Budapest

Budapest, 15 - 17 September


I still don’t have a camera program but I will write and then post the pics whenever I get them. We’re at a place in Prague that has wireless so I should be able to get something.

After I posted the last blog, we went back to the hostel and waited for our ministers who are working in Hungary. They took us on a tour of Budapest…or as much of one as a person can get when the weather is akin to the Pacific Northwest in winter only as warm as fall. The rain came down gently but thoroughly, running down my forehead, into and out of my eyes, off the end of my nose, down my cheeks, dripping off my chin and ear lobes and wriggling its way down my shirt front. The ministers had umbrellas and kept trying to shield me from the worst but in reality, the umbrellas were the smaller, fold-up size and the rain ran off the edge of it and onto my head, down my face….

Mom and Rhonda both had hoods on their coats so the weren’t as soaked as I was. Anyone who knows me knows that I’d prefer the rain to a hat or hood and I had no problems with the rain except that my glasses kept getting fogged up and water-streaked. I had a hood on my coat, too, but didn’t remember until it was pointless.

Two more of our ministers met up with us at the….oh, I can’t remember the name of the coffee house but it was built in the very beginning of the 1900s and very elegant. Quite high-brow. We came in one door, inhaled deeply as we slowly goggled our way through and left out the other door.
We went to a spa that had been built by the Romans. There are four different kinds of water there and doctors in Hungary actually prescribe sessions at a particular spa. You can also pay the equivalent of $15 for a day in the waters and massages. That may also include saunas, too, I didn’t ask. The building was built around the end of the 1800s, was magnificent outside and stunning inside. It is illegal to take pictures inside, so we didn’t. The grounds were beautiful with well-manicured lawn and flower beds.

We saw quite the stocky dude in a Speedo there. I got a picture of him.

The Hungarians love flowers and they lined the city streets, windows, and sidewalks. I got pictures of that, too.

We viewed the king’s castle on a hill overlooking the Duna (Danube) on the Buda side and saw most of the parliament building on the Pest side. Our hostel was on the Pest side of the river, by the way.

I learned that there are actually three parts of Budapest, not two. Old Buda, Buda, and Pest. Old Buda was the extent of the Roman conquest to the south of the city.

I also learned how to properly pronounce Budapest. It’s not like describing a particularly annoying monk but “Booda- pesht” The “s” alone makes the “sh” sound. Followed by a “z”, it makes the “s” sound. I also learned how to say ‘yes’ (Phonetically:‘eegan’) and ‘no’ (phonetically: nem). Goodbye is Viszontlátásra; Thank you is Köszönöm; Hello (Good day) is Jó napot kívánok. Don’t let the marks scare you. Each mark makes each vowel say a particular sound and only that sound. The hard part comes when you learn that ‘a’, ‘e’, and ‘I’, makes only two sounds (one with and one without the accent) but the ’o’ and ’u’ each make four…for a total of fourteen vowel sounds. And you complain about learning to spell in English!

We went to “the coffee house in Hungary” and had an elegant bowls of tea, coffee, lovely cakes, and great visiting. Those cups of tea were as large as my cereal bowls at home only shaped more steeply on the sides and had a handle. Two more ladies joined us there; one more minister and a visitor from New Zealand. We were nine sitting around two tables pushed together.

If ever you feel like spending money like a rich man - dealing in thousands of monetary units - come to Hungary. Their forint is the base. There is no fraction like we have fractions of our base dollar. So a public transport ticket good for 24 hours cost 1,500 forints. Our hostel room was around 11,000 forints for one person for two nights. One dollar will get you about 180 forints, so the subway ticket was just over eight dollars and the hostel was around $61 for two nights.

Some of you will wonder who the ministers are. I only use first names on this blog and they are Ann, Jessedith, Bree, Rachel, and Heidrun. When I told them that I don’t use last names, they exploded with laughter and exclaimed, “ ‘Sisters from Hungary’ says it all!!”

We left there and traveled by train north to a home for supper and mid-week Bible study. Dessert came after the study and the man of the house drove us back to the hostel so we wouldn’t get lost on public transport.

