The Contreras Invasion of Innsbruck

Camarillo's finest, George and Laurie Contreras at Innsbruck's Aldstadt.

Spring is in the air here in Innsbruck, and along with the warmer temperatures comes some of our first visitors.  We were so excited on Wednesday to welcome our good friends George and Laurie Contreras into town for two days.  As most of you remember, George is the Head Coach and defensive coordinator of the Catania Elephants, the team I played for in Sicily last season.  We lived with George for six months at "Malibu" (our seaside condo down in Aci Castello, Italy) and made an incredible amount of memories with him and Laurie last season.  The Elephants are on their bye week over Easter, so they took their week off and headed north to explore Bavaria and Tirol, dropping in on us to see what all the fuss was about in Raider country. 

I've created a monster!  After 6 months of taking photos with George, my apprentice is now a photo-taking machine... capturing every moment until his 1 GB card is full!

After visiting Munich, Rothenburg, and the Romantic Road in Germany, Casa Contreras headed south, passing by Neushwanstein Castle and eventually into Innsbruck late on Wednesday.  They caught the tail end of our practice, and then we headed into the city center for a late dinner.  First stop - authentic Tirolean cuisine!  (Not that they hadn't already had their fill of meat and potatoes!)

A traditional Tirolean meal with Goulash Soup, Kraut, and Sausage.

For their second day in Innsbruck, we wanted to give our friends a taste of some of the different aspects of Tirol.  First we showed George and Laurie the Old Town, then took a trip to the top of the Alps at Axamer-Lizum, and visited the nearby town of Hall in Tirol.  It was a busy but very fun day of Alpine Immersion!

George and I went the top of the tower in the old town for a panoramic 360 degree view.  

Looking down on the many patios of the Old Town.

George strikes the pose in front of the Golden Roof, Innsbruck's top attraction, and the towering mountains.

Innsbruck has come alive with the warm weather, as people (mostly tourists) pack the Old Town.

For lunch we headed up to Innsbruck's signature ski resort, Axamer-Lizum.  This was the site of the 1964 and 1976 Olympic Ski competition, and now has an incredible restaurant at the top (incredible for the view more than the food.)  It was perfect weather with blue skies and warm sun, or as Christie likes to say, "Heaven."

It's Spring so Love is in the air...

Matt was absolutely loving the views... and fighting off the pain of not skiing!

Contentment.

Each visit to the top is incredible.

Perfect place for sun-tanning?

Mountain-top explorers.

JUMP TIME!

For our final destination, we headed to the neighboring village of Hall in Tirol.  It actually has a larger Old Town than Innsbruck, and is filled with small cobblestone streets, large churches, and plenty of atmosphere.  We grabbed a quick cappuccino on a patio and soaked it all in.  I think overall George and Laurie were very impressed with our fine little region!  

Hall in Tirol.

What says Austria more than red and white shutters!

As George and Laurie head back to Catania, I wish them and the Elephants nothing but success for the rest of the season.  Thanks for visiting Casa Contreras!!!

Also, George has an incredibly thorough and witty blog about his time in Sicily - PLEASE check it out at: coachingforpizza.blogspot.com.

~ J. Twice

A day on the "Pest" Side

The large statues of Heroes Park tell the story of Hungarian Heroes.  At the top of the pillar is the archangel Gabriel bringing a crown to St. Stephen, who brought Christianity to the region around the year 1000.

Day two of our Budapest adventure involved a whirlwind adventure through the PEST side of the city.  It was far different from the Buda side - much more flat, much more commercial, and far more vast.  As opposed to Prague, where all the important sites are within walking distance, here we were going to have to rely on buses, trams, metro lines, and most often, are feet.  Let's get to it!

I think these horses inspired the Lord of the Rings.

The thing you need to understand about Budapest is the number 96... as in 1896.  This was the year of Hungary's millennium anniversary bash, which prompted the ruling Hapsburgs to commission literally every important site in the city.  Our first stop was the massive Heroes park, built in (you guessed it) 1896.  It houses a large square, a number of museums, the city zoo, restaurants, and a famous Turkish bath.  The statues in the park depict all the Hungarian Heroes, and present a very "tough guy" image. 

Walking through the Hungarian history museum.

The exterior of the Szenchenyi baths, one of Europe's largest public bathing facilities.

Deep within the park is the Szenchenyi baths.  These are probably the city's most popular set of outdoor thermal pools, and after looking inside, we wished we had gone here instead of Gellert.  Old men stand around playing chess, and others simply lounge like they are penguins.  Definitely interesting people watching here!

The baths at Szechenyi.

