Eastern Europe 2016, Day 2 - Rain Over the Danube

May 24, 2016

It was a rainy cool day in Budapest.  Mark and Jen took an Uber (there was a dance mix of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence” playing in the car - it was so cool) to the Central Market - take Cleveland’s Westside Market and put it on steroids.  This Market built in 1897 is 3 levels consisting of 10,000 meters squared.  The Market sells all things Hungarian including treats and treasures from meats to cheeses to spices and souvenirs.  Once we were done enjoying our early trip to the Market we walked down Vaci Street, a pedestrian street filled with fun shops and cafes.  Then we headed back to the hotel for Jen to meet up with Jim.

Central Market
Budapest, Hungary

Jim and Jen had a high noon tour of Parliament lined up.  We walked down the hill and across the Chain Bridge (I hope you are seeing a pattern by now of the distances we traveled each and every day).  The Hungarian Parliament  is tied for tallest building in Budapest with the dome reaching 315 feet tall.  This house of Parliament is the 3rd largest parliament in the world - behind Great Britain and Buenos Aires. Inside the house of Parliament all the gold-colored decor 3 meters + higher is actual gold! While we were on our guided tour of Parliament we had the pleasure of seeing a dignitary from the Russian Orthodox Church. Fun fact – The Chandelier hanging in the dome of the Parliament building is stationary so to change the light bulbs or dust a person has to climb into the chandelier from the outside of the building while suspended 315 feet in the air.  As a side note, every other chandelier in the building can be lowered by a pulley system for ease of light-bulb changing and cleaning/dusting. 

Hungarian Parliament
Budapest, Hungary

Hungarian Parliament
Budapest, Hungary

After the tour we walked outside along the Danube and saw the “Shoes on the Danube” memorial.  During World War II, Jews were gathered by the river and told to remove their shoes and place all their valuables in said shoes on the riverbank.  Once they complied they were shot and their bodies were carried away by the water.  This is a heart breaking memorial which fit very well with the weather for the day.
 

Shoes on the Danube
Budapest, Hungary

We grabbed sandwiches for lunch at the Anna Cafe on Vaci Street - it promptly began to rain. We walked through the drizzle over to the Holocaust Memorial Center.  The Memorial Center followed four Hungarian families starting before the war and ending at the liberation.

It was still raining when we got out of the memorial center.  However that did not stop us - we walked home - over the Chain Bridge and up the Castle Hill - in everything from a drizzle to a down pour.  By the time we got back to the hotel we looked like drowned rats.  It was bad.  Jim and Jen had a little time to change out of the wet clothes and work on drying off.  The in-room towel warmers came in very handy!

Dinner was at Vagon Etterem not far from our hotel that is actually in a train car!  Once again dinner was great, we indulged in the chicken and the pork with a spontaneous splurge on a side of pickles and potato pancakes for the table – look at our wild side!  The rain subsided and gave way to perfect weather for a walk back to the hotel.

Here are our stats for day 2

Steps - 33,707

Miles - 15.42

Stairs - 99 flights

Eastern Europe 2016, Day 1 - The Adventure is Born

May 23, 2016

At this point enough of you are asking what we are up to in 2016.  Well here is how this started… It was Friday April  8th and we had a long overdue dinner date with Jim - playing the dual role of friend and cousin.  Over this dinner date our upcoming travel escapes came up in topic - like they always seem to when we talk with friends and family.  Mark had just gotten word that he was heading to Budapest for work and as you know there is no way in “Pittsburgh” that Jen would not be joining Mark on an exotic international adventure! When this was brought up with Jim, he said - “I’d go to Hungary!” To which we responded - “Ok! Let’s make this happen”.  Fast forward the next few weeks - planning went into full swing - travel books were ordered, routes were sketched out, research was done, spreadsheets were made and the result?  Pack your bags- we are going to Eastern Europe!!  Mark would be flying over to Budapest a day earlier than Jim and Jen - due to a family engagement (Side note - So happy we could be a part of Sam & Jesse’s special day!!).

