In August 2001, we took a trip to Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Vienna, and the Czech Republic. Here is a short travel diary, some photos, and a few random thoughts/impressions from the trip. (click on any image for a larger version)

Itinerary: flew from Geneva to Bucharest, Romania. Romania (7 days), Hungary (10 days), Slovakia (2 days), Vienna (Wien) ( 3 days), Czechia (7 days), overnight train back to Geneva. 

• ridiculously pompous parliament building surrounded by dead park, trash, and men mowing the lawn with a scythe. 
• based on the cars in the streets, there is absolutely no middle class here. Cars are either old and cheap (i.e.: Lada) or brand new Mercedes, BMW, or SUV, etc.
• incredibly beautiful women, dressed like Spice Girls/hookers (very short skirts, very short shorts, very high heels, very tight everything.. you get the idea)
• beer very good and very cheap (about .60 $US for .5L bottle). Favorite beer called Ursus.
• friendly, honest people (but not overly friendly)
• very hot (about 36 °C every day)
• reminded me of Mexico in many ways
• surprisingly good level of English (everyone under 30 seemed to speak pretty well)
• very few tourists, and only saw 1 Japanese tour group the whole time. They are trying to change this: many new and remodeled hotels everywhere
• very annoying stray dogs a big problem in Bucharest (they bark ALL night)
• lots of trash bins, but still lots of trash (?!)
• polite drivers, VERY pedestrian friendly
• Bad techno music everywhere. Imagine 3 guys, all around 60, sitting in a cafe drinking beer with the stereo blaring techno. We saw this everywhere!
• In every town we were met at the train station by someone offering a room in their home, usually for $20/night. In Brashov, we stayed with a very nice guy named Eugene, and his mother. We had several very interesting conversations with Eugene about the Romania.  (Eugene Rasina, rasina1968@yahoo.com, tel: 40-092542581)
• very cool castle in Sinaia 
• lots of industrial wasteland 
• Typical costs in Romania: $1US = 27,000 lei
• internet access: 15,000 / hr (55 cents)
• beer (restaurant price) 16,000-17,000
• lodging $US 10 single, $US 20 double
• museums: 10,000 to 50,000 lei ($.30 to $2)
• meals: $2 - $3 per person

In Budapest, we were very lucky and were offered a very nice, large, 1 bedroom apartment near the center of town for about $40/night, so we decided to stay in Budapest the whole time and just make day trips to other parts of Hungary.

random impressions:

• Budapest was (and is?) trying hard to be Paris, and succeeds on some levels (nice boulevards, good cafes, good public transit), but fails on other levels (e.g.: doesn't seem to have any current artistic spark). Overall, it is very picturesque.
• Very few street performers/street artists, and what there was was not very good
• Beer still cheap, but not as good as Romania
• LOTS of people living on the street, but not begging (??) Did not see homeless anywhere else.
• No one seems to be a big hurry. Everyone walks slow, drives slow, no one walks on escalators (but maybe this is true only in August)
• The Turkish bath houses are great!
• Lots of old cars in good condition, compared to, for example Romania or Napoli, where the old cars are usually in terrible shape. Were they better made or better maintained in Hungary? Maybe they aren't as old as they look? 
• very cool opera house 
• Class pictures in store windows everywhere. What's up with that? 
• no sandwiches!?
• Budapest put all the old communist statues in a park on the edge of town 
• lots of tour buses, but not too overwhelming
• very few police (but lots of Metro police)
• Sample Costs:  $1US = 275 forint
• beer (store) 100
• beer (restaurant): 200-400
• metro ticket: 100
• lunch: 500-1000
• nice dinner: 14,000

Bratislava, Slovakia:

• very nice cafe / restaurant section in the old town that is all new (within the last 5 years) with good street art. 
• very good food (great soup)
• Costs ($1US = 45 koruna)
• beer (restaurant): 30-35 koruna
• lunch: 200 koruna
• movie: 53 koruna

Wien / Vienna:

• back to the west
• expensive again, but cheaper than I expected, (less than Germany and France)
• beautiful and ridiculously pompous buildings everywhere 
• lots of construction/renovation everywhere
• VERY white (saw very few non-whites other than Japanese tour groups)
• very safe (probably the safest city of over 1 million people outside of Asia)
• (based on lack of good bike locks, bars on windows, etc.)
• much flatter than I expected (Austria is not all mountains, besides having no kangaroos!)
• goes to sleep early (live music at clubs all stopped at 12:30)
• real skyscrapers on the edge of town (unusual for Europe to have building that tall)
• Best museum of whole trip: KunstHausWien, designed by Hundertwasser. 
• confusing tram system
• Most unhealthy meal of whole trip: roast pork hocks for 2 at the Schweizerhaus. Great atmosphere! 

Czech Republic / Prague:

• very beautiful city (river, hills, castle, etc.) Many great buildings that survived WWII. Many are pretty run down now though. 
• too many tourists and tourist crap shops, but these are concentrated in a couple areas and fairly easy to avoid 
• mediocre, overly salty food, except at expensive tourist restaurants 
• big ex-pat scene
• good music scene
• Rock-n-Roll is not dead! Heard on the stereo in random shops/restaurants: old Alice Cooper, Metallica, Lou Reed, etc.
• Best Ossuary (religious monument) I've ever seen 1 hour from Prague in Kutna Hora
• including the Schwarzenberg family symbol, a raven plucking out the eye of a Turk, done in bones! 
• Too many cafes, bars, restaurants (most were more than half empty). Watch out for high "couvert" charges in all restaurants with English on the menu.
• city is full of large Italian tour groups (Spanish too) in August
• picturesque Jewish cemetery 
• great castle in Cesky Krumlov 
• Costs ($1US = 36 korunas)
• beer (bar price): 20-50 kr ( $.55 - $1.35)
• cheap lunch: 100 ($4)
• good lunch: 250 ($7)
• good Italian dinner for 2 with wine: 1500 ($41)
• hotel: $40 (30 minutes by tram from center)

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