Vienna or Bust!

Here we are resuming the retelling of our Austria Trip and picking up in Budapest just as we were leaving, or should I say, trying to leave…

(To catch up on the story read this post first.)

We had enjoyed a bewitching and thoroughly “other world” experience in Budapest but Sunday morning eventually dawned and we were eager to finally make it into Austria. The plan was to take the train from Budapest to Vienna and stay the night there before moving onto Salzburg.

We hadn’t bought our train tickets beforehand but we weren’t too worried about that. How difficult would it be anyway? *Hysterical laughter*

We checked out of the Lavender Circus Hostel early and sought out a place for breakfast. Austin was really excited to eat breakfast at a Burger King that we had passed the day before. I know! Burger King! Oh well, we had to eat breakfast and nothing else presented itself. I was hopeful I could order some scrambled eggs and bacon or something partially eatable.

Full of hope, we walked in and perused the menu and realized that they did not serve breakfast. We mainly figured that out by the fact that there were no pictures of breakfast foods on the menu. 🙂

It’s actually a good thing that we didn’t or couldn’t eat breakfast then because we ended up going on a wild goose chase to locate the train station and then the actual ticket office.  We needed every bit of time we could get.

We finally arrived at the international train station, and tried in vain to buy tickets from the automatic ticketing kiosk in the station. We walked the length of the station to get to the other end for a customer service desk, hopeful we could buy our tickets there. We found out that since we would be traveling out of the country we had to buy our tickets at the ticket house outside of the station. Talk about confusing. I still have no idea how we figured out where to go. But I’m getting ahead of myself here.

On the trek back through the station (because apparently this ticket house was on the opposite end – of course right?) we stopped at the only shop in the whole place, hoping for a hot tea and a coffee. I actually had some special herbal tea packets with me that I was going to use, so all I needed was to communicate that I wanted a cup of hot water – nothing else.

Well.

Easier said than done. After causing a big commotion and getting some nasty looks from one of the baristas on duty, the other one was too confused to be nasty, thank goodness, we exited the little coffee shop with a hot water and coffee.

Moments later we were flagged down by an enthusiastic Hungarian with a huge smile on his face waving the chilled water bottle that we “forgot”. We tried to say no thank you, but he quickly got frustrated and then we realized that we must have inadvertently purchased the water bottle amidst the flurry of attempted communication. With an “oh um, thank you very much,” we accepted the proffered water bottle and the guy nodded with a look of relief and disappeared.

Still no breakfast but at least we managed to order some warm beverages. A banana helped keep us in the game as we resumed our hunt for this (imaginary?) ticket house. We finally found it, exiting the station altogether and taking a winding path beyond the parking area that was a bit tricky to manage with the roll away suitcase we had been toting this entire time.

As we rounded the little corner we saw the ticket house. And OH! I have wished so many times that I had taken a picture of this place because it truly defies description.

But I shall do my best.

It was run down and shabby. Paint was peeling off the walls, with holes in the walls to boot. As we stood in line at the window I just stared. The wooden doors were so weather beaten and decayed that there was a good two inches between the closed doors. I am not exaggerating. The doors were held together by a hook. Trash and dirt hung about in the corners. Dirt that, I felt sure, had been there for ages. It felt as though I was back in the Cold War and time had stood still for decades. The feeling was just unbelievable and how I wish I had just taken one photo!

With tickets in hand we headed back to the station and found our track. We had a little time to spare so we wolfed down a light breakfast of rice crackers, almond butter, trail mix, and apples – all provisions we had in our backpack – while we waited for the train. The train yard looked bleak and had the distinct air of communism. It was eerie. Budapest itself had a bit of that feeling but the dazzle of the city overpowered that aspect and it simply added to the mystique of Budapest. But the train station experience was hard core. Very real.

The train was pulling in and we walked up to it, standing a little aside so the passengers exiting had the room to get off. The doors opened and revealed a crammed exit way. We waited. No one moved.

We were staring into a wall of standing passengers and no one was getting off.

Oh crap.

We’re going in.

In one smooth motion Austin had somehow made a hole and swung our luggage up and through the throng of people clustered at the doors. I gulped and followed, thinking surely there would be some open seats. Pushing our way through, we made it into the car. Again I wish I had taken a picture.

All the seats were occupied. Luggage and people were hanging out in the aisles.

It. Was. Packed.

How wonderful that we were only riding this train for 2 hours! We could do this. We smashed our luggage onto a rack and “smushed” ourselves into the narrow space between the rack and the seats. First we stood. Then we leaned. Then slumped. Finally we slid onto the floor and I even managed to catch a few winks. How I will never know!

