D20: Here, there, everywhere.

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Last night:

I am having the best (/sarcasm) time with French people as of late. So, we had the train boys a few days ago - now - I have two French roommates. We had the following discussion after I said I was from Canada:

Girl 1 (english): "Oh. So you can probably understand what we're saying?"
Me: Uhm, yeah. I can... and I speak it too.
G1 (english): "Ah. Yes. You speak French with funny words."

Sigh... seriously? That is definitely the way to endear yourself to your roommate.

*a few minutes later* G1 (in French to Girl 2): "She's from Canada - she speaks French."
G2 (in French): "NO! A FRENCH CANADIAN! I LOVE YOUR ACCENT! OMG! TALK TO ME."
Me (in French): Uhm... I don't know what to say to that...?
G2 (giggling away to herself): "Omg. That is so cute! Keep talking!"

So, I am a circus act in our room..? Haha. I don't understand people sometimes... I know that's not everyone though - when I went to France last time I didn't have any issues with anyone being snobby about "their French" versus "our French". It is after all the same language.

Anyway. The night just kept on giving after that. I slept in a sauna. And I use the word "slept" very loosely. It was easily over 30 degrees in our room - I was tempted to go sleep on the floor of the bar patio, it was nicer outside! I gave up at 4:30am and got up to take a shower just so I wouldn't melt into my bed lol.

I managed to sleep a little after that... until about 8am haha. Oy. I'm a wee bit tired.

Today:

I had planned to go full speed ahead, but lack of sleep made me a little less interested in such things 😉

I headed back to the Parliament Buildings to buy tour tickets... of course just my luck that it was "crazy amount of tour groups" day so the earliest available tour was only at 2:30pm. Okfine.

I had 3 hrs to kill so I just wandered back towards the Fashion Mall (pedestrian area) to find lunch somewhere and just people watch. I seem to be doing a lot of wandering lately - no complaints from me.

I have a new game for this trip. Well, perhaps game isn't the correct word... I like to sit back and watch people while I'm having a drink, or writing in my journal or what have you... and a couple days ago I noticed an interesting pattern. I'm not telling you what it is until I have a final tally of 100 observations. (I am a nerd, ok.) I started my counter today and I'm up to 20 observations. Once I hit 50 (so, tomorrow) I'll tell you what I've noticed.

I feel that is a build-up for something that is so not interesting to anyone but me, but oh well haha.

ANYWAY! As I wandered back for the tour, I decided to grab a drink for the road. They have these giant lemon stands all over that sell drinks... lemonades, yes. But also mojitos and rum+cokes. For $2.50 I figured why not? And funny enough one of the better rum+cokes I've had! Complete with lime and orange wedges.

Back at Parliament, I had fun listening to the convos around me. It being an "English" tour still means a lot of other languages to be heard.

There was a fun French couple behind me (what is up with my interactions with the French lately?) who spent a good 10min complaining about how they offer too many tours in English, catering to Anglophones who couldn't be bothered to learn another language yada yada yada. Oh please. They offer tours in like 7 languages and it makes sense to have a few more English tours because most tourists use that as the common denominator to be understood. I have zero patience for the "English people can't be bothered to learn another language and therefore are less cultured" attitude. Zero.

Ahem. The tour itself was very short, but the buildings are spectacular and worth the visit. As with most of these buildings, the attention to detail is just next-level impressive. I particularly liked that they had numbered cigar holders on the window ledge (from back when they could smoke inside) and how they used to cool the buildings by using ice. Lots and lots and lots of ice 😊

Since I had to go to a later tour than planned, I decided not to explore the other bank (Buda) today - I want a full (or full-ish) day for that. I debated going to the thermal baths... but I knew I'd fall asleep if I did that haha, so instead I just visited the park they're near and went in search of various statues and monuments, including Heroes' Square.

Aaaaand I had the most amazing dinner: goulash soup, rosé duck breast with salad and sour cream strudel... which was so, so, so delicious. And homemade passionfruit lemonade too! Ugh, Budapest, let me love you and your cheap delicious food.

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Photos

House of Parliament
Major construction in the main square... not so nice for trying to take photos this time around.