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European Cruise: Day Three – Budapest

September 7, 2010 – 9:18 pm

After I last blogged about the trip (which was Friday the 20th aka day 2 in Budapest) Mom and I had just gotten back from the national holiday celebrations and decided to relax after all that heat and getting mild sunburns (which turned into a sun rash). We went out exploring a little in the early evening around the castle district when the crowds weren’t as thick and the heat wasn’t so oppressive.

This is where I’m going to show my American Water Buffalo nature (thank you for that, Dave Berry Does Japan) and ask: is personal space a really American concept? I think I, more than other people I know, really don’t like it when strangers touch or brush up against me. I think, with the heat, it really got to me that day… plus I’m sure I was still really, really jetlagged.

Anyway, onto the next day, day three: Budapest (again)! This day we met up with people from the river cruise to do some exploration of the city outside of the castle district. The planned activities? A tour of the large market (Grand Market Hall – Nagyvasarcsarnok) and an art nouveau museum.

Budapest

The market was full of lots of produce and meat stands on the main level which, in certain parts, made it smell amazing.

Budapest

Since Mom and I aren’t huge shoppers we decided to make the most of our hour and a half free time and went and wandered around the street to get a few pictures.

Budapest

And stopped by Burger King to get a Coca Cola Light.

Budapest

Next we stopped by the Art Nouveau museum.

Budapest

Then stopped at a charming cafe for some coffee and dessert. Afterwards we were taken back with the group to the hotel where we were separated and those of us just starting our journey were whisked away to the boat to get our cabins and learn of our new home for the next eight days.

We were given a few to get situated (and giving me an extra awesome view from our window of a creepy shirtless man) we heard over the loud speaker that there was going to be some sort of tour. Now, Mom heard it was going to be a tour of the boat while I heard we would be going outside to explore somewhere close by. Naturally, being the good daughter that I am, I decided to listen to my Mom and not lead the way (thus hoping we wouldn’t run into hobos as is my habit) and found that ultimately I had heard right and we were going off the ship. I didn’t, of course, take my camera since I thought we were just looking at the boat.

We explored this long avenue that was full of lots of shops and basically where the young people come to hang out. The heat was oppressive at that point so Mom and myself, along with a few others, followed the tour guide back to the boat where we proceeded to bask in the fine appreciation of man-made AC.

Later in the evening we had a meeting in the ships lounge to meet our tour director and hear safety instructions before a grand meal and enjoyment all around.

After a long day full of many activities Mom and I were very happy to go back to our cabin and fall asleep in our beds.

… unlike the cabbie we saw earlier resting on the job:

Budapest

I bet he wishes he was in bed, too.

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By Annbee | Also posted in European Cruise 2010 | Tagged budapest, cruises, europe, european river cruises, travel, travel stories, viking cruises | Comments (0)

So… about that cruise!

September 7, 2010 – 7:56 pm

My feet (and obviously my body) at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria

So… obviously there was a hitch in my plan to blog about the cruise everyday… I guess I should start with a breakdown of why the lack of posts, catch up as to what’s up, and the contest details.

So, why didn’t you blog everyday you lazy slob?
Funny story, that. We were told going into the cruise that we’d have Wifi available on the ship. Oh the excitement I felt and anticipation! Made hauling my laptop around airports and hotels totally worth it equipped with that knowledge! Unfortunately what they didn’t tell us was that it was satellite internet connection which meant that if a) we weren’t docked and b) you looked at it funny or c) there were mountains over a foot tall you were pretty much screwed internet wise. Also, totally ageist of me to say, but the old people totally hogged the internet. I mean, I felt mildly bad about trying to upload a few small pictures and doing blog posts. I came to find out, through various discussions with people on the boat, that some people were emailing full size images back to the states. This, of course, meant I was S.O.L. if I wanted to do anything. What limited internet I was able to get (usually really early in the morning or late at night) I used to chat or email Mack. I’m sorry but my boyfriend means more to me then the negative ten (since I’m convinced the number of people who read this blog reach into the negative numbers) people who might have read the blog who could wait until I got back to the states.
How was the trip?
Awesome! Lots of stories to tell and pictures to show. I have four memory cards (one of which is 8GB) full of pictures I need to download and process. Trust me that you’ll see them here on the blog in the near future… once I have a chance to catch my breath that is.
I saw you complain about jetlag on twitter. Seriously, it’s probably not as bad as you made it out to be.
I’m weak! What can I say? My body didn’t handle the nine-hour time difference well. You should have seen me with the seveteen-hour time difference shock when I got back from Japan. My Mom still laughs about it to this day. Last week I went immediately back to work the following day and, erm, women stuff came up. Needless to say I fell asleep at 7pm and was usually up at 5am and my body was angry. Angry I tell you! I also didn’t sleep well on the trip for some reason. Lots of weird dreams including, but not limited to, a dream I was a greek goddess who had to choke the life out of one of her possessed horses. I blame all the beef goulash I ate.
You sure offer a lot of excuses.
I’m really good at that. I think it comes from being the youngest child.
What about that contest you were running?
I decided to axe it. There was just no interest what-so-ever. Two of the comments submitted were my godmothers who I love dearly and made me feel loved. So yes, obviously next time have to figure out better prizes to see if anyone would care that way.