In between our slumping and sliding, we were privileged to witness the most humorous meltdown of a traveling backpacker. There was a young couple slumping next to us and one couldn’t help overhear how they were taking these cramped quarters…

In a British accent (even better) the guy was freaking out to his girlfriend who seemed unconcerned with their “harrowing” situation…

“Oh my. I cahnot behleeve that there are no seats left. This is incomprehensible! Ok… from now on we wait. When one of them stahnds up to go to the bahthroom we take their seats! You snooze you loose!”

When that didn’t work…

“I cahn’t behleeve that your mum booked us on this train! What wuh your pahrents thinking?! If we eveh get out of this they shall receive a strongly wuhrded lettuh! At this the girl tuned in and repeated ‘MY parents?’.”

Hey. Dude. Low blow.

As a baby wails in the background, he comes to grips with his situation in the calmness of despair and says…

“If thaht child cries one more time, I do behleeve I will join in.”

And with that he hardly spoke a word for the rest of the train ride and was very nice to his girlfriend and let her listen to the music on his phone. The only time they spoke again was to freak out about having the right train ticket for their next leg. But I won’t record it here. I have too much sympathy for the weary traveler.

But seriously wasn’t that great?! It kept a <covert> smile on my face the whole ride. 😉

Finally we arrived in Vienna. As the doors swung open the passengers kept pouring out; including us! I guess everyone just wanted to get to Vienna.

The difference between the train station in Budapest and the one in Vienna was night and day. The Vienna station resembled an efficient and intuitive mall with many shops and a large variety of restaurants to choose from. Budapest’s was very stark with the ticket house a cold blast from the past.

Totally different.

Arriving in Vienna we felt like we were back in Europe again and could “feel” the prosperity.

After that train ride we were both a bit crabby and due for a decent meal so we grabbed hamburgers in one of the restaurants. Then we took the Metro to our hotel.

That evening we strolled along Stephea’s Platz and the surrounding Historic Center. Vienna had an air of modern wealth mixed with beautiful historic buildings and culture blended in.

    

We had kebabs for the third time and stracciatella gelato for dessert. The evening was cool and I felt the air was simmering with excitement and expectation.

We are finally in Austria!

In the coming days we were to go west through Salzburg, the Tyrol, Bavaria, and Innsbruck, finishing at the border of Switzerland.

Vienna was just the starting point!

Budapest ~ This Bewitching, Beautiful World

For those of you that read the previous post, I lead you all to a shameless cliff-hanger. I do apologize. It wasn’t my intention, but the words just sort of played out that way. And they worked out so well that I didn’t want to change them. *sheepish grin*

But the suspense is finally over. (If you don’t know what on earth I’m raving about, read the previous post, London ~ A tale of love and betrayal, to bring you up to speed.)

Coming back from London, we had 4 days to get back in “fighting condition” for our big Austria trip. It was to be our dream vacation; 9 days starting in Budapest and going through Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Feldkirch (yeah I never heard of it before either), and finally Zurich, hitting all the places in between like the Tyrol, Eagle’s Nest, and the Bavarian mountains.

I must begin at the beginning though. And the beginning began in Budapest. But even that is not far back enough.

I am so very happy to say that I got well by the time Friday came. I did everything I could to help my body beat the sickness like green smoothies, vitamin c powder, probiotics, echinacea, and lots of sleep. But I think prayer was a huge factor as it usually can take me weeks to feel “great” after I go down with a fever. But I physically felt great that morning as we prepared to leave. (YAY God!) How my heart was doing however, could not be labeled as “great”.

Note: The expat experience can appear very glamorous. Some of it is I’ll admit. But a lot of it isn’t. It isn’t all fun and games and having a grand adventure all the time. Sometimes it is the hardest thing ever. So in an effort to stay real about my expat experience, I am going to discuss the candid thoughts and feelings I was dealing with when it was anything but glamorous and when it was downright sucking.

We were standing on the train platform at Oslo S waiting for the train to take us to the airport where we would fly out to Budapest.

My family was coming to visit us the day we got back from this trip and were graciously bringing along an extra suitcase full of items for us. We were talking about what goodies to fill our bag with and considering what the best use of the weight limitations would be, when something in me rose up and freaked out.

I had mentioned almond butter. I really would like them to bring some. Austin replied something about how much it weighed. Somehow this innocuous statement triggered a panic in me. All the people and things and places and comforts that I was so desperately missing at this point somehow were wrapped up together and were symbolized in the almond butter jars. The thought of not being able to have those too, was the tipping point in the building frustrations I was experiencing with Oslo.

