All trips should start out as an adventure. So our Air India flight and its consequences were to be expected. The flight was delayed a bit by heavy thunder storms. Ours was forced to circle the airport. Keep in mind this was a departure not an arrival. Our plane was circling the airport while still on the Tarmac! My favorite line from the captain was "there are airplanes all over the place - I don't know how many are ahead of us." This would have been an interesting observation at Penn Station, but not at JFK. Some lessons for future international flights. Keep your boarding pass or you cannot leave the plane (that may explain the appearance of some of the other harried people on board). Keep your baggage stubs or your bag will not be transferred to your connecting flight.

Keeping your baggage stub increases the probability of getting your bag by 50% (they lost 3 of our bags). I have to say I am not sure who to blame, Air India, or the Budapest airport. I flipped a Hungarian coin, took some time to figure out what side was heads and based on the toss blamed Air India. In any case in spite of the airlines best efforts we did make it to Budapest.

6/30/2007
Budapest is a lovely city with a fairly good public transportation system. One observation: the subway announcements in Hungarian are no less understandable than the announcements on the New York City subway. Went to the parliament square today. Very moving. This is the site of the 1956 uprising that was eventually squashed by the soviet union. A very significant flag flies at the actual location of the execution of the revolutionaries. It has a large hole in the middle where the protesters excised the symbol of the soviet union from the Hungarian flag. I am surprised it still survives. The buildings themselves are very impressive for standard monumental architecture. Unfortunately they are badly in need of a cleaning.

Our trip on the #2 tram to the parliament buildings was not uneventful. We got on at a stop near our apartment (along with many locals). It went two stops and everyone got off. We stayed on only to return to our destination. It is not that the tracks terminated. They continued but there was a 50 foot slab of concrete on top of a section of track. So it seems that the #2 tram has at least two parts. Why? - This remains one of the mysteries of Budapest.

Tried my first Hungarian goulash in Hungary. Not bad especially when accompanied by a number of glasses of local beer. The guide book describes the Hungarian version of their national dish as not just a stew but a rich meaty soup. I thought I would let you know what I did not have! Soon I will give paprikash a try - with more beer of course.

My bags arrived. Still waiting for two of Corinne's and Oscar's.

7/1/2007
Corinne's conference organized a brunch at Gundel, perhaps the grandest restaurant in Budapest, if not all of Hungary. It was fantastic! Craig's father's family comes from Hungary. He was familiar with most of the dishes. He declared all to be quite authentic. Stuffed cabbage, wild boar, sausages.... All very delicious. The accompanying music was performed by a gypsy band including a celesta. Again Oscar was familiar with most of the music. After a while the music blended into the background. That was until we became aware that the music was the gypsy version of Hava Nagila! One does not often hear traditional Jewish gypsy music!

We then walked about Heroes Square and Varosliget park. The square was built in 1896 celebrating renowned Hungarian leaders and politicians. There was a semi circle of columns with monumental statues between the columns. I guess in the 20th century this type of monument may be described as early Mussolini. The Museum of Fine Arts and Palace of Art are situated on either side of the monument. Very impressive buildings built in the style of the Parthenon. The Vajdahunyad Castle in the park is described in our guide book as "composed of elements of the finest architectural works found throughout Hungary". An impressive building indeed.

The evening was spent at a bridge festively on the Cable Bridge. The Cable bridge resembles a mini Brooklyn bridge with beautiful views of building along the Danube. Most of the stalls sold generic junk, but there was the most delicious Kielbasa you could imagine.

7/2/2007
The highlights of today were a cruise on the Danube organized by Corinne's conference. And a wonderful dinner at yet another one of Budapest best restaurants. The river cruise was great. The Danube itself did not seem to be the cleanest river. There were fishermen along the banks, but I would give serious thought to eating anything caught. The cruise gave some beautiful views of buildings we had seen from shore. For example the Parliament complex is quite imposing (and clean) when viewed from the river. It did not hurt that there was an open bar. Dinner (again organized by the conference) was at a Russian restaurant, the " Arany Kaviar Restaurant". This claims to serve the world's finest caviars. The meal was great! Blini with caviar, chicken Kiev all proceeded by ice cold vodka.

