The process of heading back to the USA and my job has begun, and will finish in about 42 hours (as of when I started this) when I land in Reno. I’m in Václav Havel airport, it’s misty, foggy and chill. That seems to be a perfect end to a good trip. Though I’ve only been away for seventeen days, it seems like I’ve been gone much longer. Maybe it’s the number of different places I’ve stayed, and the number of different cultures I’ve seen - four countries and significantly different cultures. Vienna was the most western and familiar, Budapest and Prague both were a little more different in different ways - likely as the result of being on the other side of the Iron Curtain for a time, and Istanbul was the most foreign.
At any rate, back to the US I go, whether or not I am ready - or willing.

Some takeaways:
1. Smoking is quite prevalent everywhere I went - I think Istanbul was the worst.
2. People were cautiously friendly in general. I did get some direct looks now and again, but I’ll attribute that to my rugged good looks, rather than being an obvious stranger in a strange land.
3. Food everywhere was relatively inexpensive, and tasty. Vienna was the most expensive, Budapest the least. For beer, though Prague definitely was the best place. Even in the airport lounge, a beer is only $2.50.
4. Kebabs are everywhere in Istanbul, Budapest and Prague. Universally good, and inexpensive - especially in Budapest: $2.00 for enough for a meal stuffed in a pita.
5. Budapest tram and subway are easy to do, and cheap. I didn’t try it anywhere else.
6. Flying in Europe is so painless compared to the USA. Ten access points to scan your boarding pass, and you’re in. No one or two TSA agents scrutinizing your ID and boarding pass. Shoes? They stay on your feet. Pull out big electronics? Sure, but they go in the same bin as your carry-on, and coat. The longest it ever took to get through security was maybe 10 minutes.
7. RyanAir is certainly low cost, no frills. You walk out in the rain and climb the stairs to get on. And storage is a free-for-all. While I wasn’t looking, someone else stuffed a bag under the seat in front of me. Ballsy.
8. Europe is “pay to pee,” which is different. Public restrooms are not free.
9. Top sheets are not a thing. I stayed in six different places, and none had one. Bottom sheet and a single-wide duvet. On a double bed, there were two single-wide duvets.
10. Traveling with Spencer was better than traveling alone, and traveling alone was better than not traveling at all.
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It’s time to go, so I must ask myself, of the places I’ve just been, do I want to return?
Istanbul: maybe
Budapest: nah - I was there long enough
Vienna: sure
Prague: definitely. I’d like to get more comfortable and do some exploring outside the city as well.

Sbohem Praha.

I spent the day walking in my Hungoshoes around Prague. Shoes started to hurt after eight hours, but Prague was still delivering. It is a remarkably photogenic city, with inexpensive food (really like the chimney cakes!) and downright cheap beer. There are so many museums, it would take a much longer trip than I have available to visit. Some notable ones I skipped were the Apple Museum (of computers), the Sex Machines Museum, and the Instruments of Torture Museum.

The food on this trip has been varied and good. Although the wild boar burger I had last night was a bit gamey for my taste, overall, I’ve enjoyed my culinary experiences in all four countries visited on this trip (Hungary, Turkey, Austria, Czech Republic). My trip is winding down; I leave tomorrow to return to Budapest to catch my flight home on Sunday. I’ve definitely experienced ups and downs this time around, but overall, a really good trip.

Did I mention Prague was photogenic? Well here it is - ineffectively captured by me on an aging iPhone.

Video of the Astronomical Clock striking the hour. Pretty cool.

Panorama vid of the Old Town Square. Figures there’d be a freakin’ Starbucks.

I don’t remember where exactly this narrow history of the Republic was, but I thought it was really cool. It’s to the south of the clock, though.

