Duck

I'm back, but it still feels like 5 am, so this bit is stuff I wrote down in Heathrow.

Thursday (9/18) was built to reduce driving. We would see Esztergom and Visegrád, but we'd stop in Szentendre regardless of when we got there. So we spent the morning in the old of Esztergom, mostly walking the streets shopping and having tea. Then we were a couple hours at the very scenic but slightly artificial upper castle in Visegrád. [This structure was destroyed by the Turks. The ruins had been used by Hungarian revolutionaries, thus prompting the Austrians to further wipe out anything usable.]
( More... )

Well, I never got to update any more while on the trip. Budapest was fantastic! We're now heading off for a fifteen hour tour to London and a city near you.

Monday (9/15) was mostly a re-tool day. It rained... hard and steadily, but we did buy a new camera and a quite a bit of clothes. ( And this gets more lengthy. )

There's no time for an update right now. The trip's been up and down since the first couple days. Mostly the weather turned worse, and we've had to compensate. We've extended the time in Budapest on the front end and are there for the rest of the trip.

Here's a quick description of the trip so far.

Thursday (9/11) was the longest day. Normal work day followed by a brief plane ride to London, about four hours of layover, and about 3 more to Budapest. We arrived local time just before midnight Friday night (9/12). Then it got interesting. The road signs were clearly inadequate for our sleep deprived minds. We were lost so many times. Still, about two o'clock so we jubilantly made it to the hotel which was supposedly twenty minutes from the airport.

Saturday (9/13) was marked by a much more enjoyable ride through th countryside east of Budapest. We managed to miss the major road M3 and by the time we realized this, we decided we had the better route. We stopped for a while in Aszód, which wasn't mentioned in our travel books, but did show good examples of grandiose ruined buildings with no budget to fix up. It also provided an opportunity to see a typical commercial walk.

The road trip continued into the Mátra hills west of Eger. We were looking for coffee house whn Gina wanted to stop to look at a steeple. I pointed something even more interesting - a castle on a hill. And we resolved to get to it. It turns out that this is the ultimate child's ruin. With great views all around, the really cool bit was all the connecting tunnel systems underneath.

In the late afternoon, we got to Eger and found where we were staying, the Minaret Hotel, underneath the ruin of a turkish tower. It is a great room. We briefly oriented ourselves, found parking (the car hasn't moved since), and scouted around. The day ened enjoyably with a waltz around the Dobó István tér after a great meal at the Senator Ház hotel.

Sunday (9/14) began with a breakfast and a couple errands. We were going to cover Eger primarily today with the castle in the morning and the Valley of the Beautiful Women on the lat afternoon/evening. The castle was fine. It had a great views of the city and was a fun romp. G was looking forward to wax museum, which was also fine. But it marked a turn... in a quick exchange for a picture, our camera saw an opportunity and took it. Apparently it wasn't enjoying the day as much as we were and made a resounding thud as it hit the stone floor lens-first.

We were sad - and it threw off the rest of the morning. Besides tourist heavy restaurants and a few gift shops, everything is closed on Sunday. We found many a closed place that might help us, and we wandered around seeing both the Basilica (second biggest in Hungary) and Serbian Orthodox Church) without much in the way of picture taking. G did a little from her camera.

The evening was much better. We journeyed out to the Valley. It's wine caves. I didn't see very many beautiful women besides G. And the first place we saw found made the trip worthwhile, Bíró Borozó, Cellar 2 of the 200-odd caves. The lady there didn't speak much English or German, but apparently more than one German knew of her by word of mouth, and many natives did as well. They would come with big plastic cartons and have her fill them up. We eventually discovered that she sold very little in bottled form, but we eventually bought something at the end of the night. Egészségedre!

It's been six months since the last update. Beyond my meager posting this year is that I haven't kept up with reading my friend's list. Sorry.

HEALTH: The biggest update is I had successful minor surgery yesterday. Over the past several months, I have developed perceived cramping that blossomed into full-fledged sciatica down my entire right leg. For most of June/July I was able to walk through it, but this month I stopped being able to walk even to the end of the block. Medical inquiry led to an MRI which showed a "large right para-central disc protrusion impinging upon the right S1 nerve root."

That was Monday. I consulted a specialist on Tuesday morning. The recommendation was surgery. There had been some sort of traumatic event that had knocked material out the disc. Over time the body may absorb it back, but the sciatica was increasing daily. G and I discussed it over lunch, but afterwards I reserved a surgery slot on Friday. G did some more research. I consulted a GP brother and family. Everything recommended caution, and surgery is the last resort. Nevertheless, the symptoms were getting close to this threshold.

