Budapest

Every year Katja jets off to Europe for the Thanksgiving holiday. As a vegetarian, a feast built around a large stuffing-filled bird doesn’t hold much appeal, and neither does the fact that people often spend a good part of the day watching football. Christmas markets, on the other hand, hold a lot of appeal. And, since Thanksgiving generally falls the week of the first Sunday of Advent, they begin to appear around that time. Katja usually travels to Germany or Austria; she’s lived in both countries and has lots of fond memories of the markets there. Last year, however, she decided it was time to discover some new markets, and went to Budapest instead.

Katya stayed at the beautiful Art Nouveau Gresham Palace; not only was it festively decorated for the holidays, it even had its own Christmas market. Although she was tempted to laze away much of the day in the luxury of her hotel (she was on vacation, after all), Katja didn’t want to miss any of the festive markets scattered through the city. She picked up lots of gifts, being most impressed by the numerous stalls selling lovely handmade goods, something distinguishing Budapest’s markets from the increasingly machine-made merchandise-filled markets of many other cities.

Katja devoted much of her time in the city to eating and drinking (thankfully the hotel had a good gym as she didn't fancy returning home too big to fit into her leotards). She has a sweet tooth and many Hungarian desserts include at least one of three three things she really, really loves – poppy seed, marzipan and túró - making her a very happy girl. She wandered the markets in search of sweets containing these ingredients, discovering other tasty treats like kürtőskalács along the way, and keeping warm with mugs of mulled wine.

And, when she needed a rest from waddling around the markets, it was off to the lovely Gerbeaud for coffee and exquisite cakes. But a girl cannot live on desert alone (as tempting as it is), and Katja also enjoyed dinner at restaurants including Central Café and Mátyás Pince. She sampled local cuisine,

and lots of local wine (she was happy to discover many good reds) and pálinka (apricot is her favorite).

Although it was tempting to do nothing but eat and enjoy the Christmas market merriment, Katja always like to get in a bit of culture when she travels. In fact a trip is never complete without a visit to the local opera house, and in Budapest she took in a performance of Il Trovatore at the Hungarian State Opera. She also made her way to the Museum of Fine Arts and the House of Hungarian Art Nouveau, which she rather enjoyed for its cabinet of curiosities meets grandmother’s house kind of aesthetic.

As usual the trip went by much too quickly, but she returned to New York with lots of good memories, a suitcase filled with treats, and these words of wisdom:

Perhaps that’s why Katja often forgets to eat breakfast.

Holiday Adventures

Life has been a whirlwind for Katja since late October, filled with travel and the nonstop activity/festivities that start with Halloween and don’t end until the New Year (or in her case, mid-January). She prides herself on being a cheery sort, but nevertheless has a tendency to feel a bit gloomy when the sparkly Christmas lights start disappearing and the cold weather sets in. That said, she has yet to take down her Christmas tree, which she prefers to think of as a winter penguin tree. As an adult, and one who has never cared much about conformity, she figures she can make her own decisions regarding decor and what’s appropriate.

The rather unpleasant cold weather has made her a bit more of a homebody recently (well not really a homebody, but for her), so she figured she’d reminisce about all of her holiday season escapades. And while Katja is not a big social media girl, she has noticed that these days a lot of people seem to be living their lives online, so why not share her fabulous adventures (not that she's the type of girl to try to make others jealous, she's much too well-mannered for that).

As usual Katja’s more local travel was ballet-centered - quick trips to Boston for the Boston Ballet’s magnificent Swan Lake (she saw it three times), and to Washington, DC for the Washington Ballet’s Tango Soirée fundraiser, held at the beautiful Organization of American States building (Katja might have had a bit too much red wine, not that that would surprise anybody who knows her).

Then it was off to London, the first of three separate European trips in four weeks. What can she say, she’s a jet setter. Not surprisingly the trip also involved some ballet. She doesn’t like to go too long without taking class, and thankfully was able to make it to Dance Works, her go-to studio in London, a few times during her visit. She also saw a Royal Ballet triple bill of works by Brandstrup, Scarlett and Wheeldon.

The cultured girl that she is, Katja has been to opera houses and theaters throughout the world, and she believes that the Royal Opera House is the most civilized place to take in a show. Not to mention that it has a surprisingly good house red wine.

Katja spent most of her time in London hanging out with friends, gossiping, shopping and enjoying lots of wine and tasty treats– including a divine cheese plate at Li Veli restaurant

and a delicious afternoon tea at the Ham Yard Hotel. She was especially pleased by the lovely vegetarian offerings, minus the slight trauma of a salmon sandwich (which she unfortunately bit into) having made it onto the vegetarian platter. But she forgot about that as soon as she started devouring the cakes…

It was then back home for just over a week before jetting off to Budapest for the Thanksgiving weekend…but more on that later, as it’s time for her to head to BAE for class. Even the cold and rather unpleasant post-snow New York streets can’t keep her from dancing.