, Italy

10/09/09

Milan - the city of fashion. Like whoa did I stick out like a sore thumb. I took a stroll down the street of the fancy shops. My tourbook listed 15 different brands that had stores there - I had heard of three (Chanel, Fendi, and Versace.) I didn't go in to any...I had that scene in Pretty Women in my head where she goes into Rodeo Drive stores wearing hooker clothes and the shopkeepers refused to wait on her. Just substitute hooker clothes for traveling American t-shirts and sneakers, and I'm there. Only unfortunately I wouldn't be able to come back the next day in fancy clothes with lots of shopping bags and say "Remember me? You won't wait on me yesterday. Big mistake."

This woman has just parked her Vespa - what she's wearing is typical Milan.

This guy, though, rocked the best mullet I have seen yet...I think he was a tourist, though, judging by his camera.