Friday, March 17, 2006

The long overdo post: European Trip Redux, 2006



This is how it went down...


Wednesday, March 1st: Departed Boston at 7pm on American Airlines. I had a whole row of seats to myself. The in-flight movies kind of stunk. I ended up watching a foreign film called Goal! (Exclamation point theirs and not mine). There was a cute guy in it though; IMDB.com tells me that his name is Kuno Becker. I took some Dramamine in order to try to get some sleep (because I usually can't), but it didn't work. I was a tad bit anxious of course, so I'm sure that didn't help.

Thursday, March 2nd: I arrived in London, Heathrow around 6am local time. I had enough time to get through security, and hit the bathroom before boarding my plane to Prague. In the bathroom, I started to realize 2 things: the toilets do not flush in traditional ways, and Europeans have yet to discover the beauty of Charmin.

I made it to Prague by 10:50am. I had just sat down and ordered a shot of espresso when Enigma found me at the cafe. We hugged, he ordered espresso and scoffed at the prices on the menu. Apparently I had fallen into a tourist trap and had been ripped off. I really had no concept of money the entire time that I was there.

We hopped a bus into the city and made our way to the bus station to store my luggage. I realized how handy it was going to be to have Enigma with me on this trip. He speaks Czech almost fluently now. I would have been screwed otherwise.

We walked around Prague for about 5hrs or so. We didn't have time to do it justice of course, but I just wanted to be able to say that I had actually been in the city. I wanted to see the Charles Bridge and get an idea of what the city is like. It was pretty, but I missed so much. But the best part about this trip was that I didn't go with a lot of expectations or a list of things that I wanted to see. My main motivation for taking the trip was seeing Enigma and Inquisitor...everything else (no matter what it was) was just a bonus).

We took a bus to Brno. On the bus I finally asked Enigma about his gf. He hadn't brought her up all day, and I wanted to know a little bit more of what I was getting myself into. He told me that he hadn't told her I was coming to stay with them/visit until two weeks prior to my arrival. Uh oh. She wasn't pleased to say the least. When I asked why he doesn't say much about her he said, "Well...I don't really talk about that kind of stuff...I talk to my sister about it." Umm, okay.

We arrived in Brno and walked through the city. It seemed pretty dead. But I guess most people were in the pubs. Inquisitor had taken the train in from Blankso to meet us for dinner. We found a pub, ate and had a few beers. Yum.

The last leg of the journey included a train to Blankso. We stopped at another pub for another beer.

Around 1am or so we finally arrived at Enigma's flat. His gf was awake and in the bedroom, but she did not come out to meet me. I hit the couch and tried not to think about the two of them in the next room.

Friday, March 3rd: I woke up and started moving around the flat. I saw the gf walk through the hall, but she still didn't come in to introduce herself. Enigma finally took the initiative. Can you say awkward? I got dressed and prepared my bags for our trip to Budapest. The three of us walked to the train station to buy tickets for Enigma, Inquisitor and me. Next we went to a cafe called Bergman (a local favorite) for lunch. Conversation with the gf didn't get much easier. I was glad that we were headed to Budapest without her.

We met up with Inquisitor and headed to the train station. Inquisitor stopped along the way to buy pizza and beer for the train ride. He's always prepared with the essentials.

The train ride was about 6hrs. I got a lot of stamps in my passport. I'm still unsure as to why that always excites people, but I've realized that I'm one of those people. :-)

Once in Budapest we tried to bypass the shady people at the train station and change money at a place that was somewhat reputable. But again, I had no concept of whether or not I was getting a good exchange rate.

We made our way to the building where the flat that Enigma had reserved online was. We waited outside for a man named Edgar and made guesses as to what he would look like. I had guessed that he would be short, balding and old, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Edgar was tall, handsome and young. If he hadn't had his gf with him I would have tried to make a move on the hunky Hungarian!

The flat was really nice. I was impressed with Enigma's find.

We made our way out to the pubs for dinner and drinks. We hit one pub for dinner and then made our way to a place called Picasso. It was a happening place and had a steady stream of people all night. The Hungarians like to party. They're all pretty good looking too. The men are cute and the women are tall. At Picasso we had our debates about the concept of happiness and Enigma's future. I was really drunk.

When we went back to the flat I fell down the stairs, but I already told that story.

Saturday, March 4th: We woke up late. Enigma and I searched for Inquisitor, but he wasn't in the flat. He returned later with eggs and coffee. Cute. I love a guy who can take that kind of initiative.

Eventually we made our way to Hero's Square. We marveled at the statues and the boys appreciated that the "junk" on the stone horses seemed anatomically correct. Leave it to boys to notice something like that.

We went to something that the boys call "The Fairy Tale Castle." That is not the real name, but we'll go with that. We also went to a church that I do not know the name of. Enigma and Inquisitor were great at taking me around Prague and Budapest. They knew their way around because they had both been to these cities, but they never knew the names of anything!

We had lunch somewhere. It was pretty uneventful, but I bring it up because a man emerged from the bathroom and shouted what unmistakably sounded like, "Pussy" in my direction. I'm not sure if it had a different meaning, but it was funny nonetheless.

