Jun 2009

City centre. We headed into the heart of Vienna to have a look around and maybe do a spot of shopping. The city was spectacular. The architecture is similar to that in Budapest and equally as beautiful. Not sure about all the “gay friendly” references. Hey, it’s cool and all but Gay friendly cafes? What, are there glory holes in the bathrooms? What happens in the not so gay friendly cafes? Maybe it’s a marketing thing but they could be guilty of going a little overboard.

Shopping. Back to the Euro. Might be good for Europe but certainly not good for us. We bought utensils and house stuff of all things. German manufacturing is grand no matter what you buy and fortunately that is all that Austria seem to stock.

Pink city. First service failure. The waitress took forever and served people in the wrong order when she did get around to it. No acknowledgement even after 20 minutes. Out of here.

Coffee bar. Thought we’d stop for a quick coffee between sights. Service was much better but after receiving our coffees, again there was no acknowledgement. That’s ok. Don’t need a bill. Happy to pay at the counter. “Please sit down and wait.” 10 minutes later, still no service. “The money is on the table, Arnie.”

Hat trick. We’d finished with the coffee and were now looking for somewhere to dine. “Are you open for dinner?” “Hotdogs and sandwiches” We politely asked if that was all and the lady behind the counter burst into an aggressive rambling spasm, “This is a café, what do you expect… ?” and a heap of shit that just bounced off the back of our heads as we walked out. Geez, lady. Take a chill pill and listen to some of that soothing classical music you are so famous for.

Restaurant grinch. Not a great run today. Attempt number two at dinner. “We are closed”, grumbled a half naked man with cigarette in mouth. “Anywhere you can recommend?” “No!” Is this indicative of the level of service provided in Vienna? We’ll reluctantly reserve judgement.

Dinner. Finally, somewhere to eat. Admittedly, we left it a little late but surely we shouldn’t have to resort to Chinese food in Vienna of all places. Szechuan chicken and Sushi. Just what Mozart would have eaten.

Yodelaheehoo. Arrived in Vienna around dinnertime. It was a nice feeling to have lunch in Budapest followed by dinner in Vienna on my birthday. Can you believe it, Vicki had a salad?!

Go shorty, it’s your birthday. On June 18th 1976, a beautiful young lady named Nadia gave birth to an amazing little boy (me). Amazing because he was born with incredible super powers. Word got to Europe so quickly that they created a biscuit in his honor.

Goose liver. We promised Jay and Gabi some of the good stuff. Unfortunately we knew nothing about it and the staff in the store could not speak a word of English. We wanted the whole liver not the pate. I hope we got it right. We’ll find out soon enough.

Galuska. We also promised my sister Manel a galuska (dumpling) maker. Sis, we scoured the city in search of one and eventually found something. You might be pleasantly surprised when we get home.

Shopping. Bought a few things for ourselves. They had some really cool clothes and everything was reasonably priced.

Szia Magyar. We are a little sad to leave Hungary today. Budapest is a truly beautiful city and it treated us well. The people were always so pleasant and helpful (except for the Rail Control lady) and we were greeted with nothing but the warmest hospitality. Apart from only recognising vegetable matter as a form of garnish (to be honest, veggies are commonly used in soup which makes up a significant part of the Hungarian staple), we really loved everything about this place. I’ll just have to get a salad elsewhere! I enjoyed watching Vic report back to her parents every night with such exuberance and enthusiasm. Jay and Gabi, thanks for all the tips and for topping up our knowledge of the region’s history.

There is smoke coming from that cabin. Vic got talking to a couple of Hungarian girls sitting across from us. They were smokers too and the three of them had worked out that the symbol for no-smoking was absent. In fact, there was a sign saying you could smoke so they simultaneously lit up. The drinks guy explained that it was a non-smoking train and if they were caught by control the penalty would be a hefty fine. Time to spray a bit of deodorant and enjoy the view of the wind farms and lavender fields passing by.

Happy Birthday, Luka. Best day of the year mate!

Lukacs. What better way to start the day?!

Margitsziget. An island in the middle of the Danube between Buda and Pest. We came across those little electric cars and just had to hire one. I drove Vicki around the island providing detailed explanations of all the sights I knew nothing about (in a mixed European accent). We then switched and Vicki drove. I continued the tour.

