This is a very special guest post from Su's sister Sammy!
Hey, it’s Sammy!
If we haven’t met, I’m Sue’s sister, and honored to be Now Boarding’s first guest writer.
When I heard that they were going to travel away for a year, I (as many of you probably also felt) was jealous. Not to sound like a stalker, but I daydreamed about dropping my responsibilities to follow them wherever they go. Unfortunately, as a working grad student, I had only planned to join once. And if you read the Egypt blog post (IMO now the 2nd best post), you might know that I was there.
However, when my parents wanted to join them in Budapest and Prague, homesickness and FOMO kicked my butt over there again. Because I struggled to explain my travels to friends and couldn’t bother keeping up to post anything on Instagram, I asked these two if I could use their platform to reflect on my own European experiences. 😊
Budapest
Let’s start with Budapest. Did you know the city’s name came from two sides of it bisected by a bridge called Buda and Pest? 😱 Sounds way better than “Pestbuda”.
I also learned that its country, Hungary, struggled a lot with its independence. They went through many kingdoms and empires governing them until they became a Soviet state in 1949. In 1989, they finally became their own country.
The three days we spent in Budapest were filled with visits to Fisherman’s Bastion, a tour around the luxurious parliament building, visiting St. Stephen’s Basilica, and cruising down the Danube River at night. We also randomly encountered a pop divas exhibit featuring Rihanna’s most fabulous stage outfits, learned about Count Dracula’s origins in the country, and stuffed our faces with warm, golden, flaky strudels.
Click through to see Strudels, the Parliament, Basilica and Family pic at Bastion
The country’s history was also fraught by the struggles of World War 2 and living under Communist rule. Budapest paid tribute to its Jewish history by implementing tiles around the city with the Nazi victims' names who were taken to the concentration camps. A memorial was also displayed along the Danube River with shoes from Jewish Hungarians killed by the Arrow Cross Party.
There are many things to do in Budapest! You can look at your time there as a “Choose Your Own Adventure”. You could learn more about the struggles of living under soviet rule by visiting the House of Terror or do what my dad did– skip the dark history, and pamper yourself with some self-care in the country’s famous thermal baths. Or, strike a balance and do it all!
Prague
After a brief roadtrip through Slovakia, we made it to Prague, Czech Republic! Prague felt like walking through a postcard. It had intimidatingly beautiful gothic architecture, dollhouse-like buildings situated along cobblestone streets, and the panoramic Charles Bridge sprawled across the sparkling Vltava River. The city seemed so charming and magical. The Prague Castle even reminded me of Hogwarts on the outside!
After walking for hours sightseeing, we indulged in Czech beers at a few medieval breweries in Prague. And if you can’t decide whether you want to drink up at a brewery or completely relax, you can treat yourself to a beer spa (yes it’s real, and no, we did not have the pleasure to experience it).
A few of the sights around Prague
Other things that we experienced and enjoyed:
Sipping on some tea and coffee on a balcony at a bookstore cafe
Franz Kafka Statue (if you weren’t forced to read “Metamorphosis” in school, I doubt you know who this is)
John Lennon Wall. Filled with The Beatles lyrics, it started as an expression to protest against Communist rule in Czechoslovakia and advocate for social change.
This detailed, Astronomical Clock carved with the Twelve Apostles and surrounded by the 12 zodiac signs
Walking into a Gin brewery and meeting a young European man who was asking us so many questions about why America is the way that it is (all valid questions though).
Of course, I can't forget to mention how we enjoyed our clubbing experience in Prague. We danced until 3 am at a 80s/90s music video party and grabbed burritos on the way home. And speaking of, all the Mexican food tasted AMAZING. Surprisingly better than what I’ve had in the States. 🙊
But the best part of this trip was internationally traveling with my family again after a long time! With Sue and Aditya in a new time zone every other week and me moving up the coast to a different state, I couldn’t help but feel like Phineas and Ferb when we all finally reunited. We had so much fun sharing new experiences and laughing a ton together. My mom, being the supermom that she is, cured our homesickness by bringing ingredients from home to cook traditional Indian dishes like tamarind rice, daal, and upma. While I am thankful for the privilege to travel, I am filled with even more gratitude for being surrounded by my family’s warmth.
Now, before this post gets too sappy, I will end it with a takeaway about Europe vs USA and a few fun facts about the two cities. In comparison to the USA, Europe tends to be more community-oriented, practice more conscious manufacturing with food and drugs, and enjoy a slower-paced lifestyle where they work to live.
Budapest:
Prince Vlad’s (as you may know as Count Dracula) origin story is based in the old Hungarian region called Transylvania. Legend has it that he experienced strange symptoms due to suffering from rabies after being bit by a bat which made him become a vampire!
Budapest’s stock exchange building was turned into a film institute and many films have since been filmed there. Production favors it for its cheaper taxes, and it is also depicted as a quintessential European city in Hollywood movies.
Hungary is the 2nd hardest language after Mandarin. Hollywood movies would use the Hungarian language as the language of aliens.
The Japanese language is similar to Hungarian where they say the surname first and then what they address the person as next.
Prague:
10 million people speak Czech. 1 million of those live in Prague.
All the Gothic architecture was ordered from Charles the 4th, an important figure in the Holy Roman Empire and the King of Bohemia.
Becherovka, an herbal and bitter liquor from Prague that’s good for stomach ailments, meant to help digestion and aches. How often can you say “A shot a day keeps the doctor away”?!
Prague and Budapest are both cities bisected by a river!
Comments