Yes, this trip has finally come to an end. Patrice and I were definitely ready to go home (which we safely did last night) and we both think this was one of our best trips ever. Thank you to all the people who helped make it such a success. Also many thanks to all the people who left comments on the blog. I really enjoy hearing from you and staying connected to our friends and family. Here are a series of photos that I found interesting but didn’t get a chance to send them during the trip. They are in no particular order.
Your restauarant server wants to make sure that you know that Europe is no different than the USA. See this copy of one of our dinner checks.
The most common clothing attire I saw on the trip was the NY Yankee baseball cap. I guess they didn’t hear that the Astros eliminated the Yankees from the playoffs 4-0. See below, one of many.
And if you want to buy a Yankee cap they are easy to find.
In Milan, the Galleria had lots of high-end stores. See below.
After all your shopping at the Milan Galleria, you can stop for some fine dining at this location.
We saw a few of these strange devices on the streets of Bologna. No one used them and I am not sure what they are used for.
We saw this boat with an odd name in Venice. Acqua is the Italian word for water. I think you can figure out the rest.
Chocolate Lentils? That is my idea of fiber. See below.
When you gotta go, this is the place to go if you are in the Marco Polo airport in Venice. While you are at it please pick up after yourself. See below.
In Madrid, we saw signs of the USA and Canada. First, we saw little hot dogs from Nebraska. I didn’t realize Nebraska was a hot dog Mecca. See below.
I know you can see Tim Horton’s all over Canada but it looks like they are also attacking Madrid.
Looking to connect with George Washington? Try Budapest. See below.
Budapest had this very unique piece of art in a park (see below). It is also an ecological tool since it encourages people to put their plastic bottle caps inside. See the hole on the right side.
How about a taste of NYC while you are in Budapest? See below.
Did you know that Moses was a techie? See below,
In German the word for jewelry is Schmuck. I know a lot of guys who would say anyone who spends a lot of money on jewelry can be described with the same word. See below.
If you are homesick for Venice Beach in Los Angeles, just get on a tram in Vienna.
But lastly, this is my favorite memory of the trip.
I signed off last night as Patrice and I were about to go to the spa for massages. We had a couples massage, Sonia took care of Patrice and Olga treated me. This was true magic and when Olga said we are done, I said “Can you start over?” I slept like a baby last night.
This morning we got up early to get ready for our train ride to Vienna where we were to meet up with Erica for the weekend. As always the Aria Hotel supplied a wonderful breakfast. At breakfast, we were greeted by an employee who we had not met before, He was not native-born in Hungary but rather from Trinidad and Tobago. He didn’t get here by taking the wrong bus but actually previously worked for Celebrity cruises. When I asked what got him to stay he replied “I met my son’s mother”. Ah yes, another man who followed his….heart. He has now been in Hungary for over 2 years and when I asked if he speaks Hungarian he replied: “That’s a work in progress but I get by thanks to Google Translate”. Our new friend brought us something new for breakfast. Question of the day: can you identify this delight?
No, these are not Eggs Benedict.
After breakfast, our wonderful driver, Attila, drove us to the train station, took our bags, found our train, found our seats, put one of our bags in the overhead compartment (no way I could have done that), and bid us a bon voyage to Vienna. I emailed our travel agent to let her know it would be impossible for the next hotel, guide, and driver to equal the experience we had in Budapest.
Thanks to Attila our luggage was in the overhead compartment and Patrice had room to sleep.
The train was due to leave at 9:40. And just as our Budapest guide, Julia, predicted, it left exactly at 9:40. A bit later one of the attendants came by to check our tickets. Of course, they were conveniently stored on the AXUS app (thank you, Gwen). I wondered what they would do with us if we didn’t have tickets or if we were on the wrong train. Luckily I didn’t need to find out.
Patrice, my sleeper extraordinaire (see above picture), wanted to get some rest but couldn’t figure out how to get the seat to recline. She saw these buttons.
These buttons seem to allow reclining of the seats.
But couldn’t get them to work. Patrice flagged down one of the porters and asked “Do these work?”. The gentleman smiled and said “Oh, no, no, no”, while looking at her with an expression that read “She must be a silly American, lol”.