7/3/2007
Today we went to the Buda side of the river (we have been renting a room on the Pest side). We took a tram to the Royal Palace. It gave some nice views of Pest from above. It was pleasant but not very photogenic. The high point of the day was a trip to the Park of Monuments. The bus ride (actually two buses) took us past some of the neighborhoods built for the workers during the communist regime. These may be the ugliest buildings I ever saw. They looked like a slab of concrete had been dropped on the ground and the apartments were chiseled out from the lump. I know that building lots of apartments was necessary, but some thought could have been given to making them habitable and humanizing. This area made the south Bronx look inviting. However this turned out to simply be preparation for the statue park. In 1991 the Budapest city council decided to gather in one place the 41 communist monuments which had been distributed about the city. I have to say the artist who came up with the designs for the statue went to the same school as the architect who designed the apartment complexes. I don't think this stuff works even as propaganda. There is no humanity! The statues (and the apartments) do not get past their material. Rather than a statue of the workers suppressing the exploiting classes it looks like one lump of metal overwhelming another lump of metal. Lenin must have had another coat and at some point in his life assumed another pose.

We then attempted to visit the Budapest synagogue, without success (we just missed the closing time) but had a fine meal at a Jewish, Hungarian restaurant. Finally had my goulash (great).

All our bags arrived except the stroller. We are off to Prague tomorrow.

Prague

Today we arrived in Prague. The trip was eventful, but there is no need to relive the events of our flight. Our accommodation in Prague is a lovely apartment in the River View apartment complex. The only problem is that there are no windows except two small ones (which indeed do view the river). In any case it more than meets our needs. We took a walk to the old town center. Every street offered views of what I imagined a great, old European city should look like. The town center had a large church (as one would expect of a town center) with a very ornate interior. In fact it may be a bit over the top, but we all were impressed. We then went on to the Jewish district. 80,000 Jews were exterminated during the war. There are only about 10,000 Jews left in Prague. The Holocaust museum had the names of the victims etched on the wall with the names being recited. The simplicity was profoundly effective.

The old Jewish cemetery was overwhelming. Jews were not allowed to bury their dead except in the Jewish district. This forced the community to create a cemetery adjacent to the synagogue in violation of Jewish law. There are 12,000 grave stones dating back to the early 15th century. The mass of stones was amazing. There is very little space between the stones looking a bit as if they were just tossed there in a large heap. There is an interesting statue of Kafka (who lived in the Jewish district before the beginning of the 20th century. It was a slum at that time). It was a bronze of Kafka sitting on top of a coat without a body.

We had a wonderful dinner at a restaurant recommended by a friend of ours (a native of Prague). Corinne had a very tasty goulash, I had pancakes made from cabbage and sausage and Craig had Lamb. All washed down with fine pilsner.

I had thought that Budapest may be like Prague in 10 years or so. Having seen Prague I now know that short of razing Budapest to the ground and starting over again this will never be the case. Prague may be one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen.

7/5/2007
Today started with a return to the Jewish district. We visited the rest of the Holocaust museum, and the old synagogue. There was interesting information about burial customs. When it is clear that a member of the community is near death a representative of the burial society stays with the person and takes a confession. I did not know that there were Jewish sects that gave confession on their death bed. I did know that one should be buried in a plane wooden coffin and the simple burial shawl has to be the same for a rich or poor man or woman.

The synagogue was very simple. Quite a contrast with the ornate cathedral. I tried to get the age of the Torah. I went to ask the person at the entrance desk since she spoke English. She informed me that there are people in the main room whose job is to give information. So I foolishly went to ask and was confronted by someone who spoke not a word of English. I went back to the original woman who insisted that it is not her job to answer questions and waked me over to the information woman who had no idea what I was asking. A brilliant catch 22. Never did get the age of the Torah.

