European Vacation 2006

Oops I Did It Again

Bye to Budapest, for Now
My first week on vacation is now soundly behind me, and with it: my wallet, $400 cash, and two credit cards. And I did go to Prague for the weekend. My last newsletter ended about the time I got back from a daytrip to Kosiche with my father, and the very next day I met my cousin Adam for a few drinks at his favorite local dive bar. We would have spent the day outside, but the rain ended all hopes of that.

What's a Dive Bar?
Now everyone out there knows what a "dive bar" is, but the hungarian sort is distinct from the ones you are probably familiar with. Adam's favorite is located in the bottom floor of a soviet era apartment building. If you've cruised some of my Russia photos, you probably have an idea of what I'm talking about. These apartment buildings are concrete pre-fab structures that look like they've been glued together. And by now they all look like the glue is barely holding. Every Eastern European city I've seen has suburbs lined with dozens of these identical buildings.



On the bottom floor, often there are cafes or stores. In a little 10 foot by 25 foot room is our dive bar, complete with statuesque hungarian bar maid. So at about 1pm, Adam and I start drinking, and since I have not yet found soda (water with gas is no substitute) in Hungary, I was drinking vodka on the rocks.



My father and I had tickets for the 7pm train to Prague. Earlier in the week, the bad weather and my familiarity with Budapest had combined to make me extremely stir crazy. I convinced my dad to take a second road trip. And if we were to take a road trip, we should go somewhere good, right?. Prague is a solid 8 hour train ride, with stops, from Budapest. So our drinking day had a hard stop on it - we needed to make it back to Adam's apartment around 5 for dinner, and we needed to get to the train station in time for our trip.

"Vodka on the rocks is pretty potent."
Vodka on the rocks is pretty potent. And as the day went on, the pours got bigger. At around 2pm, Zoltan showed up. He doesn't have a car, so he and his bicycle arrived looking like a sponge. After he wrang out his clothes, the stories started. By 4:30 we were all drunk - I was just a bit more.



Adam's girlfriend made dinner. But it seemed we had barely enough time to swallow and run to the station. For some reason, and I haven't asked, we had to take the metro to the train station. Maybe it was traffic; I dunno. But anyway, the four of us, suitcases in hand, made a mad rush to the train. We boarded in plenty of time, and after getting settled in for the night, I promptly passed out.

Good Morning Prague
I first woke up at the border with Slovakia. It's sort of a rule - passport control always disturbs a deep sleep. Borders never come when you just doze off. No big deal for me, but I would never hear the end of this from my father. Just after the border guards were done stamping, I got nervous about my personal belongings. I saw my phone; I already pulled my passport out; but where is my wallet. I pulled at my bags in the darkness, and touched what I thought was my wallet. Satisfied, I went back to sleep.

About a half-hour from Prague, the conductor knocked. It was time to get up. So we started getting ready. I checked my bag for all the relevant items, and freaked. Where the f**k is my wallet?!?! I looked through everything 3 times. What the hell did I do this time?

I called my credit card companies (sounds familair doesn't it?) and cancelled the cards. This year I kept 2 cards in a seperate place, and of course I always travel with emergency funds. So this little issue didn't even slow us down. My father and I located a hotel in the center, just a few doors down from the strip clubs, and we walked a block to breakfast.



The weather was the same in Prague as it was in Budapest, but here we had a reason to explore. It never rained, so we walked the historic center of the city. It was not my first time, so I guided our walks to the most beautiful destinations. We of course stumbled over a few new things, one of which was the old Jewish sector of the city, and found some of the oldest synagogues I had ever seen. We also saw the castle up close - I never made it there in 2003.

All in all, it turned out to be a great weekend. I didn't photograph the city - the weather made it difficult. This one photo was taken when the clouds opened up for just about 20 minutes. I shot it from a cafe where my father and I were sharing stories over beer.

The train ride back to Budapest went without incident, and that day we saw my father off at the airport. After that, Adam, his girlfriend, Zoltan and I shared a few more beers at my favorite cafe in Budapest, Karma. I know - really hungarian. While we were hanging out, the weather cleared and we spent the afternoon in the sun.

Barcelona!!!
After a week of cold weather, I am completely ready for Barcelona, the beach, and of course my girlfriend. Kristin is meeting me there for her vacation, and I haven't seen her for two weeks already. So don't be surprised if I wait until next week to fill you all in. Later!!

posted by Adam Stern @ 11:20 PM