day trip

Because of meeting that Hungarian, I wanted to visit Sopron, a border town about an hour from Vienna, and eat some paprikashchilke (sp??). On the way, we stopped at the Hundertwasserhaus, a house this world famous Austrian artist built. He also designed the city furnace and other buildings in Europe. Inside the house, the floors were sloped crazily like an Alice in Wonderland funhouse. There was also a photo exhibition inside with some naked photos of Pamela Anderson?? (sorry, no pictures from me of that...)

The drive to Sopron took us through Burgerland, land of the castles. It's a mostly flat area with a lot of wineries and windmills. The state also holds the biggest lake in Austria, the Neusiedler See, whose deepest point actually only goes up to your knees.

When we finally reached the border, guess who wasn't allowed in?? Apparently, the one month process entailed for me to acquire a Schengen States visa (allowing me access to all countries from Portugal to Austria and the Scandinavian countries) isn't good enough for Hungary. Their visa process? A couple of hours, according to the guard. Thanks a lot HunANGRY. I just wanted to spend money in your damn country, not illegally move there and have to make 193 forints to the US dollar :P

Making lemonade, we decided to drive to Bratislava instead and try my luck at the Slovakian border. The guard there inspected my green card, we held our breaths, and he passed them back and nodded. Whew. If I couldn't get into Slovakia, I'd be screwed for the Czech Republic, where we'd already made pricy, nonrefundable reservations for New Year's Eve. We walked around Bratislava castle, which was still closed for the holidays (these Catholic countries count the 26th as part of Christmas break).

Afterward, we walked around the main square and historic center and ate at a restaurant called Templars, after that ancient secret organization of Christian soldiers. The menu was misleadingly extensive since they only had chicken available that night, and I'd originally ordered a garlic soup in bread and roast beef (no sale). We ended up splitting a ham and cheese cold plate; chicken with mushrooms, cream and blueberries; a side of french fries; and a crepe dessert of cottage cheese, chocolate, & whipped cream. Add two pints of beer, and the entire thing totalled about $20.

I'm still plagued with jet lag so I crashed as soon as we left around 7pm and woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 4a.m. Now I'm drinking a pint of Stiegl Goldbräu and eating spaghetti for breakfast. No rules apply when you're vacationing.