I have to be honest, the travel entries aren't my favorites. I love doing the "research" necessary to create them - touring Budapest with Lisa, Molly, Katie, and Ann was lots of fun - but as I said last time, the plot feels a bit thin on these and the pictures tell it best.
So, here are the pictures. And here are a few quick thoughts.
The entry title: In Hungarian, "s" defaults to what English speakers would call the "sh" sound. You need an "sz" to get what English calls the original recipe "s" sound. So, I walked around this city hearing a good deal of words spoken in the voice of a former teacher who used to jokingly swap in "sh" for "s." That was very weird.
Architecturally, Budapest is awesome. All I ever really do in cities I visit is walk around, eat good food if I can find it, and snap photos of cool buildings (and shit that makes no sense... usually in advertisements). Budapest has some very impressive churches and government buildings, but even normal office buildings, banks, apartments, etc. have really cool flourishes. You never know what you'll find next, which is always a fun feeling to have when you tour a city.
I have discovered some karmic balance, I'm relieved to say, in the world of currency exchange. Yes, the Dollar's had a significant disadvantage against the Euro for over two years, and that's not even mentioning the Pound. So, you learn to stop thinking about how many U.S. Dollars you're spending when you buy basic goods and services in Europe, 'cause otherwise you go insane. Until you arrive in Hungary, home of the Hungarian Forint. Coming from the Euro, I can say that it is uniquely satisfying to take a list price in Forints, divide it by about 300, and THEN decide if you want to pay it. And even coming from the Dollar, dividing by 220(ish) is still a lot of fun.
Recommendations include:
--The cafe at the flagship Alexandra bookstore chain (information and location here). It's an impressive bookstore, a breathtaking cafe, and their cake, coffee, etc. are all quite good.
--The Szechenyi baths are a must-do... quite the unique experience, reasonable price of admittance for basic baths/steamroom/sauna/showers access on their extensive, beautiful grounds. Located here.
--The Szimpla ruin bar (here) is a great nightlife spot.
--Centrale Cafe is a very classy old cafe with high ceilings and more good cake. I'm pretty sure this is the address.
--Művész Restaurant and Café (here) had great goulash, a newly renovated room, and taste-bud-opening (that's gonna' be a thing from now on) desserts.
--The Central Market (here) is pretty good for souvenir shopping and good old market-y experiences.
...I also went to the opera while I was there. It was gorgeous, and I had never seen Tosca. It was a good production with great sets and performers. Of course, I probably should have thought more carefully before buying a ticket to an Italian opera with Hungarian subtitles, but hey - the program had an English summary, so it all worked out.
Next stop on this blogging marathon: Krakow.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Tour de Franzia
Big bonus points to anyone who spotted the title reference immediately. BIG bonus points.
I'm combining my visits to Lyon and Paris into a single entry, since I've visited both before, and the photos will probably make more statements more effectively than my writing. This is because - and I'm starting to notice it as a trend for my travel entries - the plot is a little thin.
So, here are the photos for Lyon.
And here are the ones for Paris.
Lyon was right between Grenoble and Paris and I'd be damned if I was going to miss out on traditional Lyonnaise food twice. So, the big draw for this visit was Le Musée, located here. As if the #1 rating on TripAdvisor (my go-to for eating when I travel... get your recommendations from them instead of me, and it's basically the same thing) wasn't enough to distinguish it, this restaurant is what they call an official "bouchon."
I mentioned these last time, but a little history lesson is appropriate (now that I actually know the history). In the Great Depression, a lot of (formerly) really rich households in Lyon had to fire their chefs. But, highly skilled cooks being what they are, they didn't have much trouble finding a new market: the public. So, they started up lots of restaurants - "bouchons" - serving good, hot food and just kept doing it. They're very NOT haute-cuisine, but more about a friendly, communal atmosphere. The food focuses on various... let's say "inventive" cuts of meat, so this is not the place to order "just a salad, thanks."
