An Austro-Hungarian Christmas

For the first time in our lives, both Michael and I did not spend Christmas with our families and instead enjoyed a newlywed Yule Tide in Hungary. In order to keep some things normal, we bought a real Christmas tree from one of the corner tree lots that were set up around the city. Since we don't have any ornaments with us, we went the old-fashioned route and strung popcorn (a very labor-intensive process that confused some of our Hungarian friends) and designed our own ornaments and tree-toppers. I am quite proud of the fleet of dachshund ornaments I fashioned out of red construction paper.


Two days before Christmas, we headed to Vienna to visit the Christmas markets and enjoy the lights.


Instead of going to the big, commercialized market like we did last year, we tried to visit the smaller ones. These were all charming with wooden stall after wooden stall of handicrafts and food, but there seemed to be an overwhelming amount of vendors who sold Nepalese or Hindu type goods. So rather than the expected smell of mulled wine and bratwurst wafting through the air, we caught wiffs of patchouli oil and incense, which did make me slightly nostalgic for Boulder.


The best part of our one-night stay (besides eating delicious schnitzel and visiting two microbreweries) was ogling the Christmas lights. The city center of Vienna simply dazzled - lights were strung everywhere, and some buildings were shrouded in so many lights, they looked like wrapped presents.

My favorite lights were hung from large circles, so they streamed down like octopus tentacles.


Back in Budapest n Christmas Eve, we watched our favorite holiday movies, baked a lot of sweets and allowed each other to open one present, just like at home. On actual Christmas day, we didn't want to cook a big meal for just the two of us, so we went to the Marriott Hotel to feast on their delicious buffet, which was every bit as good as their Thanksgiving display. Maybe we'll make that a tradition ... That day I also went to mass at Budapest's most famous church, St. Stephen's Basilica. Although I couldn't understand the mass because it was given in Latin and Hungarian, it was such a beautiful experience to sit in this immense cathedral among strangers full of Christmas joy and wonder how many people had also been to mass in the same spot and stared at the same stunning frescoes over the last few centuries.





On Christmas night, our good friends filled our apartment, drank my mulled wine (even though I accidentally added peppercorn instead of cloves into it) and were holly and jolly into the wee hours of the night.

Back in Budapest

Greetings from a long-lost blogger. I have returned to Budapest after a month and a half of travel to Austria, Colorado and Texas. So much happened on those trips, that I don't have the energy to describe all of it, but here are some highlights:

Vienna: Almost didn't catch our train because of the horribly inefficient station staff who still hand-write tickets; stayed in a beautiful hotel called Le Meridian which was full of modern art including a beautiful Christmas tree fashioned entirely out of red feathers; went to about three different Christmas markets, all consisting of stalls packed with festive gifts and stands selling mulled wine and weinerschnitzel (we indulged in the food a little too much :)); saw a mind-bending exhibit by contemporary artist Peter Kogler at the Museum of Modern Art - my personal favorite installation was a wall totally covered by images of giant black and white ants; saw more Christmas markets with dachshunds; almost missed our train back to Budapest because the horribly inefficient Hungarian train staff decided to go on strike. Thus, they only let one train leave from Vienna to Budapest that day, when there is usually one every hour, making it the most crowded train I've ever ridden. At least we made it back to Budapest, because I had to fly out the next morning.

Colorado: I made it back to chilly Colorado on Dec. 15; spent a great deal of time hanging out with friends, not working, shopping, channel surfing, drinking good microbrews, decorating for Christmas, watching movies, and thinking about doing wedding planning, but not actual doing it; celebrated a lovely, yet quiet Christmas with just my parents; went to Denver a couple times, once for a girly day of bridesmaid dress shopping; generally just enjoyed being back in my favorite part of the world and tried not to think much about leaving it.

Texas: My entire trip to Texas was fantastic and made me so excited for the actual wedding; the Kleins threw Michael and I an engagement party, so my parents, sister and brother-in-law, extended family - the Nebraska Beahm-team - and many Colorado friends descended upon the Lone Star state for the festivities and Southern hospitality (which even exceeded its pleasant reputation - thank you to our wonderful hosts); the actual party was extremely fun - it was set at a country-western venue, with delectable BBQ, a talented live band, and a bull, which most everyone, including our dads, rode; the next day we all headed to East Texas to Michael's grandparents' ranch, where we gawked at the world's fattest pot-bellied pig, took a hay ride, shot guns, watched football and ate delicious food; during the rest of my trip, I finally went inside the JKF museum and did lots of wedding-ish things, like registering for gifts and taking engagement photos when Michael was really sick - although he still looks great in them.

Now we're both back in Budapest. Michael arrived without issue, whereas I had a trip guided by Murphy's Law. However, I still got here, albeit a 24 hours later than expected. Now, I have all my luggage, even though it took a week to get to me.