More from Vienna

I don't know who this guy is or what his story is, maybe there is a perfectly good explanation for what he is doing in all of these statues, but if I see him I'm staying away!

Nice slow back swing, keep your eye on the ball!

Vienna - Budapest on Steroids

Podersdorf was not the first Austrian city we've visited, that honor went to Vienna.  It kind of reminds us of Budapest, which I guess makes sense due to the close proximity and the Austro-Hungarian empire and all that. The city seems larger an more grand, Budapest on steroids was my first thought.  It's a cool city and on that we will have to come back to, and it even has good Indian food!

Motzart

Podersdorf Austria

Monday was a national holiday in Hungary so we decided to head out of town for the long weekend because most things are closed during national holidays here.  It was kind of a last minute thing so we were looking for something close and good old Google came through for us in the form of Podersdorf, Austria. We didn't really know what to expect that it is about a 2 hour drive just over the Hungarian border on lake Neusiedl.  What we got was a truly pleasant surprise. It was a very cool little town. It felt more like a beach town then I'd ever felt at a lake before.  Our hotel could not have been any closer to the lake.  We were able to rent a couple of chairs and an umbrella and relax on the beach all day.  They hold an annual triathlon there at the end of august so maybe I'll be back for that although not having a bike here could be a bit problematic!  In any case I think we will be back, it was a great little get away that had us feeling like we were worlds away even though it was less than a two hour drive away.

Eger Hungary - Where wine is cheaper than water

We took a day trip out to Eger.  It's a city in Hungary that is famous for it's wines, especially the Bikaver or "Bulls Blood".  Since we were going to do some wine tasting and they have we took the two hour train from Budapest.  We arrived in the city which was a pretty little city, grabbed some lunch and then took a little "trolley" to Szépasszonyvölgy or the "Valley of Beautiful Women". 

All aboard the wine express!

 I'm not exactly sure where that name came from, a more accurate description might be the Valley of wine cellars. Side by side built into the hills are little wine cellars where you can go in and taste wines from all of the different wine makers.  The tasting pours were very generous and generally cost less than a glass of water would. 

 

 Of course you can buy some wine to take home, but why buy a glass bottle when you can get them in plastic bottles in sizes anywhere from 1 to 5 liters!  It felt kind of strange buying a two liter of wine at first but then I got to thinking I'd rather the weight I was carrying be from the wine than the glass bottle.  Plus what we got was around $10 US or less anyway.

So after grabbing some two liters for the road is was back to Budapest via the train.  Eger was very fun, the wine cellars were very cool and we will be back to stock up at some point. 

Extra! Extra! Read all about it

Yes I know, totally lame title but today was the day I was an extra on the set of Die Hard 5, A Good Day to Die Hard.

I guess I should probably start at the beginning in case you haven't been paying attention.  About two weeks ago there was a casting call that went out through the embassy that I answered and I had a fitting about 10 days ago.  They asked that I bring a couple of outfits that I would wear if I was traveling in the spring/summer so I headed out to a movie studio on the outskirts of Budapest with some cargo pants, polo shirts short, sneakers and sandals.  The fitting was at studio 21 and on the way there I passed vehicles and other props that were being used in the movie.  Studio 21 was basically a warehouse full of clothes and accessories.  I was one of the first couple to arrive and almost got put into a pilot's outfit (Oh, by the way the scene is a New York City Airport.  Yes, that's right Budapest is doubling as Russia and NYC, a very versatile city!) but one of the Assistant Directors said why don't we just make them passengers then we might be able to use them again in a later scene when we want real Americans.  So I tried on some of my clothes and they ended up using only my pants and putting me in a white T shirt, with a zip up hoodie, and green jacket and baseball hat.  The attention to detail and the amount of effort that went into a fitting people that are hardly going to be noticed  was crazy, an AD was there, costume designer and a bunch of other people running around helping making sure everything is just right.

Catering/dining

Make up/Dressing Area

Fast forward to today and we have to be at the Airport at 4:30 am! The Budapest airport had two terminals but because the national airline went bankrupt we  met at the one that was closed. The terminal was now set up with a make up area, dressing area, catering area and whatever else they need. After putting on my "costume" they told to go over to make up but was turned away as  I was told I was perfect as is.  My Mom has always said that but I never believed her! From there it was breakfast time.  They has pastries, bacon, eggs, cereal, a woman squeezing fresh juice, it was great.  It was a little odd, though because only Americans or people associated with the embassy or the movie were in this area, the rest of the extras were elsewhere.

La Guardia Airport, Budapest Style!

 After breakfast and a lot of sitting aroundit was off to Terminal 2, the active terminal for the shoot. The scene is supposed to be taking place in La Guardia Airport and consisted of a lot of standing around and then a little flurry of activity, kind of like really going to the airport.  The weather here has been really hot so I'm glad that it was early especially considering what they had me wearing.  I wasn't very close to Bruce Willis but supposedly for at least a few of the takes I was in frame but not in focus so I'll know me when I see the movie if those shots are used.  For other shots I was just kind of walking around.  It was a really cool experience and very interesting to see how movies are made. After seeing the man hours, attention to detail and everything that was involved in this scene, I don't think I will complain too much about the price of a movie ticket anymore.   In between takes the AD that I had spoken with before again mentioned another scene that I might be able to be in, so fingers crossed I'll be back on set again! better dressed I hope.

Going to the movies

We are going to go check out the Dark Knight Rises this weekend, but of course being in a foreign country this comes with it's own challenges.

1. First of course is the translation, thankfully the picture kind of gives it away.  
2. Second, you have to go to the theater playing the correct version.  There is Original, Hungarian, Dubbed an subtitled.  Original is the best because it is in the original language with no subtitles, subtitles is also in the original language but the subtitles can be annoying although maybe not so bad for picking up some Hungarian words. 
3. The third thing you have to do when you go to the movies here is look at the ticket, there are ASSIGNED SEATS!  We learned that the hard way the first time we went to the movies.  So embarrassing and of course because there are assigned seats people come strolling in during the previews since they don't need to find seats.  Previews, by the way, are mostly dubbed so those are no so much fun here.

McDonald's

Of course McDonalds's are everywhere and Budapest is no exception. There are a couple of note here as well.  The one pictured above opened in 1988 and is the first Mcdonald's opened behind the Iron Curtain.  The one pictured below with seating for 250 people is located in a building that was built in the late 1800s by Gustave Eiffel, the Eiffel that built the tower in Paris.

Olympics

So the clock on the British Embassy struck zero and that meant: Game On!  It's a different experience watching the Olympics abroad but it's been pretty good.  Obviously we do not get the US network coverage but with out cable package we do get the Hungarian coverage as well as Eurosport so we do get to watch an awful lot plus we are more or less on the same time zone (one hour off).   The Eurosport coverage is not specific to one country so they try to show many different things which is good and bad.  I think they were showing synchronized diving which is good but it was during the first two rotations of men's gymnastics so we missed the US Men stumbling all over themselves which I guess was not so bad to miss.

On the local channel they focus on whatever event Hungarians are competing in, they tend to be good at the water sports it seems.  All the restaurants have the Olympic on and they've set up a big screen in Szabadság Ter with food and drink for people to watch.  They did the same thing during the Euro 2012 soccer tournament, it is a really good time.