Niagara Falls and Real Upstate NY

I took a family roadtrip up to Niagara Falls over a long weekend. First stop was Oneonta to move my sister Sierra into her dorm - we're all pro movers at this point, so it was super quick and easy.

Molly has the move-in pictures, so a graduation picture will have to suffice

Onward to Niagara Falls! It wouldn't be a proper roadtrip without stops along the way, so Ma, Molly and I stopped at Tunkhannock Falls, right outside Ithaca along Cayuga Lake, the tallest falls in the northeast. It was tall and skinny, and there was a short walk to see it from the base as well.

Tall and skinny

Sweet shale formations

We spent the night in Rochester (Greece, to be exact) and drove out to Niagara Falls midday Saturday. I don't understand my obsession with water color, but the first thing I noticed as we got close was WOW, that water is SO BLUE AND SO PRETTY.


We ended up taking a really lame guided tour to hit all the main sights on the US side, including Maid of the Mist

Awesome ponchos. And they (supposedly) recycle them!

American Falls

the observation deck

American Falls again, with the poncho snake

and Cave of the Winds

No longer a cave after a collapse in the 1900s

Waving from the Hurricane Deck

The weather really could not have been more perfect. Warm without being stifling, sunny to dry you off quickly from the ever-present mist.


We had dinner in Canada. It reminded me of Gatlinburg - a bunch of glittery crap for tourists. However, the views were spectacular from the Canadian side. We should have skipped the US.


We spent the night in Buffalo, meeting up with Molly's friend Candace on Sunday, her first day in her new apartment for grad school. After much debate, we decided to go to Duff's Wings at the suggestion of some friends. Duff's is supposed to have the best wings in Buffalo, and if there's any place I should have wings, it's Buffalo. I punked out a bit and could have kicked up the heat, but they were tasty.

We stopped at Letchworth State Park, which touts itself as the Grand Canyon of the East. Now, I haven't been to the GC yet, but nice try, Letchworth. Your gorges are pretty, but not quite the Grand Canyon.

Middle Falls, best of the bunch in Letchworth

After some light hiking, we drove back to PJ, driving past a wind farm and hitting Binghamton to satisfy my mom's Spiedie craving. We couldn't have asked for better weather during the entire weekend. I'm glad I took the trip because I saw so much of my home state that I haven't seen before. NYS is where I live, now that I think about. How do I still feel like a visitor here?

Budapest

After a successful overnight train journey, I rocked up to Budapest ready for a day of sightseeing. I headed to Tiger Tim's hostel (another recommendation from travellers in Prague) to drop my bags. I was pleasantly surprised by the place – way more open and welcome than the other hostels I had stayed in. Tim was hanging out with the few people who were up and about at 9AM and very welcoming. Great start to the trip. I eventually rolled out to do some sightseeing on the overcast day. I was saying in Pest, and headed toward the Danube to get some shots of Buda across the river.


I followed the river south and walked by the Parliament building. I can easily say this is one of my favorite buildings in the world. I didn't go in (it's still the working parliament of Hungary) but I spent a lot of time taking photos and admiring the building.



I walked across the Chain Bridge to head up to Buda Castle. I thought about taking the incline (aka funicular – what a great word) but decided to check if I could walk up. I'm glad I did, it was a nice little hike up the hill, mostly in the trees and with a view of the bridge and Pest.



The castle was great to walk around. I visited the cathedral, which was really neat – all the stone was painted in geometric patterns. I also paid to go up the Bastion – not worth the extra 10 feet of elevation; the views were just about the same from everywhere along the edge.





I ate a lunch of goulash, Soproni (a majority of the Hungarian beer I drank in Budapest) and an ice cream coffee concoction at a funky Spanish cafe. Yeah, that's right.



The weather cleared a bit on my walk back down to the river so I took the opportunity to get a few more shots of the Parliament before wandering back to Pest. I had a fun night of $1 local pints ($2 when they weren't on special, and this was at a nightclub – thank you Hungary) and singing Ace of Base karaoke with a group of Irish guys from my hostel.

On Friday I woke up to a powerful thunderstorm at 8AM, debating whether I wanted to get up from my bed to watch it. I decided to sleep a bit, having gotten back fairly late. It stayed pretty dry while I walked around Pest searching for postcards and souvenirs. I spent a long, long time in the market. I loved it: the ground floors were set up as a proper market for the locals to buy their fruit, veg, and meat (and meat there was). The top floor is set up for tourists, and since I had left all my shopping till the end, I spent a long time wandering around and haggling with the vendors, trying to learn how to say thank you in Hungarian. It's one of the hardest languages to learn in the world, because there aren't many similar languages (Finnish is only distantly related). I went to Széchenyi Spa, which I've just learned is the largest spa in Europe. A thunderstorm came through while I was there so it was perfect to retreat from the pools outdoors to explore the tubs at varying temperatures indoors. I got a crappy massage, but it was super cheap, so I can't complain too much.

The controversial Liberty Statue. The Russians put this up after they "liberated" the Hungarians from the Germans. I thought it was really neat on the cityscape.

