Something is wrong with the Hungarian forint outside Hungary, or at least, that seemed to be the case during our recent travels. No one seemed to want it and we wondered why. At first nothing seemed amiss with the Hungarian forint. When we arrived in Budapest, we found businesses accepting both forints and Euros interchangeably. Though the forint was preferred in most situations, we found businesses and cab drivers equipped for transactions in euro. Then our problems started. After crossing Continue Reading
Night Train from Budapest to Bucharest
We were running out of time. With choices dwindling, we abandoned our visit to Sighisoara and took the night train from Budapest to Bucharest instead. Our plan had a gray area that spilled over a couple of days between Budapest and Russia, and there was Romania, smack dab in the middle of it. We'd had a run-in with Romania before in the form of a cancelled trip, and I felt like we were losers all over again. I'd become enamored of the idea of spending a night in Sighisoara, which I Continue Reading
Central Europe Architecture: 7 Images of Dignity in Disrepair
We photographed the faded, the forlorn and the crumbling facades. A theme - Central Europe architecture in disrepair - emerged. It was beautiful. When traveling for extended periods, you begin to cluster your impressions. It's no longer a trip which is segmented into days, but a trip comprised of themes. This happens, I believe, because we look for similarities. In new places, we draw upon previous experiences and proceed to compare. Familiarization such as this can be a comfort Continue Reading
Budapest: Fisherman’s Bastion and Matthias Church
In love with Budapest Thanks to Architect Frigyes Schulek, we fell in love with Budapest on the morning we visited Fisherman's Bastion and Matthias Church. Halaszbastya, the Fisherman's Bastion, was designed in Neo-Romanesque style for Hungary's Millennium. It was built between 1895 and 1902 as a gateway to Castle Hill and Matthias Church in Budapest. The Millennium, which celebrated the 1000th anniversary of the Hungarian state, occurred in the middle of the Golden Age of Budapest Continue Reading