2012 is over! Hallelujah!! What started as the most miserable months of my life (maybe even worse than my time at Central) finished with a bang in London's Trafalgar Square with my sister, Helen. Now, I'm back at home dealing with the enormous let-down that comes after two weeks of Christmas vacation and Helen's returning to the States.
I had a wonderful visit with Helen. She arrived a few days before school ended and visited my classes for two days before Christmas break. Once school was finished, we spent a few days around my town, visiting the market in Debrecen, going to the spa, decorating for Christmas, making caramels, roasting a duck for Christmas dinner, visiting my vice-principal's house, and other assorted things around Szoboszlo. Although, I much prefer living in Budapest, it was nice to be able to show someone my little town.
The day after Christmas, we took the train to Budapest and spent a very rainy day walking around. We tried to go to the ice rink at City Park and the Christmas Market but both were closed due to the rain. We did make it to dinner at our family's favorite restaurant. At this point, things got crazy because I had to run home (3 hours each way on the train) to get my inhaler. Both of us had bad colds and I didn't want to risk 10 days without it. After I arrived back to Budapest, we barely made our flight to London and arrived exhausted.
Our original plan had been to visit Sarajevo because I enjoyed it so much over Fall break and I thought Helen would like it too. This fell apart when the Hungarian train system cut the direct route from BP to Sarajevo which would have made the trip twice as long. We scrambled at the last minute to find something else to do and decided to go to London and Dublin. It was a wonderful decision. There were plenty of bumps in the road as we had to find hostels and flights over New Year's but everything got sorted out in the end. I would NEVER stay at Heathrow Lodge again (I don't think our room had ever been cleaned... ick!) but we could afford it and made do.
Except for our hostel situation, London was fantastic. I can't wait for my next chance to go back! We got the London Pass which worked really well for us - included travel (important since we were staying about an hour from the city center) and was simpler than buying tickets everywhere we went. We saw Westminster Cathedral, Westminister Abbey, Buckingham Palace (the Queen was home), the Household Cavalry Museum, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, The Tower of London, toured the National Theater backstage (disappointing because they didn't show the costume areas), toured the replica of the Globe Theater (I got to be a model in the costume demonstration... almost made up for the National Theater), got to see Tower Bridge raise and lower, watched New Year's fireworks from Trafalgar Square, Big Ben (not nearly as big as I expected), and probably a bunch that I'm forgetting.
Both Helen and I got very excited, and subsequently disappointed, over two different church services we hoped to attend on Sunday. Helen wanted to see/hear her favorite boy's choir singing Evensong at their home church but they were gone for Christmas break. I have been dying to attend an Anglican-use Catholic Mass since B16 established the Personal Ordinariates. Unfortunately, the one I found was also on Christmas break so we just went to a "regular" Mass. More things for us to look forward to for our next visits.
On New Year's Day, we flew from London to Dublin and spent a few days in a city very important to our family's history. My Dad remembers the math teachers' party at which my Mom met him in Wisconsin, but doesn't remember meeting her. He first remembers meeting her in a train station in Dublin when they were both there for a conference. Six to eight first dates later, there was finally a third, fourth, etc date and the rest is history. Neither of my parents could remember which train station but we visited both.
In Dublin, we went on a walking tour led by a local grad student who shared loads of info about the history of Ireland and Dublin. It was fascinating to hear, especially about the Catholic history of the country. We didn't see nearly as much in Dublin as in London, but I wasn't as interested in it as a city. It was nice to visit but I don't see myself back any time soon. One thing that shocked me was how expensive it was. I never would have expected it to be more expensive than London. One of our days we spent on a day trip/bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher and Galway. That was my favorite part of Ireland. It was so beautiful and our drivers/tour guides were very informative and entertaining.
The food in both places was fantastic! We ate so much cheddar cheese it's amazing we didn't turn orange. Living in a country that tends to have mostly bland cheese, I was in heaven. I also loved the fish and chips. I don't buy fish very often and tend to be picky but both places we got fish and chips were amazing. The fish was mild and creamy with a soft/crunchy shell (yes, I realize that doesn't make much sense). The chips were good too but I found the fish to be the real star of those meals. Our last night in Ireland, I had an amazing Steak and Guinness pie which I think I could eat almost everyday of my life. Although we were in London where Helen (at 17) could have legally drank, we didn't have much alcohol on the trip. I had a London's Best in the little pub next to our hostel in London and a Guinness in Dublin but wasn't impressed with either. I did really enjoy the Classic Pimm's that I had in London though.
