We have all, I believe, figured out that I am no longer in England. I am, in fact, in Budapest. Specifically in Pest because Budapest was once two cities (Buda and Pest) on different sides of the Danube (it is actually called something else here, but I forget the name) that grew and combined. Within the city (district?) of Pest Ariel and I are staying in a tiny, quiet hostel located in an apartment built for giants. The ceilings are about 25 feet high and the doors are about ten feet tall, and the doorknobs on said doors are shoulder height on me. Our beds are some sort of couch-style lounge surfaces that are covered in a slippery material that passively dumps the sheets onto the floor while I am sleeping. We had planned to go to Vienna instead of Budapest but we have been loosely traveling with a pair of girls who were coming here and we decided to follow along. We met them in Krakow (side bar, I tried to write a blog entry in Krakow and didn't because I didn't feel like writing. Turns out that was a good move because I just read what I had saved. This is what I wrote: "In Krakow. It is very very cold") and they visited us for a few days in Bratislava and then we caught up with them here in Hungary.
I have not blogged at all since Prague, and since Prague there has been Krakow, Bratislava and now Budapest. Since there is lots to write about and now that I have caught you up on where I am physically (Hungary, Pest, Hostel-built-for-giants, tiny closet housing the hostel's computer) I have a lot to say about the past 2 weeks. So I will try and write it all down, hopefully.
Sunday 28 September 2008
Saturday 13 September 2008
In Prague, Beer is Cheaper Than Coke.
Yes, my friends, it is.
Also, Ariel says "hi."
Anyways. 0.2l of coke is 40 koruny (sp? anyways, prague dollars) and 0.3l of beer is 30 prague currencies. So, coke is twice the price of beer here. Which is fine, because I donªt really drink soda and this is the first place that I have been able to justify having a beer.
A few nights ago Ariel and I ran into this guy that we hung out with in Amsterdam and so we hung out with im again and we all commented on what a small world it is etc. it really is such a small world, but not in the "small world" sense so much as there is a rather select group of people who:
A) Like to travel
B) Can AFFORD it
C) Stay in Hostels
D) Travel specifically in Europe
and E) Can travel in September.
So, we really shouldnªt be that surprised.
Everyone but one girl in our hostel room is from the states, specifcally the western US; we have Alaskans, a Hawaiian, and someone who was living in Nevada.
Prague itself is lovely and was warm and sunny for the past two days, and then today the other shoe and the temperature dropped and it was chily chilly chilly. Once more for emphasis: chilly. Which was ok if surprising because the sky was still bright blue and so I couldnªt (and still canªt) figure out why it was so cold. It was like cosmic-all-powerful being suddenly realized that it was September, said "oops!" and hurriedly turned the thermostat down. Every time I walked out of a building I shivered and put my jacket and my sweater back on (which is exciting becaue I found myself a hunter green, plaid, wool-ish, bomber jacket at a flea market in Amsterdam and I like it lots. Itªs almost like having a new toy.
Today Ariel and I went to Prague castle which is huge and pretty and expensive, about 475 Prague units. Which is €19. Which is $25-ish. I can afford it because the hostel is about €9 a night (weªve been paying about €20). I now know some quite random crap about Pragueªs history because of the super-dense audiogiude that I rented, and couldnªt absorb. I know that St. Wenceslas is considered the true ruler of Prague and that somehow Prague became Episcopal in the 8th century (which is strange, because I could have SWORN that the episcopal sect (?) was invented later than that, but then my parents donªt call me the family heathen fer nuthinª.
The real star of the show, thoug, were the little coffee machines that were sprinkled around the castle. I love them. Ohhhh so much. You put your ridiculously small amoutn of money in, then a little plastic cup pops out of the machine and proceeds to fill with your choesn beverage (or, as in my case, whichever Czech gobbledegook seems to fit your mood) and then you slide your super-sweet, fragrantly steaming, excessively warm mystery beverage from itªs track and sip it. I had a mocha (I think) and a marzipan cappucino (I think, I gathered this flavor from the coffee machine in the hostel, which is in English). The coffee dispenser in my hostel also dispense 10 prague-ies worth of soup. I donªt know what kind of soup it is, or even if it is soup, but Iwill try it and get back to you. I promise. Unless it really is soup and kind of dull soup, at which point I may decide that the soup is not worth posting about.