So, it was a fun Friday. While I was knocked out a very large piece of "crab meat" was taken out of a small incision in my lower back. I stayed the night at the hospital, but that was mostly precautionary as I had no side effects from the actual surgery. The sciatica is gone. I do have a slight numbness in my right foot which I am prepared to live with. I also have to take a lot more care of my lower back. Short term I shouldn't lift more than a travel guide. Long term depends on how well I strengthen those muscles. But I'm alive and functional.

HOME: Officially I have lived in Capital Hill with G for 4 months. Unofficially it's been more like six or seven. Still I love the neighborhood, and it's nice to have your dogs, computer, and girlfriend in the same place.

RELATIONSHIP: I have been dating G for 14 months (officially). She's terrific, more than I deserve.

ACTIVITIES: The last month has been quiet, more a result of my health. Still in the last six months there was a trip to Orcus island in March, the midwest in April, a day-trip some-when to Leavenworth, and the famous wineries of Woodinville. My health prevented a similar trip to the peninsula. HUNGARY is in four weeks!!!! (Yes, that time-line had some relation to the surgery.)

GENERAL ASSESSMENT: Happy. And very lucky.

Here's an interesting site that calculates the "walkability" of your neighborhood, the distance to grocery stores, schools, etc. I went back historically a ways.

Seattle 89
Bellevue 37
Renton 37
Kansas City 46
Coralville 66
S Johnson 91
Chaos 57
Hillcrest 77
East Moline 31

Apparently, my AUR apartment on South Johnson was the most walkable, followed by this Capital Hill apartment. And the house I grew up at was the least.

It does seem to lump weak items into the categories. My new apartment is really close to a Safeway, and a TJ's is just a skip farther away, but at South Johnson they counted the QuikTrip (or whatever it is now) on Burlington. That may just even out substituting the "Central Cinema" for an actual movie theater.

It's official. G and I are going to Hungary in September. Yay!

Beszélek nem magyar... még.

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

SNOW MOON UPDATE

For much of the country this is a very apt name. In Seattle, we don't get snow. Well, that's not true, but I can still deny it's existence.

It's been two months since my last update, and honestly I haven't kept up with reading LJ. I've just cleared my friend's list from the last time I accessed the site, which apparently was Thursday. Ok, so why am I wasting time posting when it takes me five minutes per sentence?

( Warning. Hitting this link may force you to spend too much time skimming your friend's page. And there isn't even a quiz here either. )

It's only been two months since my last update. I'm getting better at this apparently...

COLD MOON UPDATE:
( ...a clean friend's page is a happy friend's page... )

I Am A: Neutral Good Human Wizard (5th Level)


Ability Scores:

Strength-13

Dexterity-13

Constitution-13

Intelligence-16

Wisdom-14

Charisma-12

( Read more... )

Queen of the Menagerie
Survived by Sable, litter-mate, as well as various servants.
Sleep well, kitty. *scritch*

Ok, time for another update. It's only been two months since the last full moon status...

HUNTERS MOON UPDATE:
( ...and because I care... )

I've had less opportunity to post at home than I did in Greece, but before my memory totally fails...

( The last four days )

Not a recap this time. Winds are high enough the ferries aren't running. I'd say "Not in Mykonos," but the truth is I wouldn't want to spend too much time on any island. So my party will make the best of it. Me? I plan to sulk.

Ugh. Here's an internet cafe for you. I entered in Tuesday twice. Lost the contents twice. Switched to Notepad, wrote nearly the entire thing out, and the computer suddenly reboots losing everything. F%$#$%#%$^%$!!!!!!!!. I don't compose very quickly at the best of times, and some of this stuff is important.

*sigh*

So here is my last four days... in brief.


Tuesday, September 18.

Left Crete. Got to Santorini. Shopped and ate. Rode cable car. Beautiful sunset.

Wednesday, September 19.

Museums. Akrotiri closed. Wineries! Beach sucked. Ate in Oia. Scary ride home. Wine at pool.

Thursday, September 20.

Ferry to Mykonos. Fun little warrens, but didn't quite get lost. Relaxing afternoon/evening.

Friday, September 21.

Ok, I'm abandoning my brevity. Our hotel serves breakfast from 9-11. This is of course intolerable. What hotel does that, plus we had tickets for Delos at 10. We created breakfast on our way with the lynchpin being lovely stuff from the Underground Bakery.

We got to Delos. The seas were interesting. The beach sucked at Santorini because there were no waves. It was all wave on the ferry rides to and from Delos. I was out taking pictures on the lower deck, and a wave crashed over the rail creating a river two feet deep where I was standing.