We arrived back to Budapest on Saturday morning and spent the rest of the day visiting pastry shops and getting some last minute shopping done for Helen. She flew out this morning and I took the train back to Szoboszlo. School starts again tomorrow morning and I have massive amounts of laundry to do but I am choosing to enjoy my last night by doing a whole lot of nothing.
Pictures will be on FB and I may try to add some to this post later.
Happy New Year everyone!!
Langos - not just a Hungarian thing
Woven towels, bags, hats, etc...
And the woman who was making them
Look... it's a kovach! (well, at least someone working with metal)
That is one Massive pan of potatoes!
A grilled-cheese sandwich ... different from a grilled cheese sandwich (the cheese itself was grilled not the sandwich)
It's a nice sentiment... perhaps people do need extra luck... personally, I would prefer my luck lead me to a real bathroom but in a pinch I'll take what I can get)
Church of Our Lady before Tyn - various stories about why one tower is bigger than the other - Adam protecting Eve, someone screwed up the measurements, materials were stolen
Another church at Old Town Square... this one kept changing back and forth between Catholic and something else (can't remember what... it wasn't common). It's not Catholic now
The famous clock... we weren't there at the hour so we didn't see it in motion but it was still neat
Our guide told us all of the different things the clock tells - some of them are: the time, the phases of the moon, astrological sign, the date, if it's day or night
Statue used to determine which generation kids identify with... this is either Emperor Palpantine or a Dementor. In actuality, it's the ghost of Don Giovanni's father. The building is the only theatre Mozart's work was premiered in which is still in use.
Wenceslas Square... important site in the Prague Spring (1968) ... our guide told the story of how his father was almost shot while removing street signs as the Communists re-invaded the city
The Church of St. James ... with a dark secret
The mummified remains of a thief's arm after he was seized by a statue of the Virgin Mary while trying to steal her necklace.
Forgot your toothbrush? Never fear! You can get one in the bathroom of the bagel shop where we stopped.
Kafka.. at the start of the:
Jewish Quarter
Jewish cemetery - see how high the gravestones are compared to street level? Because they had no more land, the Jewish community had to add more feet of dirt and continue burying people over top of old graves.
The home of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Funny story about the composer statues on the roof - one of the top Nazis got angry that Mendelssohn was featured because he was a Jew. This figure requested that the statue be removed but did not tell the workmen which statue was Mendelssohn's. They nearly removed that of Wagner by mistake!
The man himself, King Charles the 4th (I'm pretty impressed... I remembered that he was the 4th before I looked it up to double check)
From the bridge
All sorts of things for sale on the bridge
I remembered some advice I had read/heard about who to ask to take your picture: Look for someone with a nice camera -- chance are, they will actually get the picture you want (you AND the background)
Went to Mass in this church which seems to function as the Newman Center for a university.
I didn't go in, but the idea of Absinth ice cream intrigued me
The castle from the Charles Bridge before I headed back to the bus station.
Look where this museum is located (if you can't make it out on the sign -- "Above McDonald's")
The Prague Quadrennial!
Romania
Hungary - This was really interesting... a room painted blue with water on the floor - you had to put little water booties on your shoes before you went in. They were projecting pictures from some of this designer's works on the floor (from the ceiling) and playing the audio of the last interview he gave before disappearing.
Mexico? (I can't remember) -- Costumes made out of everyday objects
The Philippines - a two story structure with Barbie dolls around the top
Denmark - a representation of a children's theatre that travels by bus
Hong Kong - a bathtub standing on shoes -- this was on the second floor of their exhibit
UK -- Sketchbook from a production of La Traviata with fabric swatches
Spain -- a dress half-made to show the different steps/layers
Lithuania - Perhaps the most powerful exhibit - the Lithuanian government refused to give any money toward their exhibit so they were unable to present anything despite being give the space for free by PQ. They chose to let this "forced silence" speak even louder than an exhibit would have by making this huge sign which people from all over the world were signing.
On the walls, people were leaving all sorts of drawings/signing names/etc. with spackle knives provided for this purpose.
Turkey - One really neat thing about most of the exhibits was how hands-on they were... this was a prime example, the Turkish exhibit was a model of a car on on the Orient Express with TV screens in place of windows
I remember thinking "Gee... that Susan O'Neill even spells her name the same as my costume designer/shop manager at SHU." Only, it wasn't someone who spells her name the same: it's actually her. I didn't realize until I was telling her about my trip this summer and mentioned it. And, in this case, she's not just someone who I've met in passing. She was one of my biggest mentors in college - and there she is, credited in Prague. CRAZY AWESOME!
A dress made out of bullets
Balloons
Dress that has a windshield and side mirrors
Clear glass/plastic corset
Light up costumes made out of recycling