I am going to go try the soup and let someone else use the internet right now, so, more later.
Also, Ariel says "hi."
Anyways. 0.2l of coke is 40 koruny (sp? anyways, prague dollars) and 0.3l of beer is 30 prague currencies. So, coke is twice the price of beer here. Which is fine, because I donªt really drink soda and this is the first place that I have been able to justify having a beer.
A few nights ago Ariel and I ran into this guy that we hung out with in Amsterdam and so we hung out with im again and we all commented on what a small world it is etc. it really is such a small world, but not in the "small world" sense so much as there is a rather select group of people who:
A) Like to travel
B) Can AFFORD it
C) Stay in Hostels
D) Travel specifically in Europe
and E) Can travel in September.
So, we really shouldnªt be that surprised.
Everyone but one girl in our hostel room is from the states, specifcally the western US; we have Alaskans, a Hawaiian, and someone who was living in Nevada.
Prague itself is lovely and was warm and sunny for the past two days, and then today the other shoe and the temperature dropped and it was chily chilly chilly. Once more for emphasis: chilly. Which was ok if surprising because the sky was still bright blue and so I couldnªt (and still canªt) figure out why it was so cold. It was like cosmic-all-powerful being suddenly realized that it was September, said "oops!" and hurriedly turned the thermostat down. Every time I walked out of a building I shivered and put my jacket and my sweater back on (which is exciting becaue I found myself a hunter green, plaid, wool-ish, bomber jacket at a flea market in Amsterdam and I like it lots. Itªs almost like having a new toy.
Today Ariel and I went to Prague castle which is huge and pretty and expensive, about 475 Prague units. Which is €19. Which is $25-ish. I can afford it because the hostel is about €9 a night (weªve been paying about €20). I now know some quite random crap about Pragueªs history because of the super-dense audiogiude that I rented, and couldnªt absorb. I know that St. Wenceslas is considered the true ruler of Prague and that somehow Prague became Episcopal in the 8th century (which is strange, because I could have SWORN that the episcopal sect (?) was invented later than that, but then my parents donªt call me the family heathen fer nuthinª.
The real star of the show, thoug, were the little coffee machines that were sprinkled around the castle. I love them. Ohhhh so much. You put your ridiculously small amoutn of money in, then a little plastic cup pops out of the machine and proceeds to fill with your choesn beverage (or, as in my case, whichever Czech gobbledegook seems to fit your mood) and then you slide your super-sweet, fragrantly steaming, excessively warm mystery beverage from itªs track and sip it. I had a mocha (I think) and a marzipan cappucino (I think, I gathered this flavor from the coffee machine in the hostel, which is in English). The coffee dispenser in my hostel also dispense 10 prague-ies worth of soup. I donªt know what kind of soup it is, or even if it is soup, but Iwill try it and get back to you. I promise. Unless it really is soup and kind of dull soup, at which point I may decide that the soup is not worth posting about.
I am going to go try the soup and let someone else use the internet right now, so, more later.
Monday 8 September 2008
Berlin Post
I am in love.
With Berlin.
So far.
It´s cheap and urban and the keyboards are reminiscent of American keyboards. Plus I had a super cheap shawerma that was fantastic (fresh and minty and sesame-y, with chilli sauce) and then I went and had a small waffle-cone of orange-chocolate ice cream (my favorite). The cone wasn´t even stale, it was crisp and sweet and mildly cookie-like.
Did I mention that it´s cheap?
The past 2 nights Ariel and I stayed with a couchsurfer named J. She´s a photographer and so this morning she photographed us for a project about couchsurfing and globalization. I couldn´t relax and so I look stiff and sombre in all of the pictures, which is too bad. But, I am happy that I got to participate in it.
She took us to a legitimate flea market which was loads better than Camden (!!!). People were selling their art and vintage clothes and cheap goods (I bought embroidery needles) as well as absolute junk (boxes of watch straps or piles of old-style calling cards for public telephones from before everyone had a mobile and lots of polaroid cameras). We dropped by some sort of techno music festival which was interesting, as Ariel pointed out "youth culture in the first world is the same EVERYWHERE." The audience at the festival could have been relocated to anywhere and could have fit in. We stayed for maybe half an hour, then left because it really wasn´t Ariel and my scene, and J was no longer interested in that sort of thing anymore.
