Budapesttől

December 20 | Castle Hill

Farewell, Budapest!

In a few hours, my plane will take off and I will (hopefully) have a last look at Budapest, where for the last four months I lived and studied. If nothing goes wrong, in less than 24 hours, I will be home.

I have said all of my good byes... well, except maybe my housemates. As such, the only thing left for me to do now is pack (1), take a nap, and start my journey back to Seattle, back to my family and friends, back to you.

(1) - I still haven't! Bad me.

Adieu

December 19 | Gogol Street by Lehel square

For me, the second-to-last day of farewells was today. I said good bye to several more people today, who are leaving tomorrow morning. Here (I edited the picture somewhat) a group of us are walking to a tea party at Madeline's (same apartment as this one) - the last tea party of the CCIX autumnal cohort of BSM.

Snow was sweeping through Budapest since about 14:20, and has not stopped by my return home at around 00:50. Tomorrow I'll post something representative, but you can see on this picture: a lot of snow.

Fair

December 18 | Applied Art Museum

This was a Christmas market/fair in Budapest's applied art museum. Not sure what that means, but the merchandise was interesting. There were ceramics, earrings with eyes, earrings made out of keyboard buttons, etc.

We had another dinner party today. People are leaving, leaving continually. Sad...

Mural

December 17 | Szechenyi Hill terminal

This is a glass mural in the Szechenyi Hill terminal of Budapest's Children's Railway. Almost everything is supposed to be run by children - naturally, adults were everywhere, but we enjoyed it nevertheless. We talked to an old lady on the train, who turned out to have been a mathematician. And there was snow.

But in the Szechenyi Hill terminal station there was this mural...

Snow

December 16 | Duna-part, North of the Palace of Arts

I told you about the snow. It snowed lightly through the day, sometimes more, sometimes less. But to the evening, quite a bit accumulated. It isn't expected to snow tomorrow. :( But it will stay cold through the weekend, so maybe the snow will stay.

Today was also Chris's choir concert. This is Chris, though not a very representative picture. After the concert, we walked North along the Duna, threw a few snowballs, and did a few silly things. The picture was taken then.

I go to the Buda hills tomorrow. More snow and more fun. The last days in Budapest are for experiencing it, doing the things that you haven't had a chance to do. It's strange how slow the first three weeks of the month seemed, and how quickly this last one flies by...

Meat

December 13 | Restaurant in Prague

Found it! You know what this dish is called.

An exception, really. I usually don't eat meat off the bone. And too much meat, in my opinion. So I probably wouldn't get it again. But it was interesting.

Monument

December 13 | Vitkov Park, Prague

First, correction: it's Vitkov park, not Victory park.

This park is off the main tourist trail, probably because it's separated from the center by a freeway. Quite big, though, I noticed it from the first clock tower that I climbed. See people on the roof? I went up there and spent quite a bit of time on panoramas. (Too bad my laptop isn't powerful enough to stitch them.)

The sun came out very briefly, while I was up there, and just long enough for me to take this picture. See?

Trdelnik

December 12 | Christmas market on Old-town Square, Prague

There were several stands making Trdelniki [Wiki]. I first tried one when I went to Skanzen, but I like this variant better. It was smaller and thicker.

I like Prague so much that I'd like to spend another day here. Today I've visited the citadel, the new town, the main street, and much of the old town. Tomorrow: Riga gardens, Victory park (there's a big monument there, probably to the Soviets), Jewish district, and the big castle park.

Striezelmarkt

December 11 | Dresden

I've heard often about these Christmas markets, but this was my first time seeing one. It was amazing. So, that I spent at least an hour there, probably more. I already got tired of the ugly gothic buildings (there are more here, but at least it's Prague) and wanted to spend some time doing something interesting. The market was both big and interesting.

They had characters from folk stories in the corner, and a train for very little kids. The stands sold toys, ornaments, wooden puzzles, nuts in various forms, children's clothes, hats, wine, etc.

I will tell you exactly what I was doing in Dresden tomorrow. Try to guess meanwhile. (Hint: the train to Dresden goes through Prague.)

Squiggle

December 10 | My RFM Notes

I'm leaving to catch the train, like, right now.

Today was the last day of RFM. So, while explaining a theorem, the professor drew a squiggle on the board, that represents a set. It was funny, so I copied it into my notes.

Nut

December 9 | College Intl. C03

I gave my talk on characters today. I don't want to talk about it in public.

And I'm done with this quarter! Well, except for three finals next week.

Hungarian

December 7 | College Intl. 105

Yesterday was the last day of Hungarian. We shared our projects, played a shopkeeper game (for candy), sang annoying songs, and dispersed as usual. We'll see each other again periodically, and hopefully on the farewell party next Thursday.

One thing we did was write our favorite and least favorite words on the board. (Least favorite didn't go that well.) My most favorite were three, because of how they sound:

• Hozzám - up to me
• Velem - with me

But it is the roots I like. Equal are hozzád (up to you) and veled (with you). The third was:

• Legyen

It be.

