Dubrovnik

Our time in Dubrovnik went by so fast!  It’s easy to see why, over the centuries, the Venetians shopped for a little territory here.  After the morning snowfall of Zagreb, Hilary and I hopped on a Croatian Airlines dual prop and flew to Dubrovnik.  We arrived in beautiful sunshine and had to hurriedly dig out our sunglasses.  The airport is 18km down the coast from the town proper, on what may be the only flat patch for 100 miles.  The road into town gave us a view overlooking the gorgeous waters of the Adriatic, my favorite color.  In the Crayola box, this is called Green-Blue.  How unromantic.  We checked in to our plushy hotel, the Excelsior (hooray for off season rates!), put down our bags, and boom!  Thunder, followed by “wintry mix” - aka sleet.  We did the only reasonable thing: go to the hotel bar and drink bubbly overlooking the water.  We then ventured two flights down and enjoyed the heated loungers, sauna, and (indoor) pool, while working on the Saturday NYT crossword. 

 

The weather let up in the evening, allowing us to walk into the Old Tow for a wonderful fish dinner with fellow traveler (not the communist kind) Adam.  They brought the still-living lobster and sole to our table for approval, and I assure you we gave it!  We finished the night with a liqueur flavored with rosemary and heaven knows what else.

The following morning we woke to sun and did a leisurely meander of the Old Town walls and fort, including the beach (where I think we switched it up to a mosey) and side streets (at a saunter).  We lunched next to a nice Brit couple called Baz and Les, who warned us the mussels were small this time of year.  Big shells, little meat.  Good advice.  Then the wind blew in clouds and shut down the scenic cable car, so more pool time was called for.

Good Morning!!

Hilary on the walls.

The Monday NYT crossword didn't last long.

Hilary left much too early this morning, tho with the thunder kicking in at 4am, it wasn’t like we were sleeping.  Definitely a bad night to be at anchor.  The seas are very high and rough.  There are camel-colored clouds in the green water where beaches are being washed out.  I suspect the sand must be trucked in annually for the tourist trade.  I’ve gone for another morning ramble through the stone passageways and my jeans are now off me and on the heated towel rack.  I’m catching the bus to Split in an hour, and four hours in wet denim would be miserable.

Zagreb

The famous son of Zagreb (sorta)

Hilary and I relocated from Budapest to Zagreb, with only minor travel-related traumas (the train left from a different station than the web told us, we had to hustle on the metro [for which we were happy, since it is the second oldest subway system in the world and we wanted to check it out], and we shared a compartment with two specimens of Croatian and Serbian stereotypes).  Zagreb is just magical.  It has a very compact old town, with an Upper and Lower part.  We ventured out for dinner the first night a happened into Carpaccio.  The waiter was the king of the upsell, but everything he suggested was so wonderfully tasty and perfect that we really can’t complain.  Best octopus and tiramisu of my life.  And Burratino!!  Yum…

The following morning we hiked to the Mirogoj Cemetery for a long, cold ramble.  You know you are a bit of a cemetery geek when you debate headstone fonts.  Then we toured the Upper Old Town; including the Lotrscak Tower and the Museum of Broken Relationships which was sweet, funny, and touching.  Plus, they had hot chocolate so thick it was chocolate soup.

She who walks a lot in foreign cemeteries?  Kinda Buffy-ish.

Up the 13th Century tower with Hilary.

The obvious.  

This morning we woke up to snow!  We felt like we were somehow in tune with our East Coast brethren.

On to Budapest

Arrived in Budapest two days ago on the first truly delayed train I’ve taken, over an hour late.  Shocking.  But I walked to the hotel from the station and stepped up to the front desk directly behind Hilary.  What timing!  We’ve been enjoying the city ever since.  Lots of walking and looking at architecture, statues, squares, and fonts.

Yesterday was a truly touristic day.  We hit the Cezanne exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, as well as checking out the Rodins and other collections.  They included the first redheaded Jesus I’ve ever seen.  Proper, carroty red.  Still dead though.

We had a snack of delicious cake and attended the Budapest Circus (Magyar Cirkuszcsill).  It was a mix of all kinds of acts, from acrobats and trampolines to hand balancing and trick horses.  There was an elephant and four camels.  We sat ringside and took it all in. 

When we left the circus we walked across the street to float in the Szechenyi Baths (http://www.budapestbaths.net/szechenyi-bath).  These were a great mix of outdoor pools and indoor spas, in all temperatures.  It was dark and cold out, and the steam off the outdoor pools as very atmospheric. 

After drying off, we treated ourselves to Hungarian cuisine at Restaurant Bagolyvar.  Hungarian wines are very tasty and they do great things with goose and duck.  But I think my paprikash recipe is better.  We walked home with the rain turning to snow.