While Lyon is filled with places that advertise themselves as true bouchons, it's generally only the style and atmosphere they mimic, rather than the quality or price. There's a committee dedicated to going around every year and awarding certain restaurants (just under 20, usually) the title of "vrai bouchon Lyonnais" ("true Lyonnaise bouchon"). Which finally brings us back to Le Musée, where we couldn't get a table back in December, but for which I had a reservation this time.
Here's the restaurant. Very cozy.
First up: a piece of brioche bread with a piece of sausage baked in. It was made with love. Literally: I think they have a jar of the stuff, and they sprinkle a little bit on all of the meat they prepare, it tasted that good.
Main course: pig cheeks with potatoes gratin and a vegetable I've had before, can't remember the name of, and don't really like that much. Pig cheeks were delicious, and apparently are the leanest cut of pig you can get.
Finally, crème brulée:
...
Paris was surreal, as perhaps I already expressed here two years ago. I had a lovely visit this time: seeing good friends, eating good food, strolling, and getting my bearings again.
I also saw Chronicle, which was amazing. A really strong, original story with characters that were so close to real that I had to reassure myself I was walking out of a work of fiction at the end. This is in large part thanks to the cinematography (of which you get a good sense in the trailer above), which was thankfully more than a gimmick. In fact, it posed some academic questions I'm still having fun hashing out several weeks later. If you like superhero movies at all and are ready to be proven wrong in your (mostly rightful) preconceptions about high school movies, their characters, and the issues they explore, then go see Chronicle so we can discuss it.
So, as I toured Paris again, I'd have little flashes of my semester abroad and moments in certain places -- kind of like Ben Affleck in that movie Paycheck -- and by the end of three days, I was ready to go before this short vacation turned into really realizing I didn't really have a life here anymore.
So, I went to Budapest.
I'm combining my visits to Lyon and Paris into a single entry, since I've visited both before, and the photos will probably make more statements more effectively than my writing. This is because - and I'm starting to notice it as a trend for my travel entries - the plot is a little thin.
So, here are the photos for Lyon.
And here are the ones for Paris.
Lyon was right between Grenoble and Paris and I'd be damned if I was going to miss out on traditional Lyonnaise food twice. So, the big draw for this visit was Le Musée, located here. As if the #1 rating on TripAdvisor (my go-to for eating when I travel... get your recommendations from them instead of me, and it's basically the same thing) wasn't enough to distinguish it, this restaurant is what they call an official "bouchon."
I mentioned these last time, but a little history lesson is appropriate (now that I actually know the history). In the Great Depression, a lot of (formerly) really rich households in Lyon had to fire their chefs. But, highly skilled cooks being what they are, they didn't have much trouble finding a new market: the public. So, they started up lots of restaurants - "bouchons" - serving good, hot food and just kept doing it. They're very NOT haute-cuisine, but more about a friendly, communal atmosphere. The food focuses on various... let's say "inventive" cuts of meat, so this is not the place to order "just a salad, thanks."
While Lyon is filled with places that advertise themselves as true bouchons, it's generally only the style and atmosphere they mimic, rather than the quality or price. There's a committee dedicated to going around every year and awarding certain restaurants (just under 20, usually) the title of "vrai bouchon Lyonnais" ("true Lyonnaise bouchon"). Which finally brings us back to Le Musée, where we couldn't get a table back in December, but for which I had a reservation this time.
Here's the restaurant. Very cozy.
First up: a piece of brioche bread with a piece of sausage baked in. It was made with love. Literally: I think they have a jar of the stuff, and they sprinkle a little bit on all of the meat they prepare, it tasted that good.
Main course: pig cheeks with potatoes gratin and a vegetable I've had before, can't remember the name of, and don't really like that much. Pig cheeks were delicious, and apparently are the leanest cut of pig you can get.
Finally, crème brulée:
...
Paris was surreal, as perhaps I already expressed here two years ago. I had a lovely visit this time: seeing good friends, eating good food, strolling, and getting my bearings again.