Sunrise

November 30 | Sunrise over the Keleti

I realized this morning that we get a cool urban sunrise from the living room window, and that I wake up early enough to see it. The window overlooks the Keleti train station, hence "over the Keleti". Ironically, Keleti means East in Hungarian, which is consistent with the idea of sunrise, but this is a South window. I had to look quiet a bit to the left, but could see the sun nevertheless.

This post is my last in November. You will have one still, on your evening of the 30, my morning of December 1st. For you it means that when you log in to post, it will be a few hours less than three weeks before I am scheduled to arrive back in Seattle.

P.S. this is the 222th post.

Banana

November 28 | Ping Chinese Restaurant on Moscow Square

I completely lost track of time with this translation. Fortunately, I finished, but it took me three full days. Not fun. At least I might have improved my Hungarian. Now it's layout time, which I will do tomorrow. And supplies for binding. Then printing and binding during RFM and C&P on Monday (there's no other time since the school is closed on weekends).

Anyway, the fancy dessert suggests that I went to another Chinese restaurant. Yep. I couldn't celebrate Thanksgiving properly, and I was hungry, so I went back here. It's called a banana split, and it's asymmetric. There are three different ice cream scoops inside. For maximum enjoyment, start from the right end. For me, the chocolate end. I like to end with vanilla.

(By the way, this photo was accidentally cropped to 2048px, exactly twice the standard size that I post. Yay me.)

Chinese

November 21 | Chinese restaurant in Ettelbrück

Those chocolates look amazing!

Luxembourg was a trip of missed buses and lost places. Missed buses will come in the next post. I arrived in Ettelbrück for no reason whatsoever. Actually, I was anticipating hiking over there, but I couldn't find the right hiking trail. So I took a bus, became frustrated at having to connect, etc. I finally got there and found a Chinese restaurant. I walked in, if only to forget that I am anywhere in Europe not where I lately got used to being.

Chinese restaurants are cheaper than most. For 21 Euros I got a soup, salad, little meat thing on a stick and egg roll (I think), the main dish, and this dessert. It was called "ice cream with Chinese fruits", hence the title. It's tiny, but it was good.

After, I became immediately frustrated at not being able to locate the train station. And on the next day I came back to Ettelbrück, wanting to take a picture of the restaurant. I couldn't find it.

Statue

November 20 | Luxembourg City

This is a statue in Luxembourg city center. Any idea what it could be?

I had to pay for Internet, second time a hostel didn't have free WiFi somewhere. (First was in Switzerland, but at least that one was priced reasonably.)

And just to put it somewhere: the duration of last week's trip to Munich, from Budapest-Keleti departure to arrival Budapest-Keleti, was exactly 83 hours, 42 minutes, and 38 seconds.

Signals

November 15 | Corner of Zweibrückenstrasse and Thierschstrasse, Munich

I found these funny. They're tram signals. And I can't read them. There's also car signals. Weird, that they're all in one bunch.

When looking up the street corner, I realized that someone has taken a better picture of this ^{[external link]}. I'm jealous...

Ugly

November 14 | Marienplatz, Munich

From Wikipedia:

Today the Marienplatz is dominated by the New Ugly Hall (Neues Rathaus) on the north side. The Glockenspiel in the tower of the new ugly hall was inspired by these tournaments, and draws millions of tourists a year. The New Ugly Hall was built 1867 - 1909 in Flanders gothic style; its facade, over 300 feet in length, features strikingly elaborate stone ornamentation. Its 260-foot tower with carillon is, with the nearby St. Peter's Church and the twin towers of the Cathedral, one of the most distinctive features of the ugly skyline.

This is the center of the city. And this is approximately where I stopped my 7-hour-long intuition-and-map-guided walking tour of the city. (Actually, I kept going to some church and to some park, and then to them musicians town. [I ate at a restaurant on Mozartstrasse, which was the wrong street, since I intended to take Schubertstrasse and end up on Beethovenplatz.] But by that time it was already dark and hard to take pictures of anything, and I was tired, so I returned to the station.)

Seriously, who'd build a city hall like this?

P.S. Ok, I like it for a change. But I'm glad I don't have to walk by one of these every day.

Neuschweinstein

November 13 | Schwangau, Germany

Look where I've been today!

So, I took the 8:19 train (because I almost missed the 7:52 train and they ended up arriving at exactly the same time). The original plan was to take the bus from Füssen to Hohenschwangau and see the two castles: Neuschweinstein and Hohenschwangau. But upon arriving in Füssen, I realized that I'd much rather take a hike through the forest. I did that, but first stumbled upon a third castle, right in Füssen. That castle took the most of my time, since it slowly transitioned into Füssen's city center with all it's bakeries. I went to one.

All in all, by the time I got to N., it was already 3:30, and the sun already set a hill behither. Still, I went where I could in N., then to the bridge with a view of N., then up hill past "extreme danger, stay on trail" signs - I'm certain there was a trail where I went - for an even better view of N.

I might go back there and finish my hiking. If I have time.

Fruits

November 10

I got tickets to München, and a reservation at a very nice hostel. Yay! I feel much better now that this weekend is decided (still hoping on the next two) and am celebrating with a Persimmon.

I haven't tried it yet. It looks ripe. We'll see.