Berlin seems to have a more unconscious alternative side, or maybe Berlin is mostly alternative. Most people have lots of tattoos and piercings, or they´re Muslim (we are staying in a hostel in an area with many Muslim people). But, as I said earlier, in a lot of ways it seems less studied. And less subversive (I am not sure that that is the word that I want to use there) Christiania, in Copenhagen, was a different type of alternative. Less urban (obviously) but less hip too, which is kind of a relief since the lines between alternative and hip seem to blur in somewhat obnoxious ways. Also, in Berlin their seems to be an emphasis on youth culture rather than general trends towards alternative lifestyles. Man, I use that word a lot. I think that it will be interesting to see what hip kids of my generation are like in 20 years. Will they still be vegans inhabiting the hip areas of cities on mattresses on the floor and subsisting on beer, cigarettes, vegan sprouted-wheat bread and coke? Will they be a softened version of themselves? Or will they go the opposite direction and become born-again republicans?
I dunno, may be a little of both.
I realize that I haven´t said much about Copenhagen. We stayed with this guy T who we never saw but he was hosting a French Canadian guy too and so we hung out with him which was cool. We saw a design museum and that small statue of The Little Mermaid. Then we went to saty with this woman, L (the one with the cats who took us to the party). L was great and had lots of ideas of things to do in Copenhagen. We went and walked around Christiania, this alternative living e-squatters community (look it up, it´s great) and it felt a little like Santa Cruz because it was laid back and people tended to garden the same way (overgrown and bushy and colorful) if you went away from the main street (pushers alley or something like that). And the houses were built bz the owners and were wooden and really cute and again mildly santa cruz-ian. Very macrobiotic.
The party was fun but Ariel and I were tired and so we left early. There was pizza and a band called "Hapcore" that I enjoyed a lot. Kind of weird and there were 2 harpists, the lead singer-songwriter and then a very meek, geeky girl who wore socks with her sandals and baggy skirt and who would read some magazine when she wasn´t playing, even though she was still on stage.
That´s about it so far... internet is cheap here so maybe Iwill update this more often, but I don´t have a lot of confidence in that statement.
OH! I forgot! I checked my bank account this morning, and I am UNDER BUDGET. Nice.
With Berlin.
So far.
It´s cheap and urban and the keyboards are reminiscent of American keyboards. Plus I had a super cheap shawerma that was fantastic (fresh and minty and sesame-y, with chilli sauce) and then I went and had a small waffle-cone of orange-chocolate ice cream (my favorite). The cone wasn´t even stale, it was crisp and sweet and mildly cookie-like.
Did I mention that it´s cheap?
The past 2 nights Ariel and I stayed with a couchsurfer named J. She´s a photographer and so this morning she photographed us for a project about couchsurfing and globalization. I couldn´t relax and so I look stiff and sombre in all of the pictures, which is too bad. But, I am happy that I got to participate in it.
She took us to a legitimate flea market which was loads better than Camden (!!!). People were selling their art and vintage clothes and cheap goods (I bought embroidery needles) as well as absolute junk (boxes of watch straps or piles of old-style calling cards for public telephones from before everyone had a mobile and lots of polaroid cameras). We dropped by some sort of techno music festival which was interesting, as Ariel pointed out "youth culture in the first world is the same EVERYWHERE." The audience at the festival could have been relocated to anywhere and could have fit in. We stayed for maybe half an hour, then left because it really wasn´t Ariel and my scene, and J was no longer interested in that sort of thing anymore.
Berlin seems to have a more unconscious alternative side, or maybe Berlin is mostly alternative. Most people have lots of tattoos and piercings, or they´re Muslim (we are staying in a hostel in an area with many Muslim people). But, as I said earlier, in a lot of ways it seems less studied. And less subversive (I am not sure that that is the word that I want to use there) Christiania, in Copenhagen, was a different type of alternative. Less urban (obviously) but less hip too, which is kind of a relief since the lines between alternative and hip seem to blur in somewhat obnoxious ways. Also, in Berlin their seems to be an emphasis on youth culture rather than general trends towards alternative lifestyles. Man, I use that word a lot. I think that it will be interesting to see what hip kids of my generation are like in 20 years. Will they still be vegans inhabiting the hip areas of cities on mattresses on the floor and subsisting on beer, cigarettes, vegan sprouted-wheat bread and coke? Will they be a softened version of themselves? Or will they go the opposite direction and become born-again republicans?
