Tuesday, November 27, 2007

A Visit

Stacey and Lisa arrived.

28 hours late. Their plane was cancelled the first day, then had a forced landing in Boston the second. Eventually, they made it.
I won't give you a blow-by-blow. I will, however, give some (fairly extensive) highlights.

1) Delicious dinners. We had two stand-out dinners. The first was their first night here, at Spinoza cafe, right down the road from me. I had never been there before, but had heard rave reviews. It was well deserved. I had gnocchi with blue cheese sauce and prosciutto - delicious! We also had an excellent wine. I tend to drink Egri Bikaver, which is a dry red Hungarian wine from the Eger district. Actually, it literally translates as "Bulls Blood". This was a fancier Bikaver than I had ever had, and it was well worth it. Lovely.
The second meal was later in the visit, at a restaurant called Klassz (pronounced 'class'). This was by far one of the best meals I have had in a very long time. We had delicious soup - potato with an egg - that was brought out in the brass pot in which it was cooked, then poured into the bowl, lamb leg and catfish with goat cheese and some spectacular veggies for a small sample, as well as four different and satisfying desserts. Highly, highly recommended.

2) Vienna.

On Saturday, we took the 3-hour train trip up to Vienna early in the morning, spent a day in the city, and then took a late train back. I loved Vienna. One particularly memorable part of the day was the art museum there - it is one of the premier museums in the world, with tons of Netherlandish art that I particularly enjoyed. I believe I've mentioned this earlier in my blog, but I took an art history class last year that was very difficult at the time but has really increased my appreciation of art. Thanks, distribution requirements. We also had a very excellent cake at the museum. Austria is famous for its torte, and with good reason. Mmm-mm.
The city itself was so beautiful and delicate. We wandered through the Hapsburg grounds for most of the day - huge palaces, gardens, and museums that were breathtaking. It's nearly impossible to imagine how Budapest and Vienna could possibly have co-run an empire. I can barely imagine two more different cities. Budapest feels so earth-bound, whereas Vienna felt like anything besides earth - a little sky, some water, but definitely not earth. I have two friends who will be visiting Vienna next weekend, and I think it will be even more amazing with all the lights up for the holidays.
Just a travel recommendation, though not an original one - Prague, Vienna and Budapest. Each city is so different, but they are in such close proximity that this is truly fascinating. I'd say 3 days in Prague, 2 in Vienna and 4 or 5 in Budapest would be a really amazing vacation. Just my two cents. One reason for the timing is not only that I liked Budapest better than Prague or Vienna. I also think that Budapest takes a little while longer to get a hold on. Prague is full of expats, so in many ways I've heard that what you see is what you get, and though I can't speak for Vienna in that way, I personally felt that I got what I wanted in just a day, but Budapest is a little harder to penetrate, it seems to me. Budapest is also the largest of the cities, and thus has the most wandering ability.

3) The Opera. We saw The Marriage of Figaro in the Hungarian State Opera House, which is one of the best opera houses in the world, or so says the New York Times. I've never been to the opera before, but I'd have to say I agree. It was so much fun. First of all, the building itself is breathtaking.


Secondly, the opera is a ton of fun. Who knew? I had little to know idea what they were saying - except for the very slight bit of Italian that I could pick out - but it didn't matter. It was beautiful, and funny, and really just a great time. I'm going to see Othello with my program on Thursday, and I'm psyched. It'll be something totally different, what with being a tragedy and all, but I'm really looking forward to it.

4) Great Market.


This is a huge market. The bottom floor is filled with fruit and vegetable and meat and spice stands, the basement has fruit and kitchenware-type things, and the top floor has food stands as well as more touristy things. I'd actually never been before, and it was an experience. We came looking for a turkey, but there will be more on that in just a little bit.

5) The Baths. The baths are just amazing. The first day, we tried to go but it was closing just as we showed up. Instead, we went to a nice little coffee shop.
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The second day, we managed. We actually ended up going right at sunset, and watched the sun set from one of the outdoor pools, complete with steam rising off it and a fountain. It was absolutely beautiful, and of course, totally relaxing. I love the baths. I'm hoping to go to one in Istanbul as well - they are Turkish baths, after all!

I also took them to my favorite gypsy music place, and my favorite gypsy steak restaurant. They wandered a ton while I was in school, and saw most of the big sites. So, the moral? Visitors are, actually, good.

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