I had a fun night meeting people at a grungy rooftop bar somewhere in Budapest, after walking through the pouring rain to a closed bar and 20 people from the hostel jumping on a tram.

On Saturday, after very little sleep, I got up, caught a train to the airport, and headed back to London to get my flight back to muggy NY. I was sad to leave Budapest because this was definitely my favorite part of the trip. It had more of a real city vibe, and still had the beautiful buildings around every corner, and the very real and recent Communist history. I'd like to get back to the Museum of Terror the next time I come to Budapest, because, oh yes, I will be back.

What, you thought I'd go a whole trip without making a ridiculous face?

Praha

I arrived in Prague around 1900 on Monday. Again, with only hostel recommendations from travellers I met in Vienna. I stopped into Sir Tobys hoping for a spare bed, and I got one for 2 nights. I had a beer in the garden – 25 crown for a beer, that's about $1.25. I was chatting with a few people there, and some of us headed into the center of Prague, as the hostel was a tram ride outside. I ended up wandering around Prague for hours in search of something that still cooking (decent, not kebab) food with Mark from upstate NY. He is a WWOOFer, working on organic farms in Europe for the summer. I was super excited to hear about this program, and something I'll be seriously considering for the future. We settled for goulash and a Pilsner somewhere in the old city after walking across the Charles Bridge.

Intimidating on a drizzly night

On Tuesday I got up and headed to Staromestska to take a walking tour with (red shirt people). It's free (you pay to tip your guide). They operate in many European cities and I'd do another tour with these guys. The tour guide was a spunky English girl and, despite the rain, she made it a good tour. I wouldn’t have known about all of the history of the buildings around the old town and the Jewish Quarter without having my nose in a guidebook.

Tourist, tourist everywhere, get out of the pretty street!

After the rained cleared

Astronomical clock, rightly pegged by my tour guide as one of the most disappointing attractions in Europe

After dinner with a girl from Minnesota (who got picked up by the cops for travelling around in a sketchy neighborhood trying to find the hostel on her first night of solo travel ever), I hung around the bar in the hostel that night, having some cheap beer and talking to other travellers, including a pair of German girls. I have heard nothing but good things about Berlin, so it's pretty high on my list for another trip to Europe.

Potato pancake with bits of smoked meat, topped with delicious sauerkraut. And of course, a Pilsner.

Beautiful weather on Wednesday in the city. I did some more wandering around the old city before heading up to Prasky Hrad, the castle in Prague.

Church in the old city

Vltava River and Charles Bridge, and Pražský hrad on the hill, my next destination

The castle was the best part of my Prague visit. I took the tram up, and had some lunch (onion soup and a Pilsner) in a tiny restaurant with spectacular views of the rest of the city.


Then, I wandered about the castle. I didn't do the tour, opting to just pop into the cathdral, wandering and taking photos. I spent about 30 minutes on a ledge in the sun, overlooking the red roofs of the city.

St. Vitus Cathedral

Beautiful Praha

I had a few sausages and a glass of wine in the vineyard right next to the castle, also with impressive views.

From there, I headed back into the city to take a city bus as recommended by my friend Zach who studied in Prague for a semester. Totally away from the center of town which is completely overrun by tourists. It's grittier and full of communist-era block houses. I rode the bus to the end of the line, crossed over to catch a tram, and headed back to the hostel to pick up my bag and leave town. The transport system requires having a validated ticket, but you can hop on and off without showing a ticket. I had almost successfully gotten away without it, but I got busted by transit police on this journey. The guy had to walk me to an ATM to get out more money to pay the 700 crown ($35 fine). Lesson learned, and I consider it a donation to the Prague transit authority.

I caught the night train to Budapest from the train station at 2300. I shared a 6-person sleeper bunk on the train with 2 Danish and 2 French travellers, and surprisingly slept about 7 hours of the 8 hour journey.

Prague was a beautiful city with gorgeous buildings and delicious beer, but I was a bit put off by how crowded it was in the main tourist areas. I'd also recommend staying at Sir Tobys hostel – a bit out of the center of town, but only a short tram ride away to helpful staff, nice breakfast, clean, and a good vibe.

Wien

I arrived in Vienna from London mid-afternoon on Saturday. As I walked into the arrival hall, I was pleasantly surprised to see people waiting with their dogs for their loved ones to leave the airport. And not just little yippie dogs; it was all sorts. Also realized straight away that I know next to no German. Commence the smile and nod that was used through most of my trip to Europe.

I took a bus into central Vienna without a plan or a place to stay (sorry mom!) I stopped by a hostel that I had written down, but they were full. They called another one down the road that had availability, so me and my backpack walked down to the Westend City Hostel. This was only the second hostel I'd ever stayed in – Julie and I spent a memorable night (or was it 2?) in a hostel in Harlem a few years back. I met some of my roommates for the night, and then headed solo into the city. Once I got off the ultra-touristy shopping street Mariahilfer and into the center of Vienna, I saw why everyone calls Vienna so beautiful. Gorgeous buildings everywhere. Every corner you turn, here's another grand building.