I needed a bit of an uplift after such a display, and some communing with fellow humans can do that for me. I decided spontaneously as I passed by the visitor’s center for the Parliament building, to do the touristy thing and pay for a tour. That is one impressive structure! It’s huge, and in it’s construction a few of the facts I retained (and a joke) from the guide were:
​1. 40 kilos of gold leaf are used in the ceilings.
2. It’s 96 meters tall - the same as the spire at St. Stephen’s Cathedral - representing the equality of church and state.
3. No buildings in Budapest can be taller.
4. There are 366 spires on the building. The first 365 representing the number of days in the year, and the last, on the dome, representing leap year’s additional day.
5. There are two kinds of people in Budapest - the ones who live on the Buda side of the Danube, and those who want to live on the Buda side of the Danube.

To end the day, the man-cub and I went to a Laotian-Thai restaurant. It had gobs of positive reviews, and the negative ones I read all were about the curry being too spicy. Yeah, it wasn’t. I needed to add the heat. It was all quite good though. Two thumbs up from the both of us.

I said goodbye to the kid after dinner. I’m heading to Prague later today, and he goes to Berlin on Thursday. He doesn’t return until Sunday after I depart for the States. I don’t know if it affected him, but I got sad. On a bright note, I’ll see him in a two months when he returns to the States himself, and has a gap-week before classes start again. It sure was good to see and travel with him.

And now, a few closing photographs.

Yesterday and today I spent walking around in the city. Yesterday with the Man-Cub, and today, as he was back in class, solo. Yesterday was foggy and colder, today was rain, rain, and occasionally a bit more rain. It worked well as the backdrop for visiting some potentially depressing places: Gellert Hill, Margit-sziget (Margaret Island) and the Hungarian National Cemetery. The island is rather large (over a mile long!), and was at various times a leper colony, the site of 12th century religious buildings, and fierce battles in World War II.

Walking the city streets with an alternating overcast or raining sky, I felt the oppression of the Hungarian people. These folks have been trodden upon by so many cultures so many times. Genghis, the Romans, the Turks, the Nazis, the Soviets... Sheesh. They couldn’t buy a vowel, nor catch a break. It was especially poignant to me when the man-cub pointed out chips and pocks in the stonework of the buildings and told me they were the result of bullets. Afterward, I saw them in many places. Horrifying.

Due to the weather, I didn’t see anyone else while I was in the cemetery, and while on the island, people were really sparse as well. Maybe the time alone contributed to my feelings of melancholy. I fought it off yesterday with some beer and BBQ with the man-cub and his roommate. Good beer, good food, good kids. Today, after traipsing about for 10 miles in the rain, I splurged and got an hour long massage. It was $21 well worth spending. I feel a little better about the world now, but I may be getting too old for these. Feels a bit weird getting a massage from someone that young.

Tonight will be goulash and a few beers. My ABB has an espresso machine I’ve figured out, and there is coffee available. It’ll be a good morning with the pastries I bought for tomorrow.

Anyway, here are what anyone comes here for: the photos.

After the whirlwind 44-hour (yes I miscalculated in a previous post. It’s fixed now.) on the ground visit to Vienna, Spencer and I headed back to Budapest on the bus. I must say it’s an easy way to get around, and as comfortable as a plane. For anything under 5 hours, I’d consider it first, since a 5-hour bus trip is probably equal to the time it would take to fly, given the time before and after and getting to and from the airports.

Of course, before leaving we had to try some chocolate from the place with the wall. It was a really good, pretty expensive, and unconventional breakfast. We compensated with $3 bratwursts in a roll from a street vendor for lunch.

We walked around a lot (10+ miles), and specifically visited the Belvedere castle grounds and the Kunst Museum of Art to see the Caravaggio and Bellini exhibit, in addition to the other mostly medieval works of art on display. I didn’t take any photos of the artwork, but the internal architecture and art of the building itself was amazing. In fact, everything about the area we are staying is fantastic from an architectural standpoint. There are old — and interesting — buildings everywhere, and nearly every platz has a fountain or statue that is 100-300 years old. I suppose at some point it would become commonplace — much like the grandeur of the Sierra is to me (but I still notice it).