I also saw Chronicle, which was amazing. A really strong, original story with characters that were so close to real that I had to reassure myself I was walking out of a work of fiction at the end. This is in large part thanks to the cinematography (of which you get a good sense in the trailer above), which was thankfully more than a gimmick. In fact, it posed some academic questions I'm still having fun hashing out several weeks later. If you like superhero movies at all and are ready to be proven wrong in your (mostly rightful) preconceptions about high school movies, their characters, and the issues they explore, then go see Chronicle so we can discuss it.
So, as I toured Paris again, I'd have little flashes of my semester abroad and moments in certain places -- kind of like Ben Affleck in that movie Paycheck -- and by the end of three days, I was ready to go before this short vacation turned into really realizing I didn't really have a life here anymore.
So, I went to Budapest.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Andy's Weird Grenoble
Since many of you have other blogs to read and other links to click on from Facebook, I'm giving you a choice. You can either read each of my next four(ish) entries about my spring break all the way through, or I can give you the summary of what I was up to for two of the (now many) weeks I've been away from this blog. (And for those of you already itching to get back to that blue-and-white stream of web-links - and for the mashup-inclined - this is my new favorite website.)
So, my spring break in six sentences (and a parenthetical clause):
Grenoble looks weird.
I skied an Alp.
Lyon food - real Lyon food - tastes good.
Paris is weird the second time.
Budapest looks cool the first time.
Krakow is... different.
To make this easier on everyone, I'm going to break the trip down to one destination per entry.
So. Grenoble.
Grenoble has a few really salient visual features. It's an Olympic city, it's got a river and typically French buildings, and - oh, yeah! - it's surrounded by the freakin' Alps. These are all very cool things about the city, and you'd think that it would look great for it.
You'd think. So, have a look at these pictures and see for yourself.
In truth, those mountains are pretty impressive, and the high fortress on the river gives some great views of the city, but I felt somehow that Grenoble was resting on its laurels, if that makes any sense. The French buildings were... well, French buildings, but not terrifically maintained. There's graffiti everywhere (although it seems to be part of a thriving underground art movement, so I won't judge). The river and its surroundings look good-not-great, and there was quite a bit of haze (I'm sure Lake Garda is to blame... somehow...). I should also add that the Olympic structures were all from the 70s (which, loosely translated from French, means "concrete").
I'm sorry I can't give this entry more of a narrative thrust, but I can sum up my visit with walking around and hiking up to the top of the Bastille fortress (one of the most rewarding hikes I've ever done, I think, and not just for the view). I also saw Another Happy Day, which was a bit intense, but often quite funny and very well-written and -acted. And I ate well. Oh, and there was a modern art museum in there, too.
Granted, cities like Paris and Lyon are pretty stiff competition as river towns, so I probably shouldn't come down so hard on Grenoble. After all, it's in the freakin' Alps, and there's some very good food to be had. If you don't go in so much for my mealtime descriptions, I might simply suggest making a note of the recommendations and hopping up to the next entry. And I imagine I'm giving that tip to pretty much everyone except my mother.
Okay. Food time.
My first recommendation is La Mandala, located here. I started with an order of 12 escargots that were subtle, but good - they had an onion/tomato/olive oil tapenade-thing that was almost as strong a performance: like a really good supporting role. This is a good part of the world, I should add, for hearty food. Hence my decision to spring for the daily special: a veal T-bone in a deliciously seasoned sauce. The mashed potatoes were flaky yet moist, and flavorful - all without being painfully buttery. It was delicious - not a spectacular delicious, an eye-opening or taste-bud-opening (do they even do that?) delicious - but still some very good food very well-prepared. The regional red wine I ordered was good, and the dining room is very warm and atmospheric. This atmosphere was best punctuated by the chalkboard wine list and sizable window that revealed the chef working over impressively high stovetop flames.
I'll tell you what was a grand slam performance, though - the 'Baba bouchon au vieux rhum': house version of 'baba au rhum' with vanilla custard and delicious homemade (I'm sure) pastry. The Chartreuse digestif on the house - with the manager's insistence I try this regional specialty - was also the touch of a good host. It's a France-famous liqueur made originally by monks in their monastery in the nearby Chartreuse mountain range.
