so...

Normally, this blog is updated a week or two after we've already left a country which means that for you, as readers, you are getting old news..by the time you've read the blog we've already moved onto our next country and our next adventure..(man you read slow~!) this blog, however, hopes to catch everyone, including us, up to speed with where we are and what we've been up to..

So. Where are we now? Hungary. Where have we been recently? Everywhere it seems..well not everywhere per se but we've been moving fast this last week and a half.

As you recall..'Previously on Travel Blog'..(jesus, this blog is starting to sound like a bad Aaron Spelling episode)..anyway, last time we blogged we were heading out of Romania and into Budapest Hungary. Upon getting into Budapest we made our way to Deak Ferenc ter, the center of town, to procure some lodging..which, after a brief stop at McDonald's, The ATM and the Hotel service office, we did without further ado. Shortly after checking in to our private zimmer near the Danube and a polite but broken exchange with our new landlady, Gizi, we made our way to the Indian consulate where we quickly handed in our visa applications and were assured of a hassle free, week long processing time by the India consular rep. Excellent news..as our previous attempts had been thwarted in Romania. Next, into the city, Budapest.

Budapest is actually two towns that have over the slow course of time grown together..Buda and Pest..true to our form we stayed on the eastern side of the Danube in Pest. Budapest is an amazing city..it is a fantastic mix of new and old..with just about everything you could want within a 10 minutes walk or metro ride. We spent several days wandering the old and new towns..sitting in the squares..riding the metro and busing our selves around town. We really liked Budapest and Hungary as a whole it turns out..we found it to be one of the more civilized corners of Europe without the pretension of the more well known capitals such as Paris or Vienna. The Huns, despite their notorious past as barbarians, are actually a very literate and very polite bunch of people. Book shops litter almost every street corner..affable groups gather at cafes and wine shops, in the metro people waiting to get on the trains actually stand patiently to the side of the doors as people exiting the trains get out..amazing. Nowhere else have we seen such a well functioning society of almost 2 million people as in Budapest.

Chain Bridge over Danube and St. Stephens in background

Budapest, Margaret Island and Danube..Buda left..Pest right

Gypsy lady with flowers in front of St Stephens Church

Budapest skyline

Street in Castle Hill area

Looking from Castle Hill towards Parliament bldg..

Having submitted our applications and seen the town we ventured up to Slovakia for a couple of days..into Bratislava, another capital on the Danube. Bratislava is an interesting town with enough history to balance the hangover form its recent post-communist boom. While staying in a hostel in Bratislava we met a couple of Americans..one of whom's, James', mother happened to have owned a sushi bar near my old house in San Jose..Akochochin..this was a bit of an uncanny coincidence since I used to frequent the place about the time that James worked there..odds are, we agreed, that he probably waited on me once or twice during this time..small world I guess.

Bratislava old square at night fall

Anyway, after checking out Bratislava for a day we discovered that Vienna was only an hours train ride away..we obliged the famed city and spent a nice afternoon wandering amidst the old Hapsburg monuments for an afternoon taking occasional breaks to enjoy the surprising mild weather while sipping cafe and wine at the local street fairs. Back to Bratislava then onto the mountain town of Stary Smokovec in the high Tatras of eastern Slovakia the next day.

Four hours east of Bratislava the north western terminus of the Carpathians erupts into the magnificent massif of the High Tatras. We spent a couple of days here hiking around the lower climes of the already snow covered peaks enjoying the fresh air and the views.

High Tatras rising abruptly over the valley town of Poprad..Stary Smokovec can be seen in the foothills in the background left. we hiked to just below the snowy ridge of the peak on the right..

From Stary Smokovec we migrated north into Poland and onto Krakow. Krakow was a very open and inviting city. It has the compulsory medieval center and functional new town. After spending our first night wandering amidst the old churches and medieval squares and feeding the well kept pigeons we retired to a pool bar for some drinks and games. After swiftly defeating Helen in a best two out of three match of pool she quickly returned the favor in a series of crushing defeats at air hockey. Deciding to split the nights victories we retired to a game of Cricket on the dartboard, which, almost as soon as it was getting interesting ended with a well placed dart setting the games alarm systems blaring loudly and causing the entire game to begin resetting itself..weird. Feeling slightly buzzed and embarrassed we then returned to our hostel to watch the only english channel we ever seem to receive anymore.. CNN.

Krakow old square

night fall over Krakow old town

Helen feeding Pigeons in Krakow old square..the square actually has a fenced off section with pigeon coops inside..they are city pets I guess

After a couple enjoyable days in Krakow we decided to head south again to pick up our visas from the consulate in Budapest. So again, a 7 hour train ride back to Braislava, a 1 km hike back to the hostel, a 4 hour sleep before catching the freezing cold early morning train back to Budapest, an 8 dollar bribe to the conductor to let us stay in the slightly warmer first class cabin, and then upon arriving in Budapest and after stowing our bags in the luggage check back on the metro and connecting bus and up the hill to the Indian consulate...phew.. Visas approved and passports handed in we sorted out a bed for the night and waited the final 24 hours of processing. Next day we shower, grab our bags, hit the metro and connecting bus..head back up the hill and pick up our passports..this time however they have glued on the inside of page 17 a shiny new India entry visa! Finally..from idea to execution this process has taken us across 4 countries and at least as many weeks. But it is settled now..we have official authorization to enter India on the 27th of this month..which works out well since we have plane tickets for the same day.

Needing a break from our previous weeks hectic travel-sleep-travel-sleep schedule we decided to head to the eastern foothills of Hungary to enjoy 5 relaxing days in the sun soaked wine town of Eger, their Napa valley, which is where we are now. We'll be heading back to Budapest next Tuesday, the 25th, in order to catch our flight to Jaipur India the next day.

town of Eger