The train ride was incredible. We arrived at each stop within a minute of the scheduled arrival time and reached Vienna on time. We saw our driver (notice I didn’t say we were greeted by our driver) who took Patrice’s bag (but not mine like Attila did in Budapest and Federica did in Venice) and then turned and walked towards the exit. At my age, and with a full backpack and suitcase, I don’t move as quickly as I once did. The driver walked without once looking back to see if I was following him. Lucky for me, Patrice was able to keep up with him otherwise I might have been dropped and possibly I would have decided to turn around and go back to Budapest and search out my new BFF, Attila. This driver was no Attila but he did get us to the hotel safely so I have no real complaints.
The Sacher hotel in Vienna is very elegant. They have an array of photos of celebrities who have stayed here. It is not a high-tech marvel like the Aria in Budapest but it still is very nice. The staff has been falling over themselves to make us happy.
After putting our luggage in the room, we got a quick bite at the Sacher Cafe. The cafe was full of customers. We had a light lunch but we had to treat ourselves to the famous Sacher Torte. I’d never heard of it but from what I’ve learned it seems like I’m the only one who didn’t know about their specialty. Unfortunately, we were not impressed. It looked appetizing but the taste was nothing special. After lunch, we headed to the Albertina museum which is literally steps from our hotel. On our way over we saw a line of people waiting to get into the cafe. I stopped to ask why they were waiting and yes, it was for the torte.
People waiting outside on a very cold day just so they could eat the Sacher Torte. I felt guilty for not warning them that it wasn’t worth the wait.Here it is a chocolate cake with an apricot layer. It is not as good as it looks.
Enough about overrated chocolate desserts and back to the Albertina museum. It was fantastic. Currently, they have a special exhibit of Jean-Michel Basquiat. I must share my artistic ignorance but I had never heard of this master who died at the age of 27. The exhibit was superb and taught me a lot about this man who was an artistic genius and a thinker way ahead of his time. We also saw some works by a number of other artists including Pablo Picasso. Did you know that at 80 years old Picasso married a woman 45 years his junior? Here is a portrait he painted of his young wife.
No surprise that a 35-year-old woman who marries an 80-year-old would look like this.
Time for Erica’s flight to arrive from Madrid, so don’t forget to tell me the name of the breakfast item if you can.
Last night, Wednesday morning for you, I spent some time back in Los Angeles via zoom. As many of you know I am in the process of changing jobs. In January, I will start working at UCLA’s clinic in Palos Verdes. Yes, the boy who went 4 years to USC undergrad and 4 years to USC medical school will be working for UCLA. As part of the hiring process, UCLA requires new hires to attend 11 four-hour onboarding sessions (4 in person and 7 via zoom). Why so many you ask? The obvious reason is people from USC are slow learners. For example, Patrice (a UCLA graduate x 3) has been trying to teach me the traditional Bruin cheer known as the “8-clap” but I still get confused somewhere between clap 3-4. When she asks me to sing the fight song I instinctively start singing “Fight On for Old SC”. I’m trying my best but it’s a work in progress.
One thing I’d like to say is that the UCLA people have been incredibly nice to me.
At the first onboarding session, I met a number of staff physicians who reached out to me and gave me their cell phone numbers telling me to call if I had any problems. I also met Robbie from Ambulatory Community Outreach, who personally brought me around to meet some people to help me solve some issues I was having. A few weeks later I met Jac (who also works at Ambulatory Community Outreach) at a 5K run. She was already aware of my hire and had some great suggestions on ways to make my transition smoother. Robbie and Jac found out that I will be receiving the inaugural Impact Award from the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation and did something that really warmed my heart. They arranged for UCLA to take out a full-page ad in the program for the Foundation Gala on November 3rd. As I said, the Foundation will be giving me its first Impact Award for my work. This will become an annual award given at the gala to people whose efforts have had a major impact on the foundation. I’m very proud to be receiving the first of these prestigious awards. UCLA’s support in this regard has been very humbling. If any of you are interested in attending the event please go to this link https://one.bidpal.net/gutsglory2022/welcome. If you would like to participate in the silent auction here is the link to that: https://one.bidpal.net/gutsglory2022/browse/all
It was fun logging on to the onboarding session because I quickly said, “Hello from Budapest, Hungary” which understandably got some surprise comments. I am sure they appreciate me taking time out of my vacation to join the session when the spa is begging me to come down for a massage.
