hungary: budapest

Before and after my days in Burgas, Bulgaria, I spent a day in Budapest. Budapest has recently become a favorite of mine, so a day layover makes me happy.
As usual I took a wizzair flight from kyiv, so I landed around 0720...by this point I knew how to get into town using public transport, it was easy.
I found my hotel, but my room wasn't ready for checkin (it was only 0900 or so) so I dropped my pack and went out walking.
I saw at Stephens basilica again, I ate a giant ice cream again. I people watched again. I walked up stairs to the second floor of the central market so I could take a better photo.
I walked up castle hill and over to the back side, to find the hospital in the rock. It has been a hospital for a while, but is no longer active. The original health facility was created in naturally occurring caves in the hill. 

Over the years, people extended the caves into tunnels. The entire area is actually pretty extensive. The only way to see the hospital is on an overpriced tour, during which you don't get to take any photos. There are dioramas/wax figures/authentic objects in each room, and our guide did a good job. She explained different periods of the hospitals history, who was served at the hospital, how everything functioned. Toward the very end we got to sound the alarm that would've sounded had there ever been a nuclear attack. Thank goodness that never happened.
After the hospital I walked to the buildings on the hill that house a couple good museums. I visited one of these museums with Katie a year ago, but I hadn't been able to see the exterior of the buildings back then. Very very pretty. Not too many people around, yay for photos!

The day I spent in Budapest after Burgas was very low key. My flight landed around 1000, my hotel had my room clean when I arrived just before noon. After resting up for a short while, I changed into my bikini (with a long dress over) and started walking. I walked straight to szeschenyi baths, the same place I visited earlier in the summer.
I spent over four hours at the baths. Awesome. Totally awesome. I stayed in every pool for a while, and lived every minute of it. Sooo relaxing. I was very pickled by the time I left, I can't wait to go back again. At the end of the visit I went back through the whole thing with my camera.
Is it bad that I had a giant ice cream for dinner?
The next morning I had another early morning flight back to kyiv. I was sad to see the end of my summer travels, and of course I've already started planning next summer :)

bulgaria: burgas

After my trip to the states this summer, I had about a week before work started for my next school year. After spending time looking at various flight options, I ended up booking flights to Burgas, Bulgaria. Since I flew using wizzair, I actually had two flights each way, spending a day in Budapest on either side of Burgas.
I know it sounds ridiculous, but I'd never heard of Burgas, and booked flights anywho.
Burgas is a beach resort town on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. It's not s stunning town, nor is the beach stunning, but I didn't care.
My flight left Budapest really early, I arrived in Burgas around 10am. The lady at the passport control counter asked why I was there, and seemed surprised that I wanted to spend time on the beach. Isn't that what most visitors do in this area?

I found an atm in the airport, thank goodness. Bulgaria is part of the EU, but it is not part of the schengen zone (which meant I got another passport stamp even though I was flying within the EU,) nor the euro zone. Bulgaria uses the lev as currency. Currently $1USD~1.75lev.
The lady selling tickets on the bus was not happy when I handed her a 10lev note to pay for a 1lev ticket, but that's what the atm gave me, I had nothing smaller. The bus took me to within a couple blocks of my hotel, yay!
The guy managing my hotel was NOT happy to see me at 1100. He was downright cranky. But I had no control over flight times, and I'm sure I wasn't the first person to arrive early. He didn't want to let me leave my pack, or let me use a bathroom. Fortunately, I guess I looked pathetic enough, he let me in for a few minutes. I changed into beachwear, grabbed a towel, and left my pack.

After wandering for about 30 minutes, I found a place to have brunch/lunch. I think it was called happy grill, or something along those lines. Service was fast and good. After dawdling a little (using free wifi) I made my way to the beach. To get there I had to walk through part of a park, it was very landscaped.
The beach was far from stunning, but I didn't care. To some degree, a beach is a beach to me. If I can lay out and soak up sun, I'm generally happy. The sand was medium coloured, if that makes any sense. There were small waves, and I had to go out a way to get to an area deep enough for chest dee water.
On the way back to my hotel after the beach I got a smoothie, yum. I really need to stop snacking this way.
Upon checkin, the same manager was working, but he was in a much better mood. He offered me my room at a lower rate, and the chance to move into something better the next three nights, at a lower rate than what I'd originally booked. Sold.

