These.Days.in.Budapest.

My days in Budapest are winding down, with just 3 weeks to go. It really is GO-time with school work, and no more travels for me until the end of term.

Still having some fun though here in the meantime when I can. Climbed to the top of Gellert Hill the other night with a bottle of wine and enjoyed an incredible view and some good conversation with a lovely German girl. Just yesterday after a home cooked meal by yours truly (which admittingly hasn't happened a lot lately) with some good company, had a few glasses of wine at a cool little pub and then continued a good talk (long ago interrupted by an angry croatian kid) with my finnish buddy Parre . We found out that the market is open at 6am and will serve you a big cup of some bad wine for just a dollar. Included free is a nice headache later that afternoon.

I still have some of the city of Budapest to explore- like statue park, and going to see a cheap opera or hungarian rock-opera. (that's the one the cool kids see). The riots and demonstrations here have really quieted down. Until a couple weeks ago there was still a stage set up outside parliment and tents along the grounds with peaceful protests and speeches every night. But now the entire block and square at the parliment buildings has been gated off with rendorseg (magyar police) patrolling 0-24. The people are still pissed off, and if nothing happens by the new year there will surely be more street riots.

Still managing to keep up with major news back in Canada thanks to cbc.ca - I don't know what I would've down without my trusty source especially when I was in the USA. Good to know Sadaam was convicted and Quebec issue is up in the air again.

Agesegadre.

wow.in.Krakow...heavy.in.Auschwitz.

nov.17-20

so it was definately nice to have a weekend in budapest without travelling. And I was due for one last trip in eastern europe before the end of term. So I joined up with the french connection, an isreali, a german, and a yankee and off we were to Poland... on the worst train i've ever been on. lucky enough we got our group discount.

Saturday was a big and heavy day in Aushwitz.

And then the long train ride home... it was alreadz 11hrs, but somehow we managed to make it 14 by almost going all the way to Bukarest! could've been nice doing two trips in one.

Slovenia.is.cool.too.

Well after just a little over 24hrs back home in Budapest, I was off again to Slovenia. First to Piran, on the Adriatic coast, very close to Italy. This was an organized trip with the ESRAMUS group, so I was with 75 others- a few people I already knew from my technical university here, but also a bunch that I'd never met before from other universities in Budapest. All exchange students, and all english-speaking. We got to the bus in Budapest at 6:15am after only a short sleep. And of course there had to be 2 people who were late... really late. We didn't
end up leaving until 7:20. ouch. We had a long bus ride through the west of hungary and straight into slovenia, then all the way from one end of slovenia to the other until we reached Piran on the East coast of the Adriatic sea. After 10 hours on the bus and 4 pit stops, it was a relief to finally get there. The last part of the ride was up and down mountains with some great views of the Adriatic sea.

Walked around the small city (must only be a few hundred people) and stopped in at one of the local pubs that were still open. There we savoured some Italian Grappa. A lot like moonshine, and definately gives you a good kick. And enjoyed a couple good Slovenian Beers. Then back to the bus to bring our gear to the hostel- where we we'd been waiting all day for our included supper. Sausage,bread, meat,cheese,some wierd salad, some bad cheap beer, and we were good and full. Ready to go out in Piran. We walked around for half an hour before finding the ONLY BAR OPEN in Piran on a Thursday night for a few good brew.

Friday morning we were up early at 9 and walked around the city exploring old roman walls at the top of the hill and inside a couple nice churches. Those romans must have been some short lads, because pretty much everyone hit their head at least once on a doorway. A lof ot old italian-style buildings and nice narrow pedestrian-only streets everywhere. Not a lot of people here- it's pretty quiet and calming. We finished our time in Piran with an awesome meal on the water. A big plate fresh Mussels for just 5euros. Best seafood since Vancouver!

Our bus took us into Liubljana which took about 3-4 hrs and we walked into town and up the castle hill. The castle from the outside is pretty nice but the inside has been renovated about 5 times, and is pretty modern with a few cafes and a nice gallery. still dissapointing for the 25minute hike up the steep hill to get there. the rewarding part was the nice view of the entire city, and still a view of some mountains. A good place to catch the sunset. We spent the rest of the night getting a good bite to eat at a nice resto and had some piescavitsa (sp?) same as in Serbia -like a nice big burger. But these ones were HUGE. hard to finish. The waitor liked us so much he even gave us a slovene drink on the house! a mix of moonshine and blueberry schnopps with real blueberries floating around. nice. Then off for a nice bar hop from pub to pub. Again tried a local drink... can't remember what this one was called though.

Saturday morning we were up early again and headed off for Bled. Just an hour and a bit away from the capital. A real tourist joint. Pretty much in the middle of nowhere with a nice village around it, with a nice lake and incredible views of the mountainside from the castle on a cliff. We hiked up the cliff to the castle. It's an old one... that goes back till before the middle ages and was burnt, destroyed, rebuilt, and renovated a few times. The view was worth it, and there's a pretty good museum of the history of the place.

