Castles and Flower Ice Cream

     My Hungarian adventures began with a train ride from Vienna to Sopron to Szombathely where my Camino friend Timi was waiting for me. Though traveling alone is fun, it is also such a great feeling to know that someone will be waiting for you when you step off the train. Since we were in Szombathely, we figured we'd walk around there a bit and have dinner. I prepared myself for the new language by learning how to say "I don't speak Hungarian" in Hungarian. As we drove to her hometown, Sümeg, I attempted to memorize the names of her parents, 3 sisters and 3 brothers. I actually managed to learn all their names. Her family was so wonderful and welcoming. Her parents and youngest siblings don't speak any English, but we still had fun at meals with the help of Timi's translations and me trying to learn some Hungarian phrases. My pronunciation (or lack thereof) is usually good comic relief for everyone. Over the weekend, we visited the castle in Sümeg, which is the central landmark of town and absolutely gorgeous. And once you are in the castle, it's not even just a boring abandoned castle. They've got drawbridge demonstrations, chickens and ducks, games, a blacksmith, and a café. Timi's sister used to be a guide there, so we had fun letting her show us around. Their brother works at the castle and he showed me how to shoot a bow and arrow. Definitely the best castle I've been to! In the afternoon we went to a horse show (mostly put on for the tourists staying at the hotel at the base of the castle). It was so freaking awesome. Many of the riders were professionals and really impressive. They had to do crazy hard tasks like shooting a bow and arrow while riding a horse or catching rings on a sword while riding. On the first day of spring, we went hiking in the mountains filled with bear's garlic (a lovely vegetable I'd never heard of but that they eat in Austria and Hungary). We also visited lake Balaton and soaked up the lakeside sun. I wish I could've had more time in the beautiful Hungarian countryside and with Timi, but it was time I to continue my adventure.
     I survived a four hour bus ride to Budapest and after a couple unwary minutes of being on the wrong road I eventually found my hostel. The next morning I walked down Margit Island, which is some huge island in the Danube that people go running and walking on. I just spent some time walking around the Pest side of the river (Buda and Pest used to be two different cities separated by the river). In the afternoon, I met up for coffee with Roland, my trip leader from a group trip to Romania. It was cool to meet up with him after 5 years. Made me realize that 5 years seem to have flown by. At the same time, so much has happened and changed in 5 years that it feels sort of far away too. Anyways... On the second day, I rode the yellow metro line, the oldest metro in Europe. The rest of the day was filled with lots of eating. I met up with another friend from the Camino for lunch and then went to a confectionary for tejberisz (rice pudding). I spent the rest of the day walking around the Buda side of the river, which is on a hillside with a beautiful view of the rest of the city. My final and most lasting impression of Budapest, may however be the flower shaped ice cream.

Life in the Castle 

Livin' on the edge at Lake Balaton 

Heaven in an ice cream cone 

Austria

     I'm just finishing up my week in Austria and thought for a change I'd not procrastinate on my blog. I'll admit my real reason for coming to Austria was to fulfill my childhood dream of going on The Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg. My camino friend Steffi took the weekend off to come spend the weekend with me in Salzburg! Though Salzburg is small, it's super nice and got lots to do. We visited the Hohensalzburg (a medieval fortress), Mozart's birth house museum, Mozart's living house museum, some cathedral, some gardens, some grocery stores. On the Sound of Music Tour we saw the setting for the backyard of the Trapp family house, the house they used as the exterior of the house, the church for the wedding seen, and of course the gazebo. Afterwards, we ate Kaiserschmarn for dinner. I thought this was a dinner food... turns out it's a dessert, but we were both entirely content each ordering it as our main dish. Kaiserschmarrn is a traditional Austrian food that is sort of like chopped up french toast/biscuit with a plum jam sauce, which makes for a fabulous dessert or dinner! 

     After Salzburg, I headed up to Linz for one night. I didn't know much about Linz before I went, and I still don't know much about Linz, but they have a famous tart called Linzer Torte that comes from there. So, naturally, I found the original Linzer Torte café and ordered myself some Linzer Torte and managed to do so in German (mind you some menu pointing was involved). Next, I went to Graz, the second biggest city... which really is not that big. Austria is mostly smaller villages and even though Graz is the second biggest city, Vienna is about six times bigger than Graz. Graz widened my ice cream horizons as I tried both Pumpkin Seed Ice Cream and Poppy Seed Ice Cream. Both amazing! It's a shame Ben & Jerry's has not realized this yet, especially considering they've already resorted to putting potato chips in ice cream to create new flavors. 

     Vienna!!!!!!! Yesterday I arrived by bus and found my pension only to be slightly frustrated that no one was there, so I went for a wander to the grocery store. When I came back a lovely old man answered and showed me around in a very funny mix of German and English. He introduced me multiple times to Berry, Bibbi and Bubbi. Berry is a dog (the kind that are long and short with big floppy ears and lots of fur) and Bibbi and Bubbi are birds. Berry just likes to bark at strangers, so we haven't bonded yet. Today was "see everything you possibly can in Vienna" day. I walked around the whole entire historic downtown. Every other building is some architecturally impressive statue, park, church, palace, library, museum, etc. Most things I just enjoyed from the outside, but I did go inside the National Library and the Opera House, which were interesting. Following Viennese tradition, in the Opera House they have a different show each day of the week, so one performer may have to be simultaneously remembering and performing 3 shows. They also have to rebuild the stage each day for that night's show! After seeing the Opera House, I made the long trek to the Schönbrunn Palace, which was the summer home for many emperors. It seems like it would take them an entire summer just to find their way around the enormous palace! 

    Tomorrow I'm off to Hungary to visit my camino friend Timi. Auf wiedersehen Austria! 

Kaiserschmarrn 

Gazebo from The Sound of Music