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Published: January 22nd 2013
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Budapest
I arrived after a plane delay from Turkey where upon arrival in Minsk everyone clapped for the landing. Happily there was no clapping this time for the landing in Budapest. Due to arriving late and having no idea how to find my accomodation I decided to grab a taxi, get stuck in traffic and then walk up 4 flights of stairs to my delightful top floor single room in a lovely Hungarian couple's apartment which would be my recovery home for the next week. I grabbed a salad for tea, unpacked, repacked as I was off to visit Kat Slager in the morning in Kesckemet (an hour train ride away) and slept happily.
I woke stupidly early to catch bus (illegally as there were no ticket machines) and race for the train. Luckily Kat agreed to meet me at the station and we had a quick run through town before Kat made a delish breakie of porridge and apple slices. Kat invited me to sit in on all her classes for two days at the end of her term. Our first class was a Chamber class with 'lady gaga' so called for her crazy warm ups which called
for lots of gagagaggagaga and body shaking, and she dressed kind of crazy and had crazy gaga hair. Good crazy entertaining fun. Next class was a score reading lesson (completely beyond me), choir, then a lunchbreak where the students were celebrating four different birthdays. All being muso's we then had 4 versions of happy birthday songs, crazy choose your own key/speed, harmonious Bach, slow minor version and finally sing in your mother tongue. Our last class was Methods with the school head 'Lazlo' an extremely inspiring teacher who reminded me why I loved being a teacher. Kat and I put a roast on for dinner and then had an evening walk into town to buy food for lunch. Our dinner was ready when we returned and then chilled out with other students in the common room, I truely felt like I was back in uni days. I hadn't realised how much I missed the social aspect of chatting with other Muso people.
My second day at Kat's uni began with another delicious porridge breakie (porridge in wintertime is golden.) Methods class with Lazlo followed by a dancing/experimental/experiential autumn lesson then Kat's singing lesson, soup from our leftover roast and
further exploring of town, the local church and the local shops to get Kat ready for her upcoming holiday to Croatia. I caught the train home and bus illegially again (honestly I would buy a ticket if there was a machine to buy one!) and for the first time in more than a month.....I made my own dinner from ingredients bought from a grocery store. Something most people take for granted, but it was sooo nice to cook for myself with fresh and healthy ingredients.
Budapest was desperately tring to prepare me for winter with temps of -2 and below so my first task was to find a shopping centre to re-equip myself for winter. I bought a lovely big puffy down coat after ridiulous diliberation and bought a pair of shoes instantly, without deliberation (no surprise there) and generally scoped out other parts of my winter essential check list before heading home to cook my own dinner again. I love it, so nice to cook! I also decided what I REALLY needed off my way too long list and planned to re shop tomorrow and go back to get a very pretty but no so practical pair of
fur lined heeled boots which I had fallen in love with.
A long sleep in and a trip back to the other side of town but unfortnately the shoe shop was closed :-( so instead I bought a fur lined hoodie and some long sleeved tops. Then I decided to be very brave and go for tourist walk in temps of 1 degree....now I was equiped with a serious coat, the weather was not an issue and I could enjoy the Autumn experience which was entirely new to me. I continued exploring the river, old buildings, checking out the bridges and did some more shopping and bought a dress i didn't need but loved, fleece lined gloves and fleece lined leggings from cheapo chinese place. I managed to get lost going home, took the wrong street in a slightly wrong diagonal direction and ended up walking almost all the way instead of finding the bus which happened to be only one block away. When did find the correct street and jumped on the tram/bus it turned out I was only 2 stops from home. Haha
Finally after way too many times back to the same store, I bought
my fleeced lined boots. So pretty, very unpractical. I wore the new boots in by walking the city randomly, something I enjoy doing when I have longer than 2/3 days in a city. I found the parliment building, bridges, river and then took the fenicular up to the castle on the hill which overlooks all of Buda and Pest. I walked the beautiful grounds & saw changing of guards before seeing more of castle & then was shocked when it got dark at 4.30/5pm! Did the usual touristy things and bought sketching and postcards and proudly walked about some more in temps of 1 degree. My new coat is so amazingly wonderful. Compared to my constant whining in Scotland about the cold, this was practically new me! Fleece lined boots were also amazingly warm. Deciding to get a pair with heels clever or not? Hmm verdict out. But no blisters just muscle sore feet. View amazing. I continued the adventure on this side of the river up to the church and wandered thr palace grounds and archways. My inner princess was delighted....there were Turrets! Balacades! I even saw people recording themselves doing the gangnam dance in one of the archways!
Hilarious. I saw all the outlying areas to see view of city and night and it was so worth it as it was just so pretty. In fact, I had a moment. Yet another in a long long string of moments on this amazing journey. Just being able to appreciate travelling and all its delights. It was also the first time I appreciated being cold. To compliment my perfect moment, the Church bells rang! So romantic & amazing. unfortunately the romance was not quite so exciting when I was not sure how to get home. Haha so I asked for directions from the extremely snobby receptionist at the Hilton. Then yet again took the bus illegeally....sorry mum! Then took another bus- which was the one I had lost the precious night. Funnily I was only out by about 30 metres....haha got home, cooked my own dinner, still a joyus triumph to eat food that is freshly cooked by myself.
My last two days were fairly noneventful. I slept late, did my best to recover mentally and physically from travelling for far too long, took long walks in the park, discovered more of the colours and scents of Autumn. Decided
I love Autumn and bought my train ticket to Prague. I also bought more winter gear (beanie, more fleecy tights, socks...etc) and broke in my boots some more by walking across town to see the sunset from the opposite side of the castle on the other side of the hill where there is a giant statue of a lady of peace (if I remember correctly from my tour guide Carla). Walking uphill in heels....all ok. Walking downhill, on wet autumn leaves in the dark? Very dangerous...and stupid. But I got there eventually. My hosts in the apartment where I was stating were having a Haloween party so TziTzi (their cat) who had disowned them and decided I was more interesting and I enjoyed a quiet night in (I was invited to the party but no one except the owner spoke English....little awkward). I caught my train to Prague ok next morning and even successfully managed to lift my 22kg backpack over my head to the train locker above. 7 months after I left Australia and now....Guns of Steel people! Guns of Steel!
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