I dunno, may be a little of both.
I realize that I haven´t said much about Copenhagen. We stayed with this guy T who we never saw but he was hosting a French Canadian guy too and so we hung out with him which was cool. We saw a design museum and that small statue of The Little Mermaid. Then we went to saty with this woman, L (the one with the cats who took us to the party). L was great and had lots of ideas of things to do in Copenhagen. We went and walked around Christiania, this alternative living e-squatters community (look it up, it´s great) and it felt a little like Santa Cruz because it was laid back and people tended to garden the same way (overgrown and bushy and colorful) if you went away from the main street (pushers alley or something like that). And the houses were built bz the owners and were wooden and really cute and again mildly santa cruz-ian. Very macrobiotic.
The party was fun but Ariel and I were tired and so we left early. There was pizza and a band called "Hapcore" that I enjoyed a lot. Kind of weird and there were 2 harpists, the lead singer-songwriter and then a very meek, geeky girl who wore socks with her sandals and baggy skirt and who would read some magazine when she wasn´t playing, even though she was still on stage.
That´s about it so far... internet is cheap here so maybe Iwill update this more often, but I don´t have a lot of confidence in that statement.
OH! I forgot! I checked my bank account this morning, and I am UNDER BUDGET. Nice.
Thursday 4 September 2008
Emily is in Denmark
Contrary to the title of this blog, I am not in England, I am in Denmark. Copenhagen to be exact (which my host says is pronounced "koo-ben-houn"). Ariel and I are staying at our third place in koobenhoun. We had a hostel which was weird and located out in no-where-land so we re-located to a couchsurfing dudes place and are in another couchsurfers house now. She has cats and is very nice and is taking us to a party to support a center for prostitutes and drug-addicts tomorrow night. I REALLY like this couch surfing thing.
Aaaaanyways...
In an attempt to atone for a lunchtime fling with a McDonalds chickenburger and fries, Ariel and I threw caution to the winds and each bought ourselves some super-Danish, open-face sandwiches called smørrebrød. A doesn´t eat red meat and so she went with a recognizable sammy with hardboiled eggs, lettuce, shrimp, and mayonaise. I,on the otherhand, coundn´t decide which sandwich appealed more and so I pointed vaguely and told the woman to go to her left and said yes. This, in vertical ascending order from the plate, is what was on my smørrebrød:
Scandinavian rye bread (which is bitter, oh so bitter)
Butter
A slab of beef that had been breaded and fried, but was now cold and soaked in
Some sort of brown gravy product
Cooked onions
Mustard
Pickles
Parsley
A round of canned pineapple
I ate it all, and it was weird.
I proudly told my host about my unabashed passion for local culture and how I ate such an ethnic sandwich. She told me that she had never heard of a smørrebrød of that type with that kind of stuff on it.
Sometimes you win, and sometimes you end up unintentionally imitating that dude that I always ended up sitting near in the dining hall who dumps his plate onto his tray, mixes it up and then eats it while loudly proclaiming that his weird melange of salad bar items and rasta pasta is tasty.
Aaaaanyways...
In an attempt to atone for a lunchtime fling with a McDonalds chickenburger and fries, Ariel and I threw caution to the winds and each bought ourselves some super-Danish, open-face sandwiches called smørrebrød. A doesn´t eat red meat and so she went with a recognizable sammy with hardboiled eggs, lettuce, shrimp, and mayonaise. I,on the otherhand, coundn´t decide which sandwich appealed more and so I pointed vaguely and told the woman to go to her left and said yes. This, in vertical ascending order from the plate, is what was on my smørrebrød:
Scandinavian rye bread (which is bitter, oh so bitter)
Butter
A slab of beef that had been breaded and fried, but was now cold and soaked in
Some sort of brown gravy product
Cooked onions
Mustard
Pickles
Parsley
A round of canned pineapple
I ate it all, and it was weird.
I proudly told my host about my unabashed passion for local culture and how I ate such an ethnic sandwich. She told me that she had never heard of a smørrebrød of that type with that kind of stuff on it.
Sometimes you win, and sometimes you end up unintentionally imitating that dude that I always ended up sitting near in the dining hall who dumps his plate onto his tray, mixes it up and then eats it while loudly proclaiming that his weird melange of salad bar items and rasta pasta is tasty.
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