So after a week in beautiful, sunny Marseille, we are now home again..a bit tired, very tanned, and already looking forward to our next trip (Porto in two weeks!). I'll post photos before we leave again.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
A weekend in Budapeast
As I'm about to go on holiday again, I realize that I never posted anything about our trip to Budapest. I apologize for my laziness, but the weather has actually been pretty good lately, so I've been spending as much time outside as possible. Plus Leo's parents were in town and now some friends from New York, so it's been a pretty busy month.
The end of April/beginning of May we went to Budapest with our friend Lars. I think the way we decided on Budapest went like this:
Leo - Lars, when are we going to see you again?
Lars - I'm coming to Europe at the end of April, maybe we can meet up then.
Leo - So will you be heading to London?
Lars - Hell no! I hate London!
Leo - So where should we meet up?
Lars - Well, I've never been to Budapest.
Leo - Ok, let's all go to Budapest.
So, we all went to Budapest, and it was a wonderful trip. The food was amazing...rich, meaty, saucy, not too expensive. We had some fabulous meals (when we were able to find the restaurants, and they were open). And the weather was perfect for Leo death marches. We basically spent the weekend roaming around, eating, drinking, sitting and then doing it all over again.
Here are some highlight:
This is a view from the castle in Buda, overlooking the Lanchid (chain bridge) and our hotel Lanchid 19 (I think it's the one with the glass roof).
On our first day we walked to the Jewish quarter in Pest and saw the second largest synagogue in the world. Equally as impressive as the synagogue was the fact that Leo and Lars wore yarmulkas while in the synagogue (well, they were forced to by a little old man at the entrance).
The second night we were there we went to Take 5, a jazz club in Pest to see Nicola Conte perform.
Walking around on day 2, we saw many of the sites in Buda. This is a statue of St. Gellert on the south side of Gellert Hill.
That evening we ate a a restaurant in Buda known for serving excellent game. I had the rabbit.
The end of April/beginning of May we went to Budapest with our friend Lars. I think the way we decided on Budapest went like this:
Leo - Lars, when are we going to see you again?
Lars - I'm coming to Europe at the end of April, maybe we can meet up then.
Leo - So will you be heading to London?
Lars - Hell no! I hate London!
Leo - So where should we meet up?
Lars - Well, I've never been to Budapest.
Leo - Ok, let's all go to Budapest.
So, we all went to Budapest, and it was a wonderful trip. The food was amazing...rich, meaty, saucy, not too expensive. We had some fabulous meals (when we were able to find the restaurants, and they were open). And the weather was perfect for Leo death marches. We basically spent the weekend roaming around, eating, drinking, sitting and then doing it all over again.
Here are some highlight:
This is a view from the castle in Buda, overlooking the Lanchid (chain bridge) and our hotel Lanchid 19 (I think it's the one with the glass roof).
On our first day we walked to the Jewish quarter in Pest and saw the second largest synagogue in the world. Equally as impressive as the synagogue was the fact that Leo and Lars wore yarmulkas while in the synagogue (well, they were forced to by a little old man at the entrance).
The second night we were there we went to Take 5, a jazz club in Pest to see Nicola Conte perform.
Walking around on day 2, we saw many of the sites in Buda. This is a statue of St. Gellert on the south side of Gellert Hill.That evening we ate a a restaurant in Buda known for serving excellent game. I had the rabbit.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Making use of our garden
It makes me feel really good that we not only have some outside space, but that we're putting it to good use. We recently bought a barbecue and some outdoor furniture, and with the weather finally becoming a bit nicer, we're spending as much time outside as we can. Last weekend we had our first bbq (aka liquor-cheeseburger party), and invited some friends over. 
During the week, Leo and I had an ode-to-Greece dinner, of grilled fish, haloumi cheese, and eggplant. 
Then this past weekend, we did a lot of sitting outside and reading, as well as planting another row of vegetables
...i think brussels sprouts, cauliflower, spinach, and some sunflowers. We also tried laying down more grass seeds, since although the first bit of seeding did work, it was a bit patchy. I can't wait to see if we actually grow anything!
Wow, when did I become a person who talks about their garden all the time...I'm scaring myself. I promise never to speak about it again.
