Budapest, Hungary - Day 1

Budapest, Hungary

February 27, 2010

J. had three days off in a row (!!!) so we decided to set out to explore a new city! We actually found out on Friday afternoon that he had the time off, so I got on the computer and planned our entire trip in only a few hours! We left early the next morning on a flight to Hungary!

Upon our arrival in Budapest, a car from the hotel picked us up and brought us to the hotel. Palazzo Zichy - it was a beautiful hotel! I got a great deal (probably because it was so last minute) we really enjoyed the "refuge" of this wonderful hotel!

We had a difficult time with the money here. At the airport, we exchanged about 250 euros and got over 42,000 HF (Hungarian Franks). It was so weird to see a bill for food come to 3,500... we never really got the hang of this conversion. Budapest was a fairly cheap place (even though the numbers were ginoumous) , our meals (including drinks) came to between 20 and 25 euros - not bad!! J with a 20,000 HF bill! Probably the only 20,000 bill we will ever hold!

After checking into the hotel, we set out to explore the city and orient ourselves. Budapest is actually two cities Buda and Pest - they are separated by the Danube River. Our hotel was on the Pest side, so we spent most of our time on that side of the river.

We stopped by a fun bar called the "For Sale Bar" for a taste of Hungarian Beer and a snack. The bar's ceilings, walls and even floors were covered with business cards from people who are selling things and for sale notes left by people from all around the world! It was a fun place!

That evening we went to a Hungarian dance concert. It was SO fun! The dancers did the traditional dances from different regions of Hungary. The dancing was very unique! It involved a lot of jumping, stomping, clapping, slapping and snapping. They did a lot of "rhythm play" using different parts of their body and costumes to make different sounds. It was a fun, fun show!

After the show, we went on a dinner boat cruise on the Danube River. It was absolutely beautiful!! I think the city is most beautiful by night. The buildings were sparking and the bridges shone.

They served traditional Hungarian food, which tasted really good! It was a fun, fun night!

It was hard to take pictures that on a moving boat at night, since our camera needs to be really still, but we thought this one turned out well. It is a view of the Chain Bridge with the Buda Castle in the background. What a sight!

Nina's Going Away Party

We had met a group of wonderful Danish friends. They are such fun people and we always have a good time and laugh a lot when we are together. Sadly (for us) Nina decided to move back to Copenhagen. We had a going away party for our dear friend, Nina.

Dinner at Aqua Al 2 (yum yum yum)

At Aqua At 2, they have famous people sign plates and then hang the plates randomly all over the restaurant. We always enjoy looking to see who has been there. Well our friend Per, plays for Fiorentina so they asked him to sign a plate! Here is Per with is plate!

Nina and Leslie

Nina will be terribly missed in Firenze!

Majka, me, Nina. I love these girls!

The sign says "Nina is Sweet"

Here we are with our gang.

J's Birthday

J's Birthday!

To celebrate J's birthday, we invited a few of J's friends from the staff of Fiorentina over for supper. We decided to serve "American food." It took a long time and a lot of shopping around, but we finally found the ingredients to make Texas Chili! It tasted sooo good and it seemed to be a big hit!

The next evening, we continued celebrating with more chili and more friends!

Happy Birthday Hunny!

Palerno, Sicily, Italia

Fiorentina v. Palermo

Palermo, Sicily

This past weekend, J and I traveled to Palermo on the island of Sicily to see the Fiorentina game. It was my first time seeing an away game, and boy was it different from being at home. J wore his Fiorentina sweatshirt and he sure got a lot of glares and stares! We had been warned from multiple people about the safety in Palermo, so we were a little nervous about the added attention.

Arriving at the stadium was a mad house! Their stadium is very large with tons of Palermo fans!

It was a pretty view with the mountain in the background. As the sun was setting, the mountain glowed pink, I figured that was why Palermo's color is pink (either that or they got the short end of the stick during a jersey color draw...). Over J's left shoulder is a nearly empty section, that is where the Fiorentina fans are, there were very few. J and I sat in seats we got from the team, we were by 2 other wives from the team, but other then that we were completely surrounded by Palermo fans. It was pretty intimidating. Especially because we lost pretty bad... oh well, it was a good experience and it really made me appreciate Fiorentina fans.

The next day, J and I did the only touristy thing in Palermo, we took a bus ride around the city. We were the only people on the bus, but it was a good way to see the major sights.

Palermo is a dirty, busy, crowded city. It was definitely not love at first sight.

There were some very beautiful treasures throughout the city, although most of them were very hidden behind buildings and grime.

This is one of the main theaters (Teatro Politeama Garibaldi) and the main square in the city. Young people (and the homeless) come here the hangout and meet each other.

This is the opera house, Teatro Massimo. It was built using only big, heavy stones - no concrete or limestone were used. Apparently, this is a world-famous building.

You can also see that traffic was a nightmare, every street was like this. Parking is also an issue, we saw streets were cars were parked 3 deep, so crazy!

Palermo is located right next to the water, but we were surprised at how little the water was actually used. We wanted to go walk by the water, but there were no paths and in fact, it was difficult to even get to the water.

Street markets are a huge tradition in Palermo. Every several streets there is a market selling fish, vegetables, fruit, flowers, clothing, spices, everything.

Palermo's famous dessert is called "Cannoli." It is sooo yummy! It is a kind of cookie shell filled with sweet ricotta cheese. Yum!

The tiny elevator in our hotel.

The next day, we spent exploring the city by foot. As I said before, a lot of the buildings were tucked away. We just happened to peek up a tiny alleyway and this is what we found... Don't know was it was, but it was impressive.

