A Whole New Blog

Greeting one last time from the Overseas-Adventure blog, or, at least until we decide to take another overseas adventure! If you want to follow along with our state-side adventures, check out our new "Brooklyn Blogger" site at www.danandbird.blogspot.com. We will continue posting entertaining stories and fun pictures for you. Of course, you can always revisit this site to relive the European Vacation!

God Bless America!

Let me just say that, since arriving back on US soil, not once have I had to pay to use the bathroom. And not once have I had to call it a WC or a toilet! Nor have I been forced to bounce up and down frantically searching the recesses of my foreign vocabulary to inquire where said facility might be located. And Internet is free! Have I mentioned airconditioning? The list does not end. I love lists.

I am getting ahead of myself. Because there was more to our trip than just reuniting with America. But seriously, God Bless America.

Roman hostel, day 2: much more restful. No engorged tongues to create the sounds of destruction in the night. Then off to Vatican City, country #12. We were transported back in time to NYC circa 1980's when the subway rumbled into the station...it was covered with some very colorful graffiti. So our 80's subway dropped us off just in time to stand in line for the Vatican Museum. For an hour and a half. There are a few different museums contained within the Vatican and, of course, we saw them all. Sculptures, paintings, relics, maps...it was overwhelming in the amount of artwork and also in the beauty of the art and of the building itself.

Included in the entrance to the Vatican Museum was the Sistine Chapel. Not what we expected, the chapel is completely covered with frescos by Michaelangelo and others. It's a pretty boring interior without the frescos, plain lines and straight walls, but the images completely obliterate that fact. And there were a bunch of Italian guards there shouting (haha) SILENCIO!! Apparently no talking allowed in this chapel. Another observation about the Vatican: there seems to be something in the air which compels people to run into, bump into, step on, smash bags upon and poke me. It almost came to blows between me and a very small boy. He's lucky I was too hot to retaliate.

From there we walked to St. Peter's Immense Basilica. This church is HUGE! Saw Pope John Paul II's crypt, and the crypts of a bunch of other Popes. Then walked up the cuppola, all 551 steps. And no, there was no airconditioning. See pic where the stairs and the curve of the cuppola do not live harmoniously.

The temperature in Rome was very high. Too high. I split the majority of our time outside between seeking the refuge of shade and the comfort of gelato, and sweating. Dan might also add, complaining. :)

Dinner was pasta with the three other girls sharing our hostel room. Too much alcohol was consumed, which necessitated a late start the next day. But alas! We made it to the Pantheon, which has a gigantic dome with an open circle at the top. Very impressive. Also visited on this day: Plaza Navona with some really nice fountains.

We made it to the train station to catch the dreaded night train to Geneva. It was hotter on the train than outside (is this possible?) and of course, in true European style, there was no A/C. So we crammed into the six bed compartment with two nice fellows from Mexico City. And proceeded to travel (and sleep? no) with the window down. This proved to be extremely loud and obnoxious. Another couple joined us in the middle of the night to fill the compartment to capacity.

Geneva! Beautifully clean city. People were friendly and the dollar was pretty strong against the Swiss Franc. Browsed all the shops with Swiss army knives and saw the flower clock. Dan was completely, obsessively enamoured with the water jet that shoots 400 feet in the air from Lake Geneva. He was personally offended when they switched it off during the rainstorm. Speaking of which, was not just a rainstorm. More of a deluge, really. Literal sheets of water and hail burst forth without warning. Cracks of thunder and lightning. We were caught under an awning making an attempt (and failing miserably) at staying dry. What could I do? I took a movie with the digital camera. Really, it was very impressive. We abandoned our plan to see the UN and scurried back to the train station like wet, beaten rodents.

We trained back to Paris, where we caught a night bus to London. Luckily the tube in London was working and we made it to the airport. By this time, we hadn't showered for two days. Very tired, very grimy. It was 7am. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 6pm. UGH. Fortunately we were able to get on a flight that left at 1pm AND got to sit in the exit row with infinite leg room and excellent access to the restroom! We arrived back in Brooklyn by 5pm and I was showering at 5:01. Shower curtains are glorious, as is showering without sandals on.