During the week, Leo and I had an ode-to-Greece dinner, of grilled fish, haloumi cheese, and eggplant. Then this past weekend, we did a lot of sitting outside and reading, as well as planting another row of vegetables...i think brussels sprouts, cauliflower, spinach, and some sunflowers. We also tried laying down more grass seeds, since although the first bit of seeding did work, it was a bit patchy. I can't wait to see if we actually grow anything!Wow, when did I become a person who talks about their garden all the time...I'm scaring myself. I promise never to speak about it again.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Moselle Valley wine weekend
Last weekend, Leo and I flew to Frankfurt-Hahn (which is nowhere near Frankfurt) to visit our friend Stephen, who we've know since our days in Chicago. We had tried this trip once before in December, but due to a bad roast beef sandwich at the airport, we never got on the plane. This time, we did make it and Stephen picked us up in a very old, beat up van, which belonged to the vineyard he was working on. Luckily it was late when we got in, and I couldn't see the size of the mountains we were driving on, and the width of the road, so I didn't get nervous each time the van stalled or the gear shift didn't work. We got to his apartment around midnight and yet still managed to finish off 4 bottle of wine (all from his vineyard) before bed. 
The next morning, we arose...probably still a bit drunk...and Stephen took us on a tour of Kerpen's bottling area and the wine cellar, where we tasted...let's just say a lot of wine. I have been to a couple wineries in California. I remember them being very clean, very hygienic, and very soulless. This place was overflowing with character...and wine. 
It was dark, and dank, with mold and cobwebs growing on the walls. It felt like the type of place wine has always been produced and will always be produced.After a morning spent drinking wine, we decided to spend the afternoon and evening drinking beer, so headed two towns over to Bernkastel-Kues. 
We had some wonderful jagerschnitzel for lunch, and a few weisens...followed by some walking around the town...followed by some more weisens and a pilsen...followed by some ice cream...then more weisens and pilsens. 
We stayed in Bernkastel long enough to have another meal and we decided to go for Indian (which made Stephen happy, since he's a vegan and made us happy since it fit in with us going to Asian restaurants in foreign countries). It was better than most of the Indian food I've had in London.
It was a fantastic weekend, though too short as usual.
It was dark, and dank, with mold and cobwebs growing on the walls. It felt like the type of place wine has always been produced and will always be produced.After a morning spent drinking wine, we decided to spend the afternoon and evening drinking beer, so headed two towns over to Bernkastel-Kues. We had some wonderful jagerschnitzel for lunch, and a few weisens...followed by some walking around the town...followed by some more weisens and a pilsen...followed by some ice cream...then more weisens and pilsens. We stayed in Bernkastel long enough to have another meal and we decided to go for Indian (which made Stephen happy, since he's a vegan and made us happy since it fit in with us going to Asian restaurants in foreign countries). It was better than most of the Indian food I've had in London.It was a fantastic weekend, though too short as usual. Wednesday, March 25, 2009
A garden and a mystery
Last weekend we decided to take advantage of the weather to do some gardening. We needed to remove the weeds, rocks, and trash from the garden before putting down some grass seeds. After hours raking, shoveling, yanking, bagging, squatting we were thoroughly exhausted...so Leo made us some well-earned gin and tonics. Here's a before and after shot of the garden (hopefully you can see the difference). On the left we have a bunch of daffodils which started growing, so we left those. On the right is where the vegetable garden will go, since it gets the most sunshine.
While Leo was digging the shovel hit something hard in the back of the garden. Digging down deeper he came across a large blue crate full of dirt buried in the back yard. It was the oddest thing.
As we dumped the dirt out we found a few children's toys inside and I was praying we wouldn't find a child's hand buried in there as well...which thankfully we didn't.
While Leo was digging the shovel hit something hard in the back of the garden. Digging down deeper he came across a large blue crate full of dirt buried in the back yard. It was the oddest thing.
As we dumped the dirt out we found a few children's toys inside and I was praying we wouldn't find a child's hand buried in there as well...which thankfully we didn't.
New addition to the living room
We bought a new rug, which is very similar to a smaller one we have which is now sitting in Leo's parents' attic. We were out on one of our death marches through the city on a sunny day and happened upon a rug store going out of business. So this one came pretty cheap. 
Do you think it ties the room together?
Do you think it ties the room together?
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