After relaxing for a while, I went out for dinner. I found a sushi restaurant, a bit out of the way. They didn't get my order right, but the food was good. After eating, I walked the entire length of the two pedestrian streets, just because I could.
The routine I just described is what I did for the following three days...wake up slowly, find breakfast somewhere, beach time, relax a bit, go for a walk, find dinner.
After the beach the last day I walked through the rest of the park, it was very long. Not wide, just long. At one end I found a special exhibit, sand sculptures. Lots of fun to look at them for a while :)
The last night I found a church listed on a couple travel apps. This was one of the few sights listed for the town. Go figure, it was being renovated, there was a construction fence all the way around. Oh well.

I wouldn't mind coming back to this area, but the next trip will involve more exploration of other towns along this coast.
It was easy and convenient to take the bus back to the airport and fly back to Budapest.

spain: madrid

when i booked my flights to and from the states, i got lucky. On the way back to Kyiv, I had a 15 hour layover, during the day, in madrid. Yahoo! I had two bags with me, I was able to check one of them, so I had just a carryon and purse during my day. (The carryon was not light though, I really felt it by the end of the day.)
My morning started with an easy train ride into the city.  Since I didn't have a guidebook, I had only a triposo app, I wasn't exactly sure where to go in the city. I chose a center platz called the puerta del sol. Three metro lines cross there, and it's central.

It was only 0900 or so when my train arrived, and I came above ground. There weren't many people around, since it was early, but I liked that. There is a fountain in the middle of the platz, which isn't any shape in particular.
I walked from this platz down a fairly small, mostly pedestrian street. I think it's mostly touristy, as i could see hotels and small cafes and not much else. It was very pretty. This street brought me to another open area, in front of a theatre. I would've taken a photo, but it wasn't at all picturesque. Next to the theatre, another street kept me walking in the same direction as before.

Eventually I got to the end of the street. On the corner was a small monastery/convent. Beautiful exterior, but I chose not to go inside, I don't remember why. Next time I will.
I turned directions just a bit, and followed the street to a park. This park was on one side of the royal palace. There were several paths, each lined with statues of famous people in spanish history. I should learn more Spanish history.
Queued up in front of the ticket office for the royal palace were 20 or more people. I saw the sign listing entry prices, and adult entry was 10 euro.

If I'd had more days in the city, I would've taken the time to tour the palace, but with only one day, I had to choose. Walking through the palace is another place on the 'to see' list for when I return to the city.
Across the platz from the front side of the palace is the Catedral de la Almudena. It's big. The front makes you want to take a photo. The entry I found was to a museum, and I thought that was the only way to enter. I decided to pay the 6 euro entry fee, which I thought was a bit ridiculous at the time. The museum didn't allow any photos inside, I followed the rules. There were treasures of the church on display, they were beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

At the end of the route through the museum you have the oppotunity to climb stairs. A lot of them. The stairs take you to the cupola, and lead to a door going outside. On a blue sky day, I stepped outside, and loved my view. I got to walk all the way around the cupola, looking at the city in all directions. Beautiful. You know those times when you see something and think: 'wow'. This was one of those times. One of the views from the cupola was over the front of the church, looking to the royal palace. Awesome. A photo definitely doesn't capture the beauty.

Eventually I went back down all the stairs, into the sanctuary of the cathedral. Tall, pretty, colourful. The ceiling was unique, like nothing else I've ever seen. To the side there was another altar with an icon to which people pray. Despite the heat outside, the interior of the church was cool.
After exiting through another door entirely, (I think it was a actually a side door, but used as a main entrance,) I found a place selling postcards and other church related souvenirs. From there I crossed the street, and walked down another street, back in the general direction of where I'd started my morning.

This was another touristy street, filled with more cafes, and more shops with souvenirs.
The reason most people walk this street is because it leads to a couple well known platzes. One of them is an enclosed platz, you enter through a small gateway of sorts. By this point it was noon-ish, so there were a heap more people out and about. It was also the time I started to feel the heat and sun. In the middle of the platz was a statue of a guy on a horse. The exteriors of some of the buildings were being worked on, so they were covered with I don't know what. I had more fun watching everyone taking photos than taking photos myself.

