Croatians are pious... and amorous - Zagreb

Woke up at 5am yesterday to catch my train at 6:05. I had tried to pack everything I could the night before, but I still managed to make a bunch of noise getting my stuff out of the room and getting ready to leave. I hopped on a tram and a metro to get to the train station, and arrived at around 5:45am, but I couldn't find the International ticket counter. After running all over the place, I was stopped by a nice old lady that spoke English and told me where to go. The ticket counter was behind a ticket-control barrier... brilliant.

After navigating my way around to the back to the station, I finally found the little room where there were two stations open. One had a couple buying tickets, so I walked up to the counter and began telling the woman what I needed, but she shook her head, told me I needed to get a number, and pointed back to the door. I walked back and took a number, after which the same woman immediately rang the bell and beckoned me forward. By this time it was 5:55.

After I explained what I needed, she began writing out the information (yes, writing it - by hand). I swear she was writing as if it was calligraphy meant for an emperor. Every letter and number seemed to take several seconds to write, and when she was finally done she told me, "it leaves at 6:05," as if it wasn't already 6:03 and I hadn't been looking at my watch every 5 seconds. However, she didn't know which track it was on, so I sprinted out to the platform (no small feat with a 50lb back-pack and a laptop case), found my train, and sprinted to track 11 which happened to be, predictably, the furthest one away from where I was standing.

I got on the train and began looking for a cabin, and it began moving before I was even half-way down the first car. The 6 hour ride was pleasant enough though, despite the fact that I was sweaty and tired, and I arrived in Zagreb around noon. I changed some money at the train station (this time I had checked the exchange rate before I left so I wouldn't get ripped off), and wandered off to find my hostel.

The first thing I noticed in Zagreb was the copious numbers of shrines. After walking for about an hour, I had seen 3 of them. There was even one at the train station. And there were always people praying at them.


That second shrine is located at the stone gate. Supposedly, a fire burned everything there except an anonymous painting of the Virgin Mary, so of course the religious think it's more magical than Jesus in a pita bread.

I also wandered over the The Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (or simply, the Zagreb Cathedral). It was quite lovely, and I tried to be as quiet as I could because there were people that actually came in to pray (though there were a smattering of tourists too). As I was walking back from the front of the church, I noticed a wizened old lady staring at me from one of the pews. At first I glanced away quickly and looked at some of the stained glass, but she was still staring at me 60 sec later. So I looked her in the eye and smiled, an expression she did not return. I walked passed her to the back of the church, and checked out an interesting sculpture on the wall, and when I turned to look at her, she had spun around in her seat to continue staring at me. I wish i had had the presence of mind to whip out my camera and take a picture.



I continued to walk around the upper town, and felt like I had seen most of what I wanted to see in the first few hours I was there, so I wandered down to one of the many parks in town, where I got to lie down in the grass, read my book, and watch several couples making out as if their partner's lips wouldn't be there tomorrow.


I wasn't able to find the restaurant I was looking for, and instead managed to spend about $40 on dinner (it wasn't worth it).

Today, I resolved to only spend one more night here (originally I had booked for 3 nights), and tomorrow I will go to Plitvice national park on my way to Split. I took a leisurely stroll back down the main street and grabbed a small pastry and a water on my way to the Zagreb Botanical gardens. I hung out there for a couple hours, then strolled over to a technical museum that had some exhibits on Tesla, but after looking at the info, decided it wasn't worth the $3 admission fee. It's hot, and I just want to hang out and relax. I can definitely see why people usually only stay here for 1 night on their way to someplace else.

Glorious Views and Politically Flexible Artists - Budapest

Tuesday, I did almost nothing. After getting in around 3am the previous night, and having another bout of interrupted sleep, I didn't actually get going until about noon. I went to lunch with my parents in a nice little restaurant, after which we headed across the historic Széchenyi lánchíd (chain bridge) to the Buda side of the river to take a look at the sight of the old castle. The castle was destroyed by the Turks when they captured Budapest, and replaced by a palace when the Hungarians wrested it back.



We wandered all the way around the palace looking for various monuments, but wearied quickly of that, especially since we couldn't really find what it was we had come to see. The original intention was to scale the hill to get a better view of the city, but the weather was icky and all three of us were too tired to make the attempt. We resolved to do it on Wednesday, and follow that up with wine-tasting and sight-seeing in old-town Buda. Having thus decided, we stopped briefly to see the Országház (Hungarian parliament building), then went back to our respective residences and relaxed the rest of the evening away.


Up bright and early on Wednesday, my dad and I charged the Gellért hill, named after Szent Gellért, who was largely responsible for converting Hungary to Christianity, but was martyred by being thrown over this very hill in a barrel filled with snakes and nails.

