Malta, part 2

It was nice to visit Malta again, this trip I had much more time to site see, (mostly) better weather, I found the Maltese falcon, and had a very pleasent ride home in a police car! After dinner one night, I decided to call it an early evening while the rest of my work friends stayed out, but no taxis were arriving at the stop, which was conveniently located right next to a remote police station. When I asked the officers there if they had a number I could call they kindly offered me a ride instead. It was all very funny, I was jut sorry none of my work colleagues were at the hotel to see me arrive…ooh, the story I would have given!
In my free time from work, I visited the National Museum of Archaeology and was quite intrigued by the pre-historic art, which was mainly phallic shaped or portraying a very shapely female form. The most interesting piece on exhibit was the Sleeping Lady. It’s believed to represent death or eternal sleep. It is no bigger than the palm of your hand, but it dates back as far as 3000 B.C.!
On the other free day, my friend Charles and I took a site seeing bus tour around the island. I was surprised by just how many different, interesting areas there were to explore. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to make many stops, but we did manage time for a cozy lunch in the medieval, walled city of Mdina, which comes from the Arabic word for fortified place. Today it is known as the silent city, but it was once the capital of the country due to it’s strategic position at the highest point of the island and the farthest from the sea. Eventually, as trading and thus the need to be closer to the sea grew in importance, the capital was officially moved to Valletta and everyone moved out of pretty Mdina...hence the silent city. Now it is a tourist destination, probably really incredible in the summer time when all the shops and restaurants are open, but not so much on a chilly, rainy, and generally nasty winter day! Although the weather wasn’t very cooperative, we did enjoy our very short time there. We shopped for Mdina glass and had some tasty pizza and chocolate cake at the lovely Fontanella Tea Garden café, positioned inside the city walls with amazing views over the countryside.
The more I come back to Malta, the more I like it – I just hope next time I will have the good fortune to visit in the summertime!

Sweden for the New Year

I didn’t have to work over the New Year’s holiday so my friend from work, Rixt, and I decided to take advantage of the long weekend and check out Stockholm since neither of us had ever been but had heard plenty of good things.
It was just as we imagined, really, really cold!, but also very beautiful and clean. Our hotel was just at the end of the main shopping street so we spent our first day basically strolling around and checking out the quaint souvenir shops, restaurants, and various other boutiques throughout the winding, cobbled stone streets of Gamla Stan (old town) area. Stockholm is built on 14 islands so there were amazing waterfront views basically everywhere you looked. It took quite a while to walk the 3 km because we literally had to stop every 30 minutes at some of the thousands of coffee shops around the city to warm up!
The first night we discovered the world’s largest Christmas tree and had a very authentic dinner of Swedish meatballs, the best ever!, at the Pelikan, a 100 year old beer hall.
On New Year’s Eve we went to the Vasa museum, an indoor exhibit of the world’s oldest war ship that sunk on her maiden voyage in 1628! The ship was entirely intact and completely restored after its rescue from the bottom of the ocean in 1961, 333 years later. After a few hours of gazing at this amazing piece of history, we ventured on to Skansen, displaying actual period homes, churches, barns, windmills, etc. from various regions of Sweden and the indigenous wildlife to the country such as moose and reindeers….what could be more festive?
NYE night, we tried in vein to find a nice restaurant for dinner in old town, but as we had no booking we were reduced to an extremely dodging Mongolian bbq, but it accomplished our need for nourishment before ringing in 2009 with the Disney On Ice crew that was in town. Although their hotel party was quite a trek from the city centre, we had the best views of the most spectacular fireworks display I’ve ever witnessed – the entire Stockholm skyline was ablaze for no less than 30 consecutive minutes.
Since pretty much everything in Stockholm was closed on New Year’s Day, we took an excursion to, what we expected would be the sleepy town of, Stigtomta. To our delight, we found that the city had a massive lake where tons of people were spending the day ice skating. It was incredible watching people skating off as far as the eye could see. Of course all of the cute shops in the very quaint village were closed for the holiday, but the trip was well worth it just to see how Swedes enjoy a typical day of winter recreation.
I class the first visit to Sweden as a major success and the ringing in of ’09 as possibly the most pleasant I’ve ever had!

A Budapest Christmas

For the first time in my life, I spent Christmas apart from my parents. Although it was difficult to be working on the biggest family day of the year, I could imagine far worse situations to be in. I was fortunate enough to be with a terrific group of colleagues & friends and in the lovely city of Budapest no less!
There was a bit more leisure time this trip and I wisely spent it shopping! My friend Paddy was in need of some last minute presents so we spent the first night at the Westend City Centre mall. Nothing says holiday spirit like some frantic retail chaos… the Hungarians gave it their best, but I fear that nowhere else in the world is as materialistic around the holidays as Americans!
Our show opened Christmas Eve morning and much to our delight we found that the Christmas angels had worked hard through the night to bring us a decorated tree with not so good, but very traditional chocolate Christmas sweets on and under it (Hungarian tradition is that the kids go to sleep and awake to the tree from the angels in the morning).
The afternoon and evening were ours to enjoy so I walked to the Christmas market at Vörösmarty Square to have a look at the local crafts and foods. I was thoroughly impressed with the offerings, which were by far the best of any of the markets I had been to this season. My timing was unfortunate since everything was just about to close, but I had some time to enjoy the festivity and just as I arrived the flurries started, which really lifted my already holly-jolly spirits.
I spent Christmas Eve night with my work friends at the Marriott Hotel overlooking the Danube river and a beautiful view of Budapest castle. Of course nothing will ever compare to being home with loved ones on Christmas, but my Budapest Christmas wasn’t such a bad alternatives all things considered!