At that point I was hungry, and thirsty. Really hungry and thirsty. I could feel the heat and sun, and knew I needed to cool down and hydrate. I walked out another exit of this platz, and followed a street toward my next sight. I figured I would find a cafe along the way, and I was right.
As in many other cities in Europe, small cafes and restaurants offer a daily menu with several courses for a good price. I found one of those cafes, offering an 8 euro menu. I was the only person when I first walked in, but there were at least ten people by the time I left.

I had vichysoise (that cold, tomato-y soup, it was a pretty big bowl,) followed by fried fish and salad. I also had a drink (water,) a basket of bread, and fruit for dessert. A lot of food for 8 euro! There fish wasn't particularly notable, but the rest of the food was good. Simple, just the way I like it.
I felt a lot better after eating and drinking, thank goodness. It was still hot and sunny outside, so I knew that wouldn't be the end of it. I walked back to the puerta del sol, where I'd started in the morning. This time I exited the platz on the other side. Not a pedestrian street, but still a popular street.

The street I was walking took me to a well known traffic circle. Yup, a traffic circle. It's called the plaza de cibeles. There is a statue in the middle, of a racing chariot. It's nifty. But it's still a traffic circle!
I continued to walk, which eventually took me to where I wanted to go. A really big gate, in the middle of another traffic circle. Is this a Madrid thing? A Spanish thing? I walked up the street and found another platz with memorials. Really big memorials. In the middle was the very tall Christopher Columbus tower. After walking around the platz, I turned around and went back to the last traffic circle I mentioned.
On one side of the traffic circle is one entry to the parque de retiro. I'm not sure, but I would call it the main park of the city. It's big, with lots of paths to walk, with several differently landscaped areas. In the middle of the park is a pond big enough for people to use paddle boats.

There are benches around the pond, it's nice to watch people enjoying themselves and relaxing. (I was also dehydrated again, and hot, and really needed the chance to sit down for a few minutes.)
Another thing worth seeing in the park is the Palacio de Cristal. It isn't really a palace, more like the size of a big greenhouse. It's all glass, with an exhibit of some kind inside. Colorful. I felt even more humidity and heat when I walked in, so I didn't stay long. In front of the 'palace' was a small pond, with an even smaller fountain in the middle. Peaceful.

Walking back toward the original Puerta del Sol, I found a vendor selling water at a reasonable price, I drank a liter and a half in a short time. It felt so good. Sitting down for another few minutes, in the shade, also felt good.
Eventually I started walking again. I found a cafe listed on one of the travel apps, but it was closed when I got there. Argh. The reason I'd wanted to go to this particular place is that it was supposed to have good desserts. If you've read any of my other posts, you know I have a thing for sugar.

Fortunately, on my way to the closed cafe, I'd passed another that looked pretty good. It was. I had chocolate mousse in a chocolate square. YUM.
After the cafe I walked back up the street toward the Puerta del Sol, glancing at the Gran Via on my way. It didn't seem very impressive. At all. Maybe because the big building at the start of the street was covered by netting. Argh.
Along this street I found a few souvenir shops, one of which sold postcards at a good price. So I bought plenty.

Back in the Puerta del Sol I couldn't help myself, I took a photo of the bear statue. Too funny not to.
I took trains back to the airport, and waited for hours to check in. I was the first to check in, yay! Though not for lack of Ukrainians try to jump in front of me in queue.
I arrived back in Kyiv just before 0600.

illinois: chicago

My flights from San Diego back to Chicago wet well enough, though I landed late in Chicago, at nearly 1 in the morning. Ugh. There is no public transport at that hour, and I had no intentions of asking anyone to pick me up then, so I slept overnight at the airport. Again. I think this was the third time I've done that this summer?  This time I found a set of chairs where I was able to lay down flat, so I slept a little better than the other nights in various airports. Chicago does not want people to spend the night in the airport, but without public transport in the middle of the night, there are no other options.

 

Around 745 in the morning I started to take trains to get back to Kelley's town. Go figure, the train I was on had to pull over to a siding and wait for a train going the other way just 10 minutes short of my final station. I was soooo frustrated, as we had to wait more than 30 minutes. Ugh.
Anywho, Kelley picked me up and we made it home. Both of us were exhausted, and really wanted naps. When we got home I brought my things into a corner of the living room, as that was where I would be sleeping for the next two nights. A couple hours later, Anita and Chris arrived, coming in from Indiana.

