ben's toes were so cold that he couldn't walk

11/28/10
not at starbucks
lying in bed
salzburg
winter wonderland

Jill and I had the first time alone since august 15th.  The Grand Jackie stepped up and took the twins skating @ mozartplatz. We went chasing after boots and boiled wool at the flomarket.  It started pounding snow around 4pm and the town seemed to go to 11.  Gluwein plus live music plus plus holiday lights plus raclette plus more giant goat people with giant bells on their butts--u get the picture.

ice skating and more...

11/schlag/2010
salzburg

Total winter wonderland.  Vienna was triple A compared to xmas festivities in salzburg.  Lights, trees, snow, music, and of course schlag (how much fun is it to say that--or is it just me?).  Today jill and the twins went ice skating.  I took photos, gave pep talks, and monitored schlag intake.  Saving the ankle for a couple of jams in budapest, prague and maybe Berlin.  Jackie and Jill are out on the town as I vaguely supervise a gemini bubble bath.  Ben claims that this is only the fifth bath tub since the magic carpet ride began in August.  Nice temperature swing.   30 celcius in athens.  -2 today.   Also watching grand slalom (aspen, co) courtesy of europesport live.  Ben wore a sweater today.  Big step.  And acknowledged that his toes were cold.  Huge step.  Maybe a hat tomorrow?  I'm dreaming.  Jackie and Jill just made it back to Hotel Turnerwirt.  Their bus was detoured because of a crazy drunken goat/devil parade in our adopted neighborhood.  Is that drumming I hear?

snowing in salzburg

11/26/10
salzburg
another smooth transition. snowing on cue

crazy toes

the third woman 

friendly pony, spanish riding school

get outta my way

joining the swiss army 

lean and mean on the way to wien

lederhosen pattern, volksmuseum

prater party 

soose lady arts and crafts, underground

soose lady query 

subliminal message 

toys of our hungarian grandfathers, kesckemet last week

vegetables in vienna, naschmarket

cafe central is not a konditerei

mit schlag

11/26/2010
starbucks

Lots to be thankful for.  Sometimes i look around at the crue when the light is striking the buildings right and it is good.  How did we get here? Also, how bad can things be when u know there will be a hot whipped cream situation around the bend.

Lots of Picasso at the Albertina yesterday.  Some epic arms/armor (better than the met.  Speaking of the Met, clare just finished From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler   One of my top ten of all time)  and antique musical instruments at some other museum the day before.  People really were into making their weapons beautiful.   Ben took seemingly thousands of pics. Will people five hundred years for now find our missile launchers attractive?  More gearing up for the cold mongolian steppes.  inexpensive shearling mittens and more boiled wool.  Naturally ben continues to stroll around town in his shirtsleeves much to the chagrin of his parents, grandmother and viennese society.  This place takes it's clothing really seriously.

Finally made it to the elusive konditerai (something like a cafe--but different).  Also had a nice dinner at the Central cafe.  Old and beautiful.  Who knew that Ben would eschew his plain ravioli and scarf my beef goulash.  In theory we have rented a car to drive to Salzburg tonight.  Now if there is only some room at the inn.

ben's happy day

11/24/2010
starbucks again
overly caffeinated again

Ben died and went to heaven yesterday.  Ferris wheel with spectacular views.  Followed by: family bumper car session, those high speed swinging chairs, spooky house, a sibling bumper car session, hot punsch, that crazy hammer that you swing really hard, drums/space into a  massive sushi dinner.

interesting to watch cnn.  Lead story is korean tension, followed by concerns that portugal will follow ireland into eu bailout land.  America seems to have dropped off the radar.

we have reserved an apartment for a week in budapest and seem to have a line on possible lodging in salzburg.  Today looks like an arms/armor kind of day.  The twins have become excellent map readers and navigators.  They huddle together over the map and then use tourguide tones.  Pretty funny.

closing thought: what is up with the shelf in the wc?  u know what I'm talkin' about.

jackie in good voice

starbucks Wien
nov. 23, 2010

Wien has been a place of performances.  The lipizzaners were spectacular.  The anglican church is alive and well in wien.  Jackie was so good that she was invited back.  A young gentleman was baptized during the service.  We have found our restaurant--or it found us. Reinthaler's Beisl.  bratwurst with sauerkraut, duck with braised red cabbage, boiled beef with broth, good red wine, perfect location and CHEAP.  Our pension is kooky but clean.  Today I helped them move out a huge old tv and put in a flatscreen.  Gotta love email.  just sent in my resume and cover letter for an asst. commish job at acs.  Knock on wood.