Prague, Czech Republic

Having the opportunity to visit this “gem of Eastern Europe” again was very exciting since my first trip was far too quick and long ago!
Almost as soon as I landed, I immediately remembered the funky, cool vibe I experienced during my first visit. This feeling can only be described as uniquely Czech…an old man horn band with giant flowers in their hats, an almost-comical looking nativity scene with oversized doll-like depiction of the holy family, or my personal favorite, the mechanical “Peeing Man” statues.
What I missed the first time around (because clearly my eyes were closed), was the overwhelming romanticism of this city. The gothic architecture blanketed in a mystical yet cozy fog with street car style trams and the Prague castle overlooking everything from the banks of the Vltava river gave an unmistakable feel of being right in the middle of a 1950s European spy movie.
Sadly work took up most of my time but I did have a chance to stroll along the Charles bridge and admire the dozens of incredible 18th century statues that line the sides. And although I’m still waiting for the payoff, I got in a good luck touch on the John of Nepomuk statue, the national saint of the Czech Republic who was thrown off that bridge for not revealing the queen’s confessions. Afterwards I walked over to have a look at the medieval astronomical clock, then on to the Old Town Square to check out, and by check out I mean eat my way around, the Christmas Market. Although there were many sweets to be had, the real treat of the market was the festive dancing we saw performed by some Czech teens in traditional costume.
My only complaint about this trip to Prague was that it was not long enough, but I will be back in the spring so I have a lot more exploring to look forward to!

Kosice, Slovakia

My first impression of Kosice was not very positive; the movie The Shining comes to mind when I think of how eerily quiet my hotel was both inside and out. I was immediately depressed thinking of spending the next three nights there, but
I willed myself to get a good nights sleep and give the place another shot in the morning. Things got off to a better start when I learned that I was actually just a short walk away from the centre and continued to improve when I actually started seeing how cute, quaint, and charming the city is. Although Kosice (pronounced Ko- Sheet- Say) is the second biggest city in Slovakia, the lack of major roadways, the gothic architecture, and general coziness of shops & restaurants – many in hidden alleyways and below street level in almost cave-like atmospheres – very much provided a village-type feel. I was especially excited to find a very festive Christmas market on the pedestrian road behind the Cathedral of St. Elizabeth (which might just be the first cathedral I've found named after a female saint!).
This Christmas Market had some local crafts, but was heavily focused on grilled meats, mulled-wine, and sweets. I was very tempted to try it all, especially the glu-wyn, but as I was on the clock I had to content myself with some puff-dough balls with powdered sugar and chocolate sauce instead.

A Pennsylvania Thanksmas

Since I would not be coming home for Christmas this year, my family and I decided to use my Thanksgiving trip to create a hybrid holiday were we decorated the tree while watching the Macy’s parade, exchanged presents over our turkey dinners, and made yet another attempt at creating the perfect gingerbread house (third time really is a charm!) over pumpkin pie. It’s quite amazing how stress-free and enjoyable the holiday season can be when you have already bought and distributed your gifts a month before Christmas Day! All things considered, the first ever Suponcic Thanksmas turned out to be a great holiday, although it could have only been better if my brother was able to get home for it and – as is always the case – I had just a little more time to spend with family and friends.

Athens

I had been to Greece a few years ago on an island hopping vacation, but I was very excited to go back and finally visit the most famous tourist site in Athens that I had neglected to see on my first trip – the Acropolis, which I learned actually means “city on the edge.” For purposes of defense, ancient civilizations built the nucleus of their cities, the citadel, on higher ground hence the steep hike you have to take to see the iconic image everyone thinks of when you say “acropolis” -- the Parthenon, a temple to the Greek goddess Athena.
My hotel wasn’t too far and the weather was a very mild 65 degrees, so I walked there. On the way I saw many areas that I remembered exploring on my first visit, and I was immediately struck by how much slower the pace was without the tourist influx. The Acropolis complex was virtually empty by the time I got there so I was really able to take my time and look around at my leisure. On the way up to the Parthenon there are all sorts of ruins of old theaters, sculptures, cathedrals, etc. to look at, but of course none of that was anything compared to the temple itself. The view alone was magnificent but combined with the realization that I was standing in the same spot, and looking at the same structures, as ancient - as in 5 B.C. anciet - Grecians it was really something to behold.
This time around I felt I also got to see the true Athenian personality, and I have to say it wasn’t very welcoming! People were not as warm, friendly, or helpful as I remembered – everyone from the hotel staff to restaurant waiters had an air of no-nonsense abruptness about them. I guess the Athenian hospitality goes on hibernation for the winter.
The first night in town, we went out to fantastic Italian (go figure!) dinner with our local partners. Between wrapping up the day’s work and the horrendous Athens traffic it was already 10pm by the time we sat down to our meals. Apparently this was not uncommon for a regular Wednesday night because all throughout our meal people, some even with small children, were just being seated. Some were only getting their meals as we were enjoying our ouzo at midnight!
There is no doubt that Greece is definitely one of the more unique countries in Europe.