Saturday evening back in Ljubljana walked around for a bit, since I hadn't really explored the city too much yet. And picked up some Burek with meat for supper mmmmmm. Chilled out at the hostel for a few hours with some others from Germany and had some cheap beer while practicing our newly found Slovene phrases. But by the end of it we figured there's only so much we could actually remember. So focused on the important ones:

Jaz sem Alan. / My name is alan.
Samski sem. / I am single.

(You see Uncle Pete and Auntie Trish, I'm putting that phrasebook to good use!)

Then out we were for one last night in Slovenia to a local club. Global. Really cool- you take a glass elevator from the street up 6 storeys to a roof, then the club's inside. A good time and a late night.

Sunday, got up and took a look at the random junk that people had out for antique market day and made it to the bus. for another long trip home. got in to Budapest at 11pm. and went straight to bed.

Bratislava.Vienna.Prague.

OK, this was a big trip. I went to Bratislava and Vienna with Miklos and his sister Anita, Carmen, and a few Finnish guys. Then did Prague just with Miklos and his sister.
Miklos and I were all prepped for the trip with our 'Prague Look' good and dirty new mustache styles for a weekend.

Bratislava. Oct. 26-27
We landed an awesome deal on bus tickets to Bratislava with a company called Student Agency. For 1700HUF (about $9 CDN) we got a return ticket to/from Bratislava on some super nice buses. Leather seats, english speaking staff, and a good laugh watching the movie Malibou's most Wanted, and free cappucinos or hot chocolate the whole way. sweet.
Got to Bratislava with the Eurotrip 70cents-buys-you-a-kingdom mentality and were sadly dissapointed. Although the hostel was only 11 euro, and we had our own room, food and drink were cheap, but not THAT cheap. Found a good place to eat and had some Slovakian beer. Thenfound a cool lounge/bar and a boat party for the night. There's this one really cool bridge there, that just looks awesome at night. Otherwise not much. Sunday we walked around and up to Bratislava's castle. Group pic! nice views again, not much inside though. and Bratislava's so smallwe bored after a few hours. so took a bus to Vienna.

Vienna. Oct.27-29
We got into Vienna in the afternoon and enjoyed (really really enjoyed) a nice but too short siesta on the way. After finally figuring out the ticket machine- where you can buy anything from metro tickets to bus tickets to train tickets to any city, we hopped on the metro to our hostel. WombatHostel is definately the best hostel I've ever been in. Recommend it. Right near a major metro stop, so clean, huge rooms, nice views, a cool barin the basement, and a 3euro breakfeast, clean towels. To top it off, our 6 person room had it's own bathroom and shower. What a deal for 17 euros.
That night we walked around town and picked up some cheap standing tickets for 3 Euros to an opera Elixir D'amore (yes Millie, in October, whichmeans with your very favourite soprano!). And just 3 rows back from the sitting 157 euro tickets... suckers! (mind you the feet were killing by the endof it. done like a true student. It was good. After we treated ourselves to some cheap street sausage and good Austrian Brew. Later we went out in anarea called the Bermuda Triangle- a bunch of windy streets full of pubs and clubs and sure to get lost on your way out at the end of the night.
Saturday we crawled out of bed and headed off to see a nice big Cathedral in the downtown. One of the biggest I've seen yet! really impressive. Thenwe headed off to check out MOMUK museum of modern art. There was a really cool exhibit by Edwin Wurm, criticizing some modern frame of mind. And my other favourite (and new favourite painter) Franz Gertsch.
http://www.mumok.at/index.php?version=2&cid=277

After, took a tram ride and hung out 6ft away from everyone's good buddy Mozart. And to an enormous cemetary after (about the size of the Viennadowntown core!) where we saw the graves of Brahms, Strauss, Bethoven. Then it was back to the hostel where the canadians met up with the Finns atthe place we all know best - the hostel bar in the basement. We got ourselves a few FREE drinks of Ottakringer and made friends with the bartender.Also met a girl from South-Africa who was travelling from Holland, and she joined us for another night out in Vienna. We all went out around the cornerto no restaurant than Mozart's own (well so it was called anyway) and I had some awesome stuffed Dumplings with saurkraut and good local beer- witha little jagermeister for desert. Then off again to the Bermuda triangle. We had an.... adventurous way home let's say. And made a few friends with some funny locals. and had some good fun watching Mark (Finland) try to do somehungarian folk dancing. by the hotdog stand. Yeah. that was great.

The next morning we were all... hmmm... tired. So thankgod for coffee. and a good breakfast at the hostel. We took an easy stroll around the town, sawsome great museums and statues and hung out at a small place for lunch. Then we were off to the Bus station and Off to Prague!

Prague comming soon!