Budapest Day 2: The Danube
Posted by ScarlettOct 30th, 2009 | No Comments
The Danube is the second longest river in Europe, flowing through or forming part of the border of 10 countries. It flows right through the middle of Budapest, separating the west bank of Buda and Obuda from the east bank of Pest, three cities that were unified in 1873 to form the city of Budapest. We saw a bit of the Danube during our self-guided walking tour of Bratislava, but hadn’t really walked along its banks so we set out to do so today, starting at the Budapest Parliament building, which is located on the Pest side of the river bank…
Budapest Day 1: The Holocaust Memorial Center
Posted by ScarlettOct 29th, 2009 | No Comments
Our three hour train ride to Budapest from Bratislava yesterday got us to our hotel (another Ibis) just in time for Paul to start working so we didn’t do much apart from check out the area we’re in and buy stuff at the grocery store to make sandwiches for dinner so we wouldn’t have to eat fast food, which is the only type of food near the hotel. Today we began our sightseeing at the Holocaust Memorial Center, which was sad but very informative…
Bratislava In One Day
Posted by ScarlettOct 27th, 2009 | No Comments
While planning this leg of the trip, we weren’t sure if we should bother going to Bratislava, capital of the Slovak Republic. Most people don’t have much to say about it, other than the fact that it’s really cheap. If you remember the movie Euro Trip (which totally doesn’t depict Europe correctly at all but was humorous nonetheless), Bratislava is the run down, dump city where they ended up with only $1.83 while trying to hitchhike to Berlin, but managed to live like kings thanks to the conversion rate. Since it’s only an hour by train from Vienna, we decided to come spend 2 nights and see for ourselves what it’s really like…
Le Nozze Di Figaro @ The Vienna State Opera
Posted by ScarlettOct 25th, 2009 | No Comments
I am excited to report that tonight we officially attended our first real opera and, lucky for us, The Marriage of Figaro was playing so we sort of knew what was going on! The Don Giovanni marionette show brought out more of an appreciation of opera for me, but tonight took it to a whole new level and I can’t wait till I get a chance to go again. Paul isn’t quite as enthralled, but he played the part of the good husband and stood through 3/4 of the performance with me, so I can’t complain…
Rick Steves’ Vienna
Posted by ScarlettOct 24th, 2009 | No Comments
While going to ask a question at the hostel’s reception last night, I noticed a huge pile of guidebooks available for guests to borrow, so I picked up Rick Steves’ Vienna and planned today according to his itinerary and recommendations. We had recently used his book Rick Steves’ 2009 Italy throughout our 4 weeks in Italy since the friends we were travelling with had brought it along, and it felt familiar and comfortable to follow his book again today. Having a route to follow and a list of places that are “must-sees” just makes sightseeing so much easier!
Bye Bye Prague, Hello Vienna!
Posted by ScarlettOct 22nd, 2009 | No CommentsIt’s been almost 11 weeks since we’ve stayed in a mixed dorm with strangers at a hostel (the last time was Edinburgh, which I have yet to write about), but today it’s back to hostel living with strangers again! Fortunately, our roommates are two totally normal and easy to get along with Australian girls that we have stuff in common with, the room is comfortable and spacious, and we even have an en-suite bathroom. It’s not the best hostel we’ve stayed at on this trip (wi-fi doesn’t work in the room), but we can’t complain too much 
In Search Of The Eurodog…
Posted by ScarlettOct 20th, 2009 | No Comments
After another round of unimpressive Czech food yesterday (we tried a “Czech feast for two” at the restaurant across the street that the guy at reception recommended and it was a giant portion of various meat without much taste), we’ve officially decided to give up ordering “traditional” Czech dishes at restaurants since the Czech diet of massive quantities of meat and starch doesn’t suit us. Instead, today we went looking for eurodogs, a type of hot dog which involves sticking a wiener inside a baguette that has a hole cut into it instead of a cut-open bun. Unlike what we read on TripAdvisor, in the middle of October, eurodogs are not easy to find…
Some Unimpressive Czech Food
Posted by ScarlettOct 18th, 2009 | No Comments
Since we’ve spent two days in Prague without trying any “Czech specialty dishes,” we set out today to explore more of Old Town and find a Czech restaurant to eat at. Unfortunately, our decision to randomly trya place called Restaurace U Golema turned out to be a bad one, and our first experience of Czech food was deeply disappointing. Hopefully it can only go up from here…
Prague Day 1 – The Castle & Don Giovanni Marionette Show
Posted by ScarlettOct 17th, 2009 | No Comments
After a brutally long 7 hour train ride in one of the old school style trains where you sit in compartments containing 6 seats/compartment, we arrived in the much anticipated city of Prague yesterday. We spent some time at the mall next to our hotel and then crashed early, catching up on some sleep. Today, we headed out to begin exploring Prague, starting at the huge castle and finishing with a marionette version of Mozart’s Don Giovanni opera. So far, Prague is not quite living up to the hype everyone gives it…
A Note About The Dates Of Blog Posts
Posted by ScarlettOct 14th, 2009 | No CommentsSo, if you’re reading this because you’re a faithful reader who has stuck with me no matter how far behind I’ve fallen (4 months now!), or if you’ve just stumbled upon this blog from some internet search for information or whatever, I think it’s time I address the fact that I’ve fallen ridiculously behind on this blog and have to do something to catch up! Paul and I are still on the road (in Poland now), and a combination of friends meeting up to travel with us, not having Internet consistently, procrastination, and being too busy out and about sightseeing and stuff has put me 4 months and 6 countries behind in my writing!
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