Tuesday began with uncertainty. We had planned on going to the Cave Church, but ended up getting started a little later and didn't think that it would be open because my Budapest book said it had weird hours. Instead we stayed at the hostel and watched the Revolution Day service out the window. The streets were crowded so I am not sad that we stayed inside. When we left we headed to get some lunch. The waiter seemed to be a bit slow getting to us, but we both enjoyed the food and had strudel for dessert.
After lunch we went to the hostel to plan the rest of our afternoon. We were not certain of where to go because it was Revolution Day, so we went to try to see if the Cave Church was open. We missed the entrance because we were looking on the wrong side of the road, but kept walking anyways and went up a hilly path to a cool looking structure/monument. Buda is very different from Pest because Buda is hilly and has more nature around it. Pest is just like a city, but it has some historical buildings too. From where we were on the hill we could see the Castle District which was our original plan for the day. The Elizabeth Bridge was closed to cars for the day and pedestrians were allowed to walk on it instead of using the regular footpaths (I am actually uncertain if it has footpaths, but I assume it does because the others do). We didn't cross it but went down one of the closed off roads and approached Buda Castle. It was neat from the outside, and also you quickly noticed that it was huge. We had pay to take an elevator to get to the top. The National Gallery and Library are up there inside the palace and because it was Revolution Day we were able to go in for free. It was a good thing that we went to see it.
After the Gallery we walked through a little market until we got to Fisherman's Bastion. There was a really cool looking church there, but we only got to see the outside of it. We walked down the hill toward chain bridge and realized that Buda reminded me more of Halifax while Pest is more like Toronto or London or something. It was dark by that time and all of the city was lit up with lights. Budapest is a very pretty city during the day but it is even nicer looking at night. We explored a little and walked back along the river.
After that we had supper, played some games/read/slept.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
budapest: day 2
On Monday we started our morning by going to a huge indoor market that is close to where we are staying. It was pretty neat, and there was a lot of paprika, sausages, and food on the bottom floor and on the second floor there were toys, games, dolls, clothing, and that sort of thing. I bought a set of those funny stacking dolls.
After the market we went out to eat, but the guy took forever getting back to us after he gave us menus so we just left and went somewhere else. I got a bowl of goulash soup and they gave us some bread with it. It was pretty cheap and very filling. For dessert I tried the golden dumplings, and they were good also.
After lunch we went to the Jewish museum/Great Synagogue which was very large and impressive. I had to wear one of those funny little hats that cover your head. After that we just walked around to try to find some of the cool looking churches that are all over the place. The one that we wanted to see wasn't open that day or else we just couldn't figure out how to get in. We were right by the Danube at that point so we just walked up and down the river exploring because it was neat. In one of the squares that we went to there was a guy playing music on a bunch of glasses and I took a video of it because it was quite amusing.
Those are the highlights. There was more walking, and we ate supper, and went to bed.
After the market we went out to eat, but the guy took forever getting back to us after he gave us menus so we just left and went somewhere else. I got a bowl of goulash soup and they gave us some bread with it. It was pretty cheap and very filling. For dessert I tried the golden dumplings, and they were good also.
After lunch we went to the Jewish museum/Great Synagogue which was very large and impressive. I had to wear one of those funny little hats that cover your head. After that we just walked around to try to find some of the cool looking churches that are all over the place. The one that we wanted to see wasn't open that day or else we just couldn't figure out how to get in. We were right by the Danube at that point so we just walked up and down the river exploring because it was neat. In one of the squares that we went to there was a guy playing music on a bunch of glasses and I took a video of it because it was quite amusing.
Those are the highlights. There was more walking, and we ate supper, and went to bed.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Busapest: day 1
On our first day we started off by grabbing breakfast. It was nothing too exotic: toast, jam, cereal, the standards. After breakfast we headed off to the National Museum, the largest museum in Hungary, and spent until early-mid afternoon exploring the exhibits. One of the most impressive rooms in the place was the first room that you entered after buying a ticket. I think I have a picture of it on my camera so I will try to remember to upload it here.
The museum took us through the history of Budapest from its beginnings up until around the 1990s. By the end of it we were both Beth and I were tired of reading and getting quite hungry. We went to the hostel and ate some of our snacks because we figured it was too close to supper to get food. Our first language mistake occurred shortly after when we bought six 1.5L bottles of carbonated water. Unless we can manage to find some syrup packs to mix our own fountain pop it will probably remain a casualty of war. It wasn't very expensive and it gave beth and I quite a laugh.
After the water incident we decided to see if the market was open. It wasn't but we decided to check out the Buda side of the city because the bridge was nearby. We found a neat pathway up a big hill and there was a bunch of statues at the top. You could see out over the whole city from up there and was good for exercise. When we came back we stopped at a burger king because it was easiest and something that we recognized. After we were fed we explored some more of the city and then headed back to the hostel.
The museum took us through the history of Budapest from its beginnings up until around the 1990s. By the end of it we were both Beth and I were tired of reading and getting quite hungry. We went to the hostel and ate some of our snacks because we figured it was too close to supper to get food. Our first language mistake occurred shortly after when we bought six 1.5L bottles of carbonated water. Unless we can manage to find some syrup packs to mix our own fountain pop it will probably remain a casualty of war. It wasn't very expensive and it gave beth and I quite a laugh.
