The End of a Great Vacation

I am exhuasted. I am sitting in yet another airport and I am officially exhausted. And not just nap tired, I mean I’m running on virtually no sleep. Alex and I decided for our last day in Budapest we would not pay the $150 for another night at the Radisson. Instead we walked around all day and then took a late night bus to Budapest airport.

We arrived at Budapest airport around 11:30 and then camped out until we could check in at 5:30 am. You can probably imagine how well I slept on metal benches at the airport. That was another first for me, and quite an experience. We finally boarded our plane at 7:15 am and I managed another one hour of interrupted sleep before we hit Milan, Italy.

I’ll get back to Milan, but I want to finish up the Budapest trip. We finished out the year in style – dancing 2007 away and counting down surrounded by scantily clad Hungarians and downing a bottle of champagne. I also witnessed a small dance off and danced with two Frenchies. But Alex was by far the best dance partner! Oh and I also had my first shot of tequila, which wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I did the salt and lemon thing, and it didn’t taste as bad as it smells.

The morning after wasn’t too bad. Alex and I just felt a bit dehydrated and tired. A couple of glasses of orange juice and a McDonald’s breakfast later we were feeling much better. Unfortunately everything closed down for New Years so there wasn’t much to do in our neighborhood of Pest. Even the area’s biggest and best mall was completely shut down. Except for the cinema, and I did another first!

After much deliberation, really a debate between two movies, Alex and I settled on seeing Beowulf. But it wasn’t a regular candy and popcorn viewing…it was in a 3D cinema. It was really something – the effects were insane. And that was a great movie to see in 3D. The plot itself was interesting. The movie was a lot more thematic than the book reads, and it was very existentialist. I personally liked it, although it was a bit gory. Knowing that John Malkovich starred in it made it good enough for me – I love every movie he is in. Guys – if you are trying to get a girl to see it with you and if she doesn’t think that she will like it just tell her that there is a bit of romance and Beowulf is in a hot naked fighting scene!

Alex and I had dinner afterward at a cute little restaurant/lounge. We had goulash soup, for the hundredth time, and I had a great plate of pasta. They really know how to do their pasta dishes in Vienna and Hungary. I’m going to miss goulash. It reminded me of Grandma’s Beef Stew, and each restaurant we ordered it from seemed to have a better version than the last.

Blah blah blah, fast forward to Milan. We first visited the castle in Milan, which housed several museums and art displays. They had everything from an Egyptian museum to Italian furniture collections. And of course the artwork was beautiful. We saw a room in the castle whose ceiling was done by Leonardo da Vinci.

Afterward we grabbed a bite to eat at a little restaurant. I had a real Italian pizza and it was good. There is definitely a difference between Italian pizza and the Americanized version.

Then it was onto Il Duomo Cathedral. It was a beautiful church and the size of it was unreal. We took pictures and looked at the pretty artwork inside. Then we hauled ourselves up numerous flights of stairs to the top. Everything about the church was grand and beautiful, and the view was just as great. It was interesting to see how all the roads led from and to the Cathedral. Back in the day a cathedral would be build and the city center would revolve around it, hence all the roads surrounding the church and buildings seeming to grow in a pattern around it.

There was not much else to do after seeing the grand church so we walked around the remaining Christmas markets and went café hopping. Dinner was our final plan before heading back to the train station, and we ate at a great place. I ordered Lasagna and Alex had the Triplonia with Squash. I mean what else were we going to order? We were in Italy so we had to have their famous foods. On our way to the train station we had gelato…so I would say it was a great day spent in Italy!

Now we are waiting at Malpensa airport for our plane back to Beirut – Alex is napping and I am on carry-on patrol. I’m not feeling so very tired right now, but I’m pretty sure that I am at the stage where I just can’t think anymore. I know if I stop typing I will probably fall asleep, and Alex would not like that very much lol.

Ok so just one last though for the night! Alex said the funniest thing earlier today while we were eating a Margherita pizza in Milan. He suggested that “if pizza were not intended to be folded, then the dough would be made harder.” I really didn’t know how to respond, but one thing was just so apparent about the statement. It was so incredible Jersey. I have eaten pizza in a lot of places but I have only witnessed New Jerseyians folding up their huge slices of pizza and eating it like a taco. It is perhaps the weirdest think I have ever seen. The Italians in New Jersey definitely did not get it from their ancestors in Italy who prefer to eat their pizza with a fork and knife. I’m pretty sure that this concept of folding pizza was not born of some rational thinker who was trying to determine the purpose of dough’s flexibility, rather it came from pure laziness and the American way of bad table manners. Anyway…just a funny thought. I would love to hear thoughts on Alex’s quote from you all back in America…especially New Jersey.

Next blog: New Years Resolutions!