Jim and Jen flew  from CLE to ORD - yes fly west to fly east (Where we had the pleasure of spending our 3 hour layover in the United Lounge enjoying peace and quiet not to mention treats and yummy beverages).  We flew a red eye directly from ORD to Frankfurt.  The flight was mostly uneventful but there was 1 item of note - a gentleman seated across the plane from us passed out and was unconscious for some time.  No worries - there was an abundance of medical staff on board which stepped up and took care of business.  The gentleman was upright and talking before we even left Canadian airspace.  Our layover in Frankfurt wasn’t even long enough to enjoy a frankfurter in Frankfurt (this is only the beginning of the bad jokes).  Then we were on to Budapest!!  

Upon arrival in Budapest we hailed a cab to take us to our hotel in the Castle district.  Our first sights of Budapest left us intrigued and excited to start our adventure.  Much to our surprise Mark had a thoughtful care package setup for us when we arrived at the fabulous Hilton Buda Castle.  A Klimek Family  best practice for battling jetlag is no matter what - day 1 push it hard, get plenty of fresh air and water!

Our first item of business was to find the practically perfect lunch location.  Jen had a very Hungarian seeming grilled chicken caesar salad and Jim had chicken paprikash.  We ate lunch outside with a view of the impressive St. Matthias church.  What a special lunch location!  Did I mention that  the weather - high 70’s and not a cloud to be found?

Saint Matthias Church
Budapest, Hungary

The sights we took in on Monday were a walk by and peek into the famous Hungarian State Opera House.  The Opera House was built in the late 19th century and is the largest opera house in Hungary.

Hungarian State Opera House
Budapest, Hungary

Hungarian State Opera House
Budapest, Hungary

Then Jim and Jen toured St. Stephan’s Basilica which houses the right hand of its namesake and the first king of Hungary dating from 975-1038.  The dome is one of the two tallest buildings in Budapest with the dome measuring 315 feet tall.  We enjoyed the panoramic views of the city from the top of the dome.  

St. Stephan's Basilica
Budapest, Hungary

St. Stephan's Basilica
Budapest, Hungary

Budapest Skyline
Budapest, Hungary

Jim put on a yamaka and I wore a scarf and we went into the Dohany Street Synagogue (The Great Synagogue).  Fun Fact - This is the largest synagogue in Europe and it is second or third largest in the world (depending who you ask).  Who knew?

Dohany Street Synagogue
Budapest, Hungary

On our walk back to the hotel to meet Mark for dinner we walked over the Chain Bridge.  The Chain Bridge is a suspension bridge connects the Buda district with the Pest district.  One of the fun quirky things about this bridge are the Love Locks with the names/initials of 2 in love that have been attached to the railing of the bridge.

Love Locks
Chain Bridge
Budapest, Hungary

After a short nap (I know, I know… you never nap on day one) we went to dinner at Pest Buda in the Castle District and had some fabulous schnitzel, goulash and chicken topped off with the first of many apple strudel.

Let me gush about our room for a just a second - we had a view of the river with the House of Parliament in the center.  What an absolute treat to wake up and go to bed with a view of such a spectacular structure.

Parliament
Budapest, Hungary

Here are our stats for day 1

Steps - 25,067

Miles - 11.43

Stairs - 69 flights

Europe 2015, Day 7 - Two Americans in Paris

March 20, 2015 

Today was supposed to be the best day weather wise. We decided to set today aside to explore the sites of Paris outdoors. When we woke up the weather was gloomy, gray and misting. After significant soul-searching, we decided to hang at the hotel a little longer while we waited for the weather to clear up.  It appeared that the weather gods were not smiling on us so we headed out. The first stop of the day was lunch. We had been planning on the Hard Rock Cafe but we were distracted by Chipotle. The Hard Rock did however successfully tempt us for dessert with their famous brownie sundae.

