I feel a Hungary. It's a Hungary that tries to keep a man awake at night
Sorry (to myself mostly) about the short post about they day before yesterday. It was actually quite a good day. I finally got to taste a lot of the food I had been craving, saw a lot of sights, some amazing art and had a truly "fun" social night for the first time in a while. However, when I got my latest cash advance, I estimated the amount of Hungarian cash I would need for my one remaining day slightly too closely and ended up with very, very little by the time I had paid for my hostel and my fraction of a taxi cab fare from the night before.
But all is well, and unless I am wrong, all just got a lot better. I just arrived in Prague and I Think It Might Be Great.
Yesterday half sucked and was half really good.
The sucky part involved 4-5 hours walking all over Budapest trying to find a bank that would give me a cash advance, metros, buses, all with so little money in my pocket that I was afraid to eat. Super yucky. But...I DID find a bank that would do it, that was super friendly and that was helpful getting me to my next destination. Thing is, I never would have gone to that bank first as it was small and local seeming. While all the big banks were unable to help me, this little one was great.
I next took a "day trip" of a few hours to Szendendre (which means, and whose pronunciation roughly approximates "Saint Andrew's". Little town about 45 minutes by commuter train from Budapest, cobblestone streets, only 25,000 people. I don't know why I felt so compelled to go. The weather was a bit cloudy and drizzled and colder than I had hoped, but I felt that it would be bad to go to Hungary and have no idea of ANYTHING outside of its biggest city. And because the town was small, I was able to do a lot in a little time and with little inconvenience.
For instance, I:
1. Walked up a hill to a Romanesque 13th century church where a service was being conducted (when i later saw the congregation exit, crying, and wearing black I realized it had been a funeral service.) Which is sad, of course, but it was interesting to see.
2. Art museum next door devoted to Hungary's most famous post-impressionist painter. I already forgot his name, but the exhibit was surprisingly good (as has been all the art I have seen in Hungary). A lot of fauvist work in the 1920's and then a lot of nudes in the 1960s that I did not like as much (except for the "Venus of Szenendre" which I just thought was plain funny.)
3. A wine tasting! For only 1500 Fn (abotu 7 dollars 50) I got to try about 7 or 8 of the finest wines from the different regions of Hungary. According to the guy who conducted it (just for me!) the good Hungarian wines are impossible to get outside of Hungary because the small amount actually produced prevents their exportation. I'm not so good at distinguishing wine flavors, but these were some of the most enjoyable wines I've tasted.
4. A marzipan ice cream.
And I took the train back to Budapest. By now, it had started to rain. When I took the metro to one particular area I had spied the night before as a happening spot, I was disappointed. It seems the rain was keeping everybody in, even on a Thursday. I went to the supermarket, bought some snacks and returned to the hostel.
Which was great! I know I've knocked the hostel in Budapest a bit, but it got better and better each night. There was a bigger group, and those that had been there the previous three nights had gotten to know each other better by now. We goofed around, I somehow ended up getting involved in a wrestling match and two arm wrestling matches (all of which I won, and 2 of the three being against a Scotsman!), and some of them played pool. ONe of the guys working at the hostel, Mark, a 41 year old/tattoo covered/KISS loving Englishman and I talked music (X-Ray Specs, Misfits, Beatles, Thirteenth Floor Elevators, Love, etc.)
Because I was catching a 6:10 AM train to Prague, I decided to stay up all night (I knew I could tie the subject heading in somehow!), which the current company made easy. I left the hostel around 5:00 AM, sad that I felt finally settled into Budapest, but less regretful as all the other guests were leaving today as well.
I slept most of the 7 hour train ride, and magically woke up on my own 15 minutes before the Prague station.
But all is well, and unless I am wrong, all just got a lot better. I just arrived in Prague and I Think It Might Be Great.
Yesterday half sucked and was half really good.
The sucky part involved 4-5 hours walking all over Budapest trying to find a bank that would give me a cash advance, metros, buses, all with so little money in my pocket that I was afraid to eat. Super yucky. But...I DID find a bank that would do it, that was super friendly and that was helpful getting me to my next destination. Thing is, I never would have gone to that bank first as it was small and local seeming. While all the big banks were unable to help me, this little one was great.
I next took a "day trip" of a few hours to Szendendre (which means, and whose pronunciation roughly approximates "Saint Andrew's". Little town about 45 minutes by commuter train from Budapest, cobblestone streets, only 25,000 people. I don't know why I felt so compelled to go. The weather was a bit cloudy and drizzled and colder than I had hoped, but I felt that it would be bad to go to Hungary and have no idea of ANYTHING outside of its biggest city. And because the town was small, I was able to do a lot in a little time and with little inconvenience.
For instance, I:
1. Walked up a hill to a Romanesque 13th century church where a service was being conducted (when i later saw the congregation exit, crying, and wearing black I realized it had been a funeral service.) Which is sad, of course, but it was interesting to see.
2. Art museum next door devoted to Hungary's most famous post-impressionist painter. I already forgot his name, but the exhibit was surprisingly good (as has been all the art I have seen in Hungary). A lot of fauvist work in the 1920's and then a lot of nudes in the 1960s that I did not like as much (except for the "Venus of Szenendre" which I just thought was plain funny.)
3. A wine tasting! For only 1500 Fn (abotu 7 dollars 50) I got to try about 7 or 8 of the finest wines from the different regions of Hungary. According to the guy who conducted it (just for me!) the good Hungarian wines are impossible to get outside of Hungary because the small amount actually produced prevents their exportation. I'm not so good at distinguishing wine flavors, but these were some of the most enjoyable wines I've tasted.
4. A marzipan ice cream.
And I took the train back to Budapest. By now, it had started to rain. When I took the metro to one particular area I had spied the night before as a happening spot, I was disappointed. It seems the rain was keeping everybody in, even on a Thursday. I went to the supermarket, bought some snacks and returned to the hostel.
Which was great! I know I've knocked the hostel in Budapest a bit, but it got better and better each night. There was a bigger group, and those that had been there the previous three nights had gotten to know each other better by now. We goofed around, I somehow ended up getting involved in a wrestling match and two arm wrestling matches (all of which I won, and 2 of the three being against a Scotsman!), and some of them played pool. ONe of the guys working at the hostel, Mark, a 41 year old/tattoo covered/KISS loving Englishman and I talked music (X-Ray Specs, Misfits, Beatles, Thirteenth Floor Elevators, Love, etc.)
Because I was catching a 6:10 AM train to Prague, I decided to stay up all night (I knew I could tie the subject heading in somehow!), which the current company made easy. I left the hostel around 5:00 AM, sad that I felt finally settled into Budapest, but less regretful as all the other guests were leaving today as well.
I slept most of the 7 hour train ride, and magically woke up on my own 15 minutes before the Prague station.
posted by Jed at 8:41 AM
1 Comments:
As awkward as many of them are, I have been finding it quite difficult to come up with them for most places after France. There's about a million songs about France, England and New York, and even a fair share about Spain and to a lesser degree Italy.
But once you get to places like Croatia...
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