We had been in Oslo for almost 3 months and had yet to make any personal connections with people. I was feeling lonely and isolated and pretty doggone weary. Everything was uncomfortable and strange. So it was only a matter of time before those emotions came to a head and something random triggered it. Who would’ve thought almond butter carried that much weight? 😉

Thus commenced a tensely whispered (we found ourselves in the “Quiet only” train car which only elicited further frustration – ahh Norwegians!) back and forth about some nonsense regarding how much weight we had to work with and the importance of almond butter – it was hilarious looking back on it but as our conversation was so much more than what it appeared on the surface it left us both hurt and silent. We were in the “Shhh” train car after all.

I stared out the window and leaned into all my frustration. Finally I let the tsunami wave that had been building for so many weeks, crash. I hate living here. I hate Oslo. I really, really hate it. None of this “oh it’s challenging but rewarding” crap anymore, I am filled to the brim with hatred for this place! My mind kept bringing up sweet memories of place after place where I had been happy, while my whole being ached to jump back into just one of those memories. I want to be ANYWHERE but HERE. Colorful expletives also seasoned these thoughts from which I will save you. (Hey I’m being honest here.)

Almost immediately I felt relief sweep through me. Sweet relief. It’s ok to feel these things, I heard. I pondered that God knew exactly how I was really doing all these weeks. It almost felt like He had been waiting for me to be honest with myself about how I was doing. The air seemed cleared in my own heart. Almost like “ok now that we’ve got that out of the way, something good can occur!”. I sincerely hoped so.

By the time we had made it to check in and through security Austin and I had made up and I was starting to feel a bit of excitement of our trip steal over me. How perfect. To leave town right now is sublime timing. 

My heart wasn’t “all better” just yet but even though I didn’t know it yet, the beginning of the acceptance phase had started and following quickly on acceptance’s heels would be embracement.

The flight into Budapest was beautiful. Peeking out the window I saw rich, green farmland and my face was bathed in golden sunlight.

Stepping out onto the tarmac we were greeted with balmy temperatures and more of that glorious, close-to-setting sunshine. I immediately felt transported into a different world.

We boarded a bus that looked like it was out of the Cold War. We got packed in. Looking around me I noticed that the people looked very different and that most of them bore strong similarity to each other. They all had a distinct Slavic look about them. It struck me just how far east we were. Hungary was my first post-Communist country to visit and the first European country this far east.

The effect was bewitching.

We finally collected our one piece of luggage. The bags took close to an hour to arrive on the belt, all the while I was staring at the plane we had just disembarked thinking, “I could just walk over to the plane and pick up our bag myself!”.

Stepping outside we ordered a taxi to take us into Budapest. It was around 9pm and it was actually dark outside. Something in me immediately started to rest. Driving onto the highway, I took my first look at the moon and the stars in almost 3 months.

I teared up.

You see, the night sky has always been a source of comfort to my soul. No matter what happens the moon and stars are constant. It’s a reminder that God is always constant. No matter what ordeal you may be going through, the moon is always hanging up there and God is the one who hung it there in the first place.

Getting so emotional over seeing the moon made me realize just what kind of a weird twilight zone I had been living in. It’s so odd the little things we take for granted can have such deep repercussions when they are taken away. Often we don’t realize how deep until they are given back to us once again.

I noticed that the terrain was also very familiar, dry and rocky with some hills. It instantly reminded us both of the Texas Hill Country, it even had all the outlet stores and fast foods joints like you’d see in New Braunfels after a day at Schlitterbahn. Further comfort seeped into my heart. I love the Texas Hill Country!

Finally we arrived at our hostel. When we were planning this trip we happened upon The Lavender Circus online. It appeared absolutely zany and crazy but in a mesmerizing and charming way. We had never done a hostel so we decided to risk it and we booked it for two nights.

Now outside on the dark street, our taxi having just left, we were staring at an old building with a rot iron gate wondering where the “Lavender Circus” part was.

In through the old gate we went, down the large, open air hallway, up the dim, winding staircase with intricate tile inlay and more rot iron. A guy in dread locks suddenly appeared out of the shadows and remarked amicably and in great English, “ha pretty dark in here huh?”.

“Haha yeah,” I responded and tried not to sound as spooked as I was. Once we walked up to the third floor we saw what had to be the Lavender Circus. We went through its gate and over to the “office”, which was a large room with a loft. It was decorated as crazily as one would imagine a Lavender Circus would be.

The Lavender Circus Hostel

The girl working that evening came over and welcomed us, telling us to sit down at the table and then offering us beverages. Coffee, tea, or pálinka (plum whiskey). At first we declined, being a little taken aback at such hospitality. By the third time she offered us drinks we gave in, me with a hot tea and Austin going for the pálinka.

Once we had our drinks we settled down and chatted for a little bit, with her asking us questions like “where are you from”, “how long will you stay”, “what are you wanting to do here”? It felt a trifle invasive and like an interview. It was uncomfortable but after realizing that these questions had to be a security measure I appreciated them as the other hostel guests were being likewise screened.

