Day six

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Hello!

What a successful day we had today! We took the metro, ie subway, to Parliament (because we are pros now) and bought tickets to go in! We were a little late for the 10 o'clock tour, but we made it to the 12 o'clock one. Because we were late, we had to wander around for two hours. It was raining, and FREEZING. We wandered around a bit aimlessly, and got a bit nervous because we forgot the map! However, we stumbled upon a travel agency, and the lady inside was VERY nice! She gave us a map (which took quite a lot of searching because they don't really do local stuff) and she was very friendly about it all. It was lovely. Then we still just wandered around aimlessly. But now we could find our way back to Parliament in time. We stopped at a little shop to warm up and ate chocolate and vanilla croissants. The chocolate filling tasted really weird.

Then we went back to Parliament for our tour! It was really neat, but rather short. The decorations inside are very ornate and beautiful there is lots of gold. We also got to see the crown jewels and one of the parliament houses. When we were on the tour, there was a a pregnant woman and her friