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Budapest

In a panic, we hurried to the train station to catch our train to Prague and start our ten day adventure. We had just gotten married that morning in a brief ceremony, and spent the day packing and preparing for our trip. It really hadn't hit me yet that we were actually married.

We had both begun to worry about this trip that I had largely planned. Would we make it to all the destinations, or would we be too exhausted from all of the travel and nights in trains? Would we still be able to stand each other at the end of it all?

In Prague we switched to a night train. It was quite different from the one we took to Zurich last Spring: it was pretty uncomfortable and also had four other beds, which meant that strange people might be sleeping with us. This particular sleeping car did not have me very excited about the prospects of many more nights on a train.

Luckily, the train was not crowded and nobody came in. I slept fitfully on the hard beds as the train rocked and made several stops. Mike slept like a baby because he loves riding in trains.

When we arrived in Budapest we started walking to the hostel I had booked. I hoped it wouldn't turn out to be a dump, but with hostels it's quite a gamble and I guess for 11 euros per night, per person, I shouldn't complain.

The hostel turned out fine, they were friendly and they had free internet and goulash for dinner so we were satisified. But I was a little wary of sleeping in the dorm room with other people.

We put our valuables in a locker and headed out for a meal and to see some of Pest, which is the side of the river that we were on. Mike made me promise not to tell anyone how many times we ate at McDonald's during our trip so I will omit that information (I've never been adventurous with food and in a foreign place seeing something familiar and predictable is very comforting!).

To get to the subways you had to take these long escalators down, and they were the longest and steepest I have ever seen in my life! It actually scared me a little because it felt like falling and you could feel the rush of wind when the subways went through.

We then took an hour long boat tour on the Danube. Unfortunately it was terribly cold on the river, but we got to take some pictures.

When we came back to our hostel for a nap because I had not slept very well on the train, the girl informed us that she had overbooked the hostel. But instead of it being bad news for us, it was actually pretty good because she moved us to a private apartment two minutes away.

I want to note that in Budapest nearly everyone spoke English, so it was very easy to get around.

The next day we went to the Buda side of the river and saw the Buda Castle. It was quite a climb up the hill, but there were beautiful views of the city and we had great weather.

There was a construction site where they were restoring some of the surroundings of the castle and hiding in the rubble we saw five little kittens.

Lately my heart melts whenever I see cats, I have become such a sap. Luckily I didn't have to feel sad about these kitties because they looked well fed and happy. I was also dealing with the guilt of leaving my kitty at home alone for the trip!

I actually really liked Budapest. I am starting to like these eastern European cities because I think they are interesting and beautiful. It's really fascinating, the juxtaposition of the old and new, the ugly and the beautiful. I'd like to go back to Budapest and I would highly recommend it for other travelers.

Next on our trip we took a night train to Belgrade, Serbia...

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Hitched

September 26th, 2008

Tessa Enright & Mike Schulze (I'm keeping my name for now!)

Mike's brother took photos for us.

Exchanging rings...

Making it official.

We're going on our honeymoon tonight...

...Hungary, Montenegro, Croatia...

We'll be back October 6th.

Wish you could have been there!

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die Hochzeit

On Friday, September 26th, 2008 Mike Schulze and Tessa Enright will be married.

The ceremony will take place at the Standesamt* in Dresden, Germany at 8:30am.

On Saturday, September 27th, 2008 Mike and Tessa will depart for their honeymoon, which will include visits to Austria, Hungary, Croatia, and Montenegro. They will return on October 6th.

We regret that we cannot have our friends and family present for this special occasion, but we thank you for your understanding given the circumstances.

We also cannot accept any gifts that we can't take with us when we return to the U.S.We will, however, accept donations to the cost of our honeymoon if you feel so inclined.

For further information, such as my mailing address in Germany, please send me a message.

die Hochzeit: the wedding

*Standesamt: similar to a city hall

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Prag

This weekend we went on a short trip to Prague with my classmates from language school: Iker (Basque Country), Tessa (USA), Thomas (Holland), Katja (Russia), oh yeah, and Mike (Germany) too. Quite the international group!

We stayed in a hostel called Le Papillon for fifteen Euros a night per person. For that price I shouldn't complain, but for a hostel it was pretty sleezy and that's really saying something! I'm glad we only stayed there a night.

The first day we walked around a lot and I was quite impressed with the Czech Republic in general. I have heard many things about Prague, that it's beautiful and that it's a dirty tourist trap. I have to say that I agree with both views, but it did not hurt my impression of Prague in any way. I anticipated that there would be a lot of tourists and people trying to sell us things (it is the 6th most visited European city), so I was not surprised by it. But what I was surprised by was how interesting I found the city.