Corinne and family went back to the apartment while I walked about the town. We met at the Cubist museum (closed) but with a great restaurant. Joe Kohn and the NY times recommended it. I had a fantastic crepe (perhaps a bit of a strange order for someone who will be in Brittany in a few days). We the went to "u Tigra" (the tiger) An authentic Prague beer house. They have a great way of serving beer. You don't order any! Once you sit down the house brew starts to appear at the table and will continue to appear as you drain your glass until you say stop, or the place closes.

Corinne and I went to a so so guitar concert at a church. How do believers sit in those pews for hours. We nearly lost the function of our backs.

7/6/2007
Today we visited the Prague Castle - the largest castle complex in the world (at least according the Guinness book of records). The castle cathedral, St. Vitus's has some of the most spectacular stained glass we ever saw (this includes the stained glass of the French cathedrals). Beautiful, intense greens, blues and reds. There is access to the bell tower. This required climbing 287 steps. I had no trouble - my personal trainer would have been pleased! The view of the city was awesome ( a term that is often overused, but not in this case). The aerial view of Prague looks like a Cezanne painting with Van Gogh colors. Prague and the skyline of New York may be the best city views possible. We then toured more of the castle grounds (for a while Kafka lived on one of the streets within the castle grounds - the golden lane).

I liked the museum of torture. The rack, the Spanish shoe (your basic shoe with metal spikes) various instruments to alter your appearance. It seemed to me that using this equipment requires some training. Was there a school of torture? It is not work for amateurs.

Prague has an anti-communist monument. It is actually very interesting. A sequence of statues of a man with his torso missing more and more parts. The final statue was just a sliver of metal. This stands in sharp contrast to the monumental statues from the communist era on display in Budapest.

We have been eating well. Lunch at the Savoy for example was very good. I had tripe soup (which is a Prague specialty called "drstkova polevka"). One nice thing about ordering tripe is that no one wants to take food from your dish. Tomorrow we are off to Brittany for what we hope is a very relaxing 10 days.

Brittany

7/9/2007
Margaret and I saw a BBC show many years ago that took place in Brittany. We thought it looked like heaven on earth. It was high on our list of places to visit, but we kept putting it off (what lesson do we learn from this?) Brittany is as beautiful as we imagined. I found myself saying "Margaret, we finally made it!" Seems a bit crazy! So far the visit is both sweet and bitter. Corinne Azi and Craig help minimize the bitter component.

Our first full day in Brittany! The house is a beautiful, old, renovated building situated between two barns (the property was formally a farm) in the small village of Kercanic. It is a short (10 minute) walk to a lovely beach through the beautiful village. Every other cottage has a thatched roof with a lovely garden (in some cases seem to be growing out of the roof).

We went to walk about the town of Pont Aven. Paul Gauguin was enchanted by this place. His painting "Christ Jaune" was inspired by the cross in Chappell de Tremalo . Pont Aven has a few operating mills with picturesque water wheels. Overall the town was ok, not a grabber.

Corinne made a delicious monk fish on pasta. It is great to have a kitchen in a district with great local sea food.

7/10/2007
Today is beautiful. Definitely a beach day! We first visited the fort at Concarneau. The fort and citadel were built in the 15th century with many subsequent reconstructions. One gets to walk about the top of the ramparts providing a nice view of the town. Not spectacular but quite charming. One observation of the day: coffee in Brittany is terrible! We finally succeeded in purchasing a transformer (Europe to US). Craig brought one which exploded in Budapest. After searching half of the electronic stores in Eastern Europe we found one in Brittany's version of home depot.

This afternoon we went to the beautiful beach De Port Manec'h. Our image of how we would enjoy Brittany was of sitting on the beach surrounded by cliffs reading a book and drinking French wine. Except for the lack of wine, the beaches exceeded our expectation (a bit cold though). The coast with the very high cliffs (120 meters) is on the northern shore of Brittany. The south is less rugged. We enjoyed a clean sandy beach with clear turquoise water. Heaven on earth indeed.

I roasted a chicken stuffed with apples, pears and a hard melba toast like substance I found in the pantry.