You really have to ride public transport to get the true feel of the lower side of life. We were beset by fast-talking ladies trying to sell women’s underwear, of all things. One lady had her hands inside the undies to better show off the superb cut and quality of cloth. I was somewhat tempted just to have a souvenir.

A man got right in our faces at the self-serve train ticket kiosk. I didn’t understand a word he said but I knew he was begging for money. The ministers acted as if he didn’t exist and he left to badger someone else.

We were going through one subway when I got distracted by a Korean yelling to the crowd, kicked a nearly-empty bowl (large sized) of some sort of foodstuff, slid on the remains in an unplanned split, and very nearly landed on my kiester. I was saved by the convenient arm of one of the ministers. I can’t remember who it was but I thanked her profusely.

There was a well-dressed young lady on one of the surface trains that I know for a fact wasn’t wearing a bra. She had both her blouse and her leather jacket unbuttoned to four inches above her belly button.

I was talking to Rachel on a tram when she suddenly interrupted me asking me to stand still so she could get something off my face. What she attempted to wipe off my face was my mole. I told her that; she apologized and explained she thought it was some pollution and wanted to get it off my face. Pollution?? It’s so bad there that it lands on your face?

What else? You really should look up Hero’s Square, the Shoe Memorial, and Lady Liberty. The internet can do far more justice than I can recounting their symbolism and history.

(Rhonda’s notes)
We hardly noticed the rain with all the visiting we were doing with the ministers which make up many English colonies. All communication was made in various forms of English. Sweet, unforgettable fellowship. A highlight for sure! Dudu and Don are Canadians who felt moved to purchase a home in Budapest for the ministers to have a place to stay. They are very useful there and stay 6 months in Hungary and the other 6 months on Vancouver Island. Their life and generosity is inspiring. Mom and her girls are getting along fine enjoying this adventure that’s full of opportunities to laugh or cry. One of these nights we’ll get a good rest. In the mean time the train rides are soothing and relaxing. After a Eurorail mishap this morning we are on our way to Vienna with purpose. Hoping to get our Eurorail passes in hand and get up to Prague before day’s end.

6:00pm Friday, Sept 17th ~
We have been on the rail line from Vienna to Prague since 4pm in first class. Wow! First class! I think the second class from Budapest to Vienna about did Mom in what with sharing a six-compartment cubby with two other women and the air conditioning being more miss than hit in this muggy weather. It sure was a new experience, though. Ever ask someone if they want to change seats and help someone get their luggage down with neither of you saying a word the other understands, yet communicating completely?

One of the ministers gave us advise when we were in Czech Republic. “Don’t cough, spit, or sneeze,” she cautioned, “you might be saying something without knowing it.”
Czechs have even more marks above their letters than the Hungarians do.

The scenery looks like Anywhere, USA except for the buildings. The crops are planted a little differently here, too. I can’t describe it much more than that the fields are narrower with different kinds of vegetations planted next to each other. It just feels different somehow.

I just looked out the window and saw what looked like bunkers or tunnels of some kind. They seemed more bunker-like than tunnel-like. A reminder of the years the Czech Republic spent under the Iron Fist.

More firsts for me:
*First time on a tram.
*First time on a subway (metro here).
*First time standing up holding on to those straps on the tram and metro. It’s a little harder than it looks! One tram started before I was quite ready and I almost landed in Mom’s lap, complete with two suitcases and my shoulder bag.
*First time purchasing something (a bottle of water) totally in German. And he understood me just fine.
*First time paying for something in Euros. Not the first time paying in foreign currency because I’ve done that in Canada. Euros are worth $1.40 each but it still seems as if I’m using Monopoly money.

We are in Prague now, safe in the home of some friends. We had a long metro ride (there were some classy dressers), a longer bus ride (those doors beeped more annoyingly than the ones in Budapest), and a work-out of a walk to Jeff and Debbie’s four-bedroom house. It’s 11:40pm on Friday night after a long day that started at 6am on top of those bowls of tea plus the cup after Bible study.