My favorite part was just to walk through the streets and see all the old buildings contrasting with the new shopping malls. It was a strange juxtaposition of the old and the new, the ugly and the beautiful, like many other eastern European cities I have seen. I liked it.

I liked the Old Town Square with the gothic cathedral, baroque church, and astronomical clock with moving figures.

I loved the views of Prague from Charles Bridge. It would be nice to take a boat tour sometime.

I have to say I wasn't too impressed with the castle, even though I had heard so much about it. To me, it was really unremarkable and boring. I was a bit let down after the hike up the hill, but the St. Vitus Cathedral up there was very beautiful with lots of colorful stained glass windows and where the relics of St. Wenceslas are kept. Also, the views from the castle of the city were amazing.

At one point we passed two Czech children playing basketball and Mike asked them in Polish if we could play with them. Katja and I watched as the boys played. The little boy, Marro, was very friendly. He spoke English and he was very surprised to learn that we were all from different countries. It was a memorable experience. He gave us some tips on what we should see, but strangely enough he didn't have much advice about Prague's bar scene.

Most of our interactions with the Czech people were pleasant. Most of them speak either English or German so we got along fine, and when we didn't they could understand some of Mike's Polish. I have to say that most of them were very friendly for Europeans.

The exception was at a restaurant we went to at the advice of our hostel's owner. We went because we were told we could get a free small beer if we ordered the goulash, a typical Czech meal.

Well, we were surprised when the beers were quite large, but they drank them and then ordered some more. When the bill came we had been charged for six beers, even though we should have gotten the first round free, and we were also charged for two colas when I had only had one.

When Mike confronted the waitress she came back with three smaller beers and said that these were the free ones and the big ones were not free.

Obviously she wanted to rip us off because we were tourists and she hoped we would either not care enough or not know enough of the language to argue with her. But she underestimated Mike, who argued with her in Polish until she relented, which was quite some time. My hero.

I have heard that this is one of the risks in Prague. Don't let it deter you from visiting, but just make sure you know what you are ordering and what you are paying for, because some people there do try to take advantage.

On Sunday Mike and I decided to go solo and take it more slowly than the day before. We had breakfast and then we went and saw Dark Knight in a theater because in Czech Republic they do not dub their films, so it was in English with Czech subtitles. So exciting! I waited so long to see that film, and it definitely lived up to all of the hype.

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The Calm

Things have been pretty slow around here lately, after a few crazy months (trip to Arizona, trip to Bodensee, Obama, new apartment, etc).

I am already craving excitement. My German class is going really well and I have learned lots, but it has all settled into a kind of monotony of thinking about cleaning, going to class, and not wanting to cook...

Luckily we have a quick trip to Prague coming up in a couple weeks with two friends from my language school. One comes from Holland and the other from Basque Country. (Don't know where Basque Country is? I didn't either. Apparently it's a region of Northern Spain and Southern France.)

We are also anxiously awaiting an answer from the German court system about our marriage. Unfortunately, we have no idea when it will be and so we can't make any plans yet.

We have been hanging out with some of my fellow students from school. There is an "American" restaurant down the street that has a few misconceptions about what America is like, but makes good burgers and has billiards. All within walking distance, so I like it. Especially now that our auto ist kaputt and my student pass for the trams is almost up.

We have also been to Neustadt a couple of times, which I hadn't done before. Neustadt is the student quarter of Dresden with a lot of bars, trendy shops, and ethnic restaurants. I have to admit that it is a strange and shocking sight for me. In Arizona the bars close at 2am and no alcohol is allowed on the streets. In Neustadt the bars are open until 5am and the streets are littered with young people drinking beer. If I had a picture in my head of what anarchy would look like, that would be it. I can understand why so many Europeans are disappointed by the nightlife in the U.S.

Neustadt really isn't my style, I guess because I'm so old and boring these days. I need to find a place where you can sit and listen to music or something. Maybe we will give it another try, because I have heard that there are some fun places in Neustadt.

I wanted to add another category to the game I created last week, "Jerk or German"

Being an Expert. Most Germans are experts on every topic. For instance, they know a lot more about my country than I do and do not mind educating me about my country's foreign policies, laws, statistics, and culture. To this I always say, "Please, tell me more about this strange place that I live in but obviously know nothing about!" (with a generous helping of sarcasm).

*Please note that observations about Germans may quite possibly apply to many other Europeans.

**Please don't read my blog and decide that you never want to come to Germany. That is not my intention! Germany is a lovely country with lovely people.

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