We walked by the Pompidou Center which houses the public Information Library as well as the National Museum of Modern Art.  This museum was built in 1977. What makes this building unique is the fact that it is inside out.  The skeleton of the building is exposed meaning all of the colorful guts (plumbing, climate control, electrical, etc) are on display.

Pont Neuf
La Siene
Paris, France

The next stop was a walk over to Ile de la Cite to see Notre Dame. We took a break in the playground on the side of the cathedral before heading to our next destination.  From there we headed to the Pantheon.  Construction started for the Pantheon in 1758 it was complete in 1790. The original intention for building this structure was a church but it is now used as a secular mausoleum for some of France's elite including Victor Hugo, Marie Curie and Voltaire.

Notre Dame
Paris, France

Pantheon
Paris, France

From there we walked through the Luxembourg Gardens which were showing signs of spring in the green grass and colorful flowers. We chilled in the garden for a bit with the locals, then we headed toward two of Paris' most notable landmarks, the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe for picture taking.

Luxembourg Gardens
Paris, France

Eiffel Tower
Paris, France

Arc De Triomphe
Paris, France

After a quick dinner of steak and a chicken sandwich at a place called the Hippopotamus we saw the Mugler Follies, a cabaret style show at the Comedia Theatre. The show was in French but it wasn't that difficult to follow along with what was going on. Anyone interested can check it out further online.

Somewhere around Notre Dame the clouds started to break apart, unfortunately we were left with quite a bit of cloud and smog cover for the remainder of the day. Paris has been having some massive air pollution issues lately (including being the city with the worst air quality in the world temporarily) due to lack of wind and warm temperatures aloft creating a virtual “bubble” over the city from which pollutants can’t escape. Due to this and the season in general the weather wasn’t the best.

We finished our trip with another quiet day inside shopping and hanging out in Paris, then flew to Oslo in preparation for our trip back stateside.

Europe 2015, Day 6 - From Russia, with Love

March 19, 2015

Today we awoke at 6am to catch a morning flight to Paris. We packed up, said goodbye to our marvelous hotel, as well as the wonderful city of St. Petersburg and headed to the airport. We got through security and customs with no problems, did some duty free shopping and boarded our Aeroflot flight to Charles De Gaulle.

Hermitage Hotel
Saint Petersburg, Russia

Hermitage Hotel
Saint Petersburg, Russia

Arrival in Paris was uneventful. We are staying at the chic Hotel Mac Mahon within viewing distance of the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs d'Elysee.  We took the remainder of the day to relax and rest.

We went to a local restaurant called l'Etoile 1903 for dinner. This evening we shared two plates, a cheeseburger with French fries (the waiter scoffed when Jen placed her order) and French sliced beef with a salad. This was paired with a Bordeaux and topped off with tiramisu. Following dinner we went for a walk on the Champs d'Elysee which was bustling.  It was a beautiful evening. We had the chance to see the Arc de Triomphe illuminated and the Eiffel Tower was glittering with lights. Paris held true to its nickname, the City of Lights.

Arc de Triomphe
Paris, France

The warm weather and overly sunny skies of St. Petersburg are behind us. The weather in Paris is cool and gloomy.

Some parting thoughts about Russia-

The city and country in general felt very comfortable to us as Americans, and we didn't expect that. In fact, we felt more at home there than Berlin or Oslo. Of course we're not giving up our American passports anytime soon, but it was an unexpected surprise.

Saint Petersburg is dirty. There isn't garbage strewn about, but there is a thick layer of dirt on everything. It's possible that is from the sand they use over the snow, or from the common use of studded tires. The cars there are very similar to the US. There are Fords, Chevys, Nissans, and the nicer Mercedes, Porsche and BMW to name a few.

Another observation is that we fit in there, we were assumed to be Russian first, German second, and American third. Several people we ran into said that they loved America and Americans and want to visit. That said, we can count on one hand the number of Americans we saw while there.

All in all the Russian portion of our trip was a great experience and very eye opening.

Saint Petersburg, Russia

Swan Lake
Marrinsky Theater
Saint Petersburg, Russia