WALK, Bike, Swim In Budapest

We really filled up Friday! The hotel Jason found for us had amazing breakfast brought to our room each morning, so we enjoyed that in bed. (brie and bacon on a bagel, which ended up having cream cheese, fig jam, and micro greens to, plus macaroons, croissants, lattes, freshly squeezed orange juice and more - you pick from a menu the day before.)

A small group of us went to the large church near by to catch a free walking tour. Now that I think of it, since I am writing this a few days later while in Romania, I had wanted to return to the church to see inside but never got to. Oh well, next time I am in Budapest I will need to remember to visit  St. Stephen's Basilica and check out the thousand-year-old mummified hand they have on display (supposed to have belonged to Saint Stephen I of Hungary and is an important religious relic.)

The walking tour was great, I love those free ones where you tip at the end. Though Teri accidentally told them when we went to check in that we had more people added into our group and they charged us in advance instead. However, the 'cost' was still less then we probably would have tipped.

Our guide took us through the Jewish Quarter, main square, to the river, over The Chain Bridge to the Castle District, then up the hill passed the Royal Palace and President's House, over to the Matthias Church. So the tour was book-ended but the cities two famous churches. Matthias Church, or Church of Our Lady of Buda is very impressive and very old. It is hard to wrap my head around the age of things hear - it is an issue every time I visit Europe but things seem even older here than usual.

After the tour we stopped at a restaurant for lunch, Jason tried Goulash soup and I got Foie Gras:
Hungary is the world's second-largest foie gras producer and the largest exporter. France is the principal market for Hungarian foie gras – mainly exported raw. Approximately 30,000 Hungarian goose farmers are dependent on the foie gras industry. French food companies spice, process, and cook the foie gras so it may be sold as a French product in its domestic and export markets. - Wikipedia
I did find the Hungarian version to be different than the French, they don't add spices, it is much smoother, creamier, and apparently cooked in it's own fat (instead of in a dish or pan). The Hungarian cuisine is, according to our walking tour guide, "not friendly to vegetarians, very heavy with many meats." I have been loving it!!

The group split apart soon after lunch, as Jason and I went to the Buda Castle Labyrinth to walk through the complex of caves and cellars underneath Castle Hill. Apparently there is over 10km of pathways, though only about 1.5km is open to the public. It is a really strange attraction, a combination or incredible history, urban legends, tacky exhibits, and confusing maze. It was dark (scary) and cool (nice in this heat). The caves themselves are obviously millions of years old and over the centuries parts have been reinforced with stone, brick and concrete. In the Middle Ages as a shelter, a prison and even as Turkish harem in the 16th century. The underground tunnel system also served as a hospital during the WWII. And despite some claims, while it was a prison at some points, it never housed Vlad the Impaler.

Trying to make our way south from the Castle District to visit the Gellert baths, on the far side of Gellert hill, led us to explore some of the castle walls and grounds. Lots of walking, lots of beautiful buildings and interesting history.

Above And Below Budapest

Hungarian Academy of Sciences 

building built in 1865

Buda Castle Labyrinth

large cave system used various ways for centuries

Jason and I exploring up and down 

Budapest, Hungary

Friday August 16, 2019

JBR - Cherry Beer

Beer: Nem vagyok én Apáca

Details: A fruit, specifically cherry beer, made at the Hungarian micro brewery - Kapucinus Sörfőzde
Date Tried: Thursday August 15, 2019
Location: BB'z, a ruin bar in Budapest Hungary
Comment after first sip: "Oh yes, this is great, tastes like Dr. Pepper"
Comment after a few more sips: "Nope."
Editor's note: Jason did not drink more than a quarter of the bottle after much initial excitement he stopped liking it pretty quickly.

JBR - First Craft IPA

Beer: First Craft IPA
Details: Hungarian Craft Beer
Date Tried: Thursday August 15, 2019
Location: Mazel Tov restaurant, Budapest, Hungary
General thoughts from Jason: "It is fine, no bad aftertaste."
Editor's note: Choosing this beer took a long time. There was much research and subsequent disappointment after discovering that many Hungarian brands were owned by Coors and other large beer companies.

Staying Awake In Budapest

After we landed, we took a bus/van into the city from the airport - this gave me the opportunity to test out the cost sharing app that we are going to be using to manage various joint expenses during the road trip next week.

We checked into our hotels; most people were at the recommended hotel for the wedding but Teri and Greg wanted a separate room for the baby and Jason apparently went on a hunt for a bathtub for me so we were away from the group. However, it turned out that the 'baby apartment' and the hotel that Jason hoped would have a bathtub (it didn't but it was an awesome hotel anyway) were right around the corner from each other - so we ended up being our own little group, often meeting up before walking to the larger gathering together.

I feel like Thursday was basically spent trying to stay awake. The larger flight group met up for a late lunch at a restaurant, suggested by Greg, I have learned through many trips that his research pays off and the places picked are always awesome. This place was a wonderful start to our time in Budapest! Called Mazel Tov, serving Israeli-inspired food in a gorgeous courtyard space, see photo on the right.

The hotels are in the Jewish Quarter of the city and is the main place for restaurants, bars and general nightlife. We wandered the area, popped in and out of "ruin bars" having drinks and snacks. Everyone ended up down by the waterfront and a few other people in town for the wedding joined us.

JBR - Jason's Beer Review - Coming Soon

I am going to launch a new feature of Always Standing, Beer Reviews! This will be written by me involving quotes and the occasional grade/rating as provided by Jason. I still feel like he can't really tell the difference if he couldn't see the label and I will continue to host blind beer tasting contests to prove this.

However, especially when we travel, Jason takes trying local beer very seriously. So I might as well document it a bit because whenever content creation is easy it is best to take advantage. So stay tuned, first stop Hungary!

An Evening Flight

This is my first post about the big Hungary/Romania trip! When Mom posts about trips over on her blog, she does a nice job of naming and dating posts so that her travels appear in cohesive diary entries. I have done that in the past but I don't know how organized I will be at the moment as this trip involves piles of people, a wedding, a road trip and at the same time I am trying to stay on top of The Shop via my phone and computer. 

- Wednesday evening, after working all day and frantically packing, Jason and I made our way to Toronto airport to catch an overnight direct flight to Budapest.

- Teri, Greg, their new baby, and Matty were on the flight with us. Also on the flight was Diana2 and her husband Jas. We were all seated in the back section of the plane but kept to ourselves for the most part to try to sleep.

- I did manage to sleep and enjoy the wonderful bland food. I really love airplane food. Jason and I got one of each type and he was disgusted by the flavourless chicken so we switch because I am just content with anything that isn't spicy and comes divided out so it isn't touching.

- There was an annoying clapping thing when the plane landed, why doesn't anyone clap when I do my job well? However, I would say it was a very lovely landing, but still, the clapping thing is always strange to me.

Stay tuned, I hope to keep everyone updated and will post soon about our adventures around Budapest and beyond.

Clean Up, Clean Up

Everybody Clean Up! (And re-design!)

That is the only part of the song that I can remember at the moment, I think that it has more lines and they involve putting away toys.

In my case it is really just deleting scam blog posts that have shown up on Always Standing during my 8-month hiatus. As I have mentioned before, it happens because there an email address that I can use to send a posting to the blog, that is included in my Yahoo Email contacts.

It hasn't even been a year since I last changed the design but I designed I wanted a redesign. In October I changed the look to this:

But I wasn't feeling the humming birds any more - so am going to have maple leaves for a while (like my tattoo!)