We flew from Budapest to Barcelona return on Hungary’s discount airline Wizz Air. I think the name was meant to conjure images of speed but I can’t help thinking of urination when I hear it. With the bankruptcy of Malev Hungarian Airlines in February 2012 (after 66 years of continuous Continue Reading
Climbing in Montserrat
We took a short break from our travels to meet up with our friend Lee who was in Barcelona, Spain on business. We left the S&M Motel safe and secure in a campground in Budapest, Hungary and arranged for a taxi to pick us up there at 3 AM in Continue Reading
Impressions of Hungary
The Hungarian language is very different from those of its neighbouring countries which speak Slavic languages. Hungarian is more closely related to Estonian and Finnish which share a common history from when the Huns invaded the region in around 500 CE. The Kingdom of Hungary existed for 950 years before Continue Reading
Impressions of Slovakia
We passed though Slovakia for our 2nd time. We were here last October briefly, visiting Bratislava for 1 day only. Thankfully we had more time and better weather this visit. Here are some of the things I found interesting… Slovakia is a narrow, landlocked country in Central Europe. It is Continue Reading
Vignette Regret
Today, you get a $60 blog posting. Others may give you a $20 posting, or perhaps even a $30 posting, but I give you a full $60 posting. I’m willing to suffer for my art. How can I be sure what it’s worth? Read on. We were camped at the Continue Reading
Down to our Last Złoty
Many countries in Europe are part of the Eurozone, a monetary union of 17 European Union (EU) member states (a subset of the total number of 27) that have adopted the Euro as their sole legal currency. Some members of the EU are not members of the Eurozone, including several Continue Reading
Auschwitz III
This is the last of 3 related postings regarding Auschwitz. The first post is available here and the second here. The last selection took place on October 30, 1944. In September Heinrich Himmler, Reichsführer of the SS, ordered the crematoria destroyed before the advancing Soviet Army reached the camp. The gas Continue Reading
Auschwitz II–Birkenau
This is the 2nd of 3 related postings regarding Auschwitz. The first post is available here. As many as 1 million Jews had already been murdered by the Nazis when they made the decision, in January 1942, to systematically kill all the Jews of Europe. This was described by Hitler as the Continue Reading
Auschwitz
This is the first of 3 related postings about Auschwitz. The second post focuses on Auschwitz II-Birkenau, and the last post on my experience visiting the memorial. Auschwitz was established as a concentration camp, a place where criminals, political prisoners, academics, dissidents, prisoners of war, Jews, Roma (gypsies), homosexuals, and Continue Reading
Impressions of Poland
After crossing Germany, we spent time in the south of Poland, visiting a variety of places and driving almost the full width of the country. Here are some of the things about Poland that I think are interesting: The Republic of Poland is the largest of the previously communist countries Continue Reading