Day 1 in Budapest: Man versus Tram

Budapest is beautiful. I don’t think I got to appreciate it as much as I could have though. I think I might have (?) overdid it in Berlin, because by day two in Budapest I felt a little bit under the weather.

I arrived in the late afternoon, checked into my hotel, decided to walk around and be touristy -- and almost got killed by a tram.

I could see the tram coming with a fair amount of speed, but my light was green, and his was red, so I started to cross the street, thinking he would slow down and stop. Unlucky for me, without warning, the light changed and instead of slowing down, the bastard speeded up and almost clipped me as I jumped off the road and onto the sidewalk -- blaring his horn as he did so, making everyone turn and look at me. I of course, just pretended nothing happened and walked my merry way. But my heart was pounding… and in my mind’s eye I could see the headline “Idiot Tourist Killed in Budapest by Public Transport” Needless to say, I was very careful crossing the streets from then on…

I walked the Váci utca, the touristy pedestrian street full of shops, cafes, and bars just absorbing the hustle and bustle of people. Fun.

So far this trip, I had not had a “real” dinner, having eaten at the Executive Lounge of the Berlin Hilton the whole time. Even though I knew it would be touristy and overpriced, I decided to stop at one of the outdoor cafes and have a nice Hungarian dinner. I found this spot that looked nice, was playing good music, had a good crowd and a good menu. Food was meh and overpriced, but the atmosphere was nice and I enjoyed my night.

It was getting chilly (surprise!) Even though it was still early, I felt like I was coming down with something, and it was a Monday night anyway, so I decided to head back to my hotel and call it a night.

Sightseeing and picture-taking will have to wait until tomorrow...

Leaving Berlin

August 9, 2010

My flight wasn’t leaving for Budapest until mid-afternoon, so I thought I would walk around in the morning first. I decided to see the other side of Berlin, and not the historic, touristic area, so I set off on my trek to the famous television tower (Fernsehturm) that was built in the former East Berlin as a symbol of their superiority over the West. On my walk to Alexanderplast, I noticed how the buildings/homes on this side still had a “communistic” look to them and didn’t look quite western yet.













While taking pics of the tower, I met these 2 French boys enjoying Burger King in their Burger King crowns. Friendly art/graphics students traveling around Europe before continuing school. One of them is going to Detroit for graphic design school. One said he lived atop the Moulin Rouge and the other said he lived next to the Notre Dame in Paris. Don’t know how much I believe them, but it’s a good story anyway.



















Finally, I decided to check out Checkpoint Charlie (get it? check out? never mind…)


Trying to save some money, I decide to take public transport to Schonefeld airport (the former East Berlin airport, which is way farther out than the Tegel airport to which I had arrived). I thought it would be cool to arrive on one side and leave on the other side of Berlin, even though the wall wasn’t there anymore. It was fairly easy except for the change from metro/subway to train. It was the same station but nothing I consulted (internet, concierge, maps) mentioned that you had to leave the metro station, go above ground, and then go to the train station of the same name. Ugh. So I kept looking for the platform to the airport in the metro station when I should have been in the train station. And I only had a 7 minute connection to catch the right train. If I missed it and took the next one, I would miss my flight!

Looking for the platform in the wrong place in 90 degree heat lugging your bags is NOT my idea of a fun time. Anyway, I somehow figured it out, found the right platform, and got on the train. Phew.

Nothing to report on the train ride to Schonefeld, except for a bunch of heavily tattooed young skinheads boarding the train and hanging out right next to me. I thought it was kinda scary, but also kinda cool. I got to see a bunch of them on my way out of Berlin! Cool! I thought I would try to clandestinely take a photo of them, but chickened out.

"Ich liebe Berlin"

After a grueling 2-stop, 3-airline (UA, US and LH) trek across the pond, I make it to Berlin Friday morning. This is after coming to three travel conclusions: First -- it’s AWESOME to be traveling on a blue passport.

Second, that USAirways has the worst long-haul experience in economy (ugh, yes… I flew coach -- they wouldn’t take UA miles to upgrade even though they are in the Star Alliance). And I thought United was bad…. But nope, USAir takes the cake.

