Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Long Rambly, or: The Update

The screen on the Chromebook broke so I have really been unable to update, since that would require prying Steve's Surface Pro away from him for something other than booking bus tickets. Right now, though, he's watching The Football soooo here's my chance!

"Where, perchance, did I leave off?" I wondered to myself, swirling a glass of Tesco budget whiskey and ginger beer with dangerously vigorous movements. And then Steve's Surface Pro broke. Well, it still works, but it has to be plugged in. Also, I didn't actually break it. But Steve may have broken the Chromebook, because I left it on the floor and he stood on it. He just now dropped a can of Stella on the carpet so I'm going to say everything is Steve's fault.

Really, though, I left off in Tbilisi, Georgia. It was definitely one of my favorite places. We intended to go elsewhere in Georgia but just...didn't. We went to a couple museums, including the National Gallery, which was small but had some very cool paintings. I highly recommend it. If, you know, you happen to be in Tbilisi. We also went to the sulfur baths twice, and it basically functioned as most of my showers for the week. If anyone wasn't sure yet whether I'm gross or not, there's your answer.


Tbilisi is known for its sulfur baths, with therapeutic waters the likes of which have not been smelt since Iceland. There are group "baths" separated by gender that are really more like communal shower rooms, so we decided to get our own private room with an actual tub. The first time we went it was just me and Steve, and we got a small room with a changing area, tub, shower, and massage table. The second time we went with a guy we met at the hostel and we asked for a private room with a sauna. The room they took us to was MASSIVE, with a changing/sitting room, a room with a tub and a plunging pool, and another room with a massage table and sauna. The ceiling was painted and domed and it was really luxurious.

Now we're at Steve's parents' house in England and I just got up to make a new whiskey ginger. Steve's mum, Julie, just came home from work and was possibly appalled by the awful liquor cluttering up her kitchen, and she showed me her stash of nice drink out in the pantry. Now I'm drinking a Jameson and ginger wine. Did you know ginger wine was a thing and that the bottle even recommends mixing it with whiskey? Also, did you know I might be drunk?

Speaking of wine, Tbilisi. There's a fortress/castle on a hill over the old town which you can walk up to visit. It's quite precarious in places but there's a nice view. It was difficult to leave--or at least it would have been if we hadn't already booked a flight. Wizzair, a Hungarian budget airline, does a flight from Kutaisi, Georgia to Budapest, so we took a shuttle out to the Kutaisi airport for our 5 am flight. It was a miserable overnight experience but it certainly was nice when we finally got to our hostel in my favorite place ever: Budapest.

I always rave about Budapest, so I was afraid I might have built it up too much and Steve would be disappointed, but he did really like it. I think. Maybe he just says he does so I won't break up with him. Look, moving to Budapest needs to be a possibility in my future so if you don't like it, get out! Just kidding. Sort of. I'm eating a bag of Branston pickle, cheese, and onion flavored peanuts right now, so how choosy can I really be?

We stayed a week in Budapest, participating in a healthy mix of educational activities and mulled wine drinking. We were there mid-November, so the Christmas markets weren't in full swing but there was definitely a little holiday nonsense going on. There was a little market with a stall selling kebab-like wraps, but the bread was freshly made. Steve was obsessed with it. I was obsessed with the mulled white wine.

We went on three free walking tours: the general tour, a Jewish district tour, and a communism tour. They were all very interesting and informative and I suggest doing them before you go to the House of Terror, which is an essential (though depressing) museum about occupied Budapest.

We had to leave Budapest at some point, though, especially since we bought tickets to see Morrissey in Krakow. The tickets were $45 each (compared to $100 in Seattle) and the venue was super small, considering MORRISSEY. We were right up front with all the weird hardcore fans. It was great and pretty unreal.

Krakow actually had a free ghost tour, which usually you have to pay for (not that you don't pay for "free" tours--you just decide how much it costs, basically). I obviously loved it. I didn't entirely love the salt mines, which were kind of expensive and not informative and a bit boring except for the cathedral made of salt, which was cool.

I'm just going to stop right here, since this is really long already and not informative and a bit boring. Next up: Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium, fries?

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