This is the Cathedral in Palermo. This Cathedral is very different from any of the other main Cathedrals in Italy. Palermo and the entire island of Sicily has a history of "being conquered." There is heavy Greek and Arab influence throughout the whole city. This Cathedral was originally a Christian basilica and then it was turned into a Mosque and then restored back to a Christian Cathedral.

Another view of Teatro Massimo.

Before we left, we had to have one more canolli. Did I mention how yummy they were?!

We had a nice few days in Palermo. Palermo was not our favorite city, but we were happy we were able to see what it was like.

Champions League Match in Liverpool, England

Champions League

Fiorentina v. Liverpool

(This is a little out of order, but worth blogging about anyway...)

As you may or may not know, Fiorentina is playing in the Champions League this season. (They ended in the top four teams in Italy last year, so they qualified to play in the Champions League this year). Well, they are doing really well in the league. They play teams from all over Europe, it is fun to see the teams from other countries.

Before Christmas (while I was in MN) J got to with Fiorentina to Liverpool to watch the final Champions League game in this round.

J said the game was so fun and the stadium was jam-packed and full of energy and excitement!

Fiorentina won this game in overtime, making them, well, the Champions!! This was the last game in this round and Fiorentina landed up at the top! It was an exciting, important win! This made them one of the top 18 teams in all of Europe, this is huge.

Obviously, the Fiorentina fans were ecstatic!! This is the "Welcome Home" the team got upon their arrival back in Florence. This is the view out the front window of the bus

And a view out the side window.

Fiorentina fans are passionate about their team, and this day, they were really proud!

The next round for Fiorentina in the Champions League continues in March. We'll keep you posted. Vai Fiorentina!!

My 29th Birthday

My last year in my Twenties - WOW!!

When did that happen??!

J got me a signed Jersey by my favorite player on Fiorentina. Juan Vargas from Peru. I have never met him, but I love the way he plays, he is so fast and he is a really good player!

The jersey says (in Spanish) "with affection for Leslie" - I love it!

J took me to a REALLY wonderful restaurant. It was simply AMAZING. We had an 11 course meal! It was the best food of my life, I couldn't believe it! I loved everything that was served to me. My favorite quote was when J tasted a mozzarella ball and says "ahh, a piece of fried Heaven!" Everything tasted so amazing, I hope we eat this well in Heaven!

The place was too classy and fancy to take pictures of every course, but we had to have at least one to help remember this phenomenal meal. This was our first round of dessert...

It was such a wonderful birthday. I am lucky to have such an amazing husband who took so much care to make sure I had a great day.

Christmas Time in Minnesota

J and I took a break from the Italian life to go back to Minnesota for Christmas. It was wonderful for us to see our families and friends! We were both pretty home-sick, so we were due for a visit!

It was was good to see our baby, Buster. We really miss him, but my parents take really good care of him and he is so happy living with Gramma and Grandpa! I don't know if he is going to want to come home with us...

Andrew made the drive from New Mexico to be with us on Christmas. Those of you in Minnesota know that this Christmas was the "snowiest Christmas ever in Minnesota." It made for a beautiful white Christmas, but traveling was a nightmare! The drive from New Mexico took Andrew, and his 2 doggies, 40 hours! He was afraid to stop because they kept closing the freeway behind him. We were sure happy/relieved when he arrived on Christmas morning!

Andrew brought his two dogs, Tali (a pug) and Oban (a bullmastiff). Add those two dogs to my parent's dog, Ted and our Buster - it was a busy house of dogs. They all got along so well though, it really was remarkable. This is a picture of Oban, she is over 100 pounds, but the most gentle dog ever. We covered her with all the wrapping paper and she didn't care at all!

This 100 pound dog thinks she is a lap dog. What do you think?

Here are Oban and Tali in their "Christmas outfits." They look thrilled don't they?

Buster with his second favorite person - the first is me, of course! :o)

We had a great time being together over the holidays. I love my family!

We made sure that everyone had their Fiorentina pride. Even my gramma loves the team!

The snow was waaaaay to deep for little Buster. Poor guy. He tried to walk, but he was literally buried by the snow. J had to go rescue him!

So much heavy wet snow - Makes for a big snowman!

We also had a work Christmas party for all our employees at our clinic in MN. We started with a Christmas light tour in a limo. It was so fun!

We had a really good dinner at Dave and Buster's...

And then we got to play! It was a super fun evening. We have the best employees in the world!

We had a fun time meeting up with many friends too! Jill and Sean (who were our first visitors in Florence) were in town, so it was great to see them!

On New Years Eve, J and I co-hosted a fiesta with our friends Laura and Paul. I have had a New Mexican Fiesta for the last 7 years, where I cook tons of New Mexican dishes. It is always a blast, and it was a fun way to bring in the New Year!

My parents and gramma made it to eat too!

Rock Band was a huge hit! Who knew so many of my friends were rock stars!!

It was great having Andrew around too. He is a great big brother, and it was great to spend time with him!

We also went to J's parents twice. Sadly, we didn't take any pictures. Oops!

This was on the way up north driving to Grandpa Ernie's - it was just a tad cold...

Ok, it was really, really cold!! If you're wondering, that is frost on the inside of the car. Augh! Gotta love the Minnesota winters, well, I don't love them, but J thinks the winters make us "hardy." I guess only time will tell!

We had a great time being back in Minnesota. We miss our family and friends so much! We were sad to leave. But also looking forward to making the most of our last 5 month in Florence!