And third, FRA is hands down the worst airport for making connections. I’ve done this a few times here already, and every single time it is a major hassle. The design does not seem to have any rhyme or reason. Let’s put this passport control here, let’s put the security line here… and the lounges, let’s put them waaaay over here. Ugh.

Enough venting. Berlin. Prior to leaving, I did extensive research on getting to the city from the airport via public transport. And what do I do? Screw it, I took a cab. Haha!

Stayed at the Berlin Hilton at the very city center next to the beautiful Gendarmenmarkt. Very nice. Of course, I’m using my HHonor points for a free room. After this gorgeous hotel, it’s all downhill from here. Got upgraded to the executive lounge, which is awesome, for in addition to free drinks, there is free breakfast and cocktail food every night as well. Woot. I’m being cheap and having all my meals here. Which is fine, because according to my guidebook, Berlin is not known for being a gastronomic city anyway.

Except for the currywurst, a Berlin original, which I just had to try. And it was good!

Sightseeing: Berlin is beautiful. Of course a lot of the sights have been rebuilt and refurbished after the wars (both WWII and the cold war). But that doesn’t take anything away from the beauty of it all.

There are a LOT of memorials. To the Jews, the parliamentarians who were killed for opposing the Nazis, the homosexuals, and even cobblestones commemorating where the Wall once stood. It’s heartening to note that they do not want to forget their dark past. As a wise man once said: “He who does not remember the past is doomed to repeat it.”














Nightlife: What can I say? Its reputation as a party city is truly well deserved. Friday night I did some bar hopping. Had a great time. Details provided if requested. :-)

Saturday night: WOW! Berghain opens at midnight. I was there at 12:30 and already the line was horrendous. I wait one hour in line, without the guarantee of even getting in. They are notorious for turning away people for no apparent reason. I saw a few of them from in front of me get turned away. I’ve never waited that long in a line before. But it was totally worth it.

Once in, we partied the night away (Berliners are friendly, and shy little me made friends easily). Two huge dance floors, numerous lounges and nooks, plenty of space. The venue is an old electric power plant from the communist time of East Berlin. And they kept some of the old generators and equipment around. It had an interesting, industrial feel to it. Amazing music in both dance floors. The place was packed, with newer people continuously streaming in. I left at around 11 am (a record for even me) and the place was still packed!

The sun was blaring down on Sunday morning in Berlin as I went back to my hotel in my club outfit. Almost like the walk of shame, but not quite. I was dancing for almost 10 hours straight! Who needs a gym and a treadmill when you can get your exercise like this!? Other than a small altercation with the security staff (“this is Germany, you need to speak German“) and too many people approaching me for drugs (What do I look like? A dealer?), it was an awesome night! I was told the party went on till 11 pm Sunday night. I guess I’m too old now to party like the Berliners…I gave up too soon.

Needless to say, Sunday was a write-off. Woke up late afternoon, and my calves, thighs, and feet hurt really bad. Hmmm, wonder why? I walked around a bit like a zombie seeing other neighborhoods I hadn‘t seen yet, “dinner” at the executive lounge and then …….. wait for it…. wait for it….. Another night out!

Someone needs to learn how to pace himself.

MLC Part Deux

This is going to be a 25 day sojourn through Eastern (or Central as some might argue) and Southern Europe. That's only half the time of my original MLC (mid-life crisis) 5 years ago, when I took two months to drive across north America. I went East through the northern states and Canada, and then returned West via the southern route. I chronicled that trip here on this blog, and even though no one might have read it, (blogging was so new then that when I sent friends the link, some of them asked “what‘s a blog?”) I get a kick out of reading it today.

So I’ll do the same with this trip -- it's for my own reading pleasure later on, but if you do get to stumble upon this -- enjoy!

Part Deux is only going to be half the time of Part one, but will probably end up more than double the total cost! That’s Europe for you…

The plan is to hit Berlin, Budapest, and Prague for 3 days each, then a day in Venice to catch the cruise that will take me through Croatia, Italy, Istanbul and Greece (Mykonos and Santorini). After ending in Athens, I fly to Warsaw overnight (it was a weird airline routing option) and then Madrid for a last 4 days before heading back home to California.

