Rainy days

OK, so I found the hills in budapest. But I found them while aboard a tour bus! So no sore legs for me today.

We went to Városliget park yesterday evening to get out and do a little exploring. Since it was a Sunday, there wasn’t much open in our area of the city so there wasn’t much sense venturing out very far as there wasn’t likely anything else open. So the park was a good idea, and it was in the opposite direction that I intended us to travel today therefore if we didn’t go yesterday, we wouldn’t be going. We saw the hot springs (well, the outside of them) we saw lots of famous statues and buildings. Following that we wasted the day away with naps which were much needed after the train ride. While comfortable, it was far from silent… So mothers sleep wasn’t quite as good as she thought it was. Or maybe I am just overtired, hungry or going crazy. All of the above are logical explanations. 

Anyways, it was a good idea we enjoyed our visit to the park because it has been raining for most of our day today. We walked around for a bit this morning, grabbed a ticket for a hop on & hop off bus tour as I was eager to learn more about the city and the Hungarian history. Was not disappointed. Did you know that at one time Transylvania was part of Hungary? I didn’t! I really want to go there as well, but that’s another trip all together. A much smaller trip. By myself.

Finally got crabby silas to nap while on the bus. It really is a good thing I got this ticket because it’s raining cats and dogs outside. On another positive note about this tour, the red line bus goes up Gellard hill! Beautiful sightseeing from the top and there’s no chance in hell I would have come up here had I been walking. Nope, this hill would get a big ‘hell no’. 

This fabulous bus also allows mommy time to relax and enjoy the city. There is this awesome Hungarian music that plays inbetween the commentary so that’s a treat as well! I am dying to try some traditional Hungarian food sometime tonight and earlier in the day I had passed a place that claimed to be the oldest Hungarian restaurant in the city with classic Hungarian meals. We have already eaten a fabulous street kabob (pita, chicken, lettuce, tomato, cucumber and Taziki sauce incase you were wondering) as well as a bacon burger from BRGR. Only critique on the burger is that the meat to toppings to bun ratio was all wrong. Too much bun and toppings, not enough meat (not including the mounds of bacon). Which was truly a shame because the meat was spectacular. Wonderfully seasoned, juicy, cooked to perfection, just too damn small. 

I’ve gotta be honest, I’m not really feeling that well today. I think my bad eating habits are starting to catch up with me, or maybe I’ve just taken on too much and all the activity has worn me out. Or I’ve just caught something, to which I would not be happy about. I’m pushing through it though. Partly because I don’t want my travels to go to waste, but part of it is that I’m not really crazy about my accommodations here in budapest so I’d like to spend as little time there as possible. 

It’s a lovely little hostel, but no one speaks English and it’s more of an old family apartment than an actual ‘hostel’. I feel like I am renting an extra bedroom from a family… It’s just weird. And kinda dingy. But it’s fairly cheap so I can’t complain… My room in Brussels was cheaper though. And nicer. Being completely honest, it’s a close price comparison to what I’ve paid per night with all my rooms so far, and I am very disappointed with it. Will not be returning to the accommodation if I ever return to budapest. I honestly thought about cancelling and just going somewhere else regardless of the cancelation fee. I decided against it only because I had no way to book anything online without wifi and the hostel is close to the train station. 

Overall Budapest is a very lovely destination and I am enjoying myself. Everything is walking distance as well which you know I LOVE because of my irrational fears of public transportation. I still can’t wait to get back to London though. I adore London… And everyone speaks my language so that’s a huge factor in my love for the city. London is massive though so bus tour is a must. I am sad that I won’t get to spend a full week in London but it just starts to get way too expensive after a couple days. It’s not the end of the world though. I shall return to see my family again many times in the years to come so I will make it back to London eventually. 

Hard to believe there’s only 10 days left till london and only 13 days left till the end of my europe trip. I’m on the 16th day of my trip, so I’m over halfway finished! Changing cities so often both shortens and prolongs the trip. Definitely doesn’t give me time to get bored of one city before I am onto the next one! 