National Library

I stumbled into the summer Film Festival, where they show cultural movies every night for 2 months during the summer. I watched the Zurich Opera House performance of Carmen on a ginormous screen, drinking a beer after having some kind of cheese schnitzel. Fun fact that I didn't put together until reading my guidebook for the trip: Wiener schnitzel? Schnitzel from Vienna.

Film Festival in Rathausplatz

On Sunday, I woke up late (LOVE hostel time, no alarms unless you've got a train or plane to catch), had some breakfast at the hostel, and set out to explore the city with my new buddy Garron from Oregon. First stop was Stephansplatz, where we stopped into Stephansdom and walked up the many, many stairs to the top of the tower. Nice views of the city from the top. Vienna is a sprawling city.



I read in a newspaper that Austria has seen only a 2% decline in newspaper distribution, compared to something like 30% in the US. I read this fact as I sipped a coffee in a cafe in Vienna – cafe culture RULES.

Statue in the Habsburg Palace

I was also on a mission to see the Danube. I'm glad I had a buddy this day, because the body of water on my map turned out to be a canal, and I would have been sorely disappointed if I thought that was the Danube. We took the Ubahn to the river, and we were all over the boats once we got there. All the paddleboats were rented, so I lounged and drank my Erdinger while Garron rowed us around a little island in the river. I saw my first-ever nude beach as we went around the other side of the island. I enjoyed my awkward shirt and shorts tanlines from 2 hours in the boat in full sun, thankyouverymuch.

Swan on the Danube

Sunday night a group from the hostel went to a pub somewhere and had a few beers. This is where I fell absolutely in love with the hostel culture – meeting a bunch of travellers around my age from all over the world, trading stories from home and stories from travelling. I'll probably never meet a lot of these people again, but it's such a wonderful experience.

Beautiful views from a break on the grass

Monday was a travel day. After stopping for some apfel strudel and snacks for the train, I got hopelessly lost trying to find the correct train station to get a train to Prague. Once I was on my way, it was a nice 4.5 hour ride to Prague through the countryside. I wish I could say I enjoyed all of the views, but I slept for a good part of the ride.

One thousands apologies to the city of Vienna. My German is so terrible that I spelled your fair city's name as Wine when I first posted this. It is also so terrible that I thought Einbahn was some important place with arrows pointing one way all over the city for it.

Oxford

I took a bus trip from London to Oxford for a Sunday afternoon spent wandering around one of the ultimate English college towns. The weather was beautiful, as it had been for just about the entire trip to London.

Christ Church

I was thinking "what, cows on campus?!" but then I remembered I went to Penn State.

I paid to get into Magdalen College (pronounced maudlin). It was pretty, as all the colleges are, but I don't think it was worth 4.50GBP.

Courtyard in Magdalen College

I also went up the St. Mary's church tower for great views of Oxford and the surrounding countryside. There's something about the English countryside – big open skies, rolling hills and fields.


I also stopped into the Ashmolean. I love that so many of the museums are free; it takes a lot of pressure off to rush around seeing everything to get your money's worth. I saw a few exhibits and then carried on with my visit to Oxford.


Streets of Oxford

I went to an ice cream shop and then hopped the bus back to London. I was a little disappointed by Oxford, but I think it had a lot to do with the masses of teenage (mostly American) tourists that overwhelmed the city during the summer. It was pretty, but I had more fun wandering around Cambridge last year (sorry Oxford!)

London: best way to beat the East Coast heat

I got a call on a Wednesday that I would be needed in London the following Monday for a few weeks – was I available? Heck yes! It was for a bit of a role transition, which I anticipated and looked forward to in about October time, but it got pushed up a bit (hooray!) Plus, I was just about ready to start planning some sort of summer vacation, so this was an excellent jumping off point to Europe (more on that later...)

I was put up in a apartment/hotel this time around, complete with a stove, fridge, washing machine (!!) I already love the city, but this was a huge help in making me feel at home in London. Admittedly, I didn't do much cooking, but it was nice to have the option.

Digs for most of my trip

I've done a lot of the touristy things in London, so I took the weekends pretty easy. Wandering around the neighborhood, South Bank, sitting in parks and squares reading. I did get funky in Camden Market. Well, the funk was all around, at least.

Camden Lock

I had gorgeous weekends, and really nice weather all around. I've said this many times to many people, but it was nice to be in a place where the high temperature (mid-70s to 80) was NY's low temperature. Can't say I really missed not being in NY for one of, if not the, hottest Julys on record.

Probably the most asked question: isn't London so rainy?!

My time in London was really nice. I had a lot of pubtime with my workmates, caught dinner with friends in London, and I got to meet some family for the first time. Stuart and his family were gracious enough to have me over for dinner. We worked out that we're second cousins on my mother's side (my great Aunt Jane's grandson). It was really nice to meet them – they're lovely, and I'm excited to meet child #3 after she arrives in September.

Thanks for having me, cousin Stuart!