lists, lists, and more lists . . .

hello my dear friends and welcome back to "adventures with heather in europe!" (pause for clapping...)

well, my mother and i have just returned from a phenomenal ride. we have been to budapest, vienna and prague, in that order. we have been on planes, trains, and automobiles. we have eaten, shopped, walked, and from all of this, ladies and gentlemen, this is what i want to impart to you -

the following are top 3 lists, and some of them are just what they are:

top shopping (in this category we are looking for interesting, affordable, and fun) -

3. in third is vienna - they think very highly of themselves, and therefore their clothes were expensive. they were also a little snooty. i mean, just because mozart played there doesn't mean you can charge an arm and a leg for a t-shirt!
2. second place goes to prague - it was almost too overwhelming the amount of shops and such here. from jewelry to china, you could find anything.
1. budapest wins this one - it was affordable, and easy to locate. the salespeople were nice, and plus we just had more time there to shop which made it more enjoyable.

best hotels (the judging is based on looks, access to city center, and size) -

3. prague, though the most beautiful city, had by far the worst hotel accommodations - we stayed at an ibis, which, by america's standards, was a motel 6. now, i am not knocking the motel 6. they have cheap, neat rooms, but for our trip, we had booked 1st class rooms, and i am sorry to say, motel 6 is not 1st class. small bathroom, small room, small everything.
2. next up is vienna, a best western! - the cutest outside of the hotel, but inside was hot!! no air conditioners, and it was a wee bit smaller than we would have liked.
1. the hotel in budapest wins this one - it was called a tulip, which may not be the best, but is was the roomiest, with a/c, dark drapes, and a nice-sized bathroom (very important to us women).

now for the best food category - (this is based on . . . well . . . whether or not i liked it!) this was a hard one, as the food everywhere was yummy; however i must make some decisions. (i had to sacrifice and gain a few pounds for this area.)

3. prague is once again third. the food was very good, but from what i had everywhere it was not the best. i had carp and potato soup, but they lose points because the carp still had every single bone in it, and they took a while to get out. the carp was still delicious, but who wants to work that hard for their food!
2. budapest is in second, with wonderful goulash(sp?) soup. spicy and warm, it hit the spot. their dumplings were also pretty darn good.
1. in first, though, was the best schnitzel i have ever had, and that was in vienna! it was soft and tasty, and the salad and potatoes with it were a perfect complement. it didn't hurt that it was followed by a scrumdiliumpcious apple strudle.

arts and culture is next on our list - (this is based on famous people being from- and/or playing there, music, and the history of arts and culture)

3. budapest is coming in third here - while i am sure they have a wonderful history, it did not stand out to me that it was exceptional, at least when compared to the other places we visited.
2. prague takes second - gorgeous national theater with a good repertoir, and many famous names mentioned on the tours. also the architecture alone screams "talent".
1. did you even have to guess - vienna for arts and culture, where else are you going to find more famous composers that were born or played there, as well as famous psychiatrists with mother issues, singers and just about anything else you can think of.

and finally scenery - (was it pretty, and was it prettier than the others?) they were all beautiful as you can see from the pictures above, but again, decisions must be made.

3. budapest - don't get me wrong. budapest was absolutely gorgeous, but it just so happened that everything else was, too. so don't change your plans if you are going to budapest. go, it is fabulous and beautiful, with parks and architecture, and great shopping.
2. vienna - it was beautiful. there is the ring strasse (a street that has all the buildings on it), the museums, the raathouse (the govt. buildings - pronounced "rat - house"), the opera house(WOW), and much much more. they have a ferris wheel that is 100 years old and will take you up to see a beautiful panoramic view of the city. excellent.
1. but prague takes the cake - the sheer amount of beauty is hard to describe. pictures do not do this or any other city justice. when you walk out onto the charles bridge and see the landscape, it takes your breath away. the streets are straight out of a fairy tale, with their cobblestones and old buildings that look like disney had them built. it was just fun to walk around and see everything. gorgeous!!

