Posts Tagged ‘winter’

Our Last Day in Budapest

Saint Stephens Cathedral, BudapestOn our last day in Budapest, Evan and I tried to accomplish items #2 and #3 on our list, so we went down to Saint Stephen’s Cathedral (photo taken in July when I visited the first time), and we tried to get a ticket to climb the towers, but it turns out that that’s a warm weather activity — it’s closed until April. We went into the church briefly, but we couldn’t go into the room with St. Stephen’s desiccated hand, either.

Later that night, we had a reservation at Taj Mahal, which was great as usual. I know, not terribly Hungarian to spend our last night at an Indian restaurant, but it’s really delicious.

And we got one more kurtos kalacs in the afternoon. Couldn’t leave without having our favorite winter treat one more time!

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December 23rd, 2007 - Budapest, Dining & Drinks

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It’s Cold in the Apartment!

I’m not usually too cold here (except when I go outside), but today, after I opened the curtains in the living room and got to work, I noticed it was getting colder and colder and colder. I finally got off the couch and went to the window to see if something was up and, well, it was — the window/door wasn’t closed properly, letting in quite a draft. I’ve been trying to warm up since then, by wrapping myself in a blanket and putting on a hood. It’s finally getting a bit better, but my nose is still cold.

Man, it’ll be nice to be somewhere without freezing temperatures for a while.

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December 21st, 2007 - Budapest

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Ice Skating in City Park

Though Sunday was gloomy, it didn’t stop us from spending almost the whole day outside. After Statue Park, we went to City Park to go ice skating. We did pretty well–no injuries, or even falls–and I even spun around a few times. And it was great to be skating outside by the park’s castle. I wish I could still ice skate like I did when I was a kid, though.

Ice skating in City Park Budapest

Ice skating in City Park Budapest

Check out the rest of our ice skating photos on Evan’s site.

After ice skating, we went to the small Christmas market in the park for more kurtos kalacs. It wasn’t quite as delicious as it was in Szentendre, but it was still good. And while we were getting our sugar fix, we realized that they were playing possibly less-than-appropriate Christmas songs for all the kids at the market–they were playing South Park’s “Christmas Time in Hell.” We guessed that they didn’t understand the lyrics. Check them out (from MetroLyrics):

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December 12th, 2007 - Budapest

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Andrassy Ut at Night

On the way home from Szentendre, Evan and I ran in to a good deal of traffic getting back to our hotel, but I used it as an opportunity to take some photos of the lights in the city. Here’s one taken on Andrassy Ut, which seems to often be billed as “Budapest’s classiest boulevard.”

Andrassy Ut Budapest

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December 10th, 2007 - Budapest

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Day Trip to Szentendre

Szentendre Christmas Market

Saturday, Evan and I took a short day trip to Szentendre, a town about 20 minutes outside of Budapest that’s known for being a cute, touristy artist colony on the bank of the Danube. After parking, we just started wandering into the small town, and we heard music and some pretty awful singing coming from the town square. We decided to skip the first part of the show and go to the Margit Kovacs Ceramics Museum, which had a nice collection of the artist’s work.

Once we were done with the museum, we went back out to the main square and found a group of schoolkids performing a cute little song and dance. We lost interest by the time a group of older students started dancing, and decided to check out the music box museum, which ended up being really interesting.

The small museum, tucked away in the back of a souvenir shop, was quite delightful. They had a host of old music-playing gadgets, including orchestrations, a clockwork bird, old gramophones and other sound machines. We even got to hear a number of them and got to turn the cranks ourselves on a few. Some dated back 200 years yet sounded remarkably good. Others didn’t sound as great because the humidity was low.

Szentendre Christmas Market kurtos kolacs

Next we went on to the Christmas market, which wasn’t crowded and had some interesting foods and crafts. We tried out kurtos kolacs, which is essentially fire-roasted coil of dough cooked on a wooden dowel and rolled in sugar, and found our new favorite Hungarian treat. Look at me just drooling over it. It was crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, and it stayed hot the whole time we were eating it (which really wasn’t very long).

Szentendre Christmas Market kurtos kolacs

Also, in the Christmas market, there were many people walking around with their children and handing out homemade baked goods on trays. We got some cheese bread, which was good, and the whole thing just seemed like a really nice tradition. I believe it was the festival of St. Nicholas.

We tried to take a look at some more museums and churches in Szentendre, but they weren’t open very late, but I did manage to take a great photo of a boat on the Danube before I left.

Boat on Danube

Check out the rest of our Szentendre photos on Evan’s site.

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December 10th, 2007 - Budapest, Dining & Drinks, Travel

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New Hitched Article: Get Ready for Winter

My latest Hitched article seems absolutely apropos this week–it’s really starting to feel like winter in Hungary. It snowed yesterday (I meant to take photos, sorry), and it’s definitely getting colder–and my article is all about the things you can do to get ready for winter that might not be top-of-mind.

Get Ready for Winter
Are you ready for the cold season? Take a look at these quick tips to expertly weather the winter.

Even if you don’t get snow, you still have to deal with some winter issues. From flu and colds to increased heating costs to just wanting to cozy up by a fire; are you ready for the months ahead? We gathered some tips you may not have thought of to save energy and money and keep your family and pets safe this winter. …go to Hitched to read more

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November 12th, 2007 - Writing

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