While aimlessly wandering last night after arriving vaguely looking for a place to eat or get a beverage, the man-cub spotted a schnitzel place called FiglMüller. It had been in operation since 1905, with virtually no changes to the menu. We looked to see if we could get in and discovered a long line, so we decided to try it midday tomorrow (today) to avoid any lines. I don’t know if it was the holiday, or just the way the place is, but it was packed at 1:15 and we were told we needed to make a reservation — for the middle of the afternoon! So, of course, we did. Walking around for another hour would just whet our appetites, and that would be just fine.

Recharge complete, and after prying the man-cub away from Jack Ryan’s new season on Amazon, we headed out into the chill wind for a nightcap. We meandered to the pedestrian areas around St. Me, and he got a bratwurst and I got a hot chocolate. The brat was good, the chocolate, not so much. Of course, as soon as I finished drinking it we chanced upon a Swiss chocolate shop with a wall of liquid chocolate — that was just closed. Dang. Oh well, such are the vagaries of travel! Tomorrow is catching the bus back to Budapest. I have several days there before going somewhere else...Prague!

The day started with a breakfast on the Buda side of the Danube. Trams rock. I had Hungarian savory French toast. It tasted like French toast, but instead of syrup, the “sauce” was a light sour cream. Pretty good actually. Tram back to the apartment, finish packing and hop a metro to the bus station where we had tickets to ride to Vienna via a 3-hour, quite comfortable bus. The original plan was to take a train, but the man-cub did some research and found the bus. It takes an extra hour over the train, but costs $30 round trip vs $90 one way. Yeah, I’ll take that deal. I still get to see the countryside, but I get to save a few euros. True, I couldn’t get up and walk around, but the seats were comfortable, they had built in video screens like an airplane, and even hot chocolate!

We arrived, and hopped in an Uber. Dang, but traffic was bad. It was 4:00 pm on a workday, though, so I guess not unexpected. We eventually made it to the AirBnB and it’s quite, quite nice. It’s an easy walk to the Museum Quarter, and lots of cool restaurants and shopping, if that’s your gig. It’s not mine. We did do some walking around, and hit a burger place for dinner (The cub likes his burgers.) Pretty chill place, with a wide variety of dippers for your fries, including mango curry, and chipotle chocolate in addition to the usual - and boring - ketchup.
Started on finding the things I wanted to see with the Anker Clock built in 1911. It was convenient to where we ate, and was really interesting. I took the photo at 7:10. Can you tell? I bought us an apfelstrudel and we walked a bit more, desserting on it, gawking. But soon the man-cub, being who he is, didn’t bother with bringing a beanie, or scarf, or anything other than a coat, got cold, so we headed back to the ABB and called it a night. Tomorrow is another day.

Last day in Istanbul, as we leave early tomorrow. Our flight back to Budapest leaves at 8:15, and with the distance to the airport, we probably should be out of the hotel and on our way by 5:00 am or so. Not a big difference in wake up time for me, but significant for Spencer, for sure, since he is not in school.

Today was pretty casual, we walked north to the Goleta Bridge and across over to the Goleta Tower on the north side of the Golden Horn. The streets on the north side are wider, and more modern, but the sheer number of people and cars and trams is still, to me, oppressive. I will be ready to go, I think, tomorrow. I’m looking forward to visiting Vienna later this week, and Prague next. I’ve enjoyed the time here, but as big cities go, it’s not a top one for me.

Ten Takeaways:
1. The only thing more prevalent than the faint-to-overpowering stench of cigarette smoke is the presence of Turkish flags. Both are everywhere and in-your-face obvious.
2. If you ever want to sit outside at a cafe, you will inhale smoke. Period. A lot of places discouraged smoking inside, which drove the large number of smokers to the outside tables. Too bad for non-smokers looking to dine al fresco.
3. Traffic in Fatih is insane.
4. The city overall is clean, with very little trash to be seen, and the smell (aside from the omnipresent cigarette smoke) is decent.
5. The crush of people in any public area is not for the claustrophobic faint of heart.
6. The airport is beyond huge. We walked over a mile from the plane to the exit upon arrival, including the discounts from using the sliding walkways.
7. Perhaps it’s the omnipresence of religion in general and Islam in specific,but I felt more out of place here than I have in any major city.
8. The coffee is good and inexpensive.
9. The beer is marginal and not inexpensive.
10. I don’t understand how 50 vendors of the same products can survive in a 100 meter stretch of street.
Bonus 11. I never felt unsafe or felt like I needed a money belt. All the people I encountered were friendly enough and respectful, despite the actions of governments.

