A few of our favorite things. Or, possible conversation starters next time we see you.

After a truly incredible month in Spain! (guys, we love it there) we've made our way to Portugal - specifically to a lovely house outside a tiny town called Almocageme where we are writing this post from.  We've given up hope of creating blogs for the individual countries we've visited. So instead, we've compiled a greatest hits - if you will - of our first month in (mostly Central) Europe.

From London, we made it to Brussels, which tops the list with best beer (probably of our lives) and strangest museum.  It included priceless works of art and historical artifacts, mostly obtained as a boon from it's colonies.  Almost all of it was without curation or context.  These were a few of our favorite pieces: we call them Singing Monkey and Statue Made of Ivory.

Brussels also really impressed us with the most disorienting street layout.  Matt spent quite a lot of time like this, while I helpfully took pictures:

The Czech Republic wins for most incredible art exhibit, the Slav Epic by Alfonse Mucha.  Mucha painted 20 canvases detailing, with somewhat liberal application of facts, the history of Slavic people in Central Europe.  Hard to tell from the photos, but these pictures are huge, the largest of the canvases measured 6 by 8 meters.

In Prague we also had our best meal, (if we don't count Spain, which was a much more ham-laden, and therefore delicious experience all around).  The people we stayed with took us to a very traditional restaurant and helped us order, in their words, "grandpa food" - things that only the older generation make and eat - this included a jellied mix of meats served with raw onions and vinagre and a spread made of pure duck fat.

Just outside of Prague, we visited the most adorable make-believe/Disney village - Cesky Krumlov.

In Hungary we had the most welcoming couch surfing experience - a stay with Annamaria and her son, who kept us entertained with games, lots of gestures and weird noises (as we did not share a common language) and farts (universally hilarious).

Hungary also wins on best communist sculpture garden, which is a category I bet you never knew existed.  After the fall of communism, most of the sculptures not destroyed were taken to an empty space about an hour outside of town, which was then turned into a park/memorial/history center.

Of all the places we visited, Vienna was certainly the fanciest.

Imperial palaces around every bend, horse drawn carriages, art museums, and hands down, the nicest park at a psychiatric hospital/former tuberculosis sanatarium we've ever been to.

Fun fact about Vienna, every grocery store is closed on Sundays, but you can buy to-go beers from hot dog vendors.  Thank god.

Other notable experiences:

Hundertwasser!  His museum and city trash burning plant (pictured below) had to be one of the best experiences of the trip.

Hundertwasser's art, philosophy, and whimsy provided a colorful alternative in a city of white marble and straight lines.

The Gellert and Szechenyi Baths in Hungary.

 
Due to inclement weather and an incredibly lazy period in our lives, we spent almost our entire trip to Budapest in these two locations, forgoing things like Parliament, as well as any museums, castles, or churches.

And speaking of churches, you may not be aware but Europe is an old continent, with quite a few historic buildings, many of which are churches.  We visited a few of these.  Of the few that we visited, one in particular really stands out (again we're exempting Spain here, because Sagrada Familia, omg).  The Saint Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle actually took our breath away, and highlighted the need for a new camera, one that could actually capture what we were seeing.

More on the second half of our trip, Spain! to come.