After the water incident we decided to see if the market was open. It wasn't but we decided to check out the Buda side of the city because the bridge was nearby. We found a neat pathway up a big hill and there was a bunch of statues at the top. You could see out over the whole city from up there and was good for exercise. When we came back we stopped at a burger king because it was easiest and something that we recognized. After we were fed we explored some more of the city and then headed back to the hostel.
Getting to Budapest
Our trip to Budapest began at 7:04 when we boarded the train from Charlbury. Mike was nice and drove us to the station which meant we didn't have to get up quite as early as we would have had to before. We arrived at London Paddington Station and discovered that some of the tube lines were closed. It wasn't really that big of a deal and we ended up taking the same route that I had planned beforehand.
When we arrived at St. Pancras we bought tickets to go to Luton Airport. When we got to our destination we had to take a shuttle to get to the actual airport. There were no real problems with the flight there except that it was 20-30 minutes late. At the airport in Budapest we arranged transportation for getting to our hostel. It takes some stress off of everything because the shuttle will pick us up and take us back to the airport when we are going to leave.
By the time we arrived at the hostel it was starting to get dark. So we went and bought some food from a store nearby and packed it in for the night. We spent some time looking at maps and planning the rest of our trip.
When we arrived at St. Pancras we bought tickets to go to Luton Airport. When we got to our destination we had to take a shuttle to get to the actual airport. There were no real problems with the flight there except that it was 20-30 minutes late. At the airport in Budapest we arranged transportation for getting to our hostel. It takes some stress off of everything because the shuttle will pick us up and take us back to the airport when we are going to leave.
By the time we arrived at the hostel it was starting to get dark. So we went and bought some food from a store nearby and packed it in for the night. We spent some time looking at maps and planning the rest of our trip.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Catch-up post
So I am in Budapest right now on spring break and there are a lot of events we have done that I haven't written about. I should probably get those out of the way before I start talking about Budapest.
I went to Blenheim Park one Sunday afternoon with everyone in the group minus Hannah, Sally, and Emma. The gardens (lawns) at Blenheim were extremely large. It is crazy to think that one person can have so much land when everyone else has basically none. The palace at Blenheim was really nice too, but we were not able to go inside. It was a nice day and the sun was shining as I remember it. At one point mark stuck his head into a bush and it was funny so I took a picture of it. Sadly I do not have access to that picture right now so this is a reminder to myself to put that picture up when I get back (or remind me in the comments if you read this and it still isn't up and it is past the 19th). There were some neat fountains behind the palace with lots of statues. There was a crazy amount of poop in the park when we were walking in the grass. I think it is because of the geese. To cap off the event Mark did a front flip down a hill and almost killed himself.
The next trip that we had was to Steventon and Chawton which are places that Jane Austen used to go to. We took everyone's favourite/hated vehicle, the playbus. Favourite because it has Playbus on the side in rainbow letters, hated because some of the seats face backwards and make your stomach feel like it is in a washing machine. Somehow my co-op group was in charge of making packed lunch again. We haven't made an actual meal yet. We headed toward Steventon, but had to go to some lady's house because it was lunch time and also because there was a funeral that morning at the Church in Steventon. We met Doug Mantz and his wife. We ate our packed lunches, and then visited the neighbour's house because it is a heritage site and looks very similar to Anne Hathaway's cottage. You can see outside by looking up his chimney, and the house has a thatched roof. We went to the Steventon church from there which is the church that Jane Austen would have gone to and her father was the Rector. From this point on the trip was super rushed because the funeral was unexpected and pushed all of our times back. We rushed from Steventon church to the cottage that Jane Austen lived in. I didn't really even get to look in all of the rooms because Doug was trying so hard to keep up with the disrupted schedule. After the house we went down to a little conference room and had a lecture given to us by Doug's wife. I think her name is Eileen, but I am not sure. The lecture was supposed to be about Jane Austen with some context of women writers, but it ended up being a lecture about women, how they were oppressed and... oh also Jane Austen wrote stuff. It was very informative, but didn't really seem to fit. After the cottage we hustled over to Jane Austen's brother's house. It was a nice place which is also a library that people can go to if they are researching female writers. After this busy day we headed back onto the Playbus and drove for another hour and a half to get back to Charlbury. Marion gave us a nice surprise because she left some cookies, tarts, and beverages on the bus after we left from the cottage Austen lived in. I guess I knew about it beforehand, but had forgotten.
Everyone was getting sick, including Beth so I feared it would hit me just in time to leave for March break, but I got lucky and avoided it. On the friday before we left we had play practice. It is coming along, but everyone still needs to memorize their lines as well as get their cues and all of that. In the future we will undoubtedly have Glenna stressed to high levels with our lack of readiness. I think we only will have a week and a half or so to write all of our papers when we get back from the break. This final month is going to be nuts.