7/11/2007
We visited the exquisitely beautiful village of Kerascoet. A small road with no cars (except for locals) twists past lovely thatched cottages. My favorite view: skylights in a thatched roof. We then drove to Raspico beach. The beaches getter better and better. This one lies in a secluded cove. I think we will spend the after noon relaxing here. Life can be tough but we will make the best of it!

Dinner consisted of (among other things) Cotriade a Brittan fish soup quite unlike bouillabaisse. Very good, but we got hit by the exchange rate.

7/12/2007
Carnac and Locmariaquer, the site of the most extraordinary megaliths in Europe. There are about 3000 standing stones in Carnac ranging from the Neolithic period to the Bronze Age (about 4,000- 7,500 years ago). They are in three groups, called alignements named Menec, Kermario and Kerlescan. It may not seem that standing stones have any appeal, but so many arranged in rows placed by prehistoric man over a period of 3,500 years is breathtaking. Even after many centuries the stones convey a sense of wonder and mystery, especially on a misty day such as today. After all, these are the monuments of an ancient civilization. One has to wonder if our monuments will have the same impact on visitors in the distant future. I suspect the pile of rubble that will remain of the Hagia Sophia in 7,000 years will not have the same impact as these stone alignements. It seems interesting to me that the stones alignements were created over a period of 3,500 years. This is approximately the span of modern civilization from ancient Greece to the present day. The Bronze Age is technologically quite advanced from the Neolithic, but this is not apparent in the stones which seem to be the same over time. The government buildings we saw were poor copies of the Parthenon. Perhaps a visitor from another planet would not see much progress over time in our monuments, especially after 4,000 years of erosion.

Margaret and I loved to look for megaliths in Great Britain. With the Blue Guide to Great Britain in hand we were able to convince ourselves that every lump of stones we found along a trail we were hiking was left there by some Celtic warrior thousands of years ago. Of course there was the possibility that the stones were left by the kid hiking up ahead. Since this would have been a less interesting scenario we dismissed this possibility.

Back in Brittany, there were also burial chambers with carvings (called tumulus) which one can enter. At Locmariaquer was a standing stone that weighs 350 tons. It was toppled thousands of years ago, and is the largest known menhir (standing stone) in the western world. That means this stone is larger than any at Stonehenge. Two questions everyone asks. Why?- the conjecture is religious, but no one really knows. And how did they do it? - moving and erecting a 350 ton stone seems like a lot of work even for unwilling men.

7/13/2007
One of the joys of visiting France is the markets. Today was the farmers market at Concarneau. Beautiful, glistening fresh fish, mushrooms, couscous, vegetables, pates, etc (where etc. has to convey a lot more meaning than it usually does). The French take their cooking very seriously. Their love of food manifest itself it the markets. Most religions have a special day of the week (Shabbat for example). For the French it is market day. Tonight's dinner of selections from the market should be great!

The weather suggests another lazy beach day.

7/14/2007
Bastille Day! Tonight fireworks, but for the day we went to Quimper. Another beautiful old village (I seem to be using the adjectives beautiful and lovely a lot, but they are!) The Cathedral dates from the 13th C. The stained glass windows are splendid. The walk about the neighboring streets was fun. Old timber-framed houses. Great care has been taken to restore the medieval old town and to show it to its best advantage. The street names are great: Place au Beurre (Butter Street). Rue des Boucheries (butcher street). Vanelles du poivre (pepper). The farmer's market is fantastic. We could not resist buying from the spice vendor.

Later in the day we went to Quimperle. The walk along the river was pleasant enough, but overall not much of a town for a visitor. Azi got to play in a park with some French kids.

Dinner was another home cooked seafood dinner. Snails with butter and garlic. A filet of a fish we never identified, but were fantastic. The seafood is amazing.

7/15/2007
Took a walk along a river through woods and a quaint little port. About a half dozen people were lined up making crepes for the afternoon's festival (we could not stay). Our plan was to go back to Quimper for a Breton festival. Music and dancing. Unfortunately it was pouring. A dry bagpipe is difficult listening. I believe in France it is illegal to intentionally produce the sound of a wet bagpipe. In any case the procession was cancelled. Overall a gloomy day. One has to expect a few. Saw a beautiful crested bird. Have no idea what it is.