Meanwhile there are christmas markets everywhere with chotchkas galore.  And of course the ever popular outdoor hot punsch stations.  Yesterday's big cultural events were the Secession Building (frieze by Gustav Klimt), and Heironymous Bosch's trippy tryptich--the last judgement-- (ben is a big fan of the "Hman.")

Next stop is the prater and hopefully the famous ferris wheel.  After Wien we head for Salzburg and maybe some snow.

vienna

Wien
nov 19th

wien.  nothing, as usual, is as expected.  While we had internet access in some of the funkiest places in turkey (caves/karavanseries) and romania, we did not have much in istanbul and our pensione in wien has none.  Currently caffeinated at a starbucks mooching wifi  and pondering the trans-siberian railway.  We continue to get outfitted for cooler weather in second hand tyrolean gear.  Today's plan to hit the great ferris wheel has been eschewed as it is rainy.  Last two days have been filled with fantastic paintings, sausages and great beer. Breugel the Elder, two Ruisdaels and Rubens.  Warm punch with a kick is sold outdoors all over town.  there is an area called the Naschmarket which is good for noshing. These palaces are huge.  Grand Jackie sings with the choir on sunday,  Clovis has recovered from lyme disease, my ankle is wobbling and life goes on.

bring on the schlag

Kecshemet, Hungary
nov.15th 2010

More second hand clothing shopping today.  Bought a bullet proof boiled wool sweater for one the twins.  Nothing costs any money in Hungary.  Tough to figure out how this economy works.  Another sunny t-shirt day.  Had a great time talking with a young couple whose family ran the Fabio Pansion.  They have two young kids and do a lot of traveling.  We heard again from them that Viet Nam is not the easiest place to be.  Maybe Laos is mellower.  What about Myamar?

Were unsuccessful in renting bikes or checking out the Hungarian cowboys.  Did make it to a number of playgrounds and parks (almost made it to the arboretum) and managed to avoid museums, places of worship, architectural gems, cultural cornerstones, and anything to do with crafts.  This was fortunate because I needed all my intellectual powers to focus on my dinner of "beef stew sprinkled with red wine."

We are supposed to make it to Vienna tomorrow.

sleepy time

Nov 14th 2010
kecskemet hungary

hungary is asleep.  They make really good wine in this country.  hmmm.  the weather is still beautiful.  We did break down and buy ben a pair of long pants (second hand shop) because the hungarian grandmas were giving us dirty looks.  Nobody speaks much english.  Everybody speaks german.  jill is pretending that she speaks german.  Today we got off the train from Tokaj, lucked into a room at the Fabio Panzo and then checked out the toy museum.   The little wooden pull toys brought me back to the cool toys that Salamon's son (Mo) used to make.  Must be a hungarian thing.  Then we tried to go to another museum which allegedly had a good collection of rocks and clocks.  It was supposed to be open till 6pm.  We arrived at 4:20.  Two old ladies at the ticket booth started berating us in Hungarian.  We took money out.  The continued berating.  Finally we deciphered the word "nem."  no museum for us.  

finally the flight

Tokaj.  Nov 13, 2010

ahh the noble rot.

flight of tokaj

Tokaj hungary nov12.2010

should have spent longer in romania.  underrated and under the radar.  we did manage to get very close to beclean/betlen (former stomping grounds of salamon simon).  only spent one night in cluj. seemed like a vibrant beautiful spot.  Then had one of thosed crazed travel days that one can never capture with words.  left cluj.  took a bunch of trains.  borders were crossed.  passports were stamped.  ended up in tokaj at around 10pm.  at some point on a train in hungary the conductor asked us for "ticket".  We said "no ticket."  We had been hurried on to the last train by official people who did not want to sell us a ticket.  i gave the confused ticket collecting hungarian conductor a sheepish grin and handed over all the currency i had (56 romanian lei and one twenty dollar bill that was tucked in my wallet).  conductor pondered these foreign bits of paper for what seemed like a long time, returned my sheepish grin with one of his own and the transaction was complete.  Still don't know who got the better of the deal.

