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Parliment 1
Parliment from the BridgeThursday AM 6/4/2009
Well we arrived in Budapest. We flew from the Twin Cities to Amsterdam and everything was on time and comfortable. The flight was about 8 hours. We than had about a 3 hour layover and a 1 hour and 40 min. flight to Budapest.
Got a cab into Budapest and made it to our flat. They seem to have about 50% of the streets dug up in Budapest so a 20 min. taxi ride can take twice as long.
Our flat is on Pest side of the side of the river. It is about 2 blocks to the old market and about 2 blocks to the river and the trolley that runs along side of the river. There are no cars allowed on our street. The market is absolutely a great place to shop and eat. You can buy anything in whatever quantity you like. The only problem is figuring out how to tell them how much you want. I either show an amount of money or write it out and then point to what I want. I am surprised that in Hungary they do not use the Euro except in Tourist areas. Also, with the exception o
Parliment 2
Front of Parliment f people under 30, there is very little English spoken. I forget it was only in the late 90s that the Russians left after a 60 year occupation.
Our flat is flat is OK. It is large by Budapest standards and has 2 bathrooms and bedrooms. Like many Budapest flats it originally had 20 foot ceiling so they built a loft for the bedroom. The flat is a little rough around the edges and we are still tiring to figure out the TV etc. The guy that owns that flat is an Italian who came to Budapest to get an MBA. He says he stays for the girls. He is the original Italian young male. As the saying goes “He does not know which of his sex life’s are better, the one he talks about or the one he thinks about”.
We basically lost a nights’ sleep in getting to Budapest. We left Minneapolis at 3 pm on Monday and arrived at Noon the next day, losing 8 hours by flying the west to east. By 4 PM I was done for it and went to bed to sleep 13 hours. Mary Anne was still excited and went exploring until
Buda
Buda across the River 9 PM. This caught up to her the following day (Wed.) when her legs hurt and she slept most of the afternoon. We went out exploring Wed. AM and then after Mary Anne got up we took the trolley to Margit Island. We then rented a pedal (with a peddler) to take us around the island. We had a nice supper at an old (non-tourist) restaurant right on the river. We ate outside and they had a really great trio playing classical music.
This morning I went to the market and we made breakfast in the flat. Generally when I am traveling I like to make breakfast, have lunch in a café and then make a light supper.
After Mary Anne gets back from the Post Office and writes up her impressions of Budapest we plan to do one tourist thing and go for a boat ride. Generally we are saving the tourist things for when our group from Friendship Force gets here next Tuesday. They have a bunch of tours etc. planed for the two days they have in Budapest. Tomorrow we are meeting a friend of a friend for lunch. He and his wife worked in Baltimore/Washington for
Market-2
Mary Anne at the Market many years and are now living in Budapest. Then on Sat. we are taking the train to Lake Balaton to meet with Arpie. Arpie’s daughter Susie was a very close friend of Juanita’s (my late wife). We will probably stay at the lake Sat. night because I know Arpie will not let us leave and it will be fun.
Mary Anne 06/04/09
Jim (my brother) has written a good overview of what we have been doing . He has been to Budapest before so I am depending on him for most directions.
I am finally getting a handle on the money here. We thought they would take euro’s just about everywhere but they don’t, they still want you to use the forint. It takes a lot of forint to make a dollar!
Having never been to Europe before this old is a new experience for me. It looks like they are working hard to restore the city. Many streets are being worked on and as you walk down the streets buildings are being worked on inside and out. There are small parks everywhere in the city and they are beautiful. They are very into keeping the city clean and there
Market
Inside the Market are garbage disposals everywhere. I also notice that everyone cleans up after their dogs.
Yesterday we walked down to Parliament. What a building! Jim took some pictures for the blog, it is really something. He tells me Hungary has the largest Parliament in Europe. The building sure looks like they do.
I am very impressed with the transportation system here in Europe. We just hop on the trolley anywhere and you are there in no time. They are fun to ride and of course the people watching is fantastic. The subway system is also very good, but you do need to be sure you know which stop you need to get off on or else you are in for a long ride to somewhere you don’t want to go to.
I am glad I decided to make this trip. Going to Europe much less Hungary was (is) way past my comfort zone. I am seeing a part of the world that I didn’t think I was interested in but am finding that it is fascinating. Jim is a very good history teacher so I am very lucky.
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Pat
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Greetings from Perch Lake
Hi Jim and Mary Anne, Your trip is sounding great. Wish I were there for the history lesson, and the food and the sights. The pictures really help explain what it is you are seeing. Keep on posting!