And that, my friends, is the end of the Overseas Adventure.

Colosseum at Night

Colosseum at Night
Originally uploaded by danbirdeurotrip.

We have put up a bunch of new pictures on our flickr.com account. You can click here to view them. We are now back in New York and will try to blog the last weeks or so of the trip.

Florence back to Modena, and the first days in Rome

As we noted in the last blog, Monday is the World Museum Holiday, so we got up early on Tuesday to get into the Uffizi Galleria. Even before 9am, the queue stretched on and on...so what else could we do? Since reservations had been sold out a week before, we waited...and waited...and waited some more...and then finally...we waited. For 3.5 hours! By the time we got in, we were ready to sit down and sleep a spell. But we didn't we trudged around and our spirits gradually lifted as we saw some of the world's most spectacular Renaissance art. I noticed it was mostly portraits. We saw the entire museum, spending a fair amount of time on the famous pieces, since we had waited so long, and still, we were only in the museum for 2 hours.

Thanks to the inefficiency of the Italian train system, it took us another 5 hours back to Modena (it should have taken maybe 2). Mario and Ely, newly married and looking very relaxed now, graciously met us at the station and we spent the night and following day relaxing in Modena, seeing the sights, and celebrating our 4 year anniversary! Ely's mother, who speaks no English, cooked us a traditional Italian meal. It was a very nice way to celebrate. Of course, there was wine and a tasty cream drink after desert. Modena is the homeplace of true basalmic vinegar, which tastes like nothing we have ever had. You can't even buy this stuff in the USA unless you are willing to spend about $100 for 100mL in a fancy store. Mario's family just happens to make it. They have 5 or 6 flights of barrels (a flight has about 12 barrels). They age the vinegar for a very long time, and each barrel made from different wood imparts character into the vinegar. Katie and I sampled some vinegar that had been aging 30 years...then one that had aged for over 50! Wow. Like syrup of vinegar with most of the acidity mellowed out of it. Sometimes, people drink this as an apertif. We tried it drizzled over cheese. Mmmmmm.....cheeeeese.

The next day, we took an afternoon train to Rome (it took about 4 hours) and checked into our hostel. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking to the Spanish Steps, visiting the Trevi Fountain at twilight, eating a dinner at a pasta place and finally, walking around the ruins of the Roman Forum and Colosseum wjich were eerily and spectacularly lighted for nighttime viewing. We slept poorly due to a guy snoring really loudly...really really loudly. Like he was choking on his tongue and dealing with massive nasal congestion at once. Katie even got up and went over to shake him and tell him to be quiet since the other 5 of us in the hostel dorm room could not sleep. Due to his slight (read: severe) intoxication, he was unable to comprehend this simple request and comply fully. Some of the other people yelled at him with great effect. Thankfully, he was on his merry way this morning, never to be seen (or better yet, heard from) again.

Today we went back to the Forum and Colosseum for a more thorough inspection. Also, the public transit workers are on strike and it is a bit far to walk to the Vatican. Fortunately, tomorrow they are back to work and we can visit St. Peter's. We walked all over the Palatine Hill, where Rome was founded over 2700 years ago! On our way back to the hostel (we just couldn't bring ourselves to walk more since it was at least 90 degrees) we stopped by Santa Maria Maggiore, a big, impressive church, reputedly covered with gold leaf supplied by the first gold brought back from the New World in the early 1500s. The tomb of Bernini is also there, and the open tomb of one of the Popes Pius (I can't now remember the number), with his relics on display.

So, two more days here in the Eternal City then a brief stop in Geneva before going to Paris to take the bus back to London. The end is in sight, and we are actually looking forward to going back to NYC. Living out of a suitcase for this long is really quite tiresome eventually, and the weather is getting very hot. We have had good weather this whole trip (often on the rainy cool side) so we haven't really acclimated to the hot Roman days (and nights....no A/C...ugh). We will put up at least one more blog before then, though, so check back again in a few days. I am not sure if more pictures will go up, but when we get home, we will definitely put up the Italian highlights.