At the top of the hill is the Citadella, built to fortify the city after an uprising, but never actually used. The monument at top was originally designed for the ultra right-wing government of the early 20th century, then passed off as a monument to the Soviet soldiers that captured Hungary from the Fascists, and is now a symbol of independence. The view from the top did not disapoint.


unfortunately, we found out the house of Hungarian Wines was closed for relocation, so we missed out on the wine-tasting. Instead, my dad and I met up with my mom for lunch, then headed to the House of Terror, a museum dedicated to the decades of despotic Soviet rule, especially the brutal quashing of the 1956 uprising. The museum was well put together, and was fairly powerful despite being almost entirely in Hungarian, but it was a bit pricey, and the English audio-guide that would have helped explain everything was even more expensive. After that, I said goodbye to my parents, and packed all of my stuff to make ready my departure. The train to Zagreb leaves at 6:05am...

Money changers and other adventures - Budapest

Yesterday, we hopped a 3 hour train to Budapest. My parents' Eurail pass is for first class, so they paid the difference of my ticket and I got to ride in luxury. The country side was beautiful, and there was a massive field of sunflowers which contained hundreds of wind turbines.

Upon arrival in Budapest we wandered over to the money changer (after being assailed by about 15 taxi drivers looking for fairs) to change some Euros into Forints. Apparently we got hosed, because we only got an exchange rate of 184 HUF per Euro, and we should have gotten more like 240. Then we wandered around the train station and up and down several flights of stairs before finding the right Metro station, but we eventually made it to my parents Mansion of a Hotel.

After reveling in the air conditioning a bit, I set off on my own to find my hostel, which should have only been about 5 blocks away. But I managed to walk about 25 minutes in the wrong direction. In my defense, I did realize something was wrong, but I decided to be a bit bullheaded and continue on anyway. I did finally arrive, and walked up the 5 flights of stairs to the Hostel.

At that point, I was more or less exhausted and just barely managed to make it to the pub across the street for some drinks before going to bed.

I woke up several times during the night, apart from some people getting back at 4 am, and a couple people who's snores sounded like they were chopping down trees, Odin also finally decided to answer my prayers and sent thunder and lightning for about 45 minutes around 6:30am.

It was bright and sunny by the time I was ready to head out the next morning though, and i tramped back over to my parents' hotel to head out for the day. Our first stop was the historic Magyar Állami Operaház (Hungarian State Opera House). We didn't catch any performances, and we could only stand in the foyer, but it was still pretty grand.


From here, we wandered down the road and decided to stop in Szent István Bazilika (Saint Stephan's Basillica). This was one of the more beautiful churches I have ever seen (and I've seen a fair number of churches).

We were also treated to some beautiful Gregorian-sounding chant from the Monday morning mass, with the congregation engaging in call-response.

We decided to pay the 400 Forints (less than $3) to ascend a series of elevators to the top of the dome to get a panoramic view of Pest.


Our next stop was Hősök tere (Heroes' Square), and the lovely Városliget (City park), which contained a statue of George Washington from "The Hungarians of America."



We grabbed an ice cream in the park while marveling at the many interesting buildings, including the Vajdahunyad Castle, with a hodgepodge of architectural styles built for the millennial celebrations of 1900. We also saw what is now one of my favorite statues, depicting the anonymous author of early Hungarian history.


Finally, exhausted, we made our way to the Széchenyi-gyógyfürdő (Széchenyi medicinal baths), and spent 3 hours soaking in the hot water, dousing ourselves in the freezing water and getting Hungarian massages. I definitely plan to spend a full day here the next time I visit Budapest.



Here I split off from my parents and the second I got home, another deluge let forth and continued unabated all night long. I joined some people at the hostel at a Pub for some Karaoke and got back around 3am. The next day was far less eventful... coming soon.

Selected photos from Vienna

All Vienna pictures here


Statue in front of Karlskirche


Inside the Triangle is says יהוה which are the hebrew letters for YHWH or Yahweh, the name of God.


Fresco at the very top dome of Karlskirche


Fountain on the grounds of Shoenbrunn


Yet another fountain


Inside Stephansdom


Me and my man Mozart, behind Hofburg


Hofburg, and the weather taunting me


Lady Liberty... only topless.


Statue inside Hofburg complex


I don't even know


Full context

A modest summer home

Thursday morning I flew Niki airlines from Zurich to Vienna. The stewardesses wore jeans and bright-pink button-up shirts and pink berets, which would have been cute if not for their surly disposition. But the flight was comfortable enough and I landed around 10am.

My first experience with the Viennese was not entirely pleasant. As I approached customs, I took out my passport and asked for my visa stamp. The dwarf-like man behind the counter grunted and performed a brief shudder, but I wasn’t quite sure how to interpret this. Thinking that perhaps he hadn’t understood, and seeing the stamp about 6 inches from his left hand, I pointed and said again, “stamp please?” The man, this time visibly angry, shook violently and nearly yelled “No!” Slightly abashed, I continued into the airport to change my last remaining Swiss francs into Euros.