The other great sit-down restaurant I found in Grenoble was La Petite Idée, located here, not far from the river and base of the Bastille fort. It's the perfect choice of a restaurant right after the long hike up to the fortress. I don't think I ordered a starter here (had a late lunch that was good, but nowhere as good as this). No starter, no problem, though, because the duck filet I had...
...was every bit as delicious as it looks. So were the salad and potatoes gratin (I wish there'd been more of that). The sauce on the duck had this slight bitter taste to it that actually complemented the sweetness of the meat very nicely. I was nearly full, but I ordered dessert because I feel I owe that to a restaurant that does such a taste-bud-opening-'cause-here-they-definitely-did-that job.
Also 'cause, hey - what if it's good, too?
It was. Crème brulée.
My last recommendation is for a small but impossibly charming little bakery/tea shop: M. Sarrazin right on the Place Victor Hugo (more specifically, here). They had absolutely delicious breakfast pastries (I had an almond croissant and a pain au chocolat) served in a lovely, calm sitting room. The other, dessert desserts - cakes, canolis, everything but cupcakes, really - looked amazing as well. This one's definitely on my list to explore further on a future visit.
And there will be a future visit, if for no other reason than skiing in Chamrousse.
I spent February 25 and 26 in Grenoble proper. On the 27th, I got on a bus out to Chamrousse, a ski resort about an hour from the city (see here). If you're planning to get here from Grenoble (I'd recommend it), then I highly suggest you check out www.transaltitude.fr for their bus service. For 25 euro, I got an all-day ski pass for the whole resort as well as bus transportation there (and back to Grenoble in the evening). You have to pay more to rent gear (20 euro for boots, skis, and poles at any of the (many) shops), and a lot more for the ski lessons (necessary for me). But the surroundings are amazing (see the second half of my Grenoble photo album) and there are slopes for all levels, reachable by free shuttles that circle the resort.
I actually took to skiing rather quickly (the lesson helped), and I can see why it's so popular - get a good spot and some early confidence at it, and that sport is an addiction. It's like sledding, but on your feet and, if you're good enough, on all the really steep slopes your parents would never have let you sled down when you were a kid! Plus, I'm in the freakin' Alps!
I'd also like to boast out that I did not fall down a single time in the act of skiing. Once I decided I was going to ski down a hill, I did, and I did so without falling, or causing anyone else to do the same.
So, I had to call out "Attention!" a few times... And I probably slipped and fell while walking on the ice, and probably in ski boots, which is probably in large part because ski boots probably suck.
Next stop: Lyon. Which is also near the freakin' Alps.
So, my spring break in six sentences (and a parenthetical clause):
Grenoble looks weird.
I skied an Alp.
Lyon food - real Lyon food - tastes good.
Paris is weird the second time.
Budapest looks cool the first time.
Krakow is... different.
To make this easier on everyone, I'm going to break the trip down to one destination per entry.
So. Grenoble.
Grenoble has a few really salient visual features. It's an Olympic city, it's got a river and typically French buildings, and - oh, yeah! - it's surrounded by the freakin' Alps. These are all very cool things about the city, and you'd think that it would look great for it.
You'd think. So, have a look at these pictures and see for yourself.
In truth, those mountains are pretty impressive, and the high fortress on the river gives some great views of the city, but I felt somehow that Grenoble was resting on its laurels, if that makes any sense. The French buildings were... well, French buildings, but not terrifically maintained. There's graffiti everywhere (although it seems to be part of a thriving underground art movement, so I won't judge). The river and its surroundings look good-not-great, and there was quite a bit of haze (I'm sure Lake Garda is to blame... somehow...). I should also add that the Olympic structures were all from the 70s (which, loosely translated from French, means "concrete").
I'm sorry I can't give this entry more of a narrative thrust, but I can sum up my visit with walking around and hiking up to the top of the Bastille fortress (one of the most rewarding hikes I've ever done, I think, and not just for the view). I also saw Another Happy Day, which was a bit intense, but often quite funny and very well-written and -acted. And I ate well. Oh, and there was a modern art museum in there, too.