7/17/20
Took a lovely walk in a meadow. Ocean dunes to one side, lakes with about a dozen swans and cygnets on the other. Lots of beautiful wild flowers. We found yesterdays bird in a book at the visitor's center. It was a Huppe- rather rare. We took advantage of a break in the clouds and ran back to the beach. Another lazy, relaxing few hours in the sun. Corinne and I went to a wonderful concert in an old church. It was fun to hear Mozart, Bach and Vivaldi in a building older than the music. The flutist was fantastic! Tomorrow we hope to hear Breton music and see Breton dancing.

7/18/2007
Never did get to the Breton music and dancing. Instead we spent the evening with a local family (the parents of people who own the house we are staying at). We had a great time drinking wine, local cider and eating langoustine harvested by local fisherman.

I think we have done what one can do in south Brittany. Today we had the best beach day of our Brittany adventure. Absolutely blue sky and bright sun light reflecting off the ocean and cliffs. I've never seen weather change so fast. In the time it takes for a deep breath bright sun can change to heavy rain. Before you finish exhaling the sun may have returned. The weather for the last few days has not been great (except for today, our last day). Lots of rain with intermittent sun. It may be that this is typical Brittany weather and we were just lucky for the first week. I formulated a theory for the Carnac stones: I can imagine on fellow saying to another: "Say Ng we've been stuck in the cave for a week and I am bored. What do you say we go out and stick some stones in the ground?" To accept this theory one has to abandon the mysticism of the site.

Brittany is a beautiful part of the world. The people are extremely friendly. The coffee is awful and the restaurants are mediocre. However if you have a kitchen you can put together meals from local market produce and some of the freshest seafood you will ever encounter. I think Margaret would have enjoyed this place. I certainly did.

7/20/2007
We arrived in London on the 19th. Lots of museums to choose from: Today we visited the Tate modern. I particularly liked the Giacomettie sculptures. On the other hand there was "the wrong gallery", a can of beans that was on display at a gallery in Chelsea which was evicted. It is now on display at the Tate Modern. An interesting concept - (there are too many obvious jokes to write at this point that I thought it best to show restraint). We have tickets for a Dali show at the Tate. I did not know how much movies (especially slapstick) were related to his art. I was aware of a scene from Hitchcock's spellbound that he designed. I saw one of his films in the 60's while at Berkeley: "Un Chien andalou". I thought it was great at the time (the term we used was "It's heavy, man"), but than again I was stoned out of my mind. Overall I am not a fan of surrealalisim. In particular my opinion of Dali did not increase as a result of the show. However I am glad I saw it.

London is a great walking city. In this respect is resembles New York.

7/21/2007
Got together with some of Corinne's colleagues at the Tate Modern (took a boat from the Tate British to the Tate Modern). Went to the Borough Market- one of the most incredible markets in Europe. Besides the usual stuff one finds at great markets there was produce I had never seen before (at an Asian market) and wonderful British food. Pasties, meat pies, scotch eggs. Some of the unhealthiest food on the planet - but it taste so good!

I spent the afternoon at the National Gallery. da Vinci, Van Gough, Caravaggio... It is silly to try to list the highlights. What can one say about a museum where the Michelangelo is not at the top of the list? The National Gallery is after all one of the finest collections of Western European paintings in the world. If you are interested you can check their web site

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/collection/default.htm

7/22/2007
Our last day in Europe! We end on a very high note: The British Museum. This place is amazing. This has been my 5th visit to the Elgin marbles. Still astonishing. There is a new African art exhibit with some beautiful fairly contemporary art (mostly 20th century). I would love some of the textiles for my home.

I and Margaret took extended summer vacations every year (I have not been to Europe since her disease was diagnosed 6 years ago). We would talk about the art, mountain views, and food for hours while walking on trails or visiting a museum. Corinne and Craig did fill in some of the gaps. Azi was fantastic. He charmed everyone he came in contact with. I did feel Margaret's sprit somehow talking to me (for example I could hear her say "make sure you put on some sun block!"). This was a great trip. Loved every moment. But it is difficult to travel without her.