Boat Trip to Visegrad, Hungary

So, that boat trip down the Danube I went on? It was pretty awesome.

We went to Visegrad, a small castle-town on the Danube Bend. It has a population (according to Wikipedia, and Wikipedia never lies!) of just under 2,000.

I cannot tell you how amazing it felt to relax as we meandered upstream, sun on my shoulders, wind in my hair. Not having to worry about papers or deadlines or anything even remotely associated with schooling. It was three hours by boat there, so it was a nice time to snack on the "lunches" they prepared for us, chat, and read some of my book (of which I will write a review next post, as it was pretty darn awesome - and even more awesome that I have time again to read what I want!).

Don't worry,

that wasn't our boat.

But too funny, right?

Then we had three hours in the city. We were met by drummers as we got off the boat and led up to the lower castle where they had set up a "medieval tournament" for us to watch. It was silly, pretty kitsch, but incredibly fun. Plus, this girl loves all things hand-combat and projectile related, so I was in (over-choreographed) heaven. Among other things there were: swords, Battle Axes, Falconry, Throwing Stars, Bow & Arrows, and crossbows (I really, really want to learn how to shoot one...). At the end they let us try our hand at the throwing stars. Guess which girl did the best of all the girls and most of the guys? Yep, this one! So, mom, with my degree in Medieval Studies and my assorted fencing and throwing-star skills, I can successfully get a job at a medieval faire. See! I won't be unemployed forever!

Then we walked over to the old (mostly reconstructed) Renaissance palace of King Matthias of Hungary. The same palace that was discussed to a gross extent in my East Central European Renaissance class this past semester. So, needless to say, me and one of my friends in the class tried to play tourguide. The views were beautiful from there!

And then we made our way back. And since we were going downstream, this time it only took 2 hours. How's that for water-power?! Nothing exciting to report from this leg of the voyage, as I slept the whole way home. What can I say? Moving vehicles of any kind put me to sleep. And it was raining and I was inside the boat this time rather on top (because of the rain), so I was warm and had my headphones on. But all-in-all it was a lovely day!

Tombstones & Cakes

Oh wow! 2 posts in one weekend! Something great must be brewing in my future!

I think my life blossomed from the depths of winter into a hopeful Spring mode this weekend! With the trip to the caves Friday I remembered that there's a huge Hungarian world outside my dorm, and now I want to see it all! Which is potentially a problem, considering all the work I have left to do in the 18 days before I head back to the states! Oh well, you're only twenty-something in Hungary in the early spring once (well, next year too - but I'll be knee deep in thesis writing by then, so I don't know if that will count!)!!!

It also helps that we don't have school today! It's the celebration of the 1848 Hungarian Revolution. It's one of the few national holidays here that involve days off from work/school. I'm using it to get a lot of work done, go for a run, and eat cake :)

So, I have two reasons for posting today: the second excursion of my weekend and that delicious cake I told you about on Saturday. We'll start with the excursion and end with the cakes :) Have patience my dears, the sweets will come, I promise!

Yesterday I went with a friend to explore the Kerepesi Cemetery. It's like the who's-who of Hungarian notables. Built on 56 acres of land, it houses (?) an incredible number of famous, infamous, and regular Hungarians alike. And, as with many of the older cemeteries in Europe, the bigger the name in history, the bigger the monuments. And let me tell you - some were HUGE.

I love cemeteries. I find them incredibly relaxing and peaceful. I mean, a lot of things creep me out about them still (monuments of people in anguished states, etc - OH! A friend mentioned this new trend in cemetery adornments in Europe - apparently in some places people are having small LCD screens in their headstones that will loop either photographs or videos - and some people are even making small videos before they die for this purpose! Talk about creepy! Have any of you heard of this being done?), and you won't find me in one after dark (thank you Buffy The Vampire Slayer for that phobia!).

But they are, especially the older European ones, full of exquisite piece of artwork. I love the older monuments, covered in vines with candles and other mementos left behind. It's like history just froze and you're able to walk around between time periods. This cemetery especially - you have incredibly old stones which you can barely read the names and dates off of up to new ones made out of etched glass with photographs of the people in their lifetime (which is another of the things which creep me out).