overall, all these cities were fabulous. it was one of the best trips i have ever been on, and the fact that my mom and i got to do it together was wonderful. it was our first mother daughter trip, and hopefully will not be our last. while i love my husband, getting to spend this time with my mother was priceless.

enough with the shmultzy stuff. here is one more list - read at your own risk. this list is just a compilation of excursions, tours, adventures, and mishaps that occurred along the way. enjoy and tune in next time for more "adventures with heather in europe!"

in no particular order:

the market place in budapest - phenomenal. the smells, the size, it was like walking into another world. they had every food you could think of and the whole top floor was souvenirs and clothes. amazing.

smelly europeans - i am sorry if any of you are reading this, but please work on the deodorant thing. i love you and have come to know some of you very well, but man, sometimes the smell is just too much.

the rose garden in vienna - this was an accidental find by my mother and myself, but the smell and look of it were perfect. it was called the people's garden. it had a mini parthenon inside, and a fountain of zeus with topless women (hey, he was god, all the chicks dug him), and a beautiful view of the museums from the park!

did you know that there is an elegant way to try to see if there is a draft? well, there is and my mother showed it me. it is similar to a ballerina moving from 1st position to 2nd position. if you are ever in need of a draft, i highly reccommend this movement, it is elegant and proper, and will never let you down. (editor's note: i didn't get it either. i later found out it was an inside joke.)

nearly dying on an escalator! the escalators in budapest were so fast, we were terrified to even try to get on and you had better pay attention when getting off, as i am sure the speed of the escalator could have sucked right down with it. it was more like a sport and less like a mode of transportation.

dog poopy everywhere. i love dogs, and so do the europeans, as they take their dogs everywhere; the grocery store, the tram, restaraunts, and even shopping. except that they don't seem to feel the need to clean it up from off the streets when they do what dogs do. ewww! gross!

1st class train rides are wonderful, and i highly recommend them. more privacy and the seats lay down for better resting. although there are some downsides. you never know who will be in the compartment with you. we were lucky and not so lucky. we had one very nice american couple, and one nice but loud family.

hotels not so first class. see the lists above to find out why.

mommy getting sick was not fun. it wasn't throw-up sick, it was just overall don't feel good sick. i felt really bad for her, but, on the upside, we got to see a lot of european football, and learn a lot about the eu on bbc world television.

good food.

better food.

the good, the bad, and the gabby. this how we would describe our death-defying rides in taxi cabs. it was better and worse than a rollercoaster.

the vienna opera house - mozart played there you know. it was magnificent.

the streets in prague - like a fairy-tale world. magical and beautiful.

hoping a pigeon doesn't poop on my head! they were everywhere and some of them were so fat that they literally couldn't fly. every time i saw one, i just knew it was looking for a head to poop on, and i prayed it would not be mine. luckily, i learned to speak 'pigeon', and was able to convince them to poop on others.

the fisherman's bastion - sounds like a smelly seaport thing with dead fish and weird sea things, right! wrong; this was the most beautiful thing in budapest. it was a memorial commemorating fisherman and the market they used to work at. it was like a mini-castle. it had a wonderful view of the city, and it just looked idyllic.

the tour guides we had were probably some of the funniest people. we had a crazy woman named tatiana, whose bra showed the entire tour, and who we couldn't understand, but she just moved fast and kept talking and we loved her. our tour guide in vienna was so funny, but mom and i were the only ones who thought so. we laughed so hard we made him laugh and it took a while for all of us to recover.

the ferrris wheel in vienna was a highlight. it was old train cars put on a ferris wheel, and moved slowly so you could get a good view of the city. we went right at dusk, and it was amazing!

the astronomical clock in prague was absolutely beautiful. it went off every hour and was just amazing.

in vienna, we went to a night of singing, dancing, and schnitzel. they sang old viennese songs and did old viennese dances, and it was so much fun.

and finally the charles bridge in praha(prague). it is the most-photographed bridge in the world, and i now know why. it is simply beautiful.

okay, a little more schmultz. this traveling really did reveal what an awesome God we serve. the beauty of his creations and the talent he has given some to create the things they create is really just astounding.

that's all folks. for now...