Spring is in the air

Yes. Finally. Trees around me are sprouting buds and pretty soon I expect to be surrounded by greenery. A lot of it! I can't wait.
I'm waking up to daylight every morning. Apparently "official" sunrise is at 5am but it starts getting lighter from just after 4ish (I have no desire to confirm that.)
I can confirm that the sun is setting later and later.

This was taken just after 21:00 tonight.
And it's getting nice and warmish. Above 10C during most days. Some places in Sweden even reached a whopping 20C which is apparently confusing the mercury's normal April schedule .
Not that I'm complaining. Far from it.

With so much to look forward too, I'm actually really excited.
If all goes well, during the next week I'll reach my first main goal (which is unfortunately a week later than I planned, but few things go according to plan anyway :)
May will kick off with a visit to Poland and Czech Republic. Going to say hello to Krakow and Prague and, of course, stop by Auschwitz.
Somewhere in the middle I want to take another stroll/hike through the woods close by to see how much they have changed from these:

to where they all have some leaves. I did get some great photos of the sea, although I don't really feel as if I'm living on the coast. I suppose the Baltic sea isn't as rough and rowdy as the South African coast and the archipelagos around here also calm the waters some more, giving the area more a placid lake like effect with small ripples instead of decent waves.
Still, it looks brilliant and just has such a relaxing effect on you, sitting on the rocks, staring out over the waters, basking in the sun. Wish it was a paying job to do that!

This Easter weekend a lot of the locals were hard at work getting their boats in ship shape for the summer. As you can see, the piers are still rather empty, although some eager beaver boats were already on/in the water, including the one on the second picture, which, if I ever get a boat for myself, will be the one that I'd want.

And then, at the end of May my family will arrive and my summer holiday will start.
Three weeks, four countries, more than 5000km's and probably millions of photos and memories.

Oh, and did I mention it will be my first summer in more than 2 years?

Summer 2011, you are welcome indeed!

Eastern Europa Phase 1b

Before I dazzle you with pictures of Bratislava and some more Budapest, I would like to mention that since my previous post, I have reconsidered. Budapest has claimed a spot in my top 5 places I would like to revisit at spot nr 5, replacing Stockholm. Now you might think Stockholm is a silly city to have on my places to revisit since I'm less than an hour away, but I've only seen Stockholm in Autumn/Winter colours. I would very much like to see it in its summer glory, which is hopefully not too far in the future. Anyway, because Stockholm is on a "plan to visit" list, it has been dropped from this list, making way for Budapest.

Now on to the main event.
I really love the train stations in Europe. Well, the older ones mostly. They have such remarkable buildings.

That is Budapest Keleti Pu station. Almost churchlike on the inside, hey?
The following are some pictures taken during the three hour train ride between Budapest and Bratislava.

An old castle on very defensible spot, but I'm glad I didn't need to haul anything up or down. Being fascinated by fantasy and medieval environments, I've often imagined myself living in those times, but I am very glad I did not. I would most certainly have been a peasant. And lazy peasants like me didn't survive for long!

I think I saw four or five of these towers dotted around a small town.

They also have some squatters.

Small Train station.

Only after I took the picture of the tower (weather tower I think) did I notice the strange figures in the foreground. Very Random.

I don't know if it is a church or a mosque or what, but it is close to a small town and looks huge.

The type of green I'm longing to see a lot more of.

The Danube.

I suppose I don't have to say that there was enough to keep the eye entertained to make the three hours pass by quite quickly, so I won't say so.

My first impression of Bratislava? It felt...normal. I don't really know how big it is (a quick google search reveal some 431000 people), but I really didn't get a city feel whilst walking down the streets.

I suppose it isn't really a "tourist" attraction. I doubt many people even know of the city and where it is. I mainly knew it as the capital of Slovakia, the country that was really, really angry at the Hostel movies.
Aparently it is quite a popular party town (along with Budapest) for birthday or bachelors parties by the English Chaps.
And like most European cities it has a cobble street old town area with lots of entertaining shops, spots, sights, bars and restaurants.

And some whacky statues.

Unfortunately, due to rain, I couldn't visit three spots I had wanted to visit.
The castle, the UFO restaurant and the Slavic monument, but I did get a chance to admire them from afar.

The next morning on the way to the train, I passed by the hospital and the radio building.

Back in Budapest, I had about 3 hours to visit the last few spots before heading back to the Airport.

First was Freedom Square. Where I also grabbed a quick lunch at an awesome Turkish restaurant. The tastiest toasted turkey and cheese sandwich I've ever had. I think the secret was that it had sliced cheese inside, and grated cheese on top that melted onto the warm bread. mmm...
Then I took a walk down Andrassy Avenue, past the Terror Museum, filled with Communism paraphernalia.

Finally, I stopped by the second largest synagogue in the world.

I reached home with thoroughly tired feet, but all in all a very satisfied person after my first visit to Eastern Europe.
Where to next?
Well, I didn't call it Phase 1 for no reason. At the moment, I'm planning Phase 2.
If everything goes according to plan, I'll spend a day in Krakow, Poland, two days in Prague, Czech Republic, and on my way back visit Auschwitz. But from experience I know that plans can always change at the last minute. Hopefully for the better!