Italia!!

It has been a few days since our last blog, and what a few last days it has been. We took the train to Vienna and then an overnight train to Venice. We were in a snug car with 4 other people, two women from Argentina and a couple from Lebanon. Luckily, no one snored!

We discovered that Venice is the most overpriced city...ever. The gondola rides were way too spendy, so we did what the locals do: ride the traghetto. It is basically a gondola but you pack the people on and ride across the Grand Canal. We also took the water taxi, vaporetto, all around Venice and included Murano on our trip. This little island off Venice is home to the glass blowers. We went to several furnaces to see them at work. Very neat.

San Marco was very incredible with all its mosaics and its bumpy floor since Venice is slowly sinking into the sea. They also want to nickle and dime you to death. Entrace to the basillica is free, but it costs to go to the crypt, the treasury, the golden altar, the tower, etc. What a racket! But beautiful nonetheless.

In the evening, we went to our friend Mario's house in Modena. It was quite a place. He was able to rent an old French horn for me and I played in his wedding a few days later. I was pretty rusty after 6 weeks of no playing, but I think I did alright. Katie hung out with a bunch of our new friends that we made while I helped Mario finish writing some music and do some errands before the wedding. By the way, his reception dinner was held at a restaurant that Pavarotti owns and often dines at, very fancy!

We will return to Mario's in a few days, but now we are in Florence. It is Monday, so the Uffizi museum and Accademia were closed, so we haven't seen any of the famous art there yet, but we did cross the Ponte Vecchio and check out the jewelery shops. We also went inside the Duomo with the famous dome of Brunelleschi and got a free guided tour. Very intriguing. I am now at the laundromat with Katie and they have internet access here. A nice idea!

We will visit the Uffizi and get back to you in a few days!

Hungarian Parliament

Since we are very important people and we have international connections, we were able to take an exclusive tour of the Hungarian Parliament yesterday with Tamász (pronounced Tomas), a good friend of Gabi's who works for the government. The building is very fancy on the inside, complete with faux marble (ironically more expensive than the real stuff) and gold leaf accents. We were whisked behind every open door Tamász could find (literally) and were able to see the "congress" in action and many of the private offices, including that of the Prime Minister. Also took a gander at the Royal Crown which was given to King Stephan in the year 1000 by the pope. Would put up a picture of this but it is very blurry. Good job, Bird.

Also, yesterday after the Parliament and lunch with Gabi, we met another friend of Kati's, Eszter, and spent a few hours with her while the rain cleared up. She will be visiting NY at the end of July, so we will be seeing her at that point, as well.

Today we are off to Venice via overnight train. Our schedule has changed a bit, as we will be spending only one day in Venice and heading off to Modena to stay with Dan's friend, Mario.

Looking forward to Italy.

Tokaji-Aszu is Awesome

We are back in Budapest at the Duna Plaza (Duna is the Magyar word for Danube), the second mall ever built in Hungary, to do internet, blog and put up some new pictures.

Yesterday we took the train with Gabi to Tokaj and spent some time wandering around this picturesque town on the Tisza river. They are very proud of their town because its wine is famous and it is also the only town mentioned in the national anthem. We went to a small but informative wine museum and visited several of the local churches and also the synagogue that has sadly been out of use since WWII. Of course we went to a wine cellar (after lunch so we wouldn't get too loopy) and sampled many of the different types of Tokaji wine. It ranges from dry to extremely sweet. Katie liked the drier types while I tried a special dessert wine called Aszu that was very very sweet (Katie says crunchy) and very good, in my opinion.

After that, we took the train to Nyiregyhaza and then got a ride to a small village called Őr. There we met up with Zita and the horde of school children on their holiday (kind of like a camp). We stayed here overnight after riding bikes around to a couple other villages, one called Vaja where there was a castle of one of the men of the Hungarian patriot Rákoczy. Zita cooked a very tasty potato paprikash that I ate so much of I felt like I would burst.....my but that was good!

