Prague was hot, and crowded, and stuffed with souvenir shops. But even with the crushing hoards of tourists, it still managed to be quite beautiful.
I arrived around 8 on Friday night, after a 7-hour train ride. After checking into my hostel, I headed into the old town to see old town square, and then down to the river to see the bridge.
Stone saints on the 15th-century Charles Bridge.
I’m off to Prague this afternoon for the long weekend–I will post photos when I get back!
For a delicious meal: Take a small onion, or half of a medium one. Chop it up finely.
Even smaller than that.
(Above, my beloved Ikea chef’s knife aka GYNNSAM. Swedes are weird.)
I took the train to Viségrad, north of Budapest on Saturday, using my excellent* Hungarian skills to convince the ticket lady to sell me a half-price ticket on the 9:07 regional to the Danube bend. The Danube bend is a big loop made by the river as it winds through the hills that cover the north end of Hungary, and it’s supposed to be lovely. So I trained up to the bend and took the car ferry across the river.
My goal was that fortress up on top of the hill–I had heard that the hike was brisk and the views spectacular. Read the rest of this entry »
So this sounds pretentious, but there’s nothing quite like doing math homework to Beethoven piano sonatas. It makes me feel like I’m in a dramatic film about math and that I’m on the verge of a grand discovery, even though all I am currently discovering is how to avoid obfuscating language in my proofs.
I wanted to share this recipe that I have made twice in the past month, because it is so delicious and easy. It’s adapted from Smitten Kitchen, of course, but I have Hungarianized the original dish a fair bit. Also I added cinnamon because, to my mind, there is no better vegetable/seasoning pairing than tomatoes and cinnamon except possibly Brussels sprouts and bacon.
On Friday, we visited the military fortress on top of Montjuïc, the big hill to the south of the city.
You already read about Amalia and I visiting Montserrat. Here are some (foggy) photos from that day.
Wednesday morning we set out into the rain, newly-purchased umbrella in hand.
Our goal was to visit three big Modernisme landmarks in Barcelona: the Block of Discord, Casa Milá and the Sagrada Familia. Read the rest of this entry »
I slept in on Monday, then packed my things and took the train down to the city. Unfortunately, the closest station to my hostel was over half an hour’s walk carrying an awkward duffel bag…next time, I’m definitely bringing a backpack.
So I went exploring, city map in hand. As you heard already, I ended up at the beach, where I took a long nap, getting slightly sunburned in the process.
Actually, I forgot I was in Spain half the time and kept imagining myself in Italy. Can you blame me?
This photo is taken from the south end of the medieval wall, looking north toward the cathedral and the hill that the city is built on.
Hungariana 