Will I make it back in one piece? Read on and find out...

Our Nation's Capital: Washington DC

So after a late night (early morning) last hurrah in NYC, I wake up late and hungover for the resumption of my trip. Ugggh. I was supposed to stop by Philadelphia to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, then have a lunch of Philly cheesesteak before heading down to Washington DC, but I just couldn't do it. I couldn't wake up and leave early enough. So, I drive straight on to DC. Philly will have to wait for another day....

I get to DC in the early evening and head to Seth's place, an old friend from SF who now lives in DC. (Traffic in DC is horrible.) We then have a nice dinner at this new Asian-Fusion place, and proceed to Halo, the bar next door. Enjoying the drinks too much (overpriced at $10 a pop! but with happy hour two-for-one until midnight, it wasn't so bad), we completely forget that we had parked my car at the Whole Foods garage across the street. Uhm, which closes at midnight! When we go to get the car and find out that we are locked out until 8 am, we had no choice but to go back to the bar of course and continue drinking....

The next day I hop in a cab to pick up my car and do some sightseeing:

I had been to DC before but had never been to the FDR Memorial. It is inspiring! And the current occupants of the white house would do well to take heed of what FDR espoused all those years ago.

The other memorial I hadn't been to (as it's fairly new) is the WWII Memorial. What struck me as interesting was how they had a wreath/monument for all of the US states and territories (e.g. Guam and Puerto Rico), but they ALSO had one for the Philippines, which is neither a state or territory of the United States.

It could be because the Philippines fought alongside the US in WWII, but so did the other Allies like the UK and France. Yet, they didn't have a memorial for those other allies. Hmmmmm. Could it be we're already the 51st state (as I keep joking about)?

That weekend I had a grand tour of Georgetown University (and all the nooks and crannies of Seth's alma mater, where secret activities occurred), and walked around Georgetown (the town) a little too. It started raining though so we couldn't walk around as much as we wanted. I also got a haircut from a Peruvian salon -- nice cut, but they didn't offer me a beer this time! Note to self: I must have been on the road too long now to need another haircut!

Needles to say Friday and Saturday nights were fun nights out. Saturday was a big dance event with Junior Vasquez spinning. We were half hoping Madonna would make a surprise visit as JV is a friend of hers and has remixed a few of her songs. Turns out that the rumors about NYC and Roxy were true, only it was happening this weekend, not the weekend before when I was @ Roxy. Darn. I missed her by about a week. I heard the place was packed! Oh well, I had fun @ Nations in DC too.

That Sunday night I was going to cook dinner, but we were running out of time and getting hungry, so we go to this nice restaurant instead. There was a 45 minute wait for a table, so we were getting ready to hunker down at the bar when this guy who Seth had just met the night before @ Nations comes over and aks us if we would like to join them. They had a table for four and there were only two of them. They had overheard the hostess telling us of the wait. I thought that was really nice of them!

Monday night was a quiet night in, to recover from the weekend. I cooked dinner. Seth had convinced me to stay a couple more days, so I visited the Lincoln memorial, a memorial to another awe-inspiring President, and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

All in all I spent a week in DC! Much longer than I had intended. But I had a great time. (Other than the DC traffic) Thanks again Seth! More revealing pics of DC nightlife not appropriate for this blog are available. Wink Wink. If you read this far and are interested, email me and I'll send you a link.

New York New York

I spend the night at an old high-school friend's house in Stamford, CT. It was still pouring rain, so after a nice Japanese dinner, we just decide to call it a night and head home. The next day I'm off to NYC!

I was going to stay at a friend's place in the upper west side coz he was leaving for the weekend. I was worried about where to park my baby during my stay in NY, but as my friend needed a car anyway for his weekend getaway with his girlfriend (meet the parents weekend), it turned out to be the perfect arrangement: I had his apartment all to myself (evil grin), and he got to use my car for his trip. When we first talked of my staying at his place a few weeks ago, he said (jokingly, but with some truth to it) "be polite" -- meaning no tricks. Now that he borrowed my car however, as he was leaving, he says "no need to be polite!" heheh.. I thought that was funny. Might have to take him up on that offer...