So let me just share some of the best pictures I took there yesterday, I think they speak for themselves:

And, even though the pictures of my desserts should speak for themselves as well, I feel the need to put my two cents in on them.

They.Were.DELICIOUS.

Actually, that may be an understatement. Let me put it this way - it's a near 20 minute trip to the bakery from the dorm. It may become a weekly trip. For roughly $1 a cake this seems like a reasonable use of both my time and money. They are totally worth it. I bet when dad comes for another visit and I take him there it may be a trip we make more than once!

Here's the breakdown:

Cake #1: Raspberry topping, vanilla cream inside, cake/crust layer on bottom. Cake #2: Raspberry cream & fresh raspberries between two cake pieces.

Oh, I also might not be lying when I say one of my goals in life is to be a food photographer/journalist :)

Happy Monday!

Stalagmite? Stalactite?

I'm still alive! See! I dunno what's been up, but every time I've sat down to write a post my mind has been a virtual wasteland. Seriously. I see the brambles and tumbleweeds blowing between my eyes!

It's hard to be interesting and witty when all there is to your day-to-day existence is classes, reading for classes, preparing presentations, and writing papers. But, Tuesday was my presentation for our thesis seminar. We have to give a presentation of our general ideas about our thesis - topic, references, research questions, the works. Nerve wrecking? Yes. But mine went really, really well. So I'm quite happy about that!

Today, as a reward for suffering though this past week we had a trip to some caves (the Szemlő-hegyi Caves and the Pál-völgyi Dripstone Caves) out in the Buda hills. It was neat because it's not really a tourist attraction, but more of a local thing (let's be honest here, it's one of those things you take 2nd grade classes to - so it was perfect for me!). And it was really really cool. Instead of telling you more about it, let me just show you some pictures:

woo! i heart caves!

This wast the "Fairy Tale Cave"

You can't see it in this pic, but there are

8 stalagmites - 1 large, 7 small...

"Snow White & The Seven Dwarves!"

The "Cheese Rock"

I thought it looked like either a skeleton

or the little one-eyed guy from Monsters, Inc.

No one else saw it, am I crazy?

Some of the formations were just so pretty!

Fortunately this was one ladder

we did not have to climb!

Some of the caves were full of these formations

which looks like little stacks of pebbles all collected.

It was a really awesome affect from the dripping

waters of the cave!

Can you see the witch's face?

The caves had one downside they drip. A lot. All over you. You'd be standing there, minding your own business, admiring Mother Nature's handiwork, and then *SPLAT!* A giant drop of stale water, intent on becoming a stalagmite, has landed square on your face. I mean, I know I was in it's way, but still - my jacket was pretty damp by the end of the second caves (and out shoes were wet too, but that was more a cause of the melting snow that's still around in the hills than the caves). And then it was sprinkling outside on top of that! I guess we were just destined to spend the day damp around the edges!

And on our way back into the city we stopped at a bakery - the best bakery in all of Budapest. It was crazy inside! People were lined up pretty much almost out the doors (and apparently it's that way every hour of every day that it's open!) and there was absolutely no order for how you got served. So in the traditional Hungarian fashion, we shoved (lightly), snaked, and squeezed our way to the counters and ordered in the very non-traditional Hungarian fashion of pointing and gesturing wildly at various delicacies. People travel from miles around to get cakes and pies, and every other known desserts from here.

One of our organizers was telling me that around Christmas you have to order these traditional Hungarian Christmas cakes about a month to two months in advance if you want them for Christmas - it's that popular/famous. So, I selected two delicious looking desserts and an ice cream cone. The ice cream was amazing. I don't know about the desserts yet - somehow I have self control (who knew!) and they're sitting on my refrigerator for a snack later. I'll be sure to take pictures of them and write a review later - but I have no doubt that they'll be amazing (Actually, we went to another desert place this week too - so I'll be sure to tell you about that as well!).