Krakow

I'm sorry that I've been posting so infrequently lately. My new job at the Embassy has been keeping me pretty busy, but more on that later. I wanted to share some photos from Krakow with you. As I may have mentioned, Krakow, which was the capital of the Kingdom of Poland from the 11th century until the end of the 16th century, is beautiful. I highly recommend visiting Krakow if you ever get the chance. I could go on and on, but because a picture is worth a thousand words, I think it would be more efficient to post a lot of pictures.

One of the most impressive sights in Krakow is Wawel Castle:



Which, incidentally, has really cool drain spouts...


...and a "dragon's den" cave underneath the castle!


Wawel Castle overlooks the Vistula River...


...which Adam and I explored in a paddle boat one morning...


...and took pictures of the castle and other sights on the shore.


Krakow also has a beautiful central square, which hosts a market by day, and occasional fire performers by night.


We ran into a large walking beer, giving out coupons for free Tyskie. (or was it Zweik?)*


*Tyskie and Zweik are two of the Polish beers that we sampled in Krakow.

Budapest 2008

Those of you who read this blog two years ago will know that I spent five days in Budapest on my study abroad program. So this time around, I tried to see some things that I missed last time, in addition to making sure that Adam visited certain not-to-be-missed sites. Here are some pictures from our stay in Budapest:


The hostel we stayed in was an apartment in a beautiful pre-war building with a central courtyard (shown here). We pretty much had the place to ourselves the whole time we were there, so it was like having our own apartment in Budapest.


On our first day of sightseeing, we visited Heroes Square and a large park on the Pest side of Budapest. Above is the Hungarian Agricultural Museum which is in the park.


Also in the park is a Turkish Bathhouse, which we returned to later in the week to go swimming.

We also visited the Hungarian Parliament...

...and the Statue Park, which houses a collection of communist era statues that once stood in various locations around Budapest. Here I am with the "Workers Inherit the World" statue.

And here's Adam sitting in an old Trabant, the East German car that was cheaply produced under communism and sold throughout the Eastern Bloc.

We visited St. Istvan's Basilica and went up in the tower for a beautiful view of Pest.

And at the foot of the Basilica, we had delicious gelato.

We also visited the For Sale Pub, where the walls are covered in business cards and notes that its patrons have left there over there years. We wrote a note on one of my old business cards and tacked it on the wall near our seat. Next time we visit we'll have to see if it's still there.

On our last day in Budapest, we crossed over to the Buda side and visited Castle Hill, where this new Palace is built on the remains of the older one.

Which you can see a part of here.

Castle Hill looks out over the rooftops on beautiful Buda. After catching a glimpse of Buda on our way back from Castle Hill, Adam and I decided that we hadn't spent enough time sightseeing on that side of the Danube.

And speaking of the Danube, here is another view across the river, with St. Istvan's and Pest in the background.

Postcards

While I was in Budapest and Krakow, I picked up a few postcards, and I'm looking for people to send them to. If you'd like a postcard from me, send me an email at ekbiebuyck@gmail.com with your address! If you email me your address, I'll send you a postcard, but it may take a few weeks to a month to arrive, so please be patient!

Back in Bucharest

Well, it's been a while since I posted last, and a lot has happened in the meantime. I still don't have an internet connection at home, so I won't be able to write as much as I'd like to right now, but rest assured I'll slowly fill you in. For now, I'll try to cover the most important parts and throw in a few pictures.

I met Adam at the Budapest airport last Tuesday afternoon, and after finding our hostel (it was harder than you'd think), we spent three days relaxing and touring Budapest. While in Budapest, I received an email from the State Department informing me that I have (finally) been granted a Secret level security clearance. The clearance process took much longer than I expected, so I had almost resigned myself to not working at the Embassy this summer. Needless to say, I was very pleasantly surprised to receive my clearance. This means that I get to stay in Bucharest until mid-August, instead of heading home at the end of June. I've been emailing and talking with the HR people in Washington and at the Embassy here, and it looks like I will be starting work sometime next week.

After three nights in Budapest, Adam and I took an overnight train to Krakow, Poland. Everyone I know who has been to Krakow has told me how beautiful it is, and they weren't wrong. Krakow was delightful. Due to poor timing, we weren't able to see all of the sights that we wanted to see, but I suppose that gives me a good reason to go back! I'll post more about Krakow with more pictures soon.

After three days and two nights in Krakow, Adam and I spent a grueling two days traveling back to Bucharest. Because of the train schedules, and various other problems, we had to take two separate trains, one from Krakow to Budapest, another from Budapest to Timisoara, and a third from Timisoara to Bucharest. The last train we the worst, because the sleeping cars were all booked, and we had to spend all of Tuesday night sitting in uncomfortable seats under bright florescent lights. We arrived in Bucharest on Wednesday morning and picked up the keys to my new apartment. The apartment is very nice, and I am still getting unpacked and settled in. It feels so nice to be unpacked somewhere and to have my rent paid. Now that I have a place to live and my security clearance, I can relax and enjoy my summer. I'm looking forward to starting work, and it is great having Adam here while I get settled into my new place and my new job. Tonight we are going to try to cook chili using the ingredients that we were able to find here in Bucharest. Pofta Buna!*


A view of Pest from Castle Hill in Buda


Wawel Castle in Krakow


A picture of Wawel Castle taken from a boat on the Vistula River

*The Romanian version of "Bon Appetit"