No taxi at tokaj station.  did the 3km hike humping all of our stuff into town.  No room at the inns.  some folks from poland who were on a multi family trip took pity on us, carved a bed out of their own lodging space and we crashed.  waking up in a stranger's hotel room instead of the street--priceless.

looking forward to the dinnertime flight of tokaj.

cluj

cluj, romania Nov. 10, 2010

woke up in some crazy saxon village (viscri) with a population of 450.  most of them appeared to be in hiding.  ben and clare woke up on featherbeds in big drawers that pulled out of our beds.  Shook a few schnapps cobwebs loose.  remembered the previous night's feast in our hosts kitchen.  vegetable soup, carrot risotto, cole slaw, and some fried pork ribs that were scandalous.  topped off by some lingonberry crepe.  drinking pink wine and some eau de vie that redefined terroir.  the best meal yet.

had some eggs and strong coffee.  tooled around town.  found the castle.  there is always a castle. found the cute romanian baby.  there is always one of those too.  had the rap with the young mom whom had just moved with her husband from bucharest to open a small inn.  got a ride from hostess' hubby to the town where vlad/drac was born.  found the castle.  there is always a castle.  drank a beer.  took the train to cluj.  my great grandfather (salamon simon) was from somewhere near here.

bucharest is way underrrated

Nov 8, 2010
Sibiu

maybe it was just the beautiful weather.  maybe it was not getting bitten by a rabid dog.  but the bottom line is bucharest is an underrated destination.  Beautiful old buildings, nice scenery, cheap food and drink, great flea market.  people from all over the world are moving in--there is money to be made as the country is now eu and about to swith to the Euro.  Jill fell in love with the Museum of the Romanian Peasant.  ben, clare and i maybe less amorous.  Also went to the museum of jewish history in a beautiful synagogue.  Had the rap with the crusty jewish ladies about my family tree.  Perhaps Beclean near cluj (now dubbed club).  short seven hour train ride to sibiu (even had snacks).  Back to medieval time.  Staying at the flying horse hostel.  Two sets of bunkbeds.  Somehow jill and I ended up in the "high post."  Queen latifah notes that the high post is for suckers.

what r we doing in romania?

22 hours on the train from Istanbul to Bucharest.  No food at all.  We tried eating tins of anchovies and figs in syrup that we had purchased in greece.  bad idea-nasty.  Lots of hunger complaints.  smooth transition to Prince apartments. lots of food. cheap beer. wake up.  perfect sunny day.  75 degrees.  made it to 2 museums and a great flea market in the historic district.  Did not get pickpocketed or bitten by a rabid dog as one is supposed to here.  Heading for my transylvanian roots.

November 3,4,5, 2010
istanbul

It's true, the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia knocked my socks off today.  The Hagia Sophia was the largest column free covered space for one thousand years.  Completed in the 500s ad.  The main dome is over 50 metres tall.  Tomorrow we head back into the breach.  A final foray to the grand bazaar.

One of the wacky things about turkey is that people are constantly using things that are hundreds or thousands of years old.  Stuff is not behind glass and no entry fee is required.  People live, pray, commute, shop, party and graze their animals in the crustiest spots.  Why build a new bridge if the one your peeps have been using for 1800 years is still functional.  Just replace a few bricks here and there.

So we actually made it out of the grand bizarre without buying anything.  In fact we were given a kilim bag and a super funky pair of trousers (for ben) by a carpet guy.  Once we mention that we bought a carpet in siirt we have them in the palm of our hand.

Jill showed some moxie today and got an unidentified street sandwich.  Clare and I gave it a try (no dice).  We think it was some organ meat.

blue mosque

We are very sad to be leaving istanbul and turkey.  10pm train to bucharest.

turkish cleanliness

Istanbul Nov 3, 2010

this place has it down when it comes to hygiene.  Went to the 500 hundred year old hammam yesterday.  U lay down on this hot marble slab and sweat for 20 minutes staring up at this epic vaulted ceiling.  The some turkish dude scrubs and bubble bathes you until your skin is new.  Then he does some time tested strong man massage manoeuvers that leave u wimpering.  rinse and back to hot marble slab, sweat, rinse and then guzzle pomegranate soda.  life much better.

yesterday was big.  took care of 5.5 kilos of laundry.  went to the fantastic restaurant that we read about in the New Yorker, took a ferry on the bosphorous, bought train tix to Bucharest and bathed.  salaam

it's november

Nov. 2, 2010
Istanbul

Twins not happy about lack of halloween festivities.  Jill and I know a wee bit about rugs and kilims.  Tribal vs. traditional.  Apple tea vs. Turkish.  The legendary 3 dolla fish sandwich at Galata bridge was indeed legendary.  Fish really good (served with grilled onions and peppers on fat baguette--the vibe unbelievable plus sunny and warm.  Truly at the crossroads of europe and asia.  spice market yesterday as well.  Probably  a good spot for Arlene.  Clare complaining about Tuck Everlasting--Ben not complaining about the Little Prince.  Traded books at book bazaar and came away with From the mixed up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.  Lucky twins.  Salaam.