On another note, the walking dead finale was last night but I wasn’t able to watch it till this morning. Wasn’t as climactic as I thought it would be, but it was still really good. I’ve actually been spending ridiculous amounts of money on iTunes to watch tv and movies because my rooms as of recent haven’t had tv’s and the countries haven’t had Netflix. But either way, I’m happy I got to keep up with my favorite shows. Also got the mid season premier of Bones because I can’t live without it. And Tarzan…. Because silas. 

The night train

Took the night train from Kraków to budapest, and was it ever wonderful. Slept rather comfortably, met some lovely girls from China that were also going to budapest. Overall was just a very nice trip. And I think I’d prefer to sleep on a train rather than spend a whole day on one just to get into a city and go straight to bed. Even though that’s pretty much what has happened today as well. Silas was wiped out so he’s having a nap and I am watching tv. 

I was so fed up with things yesterday that after I checked out of my hostel, we walked to the train station and spent the day there waiting. I know, ‘why didn’t you go exploring’ well I was irritated and didn’t feel like I wanted to get lost trying to find something. Kraków Glowny station is connected to  the Kraków galleria… Or in other words, a gigantic shopping mall. So we wandered around there for a bit as well. I keep trying to find a light sweater with pockets to wear instead of my jacket because it’s so warm everywhere, but have had no luck. Oh well. Everyone wears their coats and has no issues, so it must be my warm blooded canadian climatization (yes, I made that up) that’s making me overhead. So use to the frigid cold and needing to produce body heat to keep warm, that I can’t turn it off. I mean holy bananas people. It’s 10 degrees Celsius out! This is shorts & t-shirt weather. Seriously! 

I do kinda feel bad that I didn’t do more exploring in Kraków, but I was just having such a hard time getting around and having only a short time there because of my full day trip left me less time to explore as well. Didn’t eat anything polish really either. Ordered pizza to the hostel after my day trip because I couldn’t dare walk another step. Had mcdonalds at the train station. Then tacos.

When you only have one full day to do things in a place, and that whole day is allotted to a tour of a specific place I found I was pretty much done after that. The real reason I even went to Kraków was for auchwitz, because it has always been a place I wanted to see in person. So the rest of the city was pretty much irrelevant anyways. 

Once silas gets up and going we will explore budapest a bit (not too much though as we have all day tomorrow as well!). Maybe grab some food, see a few sights nearby. Stop at a park. Who knows where we will end up. 

A major positive for budapest already? Real crosswalks. Everywhere. No stairs. No hills… Yet.

Again delayed. My apologies but wifi was scarce! 

A step back

Today was the day we had our auchwitz-Birkenau tour, and I was rather excited for it. That excitement dwindled as the morning progressed. First off, rather than a regular tour bus they brought a van. I don’t have a car seat for silas as I was expecting an actual bus to which babies do not require a seat of their own. 

Secondly, once on our way… It starts raining. And It keeps raining the ENTIRE TIME. 

Third, couldn’t take stroller or diaper bag. Therefore my back was killing me after hours of carrying silas as he couldn’t walk due to the muddy puddly mess that was the walkways at the camps. And I didn’t have any of silas’ snacks, drinks, nothing. 

Fourth, I couldn’t even finish the last hour at birkenau because my back hurt so bad, my child wasn’t letting me enjoy myself at all. And last but not least, the weather was completely impossible to do anything in. 

So, in summary… If you take your small children with you, you will want to shoot yourself in the face. 

But otherwise, it was a wonderful experience to visit. At one point we went into the only remaining gas chamber in auchwitz 1 and it was a truly surreal moment to imagine that I was standing in a room where hundreds of people were killed daily during the time auchwitz was first operational. After the chambers in auchwitz-Birkenau were built, the one in auchwitz wasn’t really used anymore if I did hear correctly. The ones in auchwitz-Birkenau were destroyed near the end of the war in an attempt to cover up the harsh reality of just how horrible this place really was. Absolutely sickening how horrible this place must have been for the people subjected to this horror. The first people in auchwitz were actually polish people from the surrounding areas and they were taken in an effort to cleanse the surrounding area (so they could not witness from the outside the atrocities taking place here) but they were also taken so their homes could be used for German guards. Living in the wrong place at the wrong time was the only reason they were subjected to the torture and starvation they endured. Lots of their pictures are on the walls in one of the barracks, as in the beginning they took a photograph of all the prisoners when they were taken into the camp. Most only lived a few short months if they were lucky. One I saw lived two whole years… I wish I could say that man was lucky, but that is far from the truth. 