Ok, Delos now. Entertaining tour. Museum borning, but what I really want... I left my pack with Storm and ran. I made a plan. I ran to the top of Mt Kynthos, and made a sacrifice to Artemis. Delos isn't what it once was. It's a ruin of destroyed temples and agoras, but at the top of Mt Kynthos, there is a makeshift shrine: a large area filled with balancing stones. Certain patterns tend to re-form. Lay lines? Historical sensibility? I don't know, but I needed to do something.

We got back. Had lunch. I got a text from G. "Please call any time." Oh no. I take a shower, and there's two missed calls. Yes, I call. V has passed away.

The rest of the day doesn't matter much more in comparison. The wind that had caused the waves created a general power outage, and we ate in the dark. Obviously the internet cafe has power now. The hotel probably does as well.

Night night. This took way longer than it was supposed to.

Edit (on 9/22): ( Better detail on 9/18-20 )

It's been almost three days since my last post. Of course it's been busy.

( Details... )

Due to a scheduling quirk that S & J, caught, we went to Delphi on Thursday, but only after receiving a car at 9:00 am. Meteora was right out. After a surprisingly easy escape from Athens (the cab drivers make it all look so difficult), we had a direct line to Delphi... or mostly so, the switchbacks were enough to upset J's stomach. Anyway, we had a nice stroll through the holy place, did a little shopping and a had a nice lunch, and were back in Athens 6 or 7ish. And had dinner very close to the hotel. Much retsina. And after-dinner drinks on the roof of the hotel. Note: ouzo sketo much better than ouzo me pago i ouzo me nero.

Yesterday was a bit of a contrast. We waited over an hour for the man to pick up the car. With that late start, I led us on a merry eight hour hike through the Nation Museum of Archaeology, down to the Plaka for a little lunch, up to the Acropolis and down to the Agora, across the length of the Plaka. We then stopped for drinks and some yummy chocolate pie. And then we were up by the government area, meeting more demonstrations. And - oops! forgot J's bag. Then we trekked all the way back to the hotel. Five or six miles total. We all showered and met to go to dinner. There was no other close place in our desired price range, and like the first evening we ended up strolling all the way to the Plaka for dinner. Ah well.

A oouple other interesting notes. To date, jet-lag has treated me fantastically. I couldn't sleep past five on Thursday and was very nappy on the way back to Delphi but slept very well aftere the retsina and ouzo. On Friday, I slept a little past seven, and was fine all day long. Of course the hike and drinks knocked me out very well last night. And today I naturally woke up at 6:45.

In contrast, K has had the worst time. She's only had a couple hours of sleep the two previous nights, (I haven't surveyed her yet today.) and hasn't yet attained any level of her legendary efficiecy. I think you've only heard from me, right? Anyway, we're all doing fine and having a great time. This afternoon, we're on the fast boat to Crete, so it's a relaxy day until then. We'll probably "pretend we're Greek" and while the way the time in a Cafe until we need to leave.

Yeia sas!

Is it Friday already? How time flies.

Ok, part of it did. Ten hours I think. My trip didn't start out that well. I showed up at the United Airlines desk, and they wouldn't accept my ticket. US Air had to redo. Over to US Air, and the guy there did some on the job training. Half an hour there and a twenty minute line when I got back, and I missed my original flight.

Well here's another option. I could go to Dulles-Frankfurt instead. Ok, on another trip over to US Air, they got me on a later flight to Chicago. Hopefully the luggage would transfer. Fine.

Wait.

Board new flight. Middle seat between two guys naturally. Four hour flight. Finally off. Sprint. Ask where I'm going. Sprint. Wait. Sprint. Is it to late to get on the Milan flight? You have to wait and see? Wait. Wait. Ok. Goody. They'll let me on.

Long story short, I made to Milan. I like European airlines a lot better than US ones. And my luggage made it all the way to Athens as well. At the time it was 2:30 or so, though it felt like 4:30 in the morning on a day that I that I woke up at 3:30 am.

Cab ride to hotel near Plaka. Those motorbikes are doing what? What's their life expectancy?

Hotel. Adjust. Don't sleep yet. Let's go explore before we do go asleep. Armed with street maps we tried to get to the Plaka, getting stopped by very crowded areas. People milling around looking for work. Renegotiate. Flank. Amrou Ermou Street. Ok, just down here. There's the flea market. And now, there's food. Then back on a longer safer path to the hotel, but avoid those KKE rallies. It's 8:30ish. Quick shower and sleep. Wonderful sleep.

That was my Tuesday/Wednesday. It's Friday really?