Good times in the 'Pest

"I had expected to be intrigued by Budapest, and to admire it; I had not expected to be awed."

View of Parliament from near our hostel.

Arriving in Budapest after a 7-hour minibus ride from Belgrade I remembered this passage from Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian. The city is, indeed, awe-inspiring. Despite arriving after dark, my travelling companion and I oohed and aahed as we drove to our hostel in the center of Pest: "look at that building!" "oh, look over there!  It's beautiful!" This feeling of awe only increased over the next week. Awe at the gorgeous architecture ranging from Art Nouveau to Ottoman-inspired and every imaginable combination, at the kindness of the people we encountered, at the great food and the ubiquitous forralt bor (mulled wine), at the exceedingly difficult-seeming Hungarian language, and not least at the great shopping available (so many H&Ms!).

Allow me to back up.  I, along with about 15 other Fulbright ETAs from almost all the former Yugoslav states, were invited to Budapest to participate in an orientation set up by the Regional English Language Office. Over three days, we attended training sessions designed to better equip us for our teaching posts. Some of the sessions were very enlightening, others less so, but the experience of coming together for the second time (the first being our orientation in Washington, DC over the summer) and sharing our various successes, trials, and tribulations was invaluable.  Not to mention a lot of fun.  Of course, presented with the prospect of a paid trip to Budapest, most of us decided to stretch that trip as long as we could.

Highlights of my trip included:

Drinking buckets of forralt bor morning, noon, and night.

Great food, including plenty of Hungarian goulash and some great goose for St. Martin's Day.

The wine!  Who knew?  Hungarian wine is amazing.

The ceiling of beautiful Alexandra bookstore and cafe.

Seeing the ballet version of Eugene Onegin in the lovely, gilded Budapest Opera building.

       

The Budapest Opera house: a lavish interior and stately exterior.

Forgetting my winter coat in Kragujevac, and shopping in H&M for a new one the first morning (50% off!)

Rocking my new coat at the Matthias Church (left- thanks, Andrea, for the photo) and in Szentendre (right).

Taking the train to the village of Szentendre (pronounced like St. Andre), historically populated by Serbs (since the 16th century, apparently) and now an artist's colony/extremely picturesque tourist attraction.

Clockwise from top left: main street in Szentendre, the Serbian Orthodox church on the main square, ETAs to Serbia/Republika Srpska on Serbian St, another picturesque church

Checking out the night life of Budapest, including a ruin pub.

Having a "dessert for dinner" night, with yummy strudel followed by a delightful cream-filled pastry at a famous cake shop.

Delicious cream cake at Ruszwurm cafe

Visiting out the over-the-top, Disney-perfect beauty of the castle district in Buda.

View of Matthias Church and the castle district from below

Walking to the top of the citadel at night and having Irish coffee in a swanky restaurant featuring jaw-dropping 360 degree views of the Danube and the city.

Strolling down famous Andrassy Avenue all the way to Heroes' Square, pausing every two minutes to take pictures of the oodles of gorgeous mansions lining the boulevard.

In front of a museum at Heroes' Square (left- thanks to Amy for the photo!) and my fixer-upper mansion on Andrassy Ave.

Taking a public transportation adventure with fellow Serbia ETA Elizabeth to a hilariously low-profile shooting range for two hours of adrenaline-pumping Soviet-style shooting.  (This will probably merit its own post.)

Exploring, goofing around, and getting to know a bunch of bright, fun, and adventurous people.

With just a few of those people, drinking- you guessed it!- forralt bor in Szentendre.

Been away, but now I'm back

So, after over a month of being seriously remiss in my blogging duties, I'm back with a vengeance. After several months of no internet access in my dorm, followed by a phenomenal week-long trip to Budapest, I've moved into a new, 21st century place complete with wi-fi, cable, and a glorious kitchen. Details on all this and more to follow, of course.  It's good to be back!

A sneak peak on things to come...