And now, some photos of our last day. See ya in Budapest!

In the midst of the traveling, I’ve been having the strangest dreams. Three of them hold tight in my memory, and occurred over the course of the past three nights. Since the first happened prior to my arrival in Istanbul, I can’t attribute them to the food here. Definitely isn’t the beer, which is marginal. But the facts they were so vivid, and have remained in my memory, made me think to jot them down.

Dream the First:
I was in a physical altercation with a female who was very close to me. The situation made it one person, but who I saw was another. Both shall remain nameless, and their current relationships to me unmentioned, since it was just so odd.
In the dream, I was enraged (for reasons unknown), and the woman was calm, and deliberate. And mean. Everything I did was countered with a cutting yet calm remark that only served to make me more angry. I finally found a papier-mâché thing (patterned in green and white, for whatever reason) that I dropped a chair one crushing it. That seemed to deflate her. She stopped all resistance and simply sagged, and said “Fuck.” I walked away, crying.

Dream the Second:
In this one, my (currently dead) father killed me. Yes, I died. So did he. He was driving the Phteven wagon. We entered a cul-de-sac and at the end, we needed to turn around again. Wrong way? Dunno. I didn’t seem to care one way or the other. There was snow on the ground and my perspective changed to an overhead view, and I watched as Dad drove onto the grass of the house and the end - as if he couldn’t turn tight enough. He the mowed down two arborvitae that were the end of a column of them leading to the house. I remember viewing the tire tracks as we drove away.
We exited the cul-de-sac, and made a left turn back onto the main road. We approached a descent, but Dad turned too quickly and we drove over a cliff.
I distinctly remember thinking “WTF, Dad?!”, as the car tumbled in the air. I then realized I was going to die, and then everything was a jumble. It looked like a movie to me, since that’s the imagery I know. No pain, but then there was nothing. For some period of perceived time, everything was a uniform gray. No sound, no sensation of touch, either. Then I woke - feeling more than a bit disturbed.

Dream the Third:
Ok, so this one was weird. (Like the first two weren’t.) It included large predatory cats, the running community I associate with, and word games. Good mix, eh? This one may be difficult to explain, but hey, I’m on holiday and I’ve got the time. Breakfast isn’t for another hour.
It started with a word game where everyone had to contribute to a story a word or a phrase at a time. The rules of the game were that each word had to be either six or four letters long, and alternating: a six-letter word had to follow a four-letter word, which itself followed a six-letter word. Got it?
I had come up with the cunning phrase “fucking daft wanker,” which was approved despite the first word having seven letters. I know, right? But hey, dream rules, like dream physics, don’t have to be consistent, now do they?
I thought of my entry as I approached an aid station staffed by a group of folks I run with. I was intercepted for a hug by one woman (YAY! Thanks Kaycee!), and was berated by another for not saying hi. In my defense, she didn’t exist when I approached, only after I was heading past. To my chagrin however, she is incredibly special to me and it hurt to appear to spurn her.
As happens in dreams, immediately after this, I was running (dunno why, but there was urgency) and I and others needed to cross a shallow draw. I think I was channeling Ash Canyon at this point. Anyway, the shallow draw morphed into a steep canyon with knife-edged ridges cutting across it. As we tried to slowly pick our way across, we encountered a group of five large predatory cats: three kits and two adults.
They looked like some sort of cross between a bobcat (tail) and snow leopard (coloration) but had the size of a tiger. At this point all I will say is sorry to Craig Young who was mauled next to me, and the rest of the aid station personnel. I woke up when the five cats attacked it.

Now it’s time for breakfast with great coffee. Then off to the bazaar. Normal stuff.