They didn't know I would be there, but had still brought cookies for me from a semi well known place in their town, knowing that I would be coming through soon. We surprised each other, it was fun :)
After Jon came home from his beer class, he and Chris grilled burgers for a late lunch. Yum. There were a few veggies to add, but it was mainly all about the meat.
As far as I can remember, we didn't do anything in particular for the rest of the day. Just hanging out in various places around the house, enjoying time with each other.

Dinner was ordered and picked up from Portillos, a quintessential Chicago chain. I've had food from there previously, and enjoyed all of it. This time i had a chili cheese hot dog. Yum.
The next morning Kelley had to go to work for a while, though I slept through her departure. Jon had to work too, though he was able to do it from home that day. (It was Monday.)
I watched episodes of Tyrant, getting fully caught up :) Chris did the dishes and mowed the lawn and did something with an electrical outlet, Anita got caught up on email :)

Not long after Kelley came home, the three of us ladies packed up the car and drove into the city center, to Millenium Park. This is the same park in which the bean is located.
I don't know how Anita had learned of the concert, but she'd found out about a concert by Broadway in Chicago, and passed the information on to Kelley. Both of them have extensive experience in theatre, this concert sounded like fun. Each of ten shows that have been showing recently or will be soon in Chicago sang a song.

The front area where the concert took place had chairs, the back two thirds was just a grassy area. Like many others, we brought chairs and snacks, and set up camp in the grassy area.
Anita and I then went walking to the French Market while Kelley stayed in the park with the intention of doing some work prep for the next day. The French market is in the same building as Ogilvie Transportation Center, so we walked past the end of several train tracks.
The market has a lot of stalls with gourmet food. Gourmet grilled cheese, chocolate truffles, lobster rolls, smoothies, meatloaf, etc... We had fun looking around, though it isn't the cheapest place.

We got back to the park to find it a whole lot more crowded than when we had left. I'm really glad Kelley had gotten us there when she did!
Te concert was good, though short. A local news anchor hosted the concert, coming out every so often to introduce the next singers. Kelley ad Anita had seen many of the shows (not necessarily in Chicago,) so they knew them a lot better than I did. It was nice, but too short. At the same time the short concert meant we got home at a very reasonable time.
Jon was already in bed as he had a flight the next morning, the rest of us went to bed soon after. 

The next morning, Kelley went to work, Anita and Chris packed up to go home.
I got cleaned up too, and walked to the train station in order to go into the city. Thank goodness I went a few minutes earlier than google maps said I should, as google maps led me into a trail/path that didn't exist! I'm glad I had time to go back to a street that took me where I wanted to go! The next train wouldn't come for another two hours, which would've been too late to be worth going into the city.
 

I arrived at Chicago's Union Station, then started walking. I stopped in a place called Argo Tea, for a chai latte made the way I wanted. That is, with real tea, not just flavored syrup. Then I continued walking.
I walked and walked and walked. It felt good. I took another couple photos of the bean, and a whole bunch of all the buildings of the city. The river winds through the city in a way that gives you plenty of places to take skyline type photos. Pretty.
Eventually I typed a specific shop into google maps and started walking in that direction.
Hoosier Mama Pie Shop is yummy. This was the first time I got to experience the yumminess, how have I not known about it previously? They make pie. And more pie. They have sweet pies and savory pies, and all of them sounded good. I ended up getting apple raspberry, and wishing later that I'd bought more. A lot more.