Granted, cities like Paris and Lyon are pretty stiff competition as river towns, so I probably shouldn't come down so hard on Grenoble. After all, it's in the freakin' Alps, and there's some very good food to be had. If you don't go in so much for my mealtime descriptions, I might simply suggest making a note of the recommendations and hopping up to the next entry. And I imagine I'm giving that tip to pretty much everyone except my mother.
Okay. Food time.
My first recommendation is La Mandala, located here. I started with an order of 12 escargots that were subtle, but good - they had an onion/tomato/olive oil tapenade-thing that was almost as strong a performance: like a really good supporting role. This is a good part of the world, I should add, for hearty food. Hence my decision to spring for the daily special: a veal T-bone in a deliciously seasoned sauce. The mashed potatoes were flaky yet moist, and flavorful - all without being painfully buttery. It was delicious - not a spectacular delicious, an eye-opening or taste-bud-opening (do they even do that?) delicious - but still some very good food very well-prepared. The regional red wine I ordered was good, and the dining room is very warm and atmospheric. This atmosphere was best punctuated by the chalkboard wine list and sizable window that revealed the chef working over impressively high stovetop flames.
I'll tell you what was a grand slam performance, though - the 'Baba bouchon au vieux rhum': house version of 'baba au rhum' with vanilla custard and delicious homemade (I'm sure) pastry. The Chartreuse digestif on the house - with the manager's insistence I try this regional specialty - was also the touch of a good host. It's a France-famous liqueur made originally by monks in their monastery in the nearby Chartreuse mountain range.
The other great sit-down restaurant I found in Grenoble was La Petite Idée, located here, not far from the river and base of the Bastille fort. It's the perfect choice of a restaurant right after the long hike up to the fortress. I don't think I ordered a starter here (had a late lunch that was good, but nowhere as good as this). No starter, no problem, though, because the duck filet I had...
...was every bit as delicious as it looks. So were the salad and potatoes gratin (I wish there'd been more of that). The sauce on the duck had this slight bitter taste to it that actually complemented the sweetness of the meat very nicely. I was nearly full, but I ordered dessert because I feel I owe that to a restaurant that does such a taste-bud-opening-'cause-here-they-definitely-did-that job.
Also 'cause, hey - what if it's good, too?
It was. Crème brulée.
My last recommendation is for a small but impossibly charming little bakery/tea shop: M. Sarrazin right on the Place Victor Hugo (more specifically, here). They had absolutely delicious breakfast pastries (I had an almond croissant and a pain au chocolat) served in a lovely, calm sitting room. The other, dessert desserts - cakes, canolis, everything but cupcakes, really - looked amazing as well. This one's definitely on my list to explore further on a future visit.
And there will be a future visit, if for no other reason than skiing in Chamrousse.
I spent February 25 and 26 in Grenoble proper. On the 27th, I got on a bus out to Chamrousse, a ski resort about an hour from the city (see here). If you're planning to get here from Grenoble (I'd recommend it), then I highly suggest you check out www.transaltitude.fr for their bus service. For 25 euro, I got an all-day ski pass for the whole resort as well as bus transportation there (and back to Grenoble in the evening). You have to pay more to rent gear (20 euro for boots, skis, and poles at any of the (many) shops), and a lot more for the ski lessons (necessary for me). But the surroundings are amazing (see the second half of my Grenoble photo album) and there are slopes for all levels, reachable by free shuttles that circle the resort.
I actually took to skiing rather quickly (the lesson helped), and I can see why it's so popular - get a good spot and some early confidence at it, and that sport is an addiction. It's like sledding, but on your feet and, if you're good enough, on all the really steep slopes your parents would never have let you sled down when you were a kid! Plus, I'm in the freakin' Alps!
I'd also like to boast out that I did not fall down a single time in the act of skiing. Once I decided I was going to ski down a hill, I did, and I did so without falling, or causing anyone else to do the same.
So, I had to call out "Attention!" a few times... And I probably slipped and fell while walking on the ice, and probably in ski boots, which is probably in large part because ski boots probably suck.
Next stop: Lyon. Which is also near the freakin' Alps.
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