Jumping on Europe's first metro system, built only 10 feet underground, we caught a tram down Pest's grandest boulevard, the "Andrassy Ut" to the center of pest.  Along the boulevard you can find modern shopping (Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Apple Store), the Opera House, and the TERROR Museum.  This museum depicts the Nazi and Communist oppression.  We were really hoping to go inside but it was closed on Mondays.  This boulevard also is home to the famous Opera house, which is in the "Big Three" of Opera Houses (with of course Vienna and Milan).

The Terror Museum.  The outlined words are supposed to depict the oppression that reigned down on the people of Hungary for over 40 years.

Catania-esque buildings.

The St. Stephen's Basilica is the centerpiece of the "Neo-Baroque" part of the city.  It has a beautiful interior and boasts one very interesting artifact - the actual mummified hand of Saint Stephen!

Interior of St. Stephen's.

A cool cross.

THE HAND!!!  Only 2 Euro will light it up for a minute... wow... (sarcastic)

Clean boulevards lead away from St. Stephen's.  This is the best part of Pest.

These statues depict the Communist ideal for their people: the dutiful worker, the obedient child, the home-making wife.  It must have been fun being told to be a robot.

The smiling face of American capitalism.

It's good that we can make fun of the KGB and Lenin.

Christie looking über-Euro in her black tights,  

Is there a better ending to our time in Budapest than a night walk through Heroes Park.

~ J. Twice

BUDA (Pest can wait)

The Parliament building in Pest was modeled exactly after the one in the UK, down to its exact riverfront location.

Around noon on Sunday our train pulled into our final destination, the Hungarian capital of Budapest.  At first glance the city was much larger than I anticipated, with a population of 1.9 million people.  It has been advertised as a similar destination as Prague, with an entrepreneurial spirit modernizing the city after its destruction in World War II, the Soviet invasion, and 40 years of communist rule.  What we found is that even though it freed itself from Communism 20 years ago, the city and the people itself are still struggling to come out from under that burden.  Let's just say that even though it gets 20 million visitors, upon arrival at the train station we knew we 'weren't in Kansas anymore.' 

Few people in the West realize that Budapest is actually composed of two cities separated by the Danube - BUDA and PEST.  They were officially combined in 1873.  Hilly Buda occupies the west side of the river with its characteristic old town and large buildings. Cosmopolitan Pest (pronounced by locals as 'Pesht') stretches out on the east side and offers are more urban experience.  With two days in the city, we decided to split our time evenly between the two separate districts, with Buda winning the flip for the first day.  

Crossing the Danube to head from Pest to Buda. 

Young love.

Our first stop was the Gellert Baths, one of the many luxurious "Turkish Style" public bath-houses in the city.  They were built between 1912 and 1918, although the use of the thermal baths on this spot had been used since the Middle Ages.  Gellert was recommended by a friend from the city, as well as being listed in the 1,000 Things to Do book, and dates a luxurious exterior with intricate marble and stone work.  I'm not sure what it is about Eastern Europeans and public bathing, but they absolutely love this stuff! (I rate our experience about a 7.5 out of 10, mainly because despite my attempts to really get into the whole thermal bath scene, all it really looked like was a glorified swimming pool.)

The Gellert Baths.

Is there any better way to wash away soreness the day after a game?

Possible Communist Torture Device #1: Carbon Acid Tub Bath.  Are they serious?

Possible Communist Torture Device #2: Hair Dryer.  (Or interrogation method?)

Swimming always kicks up an appetite, and there were a number of riverside patios back on the Pest side (with views of Buda, so it still counts) that seemed perfect.  We settled on the Jerney wine bar, although I really wanted to tell the owners that the correct spelling is with an O and U.   Margarita pizza and Caesar salad were the perfect afternoon snacks, while the local beer Sorponi was excellent.  I'm not really a beer guy, but on a hot afternoon it was, for the third time this paragraph, perfect. 

All smiles at Jerney...

Contemplating the universal debate: Taste Great or Less Filling?  Buda or Pest?

As always, dogs are encouraged!

Around dusk we crossed the Chain Bridge and headed up into the castle area of Buda.  There were the characteristic cobblestone streets and colorful buildings, although we found the caffes to be overpriced and a little touristy along the main drags.  I hate to say it, but I think we are getting spoiled with the number of places we have seen.  It was fun, although as I said at the beginning not anywhere as close to Prague for ambiance.  I think this mainly has to do with how spread out the city is - yes, there are many cool things to see but sandwiched in between are all the dreary, boring, communist-era buildings and the sore feet that come from traversing the hills. 

Old Town Buda

Orange buildings #1

Orange buildings #2

Parliament at dusk.

Although my pictures came out great from the Buda section, overall the city of Buda was a little underwhelming.  Yes, shocking for a positologist to say!  It was nice to look at, but as I said, it lacks the certain charm we were hoping to see.  We found the majority of people were not that friendly, perhaps a hold over from the many years of oppression and the tough economic times that followed.  Perhaps I would find it tomorrow in Pest?

~ J. Twice