Then I walked back to Union Station, and caught the next train back to Kelley and Jon's town. Meatball and I hung out until Kelley got home from work, then all three of us relaxed. (Meatball's entire life is all about relaxing.)
The next day was my last full day in the states. Kelley and I didn't do anything crazy, just ran a few errands, shopped a little, picked up food for the next day.
Thursday morning it took me over an hour to pack up. I'm impressed with myself, I was able to get everything into just two packs. My checked bag weighed 17.2kgs, a whole lot more than it did when I arrived in the states!
Kelley drove me to the airport, traffic wasn't bad at all. My line to check in wasn't long, but moved sooo slowly. As slow as that was, I got through security really fast, I got to go in the precheck line. Yay!
My flight departed more than 45 mins late, I don't know why. A bunch of hours and turbulence later, I landed in Madrid, Spain.

california: san diego

I flew from chicago to san diego via pheonix. Easy flights.
I met Stephanie when both of us worked at a resort on the Pacific island of Saipan. We've kept in touch ever since, she is now married with two kids. Hard to believe it, but our time in Saipan was a long time ago. 2005! Ten years ago! Stephanie picked me up at the airport, we went straight to lunch.
Lunch was at a place called Lucha Libra, a gourmet taco place. Steph told me it was a local place, and is now a busy place because it was featured on a cooking show, or best of list. Now everyone wants to eat there. I don't know how I feel about the "best of" lists, because hidden places become overrun.
It was good food, and the line moved really quickly. They have their own salsa bar, how awesome is that?
Then we went to Steph's house, where I met one of her children, and the nanny. The baby was 8 months old, and seemed happy when I held her. Awesome! Steph collected some of the stuff she had for newborns, and we took it to one of her friends who had just had a baby. (4 days ago.) Awesome. Instead of buying all new stuff, people who are having children should be able to reach out to friends who have already had children and use a few things. Newborns are tiny tiny humans, but they need so much stuff!

After baby time Steph took me to a place called Blush Desserts. YUM. They make macaroon ice cream sandwiches to order, yahoo! You get to choose what flavor of macaroons you want, as well as what flavor of ice cream you want. I got a bit greedy, and ordered a red velvet cupcake too, more yum. Clearly, Steph knows me too well :)
Then we picked up Steph's other kid, a 3 year old. He talks, a lot. Steph told me when he started preschool a year ago, he cried for 3 months straight. I wouldn't have known it from the child I met. He is a happy kid, he wanted to tell me everything he knows about everything.

We went back to Steph's house to hang out for a while. I really enjoyed the view, which looks out over Qualcomm stadium, home of the San Diego Chargers. While we were there I met her husband, a nice guy.
Then Steph took me over to her sister's house, where I fell asleep at 8pm! To be fair, 8pm San Diego time is 10pm Chicago time, which is 11pm Bloomington time, and I'd had another early flight after sleeping in the Chicago airport again. I deserved to fall asleep early :) Oddly enough, the people who lived in the house weren't yet home when I fell asleep!

The next morning Steph picked me up and we went to breakfast at a place called Bear Buns Bakery. Steph had a meeting, so I sat in another area, writing a letter. I loved my chai latte and red velvet cookie. Yum.
After breakfast, Steph dropped me off at the trolley stop at Qualcomm Stadium. There isn't a lot of public transport, but this was perfectly convenient for me. I rode the trolley into the city center, getting off at the stop for Old Town. It's a historical park/district, mostly for tourists. Too many kitchy shops for my taste, but great for people watching. There were a few good (and small,) museums too. I really liked the old schoolhouse. It reminded me a lot of the one room schoolhouse in Bloomington, Indiana. 

Nearby was an old synagogue, no longer used.
Eventually I hopped back on the trolley, transferred to a different line, then caught a bus. All of these took me to Balboa Gardens. A huge, beautiful area in the city. It took me a while to find the central area of the parks. The pin shown on tripadvisor and google maps is not where you find the majority of people.
It was hot and sunny, but I still loved walking everywhere. My first find was the cactus garden. Despite my attempts to be nice, the cacti did not return my love. (I was still digging prickles out of my fingers a couple weeks later! Tiny little prickles you can't quite see, but you can feel.)

I loved seeing some of the cactus flowers, you don't get to see those very often. Beautiful.
By the time I found the central area of the gardens, I was really dehydrated. I got really lucky when I saw a server coming into his shift at one of the restaurant cafes. I asked him where I could find a drinking fountain, he brought me a big cup of ice water, then brought me a to go cup with more ice water. Random acts of kindness are amazing.
Sadly, the Japanese garden was closed for a private event. Argh.
After the garden, I walked to a bus stop for a bus that would take me to a trolley stop. The trolley took me back to Qualcomm stadium. As the trolley got closer and closer, I saw more people with football jerseys boarding the train. I figured out there was a game that night, between the Dallas Cowboys and San Diego Chargers.