Today we’ve seen the Market Hall (Budapest’s version of Pike Place Market), Parliament, climbed the dome of the Cathedral, and noshed at Café Callas.  We’re slated to attend the opera tonight – Don Giovanni!  Hilary is only here for a week so we are packing it in.

Love, Vienna, and Books

While most of you would consider that for me love=books/books=love, that is not specifically what this post is about.  On the love part: isn’t amazing how you can just love people within minutes?  Vanessa, Robert, Gunter, and little Ellie are examples of this.  Just…boom.  I’ve heard about them for years (well not Ellie, she isn’t even two) from other members of my family.  But I didn’t think the connection would be there.  It is, and I am so pleased.  I haven’t had the chance to spend much time with children while travelling and Ellie was such a treat.  She’s so precise and patient.  Really, the whole weekend was fabulous.

So, having spent a wonderful weekend with the family in Munich I moved on today to Vienna.  I need to be in Budapest tomorrow and this seemed like the best way to make the journey.  I got into town with plenty of time to visit the one museum Lindsey and I missed in December (not a fine arts museum!  No Jesuses).  It’s actually a combination of three museums at the Hofburg Palace: the Imperial Porcelain and Silver Collection, the Sisi Museum, and the Imperial Apartments.  You wouldn’t think it, but the dishes are the best part of the display. 

But not all experiences here in Vienna are new.  I backtracked into Demel to repeat the wonderful Weinerschnitzel meal.  Oink.

As for books: I am reading away while railing around Europe.  My trusty Kindle proved untrustworthy in Belgium and had to be replaced in Greece (traumatic, but solvable.  And I had the history of Prague to see me through).   I am still working away on Innocents Abroad by Twain, but I find that reading things originally published serially as a novel puts me off.  I’ve had problems in the past with Dickens on this point.  David Copperfield and I were not on friendly terms due to incessant punch making.  But as most of you know I interleave my book reading by having 3-5 open at any given time.  Keeping track of them on the Kindle is a little trickier than the bedside table, but it leaves more room for a water glass.  Anyway, I just finished the latest effort by Elizabeth George.  I hated it.  Somehow I thought that since she wasn’t writing murder mysteries set in England but rather in her own Washington State it would be better.  Less minutiae about class differences and no one moaning on book after book after book about whatever in their life they weren’t going to get over.  Nope.  Yet another book where no one knows anything about anybody despite living on Whidbey Island which has a population of nothing.  Small towns really don’t work that way.  Big towns don’t either.  Oh, and it has a weird Twilight-esque protagonist and ends with a cliffhanger.  Augh!!  I’m going to bliss out on essays by Nick Hornby to scrub that out of my brain.  Then a chapter or two of Twain.  And I have two biographies to dip into sooner or later.  

Munchen

I’ve continued north to Munich, but soon I’ll be heading east and south.  I’m in Bavaria to visit with relatives I’ve never actually met before.  They also fall into the famous Lucy version of “family”.  I had lunch today with Vanessa and her husband Robert.  Vanessa’s father is my late bonus father’s first cousin, Geunter.  I’ll be seeing Geunter and more tomorrow.  Such fun!  Really nice people!!

Since V and R had to run off after coffee, I toodled into the Alte Pinakothek for a bit of culture and to walk off the delicious Bavarian food.  Did I mention the hot chocolate with marzipan?  But I think I am topped off with fine art museums.  I can still go to an archaeological museum or two, and shoe museums are still on the menu.  But fine arts are out.  I have, quite simply, seen too many dead Jesuses.  Baby Jesuses too.  Really, most Christian iconography.  St. Jeromes, St. Sebastians, St. Francises.  I may now be something of a connoisseur of Ascensions and I generally don’t care for them.  The exceptions being the ones in which Mary has an, “oh, hell no” expression on her face (about 10% in my estimation).

Other comments on Munich:

·      Best shower.  Duh, Grohe.

·      They don’t jaywalk here.

·      That would be fine if I could figure out where the crossings are.  I can’t.  Either it’s the missing paint due to winter weather or the different wayfaring style or the roundabouts, but I am just clumping up with people and hoping I’m at the right place.

Yup, this is the kind of art I am prepared to deal with.  Unless this isn't actually art.  Bit of a conundrum.

Moving Northward

Well, after the shock of almost appearing in a porno, I've been pretty quiet in this blog.  I spent some more time in Florence, with the only nudes being of a more artistic variety.

The Medici gardens were a highlight.

Then I tooled off to Lucca, which is a pretty little spot.  It was a gray and rainy day, so no pictures to share.  From there I moved north, eventually hitting Fussen.

Where I went for a walk in the snow.  Because....I have no idea.  It was pretty.  

And it got me to this view of Neuschwanstein.

So I felt I had earned this.