In the morning, Zita took the kids to the Tisza and Gabi took us to some villages within shouting distance of the Ukranian border (we could literally see the hills of Ukraine) that had special meaning in Hungarian culture. There was the "Peasant Notre Dame," of the village of Tákos, a humble but beautiful Calvinist church with mud/stick walls. The villagers decorate the church with their own embroidery, and the ceiling was painted in unique floral patterns in the 1700s. We also saw an old mill, still working, in the town of Túristvándi and another town full of typical traditional homes of the rural communities. There was a flood here about 4 years ago and many of the homes were destroyed (mud plus water equals destruction).

One of the most unique things about this Eastern part of Hungary (and the last thing we did before heading back to Budapest today) was the town of Szatmárcseke with its interesting boat-shaped grave head-boards made of wood rather than stone. They look like canoes buried vertically in the ground. No one knows why the villagers do this here, but it is the only cemetery like this in the entire world. Some of the grave markers are hundreds of years old and the writing is completely weathered away. If you want to see the new pictures, you can click on this link here.

Tomorrow we are going to visit the Hungarian Parliament with Gabi and hopefully see the Royal Crown. We leave for Venice on Wednesday, but are taking an overnight train so we will really be there on Thursday. Stay tuned!

Hungary and Slovakia

So we are still in Hungary, but we made an exciting excursion with Gabi and Zita today to Esztergom in northern Hungary and from there went across a recently rebuilt bridge (destroyed since WWII) into Slovakia for lunch. We did have to have our passports checked at the border and got a couple more stamps in them for our efforts. Esztergom was the capitol 1000 years ago when St. Stephen united Hungary. The largest church in Hungary is on the old castle hill, though the castle is now only a very large ruins with a neat museum. According to Gabi, the town on the Slovakian side was once very poor, but since the reopening of the bridge, they have been restoring parts. We had a traditional Slovakian noodle dish, Slovakian beer which is called the Golden Pheasant, and some Hungarian dishes as well since this small town caters to Hungarian tourists coming across the border for cheaper prices. Hungary, although further east than the Czech republic is actually about as expensive as other main countries such as Germany or France. Slovakia on the other hand, has prices like the ones we raved about in the Prague blog.

Yesterday we looked around Budapest some more, venturing out for a rare trip on our own while Gabi was at work. We saw the St. Stephen cathedral, which houses the Sacred Right Hand of St. Stephen...that's right, ONLY the right hand...disembodied. It is not skeletal like one might expect, but really well preserved, and that is part of the reason it is such an important relic. Bird wonders where the rest of the body is.....We also walked up Andrassy Ave., comprable to NYC's 5th Ave. The ornate and cool looking opera house was there and the avenue terminates at Hero's Square. The square is home to an impressive column and triumphant collonades and statues. There are facing museums on either side. Very neat. We took the subways (oldest subway on the Continent! and just renovated) and trams to Margit Island which is a park in the middle of the Danube. It was very peaceful.

Gabi then met us and we drove to Szentendre, an artist's colony and wealthy suburb about 20km north of Budapest. We ate a famous snack called Langos (in Hungarian, a single s is pronounced like sh in English) which is a fried dough with cheese, ham, or sugar or whatever else you might want on it. It's like Magyar pizza. Then we had ice cream after walking around the city some. It is on a hill and there are little staircase alleyways and all sorts of hidden places. Our neighbors in Brooklyn, Keith and Katia (whose apartment in Budapest we are staying in) like this place and suggested we come here, especially Keith. We weren't disappointed. There are Serbian churches here from 500 years ago when some Serbs fled the Turk invaders, so the most of the churches are Orthodox rather than Catholic, and the interiors are covered in icons. Very cool.

Tomorrow we go on another excursion to Eastern Hungary and Tokaj (pronounced To-kai) where the famous wine is made. We are going to be very close to the Ukranian border, although I don't think we will hop across the border there since the border controls are much more strict. More on this in the next blog! Also, check out the new pictures we posted. Click here.