St. Stephen’s Day

Tiara

In Hungary, August 20th is St. Stephen’s Day (also known as Hungary’s birthday), and we were in Budapest to see all the festivities.  St. Stephen became Hungary’s first king in 1000 AD when he was appointed by the pope.  His great accomplishment was converting the nation to Roman Catholicism.  We learned that celebrating St. Stephen’s Day was prohibited from 1945-1990 while Hungary was under communism.  So, now it’s back in full force and Catholics abound and everyone loves a party.

This is St. Stephen’s Basilica.  It’s nice!

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Berlin Cocktails: Lost in Grub Street

Ian

Lost in Grub Street is a weird bar with a weird name in Berlin’s business district. It was literally empty when we got there at 8PM on a Saturday; the bartender had to follow us in (he was sitting outside). He blamed “weekends in the summer,” which to me seem like good times to be in the bar business, but maybe things are different in Berlin (?)

The theme of the bar is “big bowls and short drinks.” Being as how there are only two of us, we skipped the punch bowls.

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Bonus points for the double-wide cocktail napkin to accommodate the palate cleansing water.

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Bratislava

Tiara
Me too, anonymous graffiti artist. Me too.

Me too, anonymous graffiti artist. Me too.

We didn’t plan to go to Bratislava.  When I was researching this trip from home it seemed like the consensus was that Bratislava didn’t have a lot to offer.  I hope that public opinion stays that way so the city can remain as quiet and cute as we found it.  We had intended to take an overnight train from Krakow to Budapest but it booked up far in advance and the best option we found was to take a bus to Bratislava, spend a day or two there, and then take a short train ride the rest of the way to Budapest.  We decided to “splurge” on a 4-star hotel with a fitness center and a fancy breakfast buffet (and air conditioning!) and it was super amazing and a great deal.

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Krakow and Oswiecem

Tiara

After visiting our friends in the country we headed to Krakow for a few days.  We (correctly) predicted that the heat wave would not let up any time soon and booked an Airbnb with air conditioning, which seems to be a really rare amenity in Europe.  This turned out to be a great decision.  I think Ian’s favorite part about our apartment, though, was that it came fully equipped:

cocktail set

Bison grass vodka not included.

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What I’m Reading

Tiara

Traveling has been a great opportunity to start reading again.  I always think of myself as someone who loves reading but I find I rarely read for pleasure anymore.  I’ve been trying to do more of that this past year, and all the plane, train, and bus rides over the past two months have really helped me out.  Here’s what I’ve read so far on this trip, and I would love to hear your recommendations of what I should pick up next.

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Hieronymus Bosch

Ian

Tiara and I love Bosch; he’s some weird psychedelic dutch guy from the 1400s that was making paintings of lizardmen and fish knights when everyone else was drawing nobles in furs or windmills.  Dali definitely owes a debt to Bosch, as do other recent surrealist things (e.g. the Codex Seraphinianus).

We were lucky that the Gemäldegalerie had two of his 30 odd works while we were in Berlin.  Here are a couple close-ups from St. John the Evangelist and The Temptation of Saint Anthony:

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Maybe not your typical transit, but it beats sitting in traffic

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A Visit To The Country

Tiara

We were lucky to have our schedule line up with our friend John’s so that we got to see him in both Berlin and Poland.  We visited him and his wife Agnieszka at her family’s home in the Polish countryside near Czestochowa.

John and Agnieszka met us at the train station and we stopped at a giant supermarket on the way home to stock up on food and drinks.  Naturally, when we arrived at the house we were fed instantly:

czestochowa lunch

Meat (Beef? I’m not actually sure) in a delightful creamy sauce, Greek salad, a homemade cherry juice, and of course, dumplings.

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In Which I Eat All The Soup

Tiara

To make up for all the dumplings and waffles, I have found myself gravitating toward soups lately.  I started strong in Warsaw with a two-course soup dinner, in which Ian and I ordered a chanterelle soup for a starter and I had tomato soup for my main.  This thoroughly confused our waitress, who informed me, “you know, that is also soup,” when I ordered.

chantrelle soup

Chanterelles are in season in Poland right now and they are so cheap and delicious.

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