Buda Castle. Ohh, this is what it looks like. Glad we got to see the real one after our failure a few days back. The area surrounding the palace was just as impressive as the palace itself. Lots of photos then made our way through the parklands towards the Danube. Vic gave a gypsy violinist 3 Euro for a tune. He then refused us passage until they had a photo together whilst playing Waltzing Matilda.

Chain bridge. Vicki’s Great Great Grandfather worked as an engineer in the construction of this bridge. Two stone lions guarded each of the entrances. The composition was a combination of stone and metal. Bit of a graffiti problem in Budapest and unfortunately the bridge was not spared. Nor was it spared when the Germans decided to collapse it when the Soviets were advancing. Up close you could see where the lions had been repaired. Superb bridge.

Gerbaud. Another Budapest institution famous for it’s sweets and particularly the icecream. I thought I’d just have something small before dinner. No such thing. Serving sizes in Hungary start at large and work upward from there. Check out the size of the beast below!

Menza. We found a cool little pocket of restaurants and bars not far from where we were staying. It was my birthday tomorrow and I somehow knew we would be up past midnight. I think that fuelled my thirst for the ethanol-flavoured drinks. What a place though, cool music, cool people and great food. Nice way to spend our final night in Hungary. Bit pissy but I’ll deal with that in the morning.

Lukasc. Ham and egg croissant with mustard (I think). Gabi, Vic dobbed you in by saying the egg salad is a specialty of yours. As a special gift for letting you look after our beloved low maintenance kittenz, I’m gonna allow you to make it for me every time I come over and maybe even when you come to ours. Magyar egg with ham, Sam I am.

Terra Haza (House of Terror). A building formerly known as the 'House of Loyalty', occupied by the Nazis, Arrow Cross, AVO (secret police) and Communist parties. It was used as their headquarters to interrogate, imprison and execute. It has since been transformed into a museum/exhibition to highlight the suffering of the Hungarian people under each regime. The message may well possess a form of bias and not sure if the sentiment is shared amongst all Hungarians but it certainly got our attention. It was extremely well laid out with chilling music, spooky lighting, authentic war memorabilia and video confessions. Keen to get our hands on a few good books when we get home.

Fruit and nut. We walked from the station to the lake along a street containing an abundance of fruit and nut trees. Many were overhanging the sidewalk. Mainly cherries and almonds. It's a good thing that I am taller than the average Magyar otherwise I would have had Vicki on my shoulders to grab some of nature's finest.

Lake Balaton. Time to visit the famous lake Balaton. The largest in Europe outside Scandinavia. We grabbed ourselves some Hungarian fast food, Langos and Schnitzel then headed to the lakeshore for a nibble. I didn’t wait the required 30 minutes before swimming, simply couldn’t hold myself back. So peaceful in the water. The lake across the horizon gave the appearance of the ocean and so it should considering that it stretched over 77km. Marvellous.

Balaton Dinner. More guyasleves and schnitzel. Still not sick of it! Zac, you would have loved it here. Schnitzel city.

Control. “Show me your ticket!” These fuckers are known to target and trap tourists and this chick was no exception. She swooped on us as soon as we pulled out the metro map. We had tickets but apparently only those short trip types valid for 3 stops. We travelled 4. We bought the tickets and validated them but it was apparently our fault for not reading the fine print on the back. “Lady, you’re being unreasonable. If I buy a ticket after telling the attendant where I wish to go then I simply validate, put it in my pocket and board the train. If I was trying to evade the fair then I wouldn’t have bought a ticket at all.” “Not my problem Mister, you problem, you pay 6000 forint” “You’re not getting it, I bought a ticket from the metro attendant…” She just wouldn’t budge. Infuriating. I lost it, she threatened to get the police and I welcomed it. They’d surely have more basic logic than this cow. Some other lady took over. I could see in her eyes that she understood our plea but the other little bitch kept butting in whenever we made progress. Vic negotiated a single fine of 6000 between us then sneakily pulled out 2 or so thousand and claimed it was all the cash we had. She also tried softening them up by attempting to speak Hungarian. The “nice” lady escorted us to an ATM and away from that $#%*. I had a feeling she knew the ATM was broken and decided to let us off. Vic gave her a kiss and we walked back to the apartment. After explaining the story to the hotel staff, they told us to just walk off in future. They cannot touch or detain you. They are within their rights to call the police (rarely do) but cannot force you to wait for them to arrive. Sucked in you little mole, we win this round! Tourists beware.

Happy Birthday, Zo-Zo!