So that’s it. You’ll see posts about the cruise slowly get posted. I have two I wrote while on the cruise that, frustrated, I gave up on attempting to post. The photos being posted with them will still be SOOC (straight out of camera) to create the full superior glory of it all.

In the words of Scar from the Disney movie “Lion King” (I grew up on it, shut up): Be Prepared!

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By Annbee | Also posted in European Cruise 2010 | Tagged cruises, europe, european river cruises, travel, travel stories, viking cruises | Comments (0)

European Cruise – Day Two: Budapest

August 20, 2010 – 7:21 am

** Don’t forget about my contest that is running thru August 28th! Have a chance to win a trinket from my trip and framed photograph! http://bit.ly/a8urok **

A thing to note with pictures posted on these posts is that they’re SOOC (straight out of camera) from my old Panasonic. My “better” shots will be posted when I’m back state-side with time to process and make them gorgeous.

The day started for us at 7am after we slept for almost a solid twelve hours. What can I say? Traveling and lack of sleep eventually takes a very nice toll on you. After we got dressed and ready for the day we went downstairs and had our complimentary breakfast before heading out to check out the days festivities.

The previous day we were surprised to discover that we happened to be in town for a big festival here in Hungary. August 20th is King St. Stephen’s Day which commemorates the foundation of the Hungarian state 1000 years ago. On this day the new bread is also blessed and “countless exciting programs await both locals and tourist the day round” (totally swiped the text from the Hilton Budapest flyer on the occasion).

First thing Mom and I did was wander around the castle district to look at some interesting buildings. At that point in the morning there weren’t that many people awake and on the streets thus we were able to observe and enjoy this in relative peace and quiet. We were fortunate enough to go by a cathedral when they were ringing bells and another one when they were playing the organs. Being the American tourist that I am I, of course, tape recorded these sounds since I thought an audio representation of this trip would be amazing to have with the visual.

My Mom trustingly followed me as I led us in front of the castle in what looked to be a park. We wandered down hill a ways and, on our way back up, happened to run into a few of the homeless of Buda who barely acknowledged us passing.

Let me pause a moment and point out holy shit look at this size of this falcon.

He was chilling here in the Castle district being awesome in his sheer majestic nature.

We wandered around the castle some more taking photographs before heading to the Festival of Folk Arts (or Mesterséqek Ünnepe).

We wandered around looking at some booths before paying to get into where the actual event really is happening (or so we assumed for 1500 Hungarian). We made our way to the stage and were able to watch (and again tape record) some traditional Hungarian bagpipes and watch the dancers weave their stories on the stage.

Unfortunately at one point I had my camera down so I didn’t take a shot of one of the dancers going after the group (and being held back by the other group) with a big knife. I assume it was all apart of the dance but who knows, I could be wrong… though they kept dancing so let’s just assume it was apart of the number.

After watching the dancers we wandered around some more and looked at the seemingly endless craft booths and the many views that various places offered.

We also enjoyed some traditional Hungarian drinks.

It is now afternoon and we’re back at our hotel room cooling down and relaxing a little before re-joining the huge masses of humanity who are out on the streets celebrating. Before that though here is a shot for Mack’s Mom, Lynda, who loves to photograph her feet in various locations:

I know they’re more my legs than just my feet but I’m following the spirit of the thought at least!