Till the next time.
Njoy!

Eastern Europa Phase 1a

I really don't know what I was expecting from my first visit to Eastern Europe.
All I know is it wasn't what I expected.

3 days, 4000km by air, 600km by train and more than 35km on foot later and 2 extra countries can be marked off as "visited".
And, unfortunately, even though it was fun and I saw some really great stuff, neither of the two cities managed to claim a spot on my Places to Revisit list.

Without further delay, I present to you my visit to Budapest.

Only the comfort of having cheap flights from my town keep me using Ryanair or Wizzair. Though both do their job quite capably, they have seriously strange flight days and times. Or probably only to the places that I want to go.
Either way, I only arrived at Budapest airport at almost midnight Saturday night. Grabbed the shuttle to Madach Square in the centre of the old town which left 30 minutes later, and arrived at our destination after 1am.
Although you couldn't really tell that it was that late. It was dark, the city lights were on, traffic was a breeze, but there were still a lot of people on the sidewalks. Most of them moving between clubs, I assumed from the body language and shouting, since I don't understand a word Hungarian. Also, most of them had booze in hand.

One of the first warnings you read about touristing is that you shouldn't look like a tourist if you can help it. Keep maps out of sight unless you're inside a shop or restaurant, etc. Basically, don't be a target. And after the Hostel movies and some scary stories of guys being lured into clubs by girls and left with bills of thousands of Euros for drinks, I was a bit nervous.
So, like usual, I adjusted my backpack and started my casual stroll in the general direction of the hotel some 2km from the drop off point. Luckily I reached it without incident. (Managing to jump over the stream of pee from a homeless man on the sidewalk doesn't count as an incident. If I had stepped/slipped/swam in it, it would.)

My hotel (in daylight). Right next to the Elizabeth Bridge which crosses over to Gellert Hill upon which lies the citadel and the Liberation Statue. The statue (locally known as the bottle opener) celebrates the Soviet Liberation of Hungary from Nazi's during WW2.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I did not climb up the hill, or visit the Gellert Baths. The hot springs of Budapest is also well known and there are several baths in the city where people go to relax. Personally, I don't have the need to sit in warm water for hours. I prefer myself raw. Unlike some people in those Hostel movies...

Sunday morning I took to the streets. Or rather, I took to the promenade lining the Danube.

It was really nice and peaceful, with only a couple of people walking their dogs, jogging, or shuffling (the older folks) along.
It seems as if the Hungarians (and the Slovakians) really, really enjoy statues. And a lot of them rather random. Among others I saw a bowing Shakespeare, a girl and her dog, a dying or dead buck, a very tired guy sitting on some steps, a freak on a bicycle and a green painted cow.
Of course, there is also the popular little (unhappy?) princess with the marvelous view of Castle Hill in the background.

Some of the statues that I like the most, however, are the lions. They have a lot of lion statues.
Guarding the Chain Bridge on both sides.

Guarding the courtyard of the Castle.

Also, guarding the Parliament Building.

Another one of my favourites, is this funny fountain that probably depicts a royal hunt. It includes the popular folklore hero and King Matthias Corvinus. For some reason, the surname corvinus sounds very familiar to me. He ruled Hungary and Croatia from the age of 15 and was known as Matthias the Just. He was also (even though he had royal blood) ELECTED as King and ruled with individuals chosen for their skills rather than their status, which was a new thing in the 1400's. Enough trivia? ok.

The following are a couple of other statues at the Castle.
The first is a mythic Turul Bird, messenger of the gods.

The second is probably some King or ruler, but the only hungary I know is the one my stomach speaks.

And then there were also these two, each on one side of the Castle Doors (now a museum).
One seem to warn you away, while the other tempts you with forbidden fruit.

From the castle, I headed to the Fisherman's Bastion and St Matthias church. Renamed after the popular King of course. And I still have this nagging feeling that his name has been used in movies with conspiracy theories etc. Apparently he had the greatest library of that time, but most of it was distributed throughout europe after his death.

Unfortunately, I had no cash on me, otherwise I would have loved to hold an eagle. Perhaps someday, somewhere.
There were lots more on Castle hill that I inspected and photographed and enjoyed, but if I write about them all and post every single photo, the internet might break.
Suffice to say, that there are a lot to see on the hill, but eventually I had to make my way back to the Pest side. My first stop was a Burger King, because my stomach was speaking fluent Hungry.
After that, I headed to the Parliament building.

Of course, I had to cross the Danube once again.

And it really is Blue.
I finally reached the Parliament building, along with some of the plaza's and statues surrounding it.

Another stopping point was the Shoes on the Danube. A memorial depicting the shoes that was all that remained of Jews that were shot and fell into the Danube during Nazi reign in Hungary.

My next stop was St Stephen's Basilica. A massive church in the heart of the Old Town.

This was followed by a walk down Vaci Utca, the popular tourist shopping street.

The street ends at the Great Market, which was unfortunately closed on Sundays.

After a long day's walking, I headed back to the Danube to put my feet up on one of the boat restaurants, specifically "the Spoon".

The rest of the day was spent meandering around the old town, snapping pictures of whatever caught my eye until it was time to get back to the hotel to get a good nights sleep.
The train leaves early for my next destination: Bratislava.