Thank you for all those responses to the musical instrument question. Many people said it was a dulcimer which is almost right. It is a Hungarian instrument called the Cimbalom. It is in the dulcimer family but there are some subtleties that make it different. I won’t bore you with the specifics (Patrice here, what he is really saying is that he has no idea about any of the differences).
We had a great tour today. Julia (our guide) and Attila (our driver) took us to Szentendre which is about 15 miles (oops, I mean about 24 Km) north of Budapest. This is a quaint little artist community where we went to the restaurant, Aranysárkány Vendéglő (“Golden Dragon Inn” located at Szentendre, Alkotmány u. 1/a, 2000) to learn how to cook some traditional Hungarian dishes. This was an amazing experience. The owner/chef (Attila like our driver) taught us how to make 3 Hungarian dishes. We made “tojás leves” (egg soup), “paprikás csirke” (paprika chicken), and for dessert “túró gombóc” (cottage cheese dumpling). It was a blast. In addition to Attila, we were helped by his assistant, Monica, and Attila’s son, Attila. After getting things going we took a walk around the town with Julia then returned to enjoy the lunch we helped make. While we were eating Attila’s father (the founder of the restaurant) whose name is also Attila came by to have lunch. Trust me not every male in Hungary is named Attila.
Check out this 46-second video of “me making the soup”. If you wait until the end you will notice one of the Attila’s turning my wrist to add the egg to the broth (clearly I was a huge help).
The egg soup was unbelievable.Paprika chicken. We made 9 pieces but were only served 5! What’s the deal?Cottage Cheese Dumpling. Sounds awful but tastes amazing.
After lunch, Julia and Attila (the driver, not the chef, or the son, or the grandpa) gave us a driving tour of Budapest ending up at our hotel just in time for some real magic. Sorry, that will have to wait until tomorrow. Let me just give this teaser, it has been the highlight of the trip.
Last night we had another wonderful dinner. This time it was at a restaurant recommended by our tour guide, Rézkakas Bistro Easy Terasz (Budapest, Sas u 3, 1051). We had a great table close to the in-house music. Check out this short 14-second video.
Question of the day: What is the name of the instrument that is being played closest to the camera?
Breakfast at the hotel was amazing as expected. Patrice had an omelet (how boring) while I had the best eggs Benedict of my life. Sorry, no picture but I’ll try to get one tomorrow. The hotel continues to impress. The elevator requires your key to take you to your assigned room. No need to remove the card key from your wallet to get it to work. It also unlocks your room door by passing the key over a sensor close to the wall. All you need to do is to push the door open.
After breakfast, we met our guide, Julia, for a tour of the city. For those of you who are not aware, Budapest is a twin city. The cities of Buda and Pest are divided by the Danube River. It is often referred to as the Blue Danube but it didn’t look very blue to me. If you want to see blue go to Crater Lake in Oregon. Julia explained there are two types of people who live in Budapest, there are those who live in Buda and those who wished they lived in Buda. Yesterday, Julia took us on a 4-hour walking tour of Buda. We started with a boat ride on the Danube exiting on the Buda side. Buda is very hilly with lots of glorious views.
On Buda, we explored the Buda Castle, Royal Palace, Matyas church, and other beautiful sites. We saw a couple taking wedding pictures but they were already married. We also saw another couple taking wedding pictures who looked like it will be a miracle if they actually get married.
Today Julia took us around Pest (pronounce “pesht” not “pest” like having me around you). We went to the Museum of Terror which was not very terrifying nor was it very interesting. The Pest Synagogue, actually there are about 23 synagogues in Pest, the one we went to was the Dohány Street Synagogue. It is one of the biggest in the world but it looked more like a church. I suppose since it was designed by a non-Jew in the 1800s this is not a surprise.
Dohány Street Synagogue. What is your verdict, synagogue or church?
I am told there is almost an exact copy of this synagogue in New York. Next time we are in Manhattan I will have to check out the Central Synagogue. I saw the sign below upon exiting that made me think the NYC synagogue and this one might be the same.
Ad for a kosher restaurant on the synagogue fence? Are we in New York?
Not sure if this will help but here is a better picture of the instrument I asked you to identify. A hint, it is associated with Hungary and I am not referring to the two violins on top, or the bass on the side.