My parents weren’t set to arrive for another 5 or six hours, so I dropped my back-pack off at the hotel, picked a random direction and just started walking. I wandered into a little park, but in the distance I saw what looked (at least to me) like the minarets of a Mosque. I began walking towards it, but it turned out to be a monastery called Karlskirche.

The inside of this church is currently undergoing some massive restoration, but much of it was still visible, and it was possible to take an elevator and stairs up to the top of the dome to see the beautiful ceiling frescos up close.

The monastery is also home to a rather unlikely home of a small modern-art collection. Normally I’m not a big fan of modern art, but some of this stuff was actually pretty neat (though I wasn’t a fan of the all-red canvass or the random paint-splattering that looked like the work of a 4 year old; maybe he was trying to capture the youthful spirit of 4 year olds, but it just looked like vomit hung on a wall… I guess some people would consider that art too though).

After leaving the church, I picked another random direction, and happened upon a plaza with a monument to the soviet soldiers that liberated Austria from the fascists in World War II. I stood in the spray of the fountain to cool off (it was over 85^of/30^oc with high humidity) and then sat against a tree; I don’t think it was a banyan, but I thought I might still have a shot at enlightenment. Unfortunately, the enormous ants crawling on me made it difficult to keep my composure, so I decided to walk back to the hotel. On the way back I bought a baguette and some fresh fruit to munch on, returned to the hotel, and promptly passed out until my parents arrived 2 hours later.

That night, we caught a performance of one of my favorite pieces of music (in the composer’s home town no less): Mozart’s Requiem. The group was fairly small, but the acoustics of Karlskirche were ideal, and the performance was exquisite.

We spent most of the next day at the modest summer home of the former Austrian emperors called Schönbrunn (beautiful spring). Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside, but you can get a small sense of the grandeur of the place from the outside and from the massive grounds that stretch out for many hundreds of acres behind the palace.

Afterwards, we stopped my a massive cathedral called Stephansdom, which is in the center of one of the main shopping centers of Vienna. I also had my very first real Wienerschnitzel (Vienna in German is “Wien”), which is a breaded and fried cut of veal.

On Saturday we schlepped over to a little residential neighborhood near the banks of the Danube, where there’s an apartment and museum created by artist and architect Hundertwasser. He reminded me in philosophy and art-style of my roommate Paul. He was very into natural art, loved spirals, and believed that “the straight line is godless.” Even the floors and stairs in his buildings were not level.

Later, we headed over to the main palace complex, Hofburg, in the center of the city. This area is littered with beautiful Greek-style sculptures and had many museums.We checked out the Östereichische National Bibliothek (Austrian National Library), a glorious building with frescoed ceilings, wonderful sculptures and busts, 3 and 400 year old globes and rows upon rows of ancient book. It was gratifying to see someone commit as much time and money to housing knowledge as is usually spent on churches.

Tomorrow, we head off to Budapest via train. I wanted to take a hydrofoil d

own the Danube, but that would have cost over $100 more, so I decided against it.

I will be Duke

All the pictures here.

On Sunday, after a romp in the Emme (see below) I left my Aunt Karin's house in Lützelflüh to go stay with my Gotti (God-mother) Lisbeth back in Niederlenz, in Canton Aargau. We went to a little bar in the middle of a field to watch the final match of the Euro-cup, where Spain won over Germany 1-0. The weather taunted me then and again last night with the promise of a thunderstorm, but apparently Odin isn't feeling generous. I only saw a few flashes of lightning and a few raindrops.

On Monday, with my cousin Tanja as my guide, we tried to take a look at Schloss Wildegg (castle at the edge of the wild). Unfortunately, it was closed on Mondays, so we couldn't go inside, but I got some pictures anyway.


On tuesday we decided to stop by some old roman ruins.

They weren't very impressive, but it was a beautiful day and it was a very nice walk through the grounds of an asylum for crazy people



Tuesday we did some shopping in Aarau, the capital of the Canton (it get's its name from being on the Aare river), ate some crepes, and found a tower that just looked like it wanted to be climbed.


From there, my cousin took me to a castle I had seen from the highway on the way to Niederlenz. Aarburg (castle on the Aare) is currently being used as a School for troubled teens (basically a Juvenile hall). Apparently, they hosted a reality show (link in german only) in which girls came and sang in a choir with these boys. It's all very fascinating, but this castle is just awesome. I was trying to figure out what sort of crime I could commit so that I could live there, but apparently I'm too old. Then my cousin and I devised a plan in which we will lease the castle from the government and turn it into a world class research institute (I should have the clout after i get my Nobel right?). I will be the dean of this school (and get to live in the castle... which is really the whole point) and be called the Duke.

It sounds silly, I know, but it will happen. Just wait and see.

Today was just to relax and prepare for the main part of my trip (the part where I have to fend for myself). I changed most of my Swiss Francs to Euros, and began packing and re-packing my bag, so I can actually remember where things are without emptying it all over the floor. I meet my parents in Vienna tomorrow, and from there Budapest and beyond.