From Prague to Budapest

Today we got an early start to get on the road to Budapest.  I thought this would be a few hours drive but it turned out to be quite a long day in a bus.

The original plan was to stop in Bratislava, Slovakia, which is between Prague and Budapest.  However we once again ended up changing plans.  It's a good thing we have a private tour, since they don't seem to mind when we change things!

We wanted to visit Villa Tugendhat in Brno, Czech Republic.  The Villa was designed by Mies Van Der Rohe, the famous modernist architect, and has recently been restored.  We had tried to organize this in advance with no luck, because it was completely booked.  Through my business, I had met a well-placed Czech businessman, so asked him if he could help.  Well, he called me on the bus saying that he'd managed to get us in at 1pm. We all were thrilled.  Brno was also in between Prague and Budapest, so became a logical stopping place for lunch and the tour.  But the time we took there meant we had to cut Bratislava.

It is quite a stunning building, reminding me very much of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture ... flat lines, huge windows, custom designed built-in furniture.  The main living space is particularly stunning with a giant onyx wall.  The history is wild, in that the Villa was created for a Jewish family who left at the start of WWII, and in turn was taken over by the Germans, made into a physical therapy center, and ultimately run by the government of the Czech Republic.

One of the fun technologies we experienced was the shoe shrink-wrap machine at Villa Tugendhat.  In order to protect the original floors, they want you to put coverings on your shoes.  But rather than ask you to wear those annoying shoe bags, they have a shrink wrap machine.  You put your shoe-clad foot on the machine, and it quickly heat-wraps a layer of film around the bottom of your shoe.  It feels just a touch warm, but then hardens quickly into a solid layer.  When you leave, you just peel it off.  I've never seen this before, and I think it would be good for house tours and other places where they want to protect the floor.  Much better than forcing you to take off your shoes as well!

I'm not sure what Bratislava would have been like but I'm super glad we got to see Villa Tugendhat.

We were in a big rush when we got to Budapest as we had set up a dinner at the home of a young couple through the www.eatwith.com web site ... sort of an Airbandb for dinner.  It was pouring rain (we have otherwise been lucky with the weather) but we managed to find the place.  The hosts, Balasz and Ester, lived in a small apartment up several flights of stairs.  It was full of books, CDs, and wild decorations.  They had moved their living room furniture in order to create a table for 6 of us (Cathy and Sandy had decided not to join us).  Balasz had prepared a marvelous meal, full of Hungarian specialties, and being flexible about our various dietary restrictions.

One item that Balasz served was unusual.  He refused to tell us what it was until after we tasted it. All we knew was that it was a part of the chicken.  It was the consistency of a pate, and reasonably tasty.  Well, much to my chagrin, we learned that these were chicken testicles!  I think Balasz was wise in disclosing that late, as I would undoubtedly have skipped it had I known. I found myself not wanting any more.

We had a lively conversation, learning a lot about living in Hungary and about Balasz's work as a documentary filmmaker.  Their one year old son, Phillip, took a liking to Lenny and decided that was who he wanted to feed him dinner!

Donna