Hungary Trip Part 2: More Misadventures

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Once again I apologize for the lateness of this post! I have been busy recuperating and unpacking, which has been rather nice despite how sad it is to be done with the major traveling. After the toll incident, the rest of the drive to our first B & B was uneventful in comparison. The azure coast from the road consisted of tunnels interspersed with beautiful glimpses of the Mediterranean through lush green, red roof spotted gorges. Once we were on the highway in northern Italy the scenery was much more industrial. We stopped for paninis at an “Autogrill” which put all American fast food to shame and made it to our Bed and Breakfast, “Da Sandruta,” in Cormons Italy at around 7pm. It was a beautiful and quite old two story home set back from the little street we eventually found it on. It is run by an extremely friendly Italian couple who serve breakfast in their dining room. Our “room” was actually a series of large rooms, with a bathroom, large bedroom, living room, and full kitchen… and even still it was cheaper than staying in a hotel in the US or in Italy! We went to dinner at a little Oesteria just up the block and had a delicious meal that included a sort of sampler plate of locally (and all organically) produced cheese, polenta, prosciutto, and a few other local delights, like these lightly breaded and fried balls made with eggplant…. Mmmmm. Oh, and did I mention it is an area that gets tourism for its wines? Dessert was a spectacular muscato produced by a vineyard we could have walked to from the B & B.



Breakfast Tuesday morning was equally impressive, local, and organic, with an incredible fruit salad, home cooked omelet, and Italian pear “cake”. Needless to say, we were sorry to leave Cormons, but duty called and we headed across the border into Slovenia. Interestingly, Slovenia was significantly more picturesque from the road, with more nature and less industry. It was mostly bright green rolling hills with taller rocky plateaus, which was all a pleasant change from the rest of our trip through agriculture and machinery. We made it to our first site just outside Budapest later than we hoped due to the near impossibility of finding ice in Italy and the un-amusing antics of our GPS, but managed to get all our sampling before dark. We drove into Budapest as the sun was setting and were massively impressed by the beauty and grandeur of the architecture. It truly is a gorgeous city and we were very sorry to not be able to see much of it at all. By the time we found our B & B it was dark and around 9pm. We then discovered we had to move our car to a parking lot that was a mere 5 minute walk away. This sounds like a simple task. It was not. Budapest, while beautiful, is a HORRIBLE place to have to drive a car. It is all narrow, one-way streets that have no logical order, placement, or direction, and it is very rarely possible or allowed to turn left on the bigger boulevards. In addition, other drivers do not hesitate even a second to honk at you if you even think about hesitating at a light or turn. You will also remember that our GPS is completely useless in this sort of scenario. By the time we got in the car to move it, we were already exhausted from the days drive and the hot sampling work (did I mention it was in the 90s even at 5pm). It took about an hour to get to the parking lot and I think I aged a year for every minute in the car. We then had to carry our heavy cooler, another bag of equipment, and all our bags the five-minute walk (Side note: all distances are apparently measured in time in Europe, something I didn’t remember from living in Italy) back to the B & B. It is a short walk without bags, but walking it on muggy, dark night in a strange big city with backpacks, roller bags, a cooler, and stories of muggings swirling in our heads was less than ideal. After all the hair raising driving and physical exertion, we arrive back at the B & B and the beautiful, blessed young woman working the desk (waiting for us only) asks us as soon as we have checked in if we would like our “Welcome Cocktail”. I simply stared at her until she said it twice and I could be sure I wasn’t hallucinating, then nodded so hard I almost lost my head (literally and physically). We gleefully sucked down the pink vodka based drinks and dragged our sorry selves, still in sweaty t-shirts from the field and baggy workout shorts to the one restaurant still serving food at 11pm. We sit down and have just started sipping a beer when, to our comical incredulity, a Hungarian man comes over to talk to us, to tell us his friend thinks we are attractive… He speaks very little English and is self admittedly very drunk. He struggles to talk in English with us briefly, gets frustrated with himself, as expressed by pressing his hands to the sides of his face in a frankly comical gesture, and leaves. Hailey and I just look at each other and exchange shocked chuckles. We were certain that if not our sweaty, baggy attire, our smell would have kept attentions at bay. Suddenly I look up to again see him coming to our table again. This time he simply sits down. He invites us over to the table he came from, which boasts a fairly large crowd of both men and women, for a drink. He names the drink as though he expects us to recognize it, and when we stare back blankly he excitedly describes its high alcohol content. He says it as though he expects us to leap up at the opportunity and instead all we can do is begin to giggle. Giggle really isn’t the right word, I mean that sort of laugh that comes from exhaustion and delirium. It is brought on intensely by incredulity and the lack of an ability to react to ridiculous situations in any other way. Once it begins, especially when shared between two people, it is nearly unstoppable. The Hungarian was unfazed. He tries to say some things, says nothing, then haltingly says how hard English is for him because of how different it is from Hungarian. We nod in agreement as we can’t understand a word of anything around us and are clearly aware of how different our languages are. Somehow this does not convince our visitor and he says he wants to demonstrate by saying what he wants to say in Hungarian. Hungarian is a beautiful language, but in this context, in this utterly ridiculous scenario, we find it hilarious beyond containment. We literally fall into hysterics laughing and when I look at Hailey, I realize she has actually lost it and is in tears she is laughing so hard. The Hungarian is again unfazed. This goes on for around a half an hour, which is how long it took for our food to finally arrive. Throughout this time, he would periodically leave and we would think it was over, and then I would look up to see him marching back to try some more. At one point, mid Hungarian rant, he paused to clearly say, “Spiderman…Batman…” and continue as though it were nothing. Needless to say my sides hurt from the laughing. Once our food came we thought maybe he was gone for good, but alas no. He came back and this time came with his friend, presumably the reason he had come originally. Fortunately the friend spoke better English and seemed less drunk. He managed to explain they were salesmen for T-Mobile in Budapest and that they we top sellers or something of the sort and that they were out with colleagues celebrating the end of some fiscal quarter. Again, this was said as though it was supposed to impress us. Obviously, we were far from impressed. Finally the friend instigates their departure, but before they leave our original assailant, who is sitting next to Hailey diagonally across the table, leans towards me with what I would describe as aggressively pursed lips. I lean away with a look of utter shock and horror and as Hailey again erupts in laughter he and his friend retreat to their table for the final time. Hailey manages to stop laughing long enough to give her description of his lips, “they were so pointy!”. At this I completely lose it and we spent the rest of our dinner in stitches, practically choking on our goulash. We continued in delirious chuckling back to the B & B where we still had to finish processing the day’s samples. Needless to say we slept very well Tuesday night.

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