Did you know that prisoners were given the job of carrying the bodies from the gas chambers to the crematoriums and then burning them?

Could you even imagine sorting through the bodies of men, women and children? Some still just babies? Possibly seeing someone you know, or even a family member? And ontop of that, after a couple months the workers were killed as to keep what they were doing from becoming public knowledge.

Aside from the obviously tragic history, it was amazing to be able to see the camps. It really makes you appreciate the life you have. And I learned a lot more than I expected! I can only imagine if we had participated in the birkenau part of the tour that Id know far more, but maybe that will be for a time when I am not with silas. Otherwise it’s just stressful. 

So in Kraków I have done pretty much nothing aside from walk to my hostel. I have come to the conclusion that this city, while very pedestrian friendly, is not however stroller/wheelchair friendly. Underpasses for walking are a splendid idea, but not when there are copious amounts of stairs on either side. Granted the main one by the station doesn’t have stairs, rather a large sloping walkway, the rest of the city is not that grand. Nor does it have the amount of space said grand underpass requires. 

I’m not sure Kraków will ever be a place to which I return as I haven’t had a pleasant time yet. But there’s still tomorrow… So fingers crossed. The castle is quite magnificent and the city is rather small so it makes getting around fairly quick (if you don’t have a stroller)

Next train I take is tomorrow already and it’s an overnight train. What are the chances things will go smoothly on that one. Not likely. That’s what. But oh well, that’s life. I am currently at stop 6 out of 11 so in theory I am over halfway done. God I know this is bad, but I can not wait to have this over. Definitely too big of a challenge. 

Oh and sorry for the delays in posting, I had this post and the last written up but was unable to publish them due to Internet connectivity issues. 

One day I’ll be back

Prague was beautiful. And you know how I said I wasn’t walking up any more hills? I lied. The park was too beautiful not to climb up to. We went there yesterday morning, early as always and holy crap those trails to the top were steep! The stairs wouldn’t have been as bad, had I not had my stroller with me. But alas I did, so up the trail we went. I assume walking it would really not have been such a task without having to push 50+ pounds of baby and stroller infront of me the whole way. Either way it was worth it. Beautiful view overlooking the city, lots of walking trails that required zero hills and a massive playground area (all fensed in I might add, to which silas couldn’t escape). Silas loved being able to run around, play in the sand and climb all over everything. The slides are always his favourite. But then again throwing sand in his hair and at other children seems to be a new favourite too. Why can’t you just behave for like ten whole minutes? Oh right, You use up the good behaviour by sleeping through the night. Yay energetic little silas… All day… Every day… If this kid didn’t sleep I swear I would be crazy by now. 

So while I was in prague I ate at this little bar/restaurant around the corner from my hotel and was quite pleased with what I had. It actually went straight to the top of my best meals ever. Sirloin cream sauce with bread dumplings.   

  

 First off, I almost didn’t get this traditional czech dish because of the word dumplings. I am always a bit leery when it comes to them, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they were more bread than soggy dumpling. The sirloin was so tender that it fell apart with no effort, but the true star of the show was the cream sauce. Absolutely unforgettable. You could serve me a bowl of that as soup and I would devour it. And lick the bowl clean. There was not a stitch left on my plate afterwards, as between silas and I we loved it. We also got a side of steamed mixed veggies which were a hit as well, and everything was very large portions so there was plenty to go around. Couldn’t finish all the vegetables though. I got a ginormous vat of Pilsner and the whole meal only set me back 242 ck (roughly 13€) which is an amazing deal! 

I loved it so much, I went back last night. And that would have been totally find if I had eaten something different like I had intended to in the first place, but I didn’t. And that my friends was my first mistake. 

Rather than eating a turkey breast roll filled with cream cheese, mushrooms and all sorts of other delicious things, I ate the sirloin in cream sauce again. And I was disappointed. While the cream sauce was once again the star, the sirloin was a bit tough and stringy. This made it require a fair bit more chewing and cutting. Rather than perfectly sliced little rounds, they were large and terribly sliced lumps. I am assuming that because of the bigger pieces they were not all cooked and tenderized like they were the night before. There was also a completely different presentation of the meal so that lead me to believe that possibly there are multiple chefs. 