I got in on a Friday night (wow, what timing!) and had a nice dinner with an old-friend from my IBM days. Nice restaurant on Columbus. Thanks again Bong! He had an early morning the next day so after we parted ways, I started bar hopping (of course), and ended up at SBNY. Fun fun fun. Didn't get home till almost 5. First time I took the subway after midnight too! I'm becoming a New Yorker! I had my Metro card (from a previous trip) and all! Midnight snack of peanut butter and jelly. At the bar! Yum!

Saturday was spent mostly recovering from the night before, but I did get to walk around the nice upper west side neighborhood. The rain had thankfully stopped. All everyone could talk about was how the rain had been pouring non-stop for the last 8 days. Now that the rain had stopped, everyone seemed to be out enjoying the sunny day. I spent most of it lying on the couch watching TV. :) Saturday night I went to Roxy (after a nice sushi dinner), again feeling like a local with my John Blair card and all (half-price cover). Rumor had it that Madonna would be making a surprise visit that night. I didn't believe it. Hmmm, this feeling like a local feels right. Maybe I should try living in NY for a while.... (Note to self: look into possible job opportunities here)

As I got home around 6 am, Sunday was (again) spent mostly recovering. Took the subway downtown and checked out the village. Rob was coming home that night so I met up with him and we had a nice Thai dinner at this chinese restaurant (go figure). It was an inexpensive place but the best part was the wine was free -- all you can drink! As soon as we sat down, the lady puts two glasses of white wine on the table. Before we even say or order anything. Nice! Leave it to Rob to find a place like this.

I was going to leave the next day, but Rob convinces me to stay another couple of days. Being flexible, sure.. why not. I still practically had the apartment anyway as he was going to be at his girlfriend's place most of the time. After dinner, I meet up with Andy (someone I met in NY from previous trips) and have a couple of drinks at the rooftop of the new hotel Grosvenoort (sp?). Afterwards we walk around a little.

Monday I attempt to be a little bit cultural and head to the Met -- which of course is (and always has been) closed on Mondays. Uhm, duh. Disappointed, I walk all the way across Central Park (which I've never been to, other than driving across, so that was a nice walk) to head back to the west side when I come across the American Museum of Natural History. What the heck, I was in museum mode, so I decide to check it out. Turns out they had a special exhibit: Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries, which was actually really interesting.So I spend the rest of the afternoon there.

Afterwards, I head home and was just chillin when I decide maybe I should catch a Broadway show while I'm in town. I check online and decide to catch Avenue Q as they still had tickets available. Online fees were atrocious, however, so I decide to head down to the box office and buy tickets for Tuesday night. While in the Times Square area, I decide to just grab dinner at this cheapo Chinese noodle place, then head back home and call it an early night. I was on the couch and watching TV by 10 pm!

Tuesday, I try again to get to the Met. They also had a special exhibition that was just opening that day! It must be my lucky day. Van Gogh: The Drawings. It was a very interesting exhibit, but they didn't allow photos :( Oh well, after spending quite a bit of time there, I was running out of time before the museum closed. I decide to head to the rooftop for a unique view of the NY skyline and the Park. And along the way run into some artwork/scuptures that caught my eye:

I meet up with Rob and have a couple of beers right inside the park by the lake, at the Riverboat cafe/restaurant. It was very relaxing. Then I head off to catch the Broadway show. Walking through the park in the dark is a totally different experience!

Avenue Q is AWESOME. I cannot describe and praise it enough, but suffice it to say that it totally spoke to where I am on this roadtrip -- i.e purpose in life, etc. (except that they were fresh out of college, and I am ancient!) Sigh.. I'm making it sound all serious and all, but no, it was a fun fun fun show. Catch it if you can!

It WAS my last night in NYC, and I was feeling a little frisky after the show (and three vodka tonics), so I head to Therapy. Fun place, met some nice fun people from the Saks "convention" that was happening in town. Maybe I wasn't so polite after all...

It's now Wednesday, and I've been in NYC almost a week now! I heart NY! But it's time to head out and continue the trek...