Getting out of the trolley station and stadium area was quite different than when I'd been there in the morning. Near game time, traffice patterns for both people and cars are different. For security reasons, people getting off the train have to walk a specific way (that takes you through turnstiles to make sure you have a ticket!) and I was worried about how to get out of the crowd; I wasn't going to the game. It took me a bit, but eventually I was able to go where I wanted.
Traffic was already pretty heavy at that point, but Steph and I were able to figure out where she would pick me up through texting. Thank goodness!

I ate dinner in the house that night with Steph and her family.
The next morning Steph dropped me off at a street corner across the street from the Marine Corps Recruiting Depot in San Diego. A few minutes later, one of my cousins picked me up.
My cousin is a chaplain in the Navy, currently stationed at MCRD. This was a Friday, and he'd arranged tickets for us to see the graduation ceremony for the recruits who had finished basic training. Our seats were in the VIP pavillion, under cover. Thank goodness, as I was sunburnt, and it was again (as is normal,) sunny and hot.

Impressive. I love the mix of tradition and youth. Since my cousin is an officer, and most of the folks on this base are younger and enlisted, he was saluted approximately every two feet. I got to see his office, learn how the recruits are organized, and watch the ceremony. Awesome.
After the ceremony he took me to the gift shop on base, where I got to buy postcards and a mug for his unit.
Then we drove to his house. San Diego traffic is nuts. Not very well organized, full of freeways, too many cars and people. Just as we got to his house, his wife was leaving to take one of the kids to the doctor.

This was only the second time I've met these kids, they didn't remember the last time three years ago. This visit was awesome, as they were old enough to have real conversations, and understand how we are related.
The original plan was to have a picnic dinner with Grandma later that afternoon/evening, but plans changed when my cousin got a call from work. He had to go back to help with what they call an AmCross situation. This is by far the worst part of his job, when he has to help deliver a message to one of the recruits. The message is always a bad one, about the death of a loved one.

When recruits are going through basic training, they don't have access to email, and other electronic communication, so these AmCross messages are delivered by the folks in charge.
We had dinner after my cousin came home again, after going for a short walk to a neighborhood playground. My cousin and his wife said this was a great neighborhood in which to live. Their kids can walk down the street without worry. They know other kids in the neighborhood, and other families. Most excellent.
The next morning breakfast was my choice of cereal. Definitely a Johnson tradition, one that I love.

During the morning, my cousin's wife went to an education fair/school registration. The family had just moved from Colorado, so they still needed to figure out where the kids would attend school in a couple weeks. From what they'd already learned and heard from others, the system in California is rather broken, and definitely not as fantastic as what they'd had in Colorado.
At some point, I hopped in the truck with my cousin and the kids. We stopped at In n Out Burger, my first visit to that chain. I think it's a California/west coast thing? Grandma likes it. The menu is small, and simple.

We brought the food to Grandma, and my cousin's wife joined us when she was done with the school stuff. It was really nice to spend some time with Grandma. She is my Grandma, but is great grandma to my cousin's kids. Awesome.
After a while, I had to go back to the airport. Everyone trooped downstairs, and we asked someone to take a family photo. Very very cool. I wish family photos were taken more often. By everyone. Being able to look at these photos years later is a fun thing to do.
Then my cousin took me back to the airport, and I flew back to Chicago.
This is when I should mention the EXCELLENT people who worked one station of TSA. While I was going through security, a small bag in which I keep foreign currency and various cards fell out of my bag. I didn't notice it, and made my way into a nearby store selling books and newspapers. A few minutes later, I heard someone saying my name, I perked up.

He asked me if I was planning to buy anything, and I said no. At this point I was scared, thinking he was asking me if I was stealing. I wasn't, of course. He kept asking questions, and I could tell he was looking for a specific answer, but it took me a while to figure it out. Eventually, I did. I'm sooooooooo grateful for his effort in finding me. I was able to say what my bag looked like, as well as name a few items in the bag, including currencies. THANK YOU SAN DIEGO TSA.
My flight landed in Chicago at 0100, not a great time. Another night of sleeping in the airport. Thank goodness, I'm good at this.