Any ideas?
Viszontlátásra (Once again that means goodbye and it is not the name of the instrument)
We had an amazing “Last Supper” with Erica last night at Restaurant El Valle (Calle de Sebastián Herrera, 6, 28012 Madrid). The three of us shared a huge Hake fish (similar to Cod and Haddock). The fish was filleted at the table and I am so glad it was. The pre-filet appearance was fantastic, post-filet it didn’t look like something I would want to eat.
Hake, pre-filet.Hake, Post-filet
If you would like to see the 55-second video of the server doing the fileting here it is. It was great watching him do it but I think watching the video might be better for those dealing with insomnia.
Today was the day of our trip that I was dreading. Today we flew from Madrid to Budapest on Ryan Air. You might be asking if I have such disdain for this carrier why did we book this flight? Unfortunately, it was the only airline with a nonstop flight to Budapest on 10/18/2022. The others would have taken many hours longer and routed us through Ukraine or North Korea (that last part was a joke if you couldn’t tell. But as my daughter, Lindsay, tells me, “If you have to say it’s a joke, it isn’t”).
We did our job, arriving 2 hours prior to departure with our boarding passes in hand (let’s not rehash the fiasco that I told you about yesterday). We walked a fair distance to the Ryan Air check-in desks and saw a rather modest number of people on line. The queue (how British of me) moved incredibly fast and then we were on our way to the gate.
As is typical in Spain people started lining up to board long before any announcement that boarding would begin.
Spaniards are on line to board 19 minutes before the scheduled boarding time and 49 minutes before takeoff.Patrice and Robert 10 minutes AFTER boarding started.
Onboard we were given instructions in Spanish prior to take-off. I couldn’t understand a word making me very depressed about the quality of my Spanish. Then they gave what I assume were the same instructions in English speaking so rapidly that I understood nothing. At least I could feel a little better about my Spanish. We finally took off at 8:38, about 13 minutes late (or 20 minutes early if you usually fly American). In spite of leaving late, we landed 17 minutes early (1 day early if you usually fly American). Maybe I misjudged Ryan Air? They might be a budget carrier but they seem to have efficiency as their goal. It was a great flight.
One other note about Spaniards and their flying etiquette, in addition to lining up to board long before it is necessary (we all had assigned seats so what’s the point?) they have one other curious behavior. On every Spanish flight, I have been on, the passengers applaud after landing. I wonder if they would boo if we crashed.
We were picked up from Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport (BUD) and driven to Aria Hotel Budapest where will be staying in Budapest. This place is AMAZING. Let me rephrase that, THIS PLACE IS AMAZING. I already told our travel agent to cancel the rest of our trip because we will not be leaving this room. I also contacted a real estate agent to sell our house because we are never going to leave this room. The room is spacious. The bathroom is gigantic. We have a very roomy shower and a separate bathtub. The room is very high-tech with lots of gadgets. Downstairs there is a spa with a sauna, hot tub, and swimming pool. Also, an area to just relax. Breakfast is included and I can’t wait to see that after seeing the pastries in their “bar”. From 4-6 PM, they offer wine and cheese. I don’t drink alcohol but I might have to start.
What a great day. Oh, did I tell you we took a 4-hour walking tour of the city? I would like to talk more but Patrice and I have to schedule our massages.
How fun to see your name on your TV (Patrice, sorry they didn’t mention you)Piano hallway/lobby with real piano. Breakfast and afternoon treats served here.Hot tub and swimming pool.High-Tech shower. I hope I can figure it out.Bathtub that looks like lots of fun.Towel warmer to make sure you are comfortable when leaving the bath or shower.His and her bathrobes.His and her slippers.Why doesn’t every hotel room supply you with a Makeup Towel?And lastly a little chocolate gift on your bed prior to going to sleep.
What a wonderful day. Tomorrow couldn’t possibly match it. Or could it?
Oops, I almost forgot, yesterday’s question. Obviously many of my followers are smarter than me. A number of you gave the correct answer. Window shades on the planes are kept open during takeoff and landing to allow the flight crew to assess any emergencies happening outside the plane. Good work team. I will try to come up with a better question next time.
Robert Reiss Travel Blog and Other Ramblings 