I spent another year in Lithuania doing dissertation research. Visit my 2010-2011 blog to read about the next round of my adventures in dissertation research and more!
Dear Readers,
I have been back in Seattle for three weeks and the time has come to end my blog on life in Lithuania in 2009. I want to thank all of you who have read this blog over the last nine months — the daily readers, the periodic visitors and the random hits. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing it and I believe that doing so helped me to enjoy my time in Lithuania much more than I would have without it. I was more aware of my surroundings, opportunities and experiences as a result of blogging. Writing the daily posts pushed me to articulate my experiences and reflect on them, as well as simply serving as a record of my life in Lithuania. I participated in activities and tried new things just because I thought they might make an interesting blog post — and had lots of fun in the process. I made new friends through my blog and included old friends in my life from afar. I especially appreciate all the comments I received through the comments section, emails and in person from readers who encouraged me to keep writing. One day I might return to the blogosphere, but for the next nine months at least my daily writing will be of the academic variety as I work on my dissertation. Hopefully in a few years you will all get to read my book on Romas Kalanta and Lithuania in 1972.
I won’t say farewell, but iki pasimatymo (until we meet again).
Amanda
My friend was disappointed that the Town Hall was closed for renovations, but she did point out a few interesting details.
The facade of Town Hall has been renovated to show four styles of architecture. However, I can't identify them for you!
These old pieces of iron on the wall by the entrance to the courtyard designated the allowed lengths for daggers (left) and swords (right).
Legend says that a corrupt official in Bratislava’s town hall refused to help a widow in distress. He denied that he could provide help by saying, “may the devil take me away if I am lying.” Well, the devil showed up and carried him off! The official tried to grabbed hold of the wall to protect himself — he was unsuccessful but his image appeared on the wall (to the right of the window) as a warning to future officials of the dangers of corruption.
I spent the last day of my trip in Bratislava visiting a friend from many years ago with whom I recently reconnected. In 1994, I visited her shortly after she moved to Bratislava and this visit came just months before she returns to the United States. I once had a roommate who referred to her “instant-tea friends” — just add water and what seems dried out becomes full-strength. This visit definitely demonstrated that we are instant tea friends. We spent most of our time catching up on the past 10 years. But we did manage to squeeze in a bit of sightseeing.
The tower behind me is part of the only remaining gate from the old city wall.
Souvenir stalls and a church on the main square.
I love how the man in this billboard looks like he is peering over the old city wall.
Here are a few more photos from Hungary that I really liked but didn’t fit any particular theme…
This shop selling tourist souvenirs -including many varieties of paprika - was covered in dried peppers
A stream in the town of Eger
A close-up of the iron gate at the Pannonholma Monastery.
The city of Budapest actually started as two cities, Buda and Pest, located across from each other on the Danube River. Buda Castle sits high on a hill, providing great views of both sides of the city. The castle now houses the Budapest History Museum (which we didn’t go into). We did walk along the top of the hill to St. Matthias Church (unfortunately closed for renovations) and the Fisherman’s Bastion — where we sat in a cafe and listed to a group of musicians playing gypsy music.
Buda Castle viewed from the Pest side of the city.
Lions guard this bridge, built in 1820, across the Danube River.
The tiled roof of St. Matthias Church
Fisherman's Bastion
In 1994, while visiting a friend who lives in Bratislava, we drove for Budapest for a day. On that trip, we drove around the city and my friend pointed out various interesting buildings and sites. The only place we stopped was at Buda Castle on a hill overlooking the city. Ever since that day, I have wanted to return to see more of the city — and was looking forward to doing so on this trip. However, we ended up spending very little time in Budapest. In fact, the only place I went was Buda Castle! We did plan to go to the Parliament building, but arrived just after the morning English-language tour and weren’t able to return for the afternoon tour.
I enjoyed this trip to Hungary because I was able to get out of the capital and see so many places out in the countryside. By staying with a family, I was able to see a side of Hungary most tourists don’t get to see. So I don’t regret that I still haven’t seen much of Budapest. After all, it gives me a reason to go back to Budapest again!
The Danube River flowing through Budapest
The Parliament building viewed from across the river.
I am once again interrupting my Habsburg travels to give you an update of what’s happening here in Seattle. Yesterday marked the first full day of the next stage of my academic career. It was the first day of class — and my first day as a teaching assistant. In the afternoon, I met with my dissertation adviser to develop a plan for starting to work my way through all the materials I collected in Lithuania and, most importantly, to start writing my dissertation.
I am excited about this new stage and looking forward to teaching and writing over the next nine months. But I am also already thinking about returning to Lithuania. One of my major projects for this month is to submit funding applications for next year, including a few fellowships that would enable be to go back to Lithuania. It will be a busy month as I dive into life as a teaching assistant and dissertator (yes, that is a real word!) and beginning planning for the next, next stage!
There are several more posts about my trip — keep reading through the weekend to find out more about my adventures in Hungary…
On my last full day in Hungary, we visited Pannonhalma, the oldest Benedictine monastery in Hungary. The monastery was founded in 996, over 1000 years ago. The abbey, built in 1486, is in the late Romaneque/early Gothic style. I much prefer the simplicity and soaring arches of this style to the elaborate sculptures and frou-frou of Baroque churches. We took an English-language tour of the monastery, then a Hungarian language tour of the monastery’s winery in the afternoon. After evening prayer, sung by the monks, we got a behind the scenes tour with my friend’s cousin who attended school there. Fifty monks still live at the monastery so of course their quarters were off limits, but we did get to see the boarding school classrooms and gym and the monk’s dining room (which is in a Baroque hall).
The abbey (main church) in the Pannonholma Monastery
Looking up at the arches and frescoes on the abbey's ceiling
Arches along the interior wall of the abbey
The monastery's library with a Baroque dome.
We spent two nights and one day in the Hungarian countryside visiting my friend’s uncle and aunt and another cousin. Once more I was fed amazingly delicious Hungarian food. Two Hungarian words that I quickly learned were finom (excellent, pronounced like “phenom”) and eleg (enough)! In the morning, we relaxed in the sunroom and I looked through a coffee table book with beautiful photographs of Hungary. In the afternoon, we went to a nearby hot springs spa. This one was part of a resort and had a variety of small and large pools with different temperatures of water and different levels of minerals in the water. It also had an echo pool, an aromatic pool, a diving pool and a water slide. I felt a kid playing in a water park! We even had a beer sauna — the beer was poured on the hot rocks, we didn’t get to drink it. In the evening, we visited a local wine cellar. Several regions in Hungary produce wine and there are small and large wineries every where. The wine cellar was actually closed on Monday but the owner left a key with my friend’s cousin and left out six bottles of wine for us to taste. We also got to see the production facility, which has a real cellar.
The outdoor pools at the hot springs spa. The white pile on the hill is salt that has been removed from the water.
After the spa, we had dessert at a cafe in Eger. Cake soaked in rum and covered with chocolate sauce and whipped cream.
The actual cellar at the wine cellar with casks of wine.
Different varieties of wine grapes
Amanda in Lithuania 2009 