After the interview was over she gave us a map of the city, circling places of interest. Next was a little tour of the hostel all the while reiterating that if we should need anything at all that we should ask. She showed us to our room which was the coolest place ever. Wacky meets awesome.

Finally the check in process was complete.

Our room at the Lavender Circus. The mattress pad was upstairs in the loft and there was a little kitchenette to the right as well as the door leading into the bathroom. There was a fan upstairs and downstairs as there was no air-conditioning.

After dropping off our stuff we went out in search of food. It was well past 9pm and we were starving! After wandering around for a while we stumbled upon a shwarma and kebab place. The smells were so delicious and the staff was super friendly. Borderline hangry, shwarma came to our rescue again. (See Paris post!) 😉

However, this stuff was the best we had ever had the privilege of putting into our mouths! We fell absolutely in love with this food and if you asked us what the food theme of this whole trip would be, we would answer: kebab! We ate it so often it got to be a joke between us. Oh we’re in Budapest gotta have kebabs. Oh were in Vienna, we should experience the local cuisine…kebab?! Hitting Innsbruck and hungry – KEBAB!

That night was a spooky one for me. We slept with the windows open, and even though there were bars on them, the night was filled with strange noises and quick starts that jolted me out of a shallow sleep. But every time I got spooked Austin’s steady breathing helped me to calm down. His ability to sleep through anything is to be emulated if you can or envied if you can’t. 😉

I don’t think I would have stayed here by myself but since I was with Austin, it was an exhilarating experience! By the second night I felt totally at ease.

Saturday

The next day was a full day of walking all over Budapest and exploring the rich architecture and culture the city had to offer.

Central Market Hall

Tempting goodies.

Where’s the cup of coffee? In Austin’s hand. Haha. No, seriously! 😉

Look at the soot and grim on the lower levels of these apartment buildings. The higher up you look, the cleaner the facade. This sooty grim was everywhere in the city and we didn’t see the massive scaffolding that is used to restore and clean the exterior of historic buildings here like we have seen in other European countries.

The weather was very warm and the sun light felt so good on our skin! Finally we have reached summertime! Hey who’s that handsome dude?

Budapest’s Parliament Building in the distance.

Castle Hill

We found a path and hiked up the mountain until we were almost parallel with Castle Hill. Sitting on a bench, we snacked and enjoyed the peaceful afternoon. It was so wonderful to feel the heat and we both felt ourselves relaxing. We made a special memory there as we talked about life and dreams. I am finding that in life so many times the most simple experience make for the best of memories.

I saw this and loved its symbolism! The Lion treads on the Serpent.

Escalator up to the top of Castle Hill.

Matthias Church

Fisherman’s Bastion

In the Budapest Underground we encountered the LONGEST escalator ever. It gave me chills riding on it. It’s hard to tell how far up we where from the photo, plus we had already ridden it down a ways until I had collected myself to fish out the camera and snap a picture, but hopefully you can still get a sense how how high up we were! Yikes!

We stumbled upon a health food store! Everything was dirt cheap so we loaded up on agave nectar and coconut sugar. The acacia honey combs are from the Central Market Hall visit from earlier that morning. Lots of sweetness!

Budapest furthered enchanted us that evening when we went on the Danube River Tour.  We were on the late night tour because we wanted to enjoy the city all lit up. How it glowed and sparkled! The city, again, did not disappoint.

Although the cruise itself was lame.  Dinner was in fact leftovers from the earlier cruise which were now lukewarm at best. Not the greatest. No one went back for seconds to the buffet table! But that was ok because the river views and lavishly lit buildings satisfied our appetite for the beautiful. (But guess who stopped for kebabs on the walk back to the hostel??) 😉

The Parliament lit up at night. It was beautiful. You could see a flock of birds flying in a great circle over its dome.

Our cruise ship.

You’d think with such a posh interior the meal would have been eatable, right? But the evening’s river views made up for it!

Moonshine.

Castle Hill at night.

Széchenyi Chain Bridge

Matthias Church and Fisherman’s Bastion at night.

Castle Hill and Chain Bridge at night.

Seeing the city aglow at night was magical. I felt transported into another time and place.

As we walked through town to get back to the Lavender, we saw St. Stephen’s Basilica.

St. Stephen’s Basilica

The Lavender Circus in the daytime.

Leaving on Sunday morning. Just imagine these halls in pitch dark late at night. Creepy, right?

The next morning we set off for the station. We were going to take the train to Vienna. Little did we know what an experience that would be! Between a ticket house that looked leftover from the days of Communism to a sardines-in-a-can train, trying to leave Budapest would not be as enchanting as our arrival had been!