I went to Blenheim Park one Sunday afternoon with everyone in the group minus Hannah, Sally, and Emma. The gardens (lawns) at Blenheim were extremely large. It is crazy to think that one person can have so much land when everyone else has basically none. The palace at Blenheim was really nice too, but we were not able to go inside. It was a nice day and the sun was shining as I remember it. At one point mark stuck his head into a bush and it was funny so I took a picture of it. Sadly I do not have access to that picture right now so this is a reminder to myself to put that picture up when I get back (or remind me in the comments if you read this and it still isn't up and it is past the 19th). There were some neat fountains behind the palace with lots of statues. There was a crazy amount of poop in the park when we were walking in the grass. I think it is because of the geese. To cap off the event Mark did a front flip down a hill and almost killed himself.
The next trip that we had was to Steventon and Chawton which are places that Jane Austen used to go to. We took everyone's favourite/hated vehicle, the playbus. Favourite because it has Playbus on the side in rainbow letters, hated because some of the seats face backwards and make your stomach feel like it is in a washing machine. Somehow my co-op group was in charge of making packed lunch again. We haven't made an actual meal yet. We headed toward Steventon, but had to go to some lady's house because it was lunch time and also because there was a funeral that morning at the Church in Steventon. We met Doug Mantz and his wife. We ate our packed lunches, and then visited the neighbour's house because it is a heritage site and looks very similar to Anne Hathaway's cottage. You can see outside by looking up his chimney, and the house has a thatched roof. We went to the Steventon church from there which is the church that Jane Austen would have gone to and her father was the Rector. From this point on the trip was super rushed because the funeral was unexpected and pushed all of our times back. We rushed from Steventon church to the cottage that Jane Austen lived in. I didn't really even get to look in all of the rooms because Doug was trying so hard to keep up with the disrupted schedule. After the house we went down to a little conference room and had a lecture given to us by Doug's wife. I think her name is Eileen, but I am not sure. The lecture was supposed to be about Jane Austen with some context of women writers, but it ended up being a lecture about women, how they were oppressed and... oh also Jane Austen wrote stuff. It was very informative, but didn't really seem to fit. After the cottage we hustled over to Jane Austen's brother's house. It was a nice place which is also a library that people can go to if they are researching female writers. After this busy day we headed back onto the Playbus and drove for another hour and a half to get back to Charlbury. Marion gave us a nice surprise because she left some cookies, tarts, and beverages on the bus after we left from the cottage Austen lived in. I guess I knew about it beforehand, but had forgotten.
Everyone was getting sick, including Beth so I feared it would hit me just in time to leave for March break, but I got lucky and avoided it. On the friday before we left we had play practice. It is coming along, but everyone still needs to memorize their lines as well as get their cues and all of that. In the future we will undoubtedly have Glenna stressed to high levels with our lack of readiness. I think we only will have a week and a half or so to write all of our papers when we get back from the break. This final month is going to be nuts.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Day Trip: Broughton Castle
On the Tuesday after our Stratford trip we took a relatively short drive to Broughton Castle. It is not so much of a castle as a really old, really large house, but we were told that it is a castle because it has a turret. So for anyone out there looking to build a castle keep that in mind. The first thing that I noticed about Broughton Castle is that it seemed colder inside then it was outside. The place seemed like a refrigerator. I feel bad for the people that would have lived there a long time ago.
In the first large room the lady let us try on some of the armor. I don't remember the exact year that it was from, but the helmet was neat and I got to hold a sword. I think the sword was a little bit newer than the armor, but still old. It seems like it would have been tough wearing all of the armor because the sword alone seemed pretty heavy.
The other day Beth and I were watching Shakespeare in Love and noticed quite a few of the scenes that were set in Broughton Castle. I think it made me enjoy the movie more because I could recognize the places as being places that I had just recently been standing on.
We were lucky and ran into Lord Saye at the end of the tour. He offered us tea, but we were running behind schedule and had to meet some other people for lunch. It would have been neat to have tea with him. One of the rooms that we were in had a bed from 1990-something which was funny because you would expect it to be really old. Broughton Castle was one of the most enjoyable places that we visited in my opinion because there was a mix of new and old.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Day Trip: Stratford
Today we went to Stratford-upon-Avon to see the birthplace and burial site of William Shakespeare. It was pretty neat, but the cold wet weather made walking around slightly less enjoyable. It was nothing compared to weather and temperatures at home though so it really isn't much to complain about. It was cool seeing everything, but one thing that stands out is that a lot of it was not 100% positive on it being correct information. They would say this is probably the site where this happened, so if ten years from now when we discover that it actually wasn't, the money you gave us will have been to see something that isn't actually what you wanted to see or what we advertised it as.
We began at Anne Hathaway's house, went to the Shakespeare birthplace, Nash's house, Hall's Croft, and to the Holy Trinity Church where his bones and the bones of some of his family are buried. It was a very nice and very old church dating back to 1210. It is a church of England now but I think it used to be a Roman Catholic place.
Tomorrow we will be heading to Broughton Castle. It is nice to not have to worry about studying for exams or writing papers anymore, but there are still lots of books and plays for this semester that I have not read yet.
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