Later that night we ventured out for dinner and drinks again. We hit a few pubs and then ended up at a jazz club. We ended up taking a table off to the side (with no clear visual of the stage) near the bathrooms. We felt like pervs, because every time one of the bathroom doors opened we couldn't help but look in. Later, we noticed a gentleman with a red devil-like mask enter the club. Shortly after that we were confronted with his presence as he abruptly sat down at our table and asked, "Are you American?" He was Swedish and in Budapest to find cheap prostitutes even though his gf thought he was in Stockholm. He spent close to an hour telling us about fighting in the Swedish military and how much he hates the U.S. and Bush; he was going to Iraq in a week. He was plastered. He started to get really belligerent, especially when the bar started to close. He wanted to take us somewhere else for drinks, and we ended up leaving with him and wandering the streets of Budapest looking for another pub. I started to get really tired and kind of annoyed. It was cold and lightly raining. Enigma told Inquisitor to take me back to the flat. He was going to try to walk Mr. Intoxicated back to his hotel even though he no longer remembered where it was. I didn't think that splitting up was such a great idea, especially since we only had one map, but I was too tired to argue. The map didn't do Inquisitor much good and we stood there for a while, confused. I saw Mr. Intoxicated wandering down the street, yelling...but he was sans Enigma. When we finally made it back to the flat, Enigma was already waiting for us. Apparently Mr. Intoxicated had propositioned a few girls for anal sex and urinated on a church. Enigma said he could find his own way home. Ha. The whole time we were with the drunk Swede I kept thinking that it was funny that we had tried so hard no be associated with other obnoxious American tourists we had seen, but instead we had ended up with an obnoxious Swede who spoke English and drew an uncomfortable amount of attention to us.

Sunday, March 5th: We went to the Museum of Fine Arts for the Goya, Velázquez, and El Greco exhibit that the other Laura suggested. It snowed that day, so it was a great thing to do. We enjoyed the exhibit, but actually ended up spending more time in an Impressionist exhibit that they had. Enigma enjoyed it so much that he went in twice. At one point he found me lingering near a nude statue and made a quip about how he knew it would be my favorite. I just like art people. :-)

After the museum I was pretty wiped and suggested we go back to the flat to nap. When we woke from our slumber we trudged back out into the snow to Fisherman's Bastion. The weather was really nasty, but it was undeniably beautiful. It was quite a hike up to Fisherman's Bastion, and I was in canvas sneakers, which left my feet soaked and cold. It was totally worth it though. I got a lot of great pictures there. We ended up the evening at an Italian restaurant. Our waiter was super cute. We had one more drink at another pub near our flat after we realized that Picasso was closed. I almost fell down another set of stairs, because they were windy and steep.

Monday, March 6th: We left Budapest. We took the train back to Brno and then Blankso. About midway through the trip from Budapest to Brno a Slovakian guy came into our compartment. He started drinking Slovakian liquor and kept offering to us. When Enigma and Inquisitor refused, he questioned their manhood, but they held their ground. He started telling us about how to smuggle drugs. We have a talent for meeting interesting people. Enigma's gf met us for dinner at Bergman. It wins the award for most uncomfortable dinner of the trip. We were all tired, and she couldn't fill in the silences.

Tuesday, March 7th: Enigma wasn't feeling well that morning. I was stuck in the flat with the gf while she was on her break from work. We talked about teaching and she made me lunch, which was very nice of her. But it was still terribly awkward. Enigma finally emerged from his slumber and we took the train to Brno so we could walk around some more. He wanted to take me there so I could go to a chocolate shop. He knows the way to my heart.

We also spent some time walking around a mall. The mall looked very much like the ones we have here. The only thing I bought was some Czech tea.

We went back to Blankso and headed to the grocery store to buy supplies for dinner. Enigma wanted to make dinner for everyone my last night there. He picked out some Tofu, veggies and wine. I was a bit scared about the Tofu because I had never had it. Inquisitor and his gf joined us for dinner and we all watched Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, which is one of their favorites for some reason. I'll admit that it was funny, but I really think that my assessment was completely clouded by the wine that I drank.

Wednesday, March 8th: After about 2 1/2hrs of sleep I got up at 5am. I cursed myself for drinking all of that wine and started getting ready for the journey home. Enigma said that he would accompany me to Brno and take me to the bus station. He didn't want to come with me on the 2 1/2hr bus ride to Prague just to turn right back around and go home again. I completely understood. He sat at the kitchen table and drew me a map of the bus station so that I would know how to find the shuttle to the airport. He even included a stick figure of a prostitute. Ha.

Enigma and I made our way through the frosty streets of Blankso to the train station. I couldn't help but feel sad that my trip was over. Things still didn't feel resolved between us. The train ride to Brno felt a bit weird. We quietly stood there looking at each other; our subtext was at an all-time high.

Once we got to the bus station, Enigma kept asking me if I was going to be okay on my own. He hugged me with watery eyes and said goodbye. Once I got on the bus I couldn't help but shed a few tears myself.

On the bus to Prague there was a girl serving beverages and offering headphones for a movie. Because I didn't speak Czech I just shook my head "no" to everything. Ha.

I made it to the airport eventually. Yay for that. I flew to London on British Airways. Let me just say that I am now in love with British Airways. Their staff is so friggin polite. When I handed a woman my trash she said, "That's lovely. Thank you."

I had to wait in Heathrow for almost 6hrs to catch my flight to Boston. Talk about borrrring. I just wanted to go home. I ate a crappy meal by myself in a Friday's and browsed the duty free shops countless times. I bought lots of chocolate.

Once we finally boarded the plane in London I settled into my seat and once again had a row to myself. I ended up watching The Family Stone and The Weather Man. I arrived in Boston after 20hrs of traveling around 8:30pm local time. The lovely Miss E picked me up after some confusion about the terminals. I'm glad she found me because my brain was total mush and I did not feel confident negotiating the airport.

I came back home and had a joyous reunion with my bed.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Pussy" means kiss on the cheek in Hungarian. However, it's spelled "puszi". It's common to sign off the phone like that or to say goodbye with that word. So, I think if anything, that was a compliment.

Lady B said...

Good to know, thanks!