In addition to my main course I added an appetizer of beer cheese because I was determined to try this czech speciality before I left, and it was quite good. However I was not expecting it to be massive! Easily enough for 3 people, if not more.   

 

And the fact that this appetizer is less than 4€ amazes me. Didn’t finish it as I couldn’t possibly and still have an appetite for my main course. Massive mountain of veggies once again, however silas was only really interested in the baby corn. But he gobbled up the dessert rather quickly. So quick that I wasn’t even able to get a picture. Basically it was a layer of peaches followed by a layer of vanilla ice cream, topped with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. 

Anyways, lesson learned. Don’t ruin a perfect memory of a meal by eating it again immediately and giving them a chance to tarnish that memory. Savour that memory. 

Now we are on our way to Kraków for two nights. We head to auchwitz in the morning for our tour. Rather nervous to see it. Will bring tons of tissues. 

Walkabout

We arrived in Prague yesterday afternoon, little later than expected due to a delay. Someone’s car was sitting on the tracks… On fire. No big deal though, got here with plenty of daylight left. Didn’t realize that they didn’t deal in euros here, but on the plus side I didn’t have any euro left from Germany therefore no unneeded bills floating around my wallet. 

Another thing I didn’t realize was that they don’t have Netflix available on the Czech Republic. Or any of the countries I’m visiting in the immediate future. Not a big deal though, I only ever watch it once silas is asleep for the night.

So. Prague. Overall so far, I am absolutely loving it here. By far my favourite country I’ve experienced yet. Everything is within walking here in Prague and I am absolutely loving that. I’m sure I’m not the first person to admit that I am not a fan of public transport. It’s loud, often smells of stinky people and it’s hard to enjoy your surroundings like that. 

The weather is lovely, the countryside along the tracks on the way here was spectacular. And Prague right before Easter? Even better! There is a huge Easter market in the Old Town square with everything from hot wine to children’s toys.  

 

First off, I highly recommend getting up early (my normal time) and get going to see all the touristy places, as they are NOWHERE NEAR AS BUSY WHEN NO ONE IS AWAKE. We had already set off right before 8 am and though lots of shops weren’t open, we completely missed the crowds and got to enjoy most of the sights. Charles bridge gets super busy and lined with street vendors as the day really gets started. Really difficult to adore the beautiful statues with people pestering you to buy things. And seriously guys, the sun was up at like 6 so might as well take advantage of that. 

Since we got started at 8 this morning, our day went by rather quickly. We have a few places to stop by tomorrow  but otherwise managed to do almost everything I set out to. And all before noon! Quite literally WALKING DISTANCE. 

Grabbed some adorable egg ornaments at the market, had a cup of hot apple wine as well as a trdelník while I listened to a band play some lovely music. 

  

Also got some potato spiral chips that I took with me back to my room for later.   

That didn’t last long. 

Prague castle was grand and magnificent. Just don’t ask me to ever climb that hill again. Hill plus stroller equals a difficult climb for mommy. Wonderful views from the top though. 

  

Went back down the hill the opposite way, stopped in a park and managed to get this lovely picture. Best shot I could get as the views were very obstructed. 

There’s a very lovely mall near our hostel and it has everything you could ever want. Thinking I need to get a light zip sweater or button down shirt… Don’t know if it’ll fit in my bag though. Maybe I should buy an extra bag too while I’m at it. Anyways, the mall has a whole level for restaurants and I think I might have to check one or two of them out. Smelled really good. 

Don’t even get me started on the smells. I swear this place smells like the fair does. Sweet doughy goodness. 

I had bought a bunch of bananas in Berlin the day before we left and I now only have two Left. My 16 month old toddler has effectively mowed through 7 whole bananas by himself. There’s a little grocery store a couple of buildings down from here and they have a wide selection of fresh fruits and veggies, but I think I may need to go get some actual snacks like granola because something about eating 3 bananas a day just doesn’t sound quite right. There’s a common area here that I’m thinking I might check out. Mostly to see if there’s a fridge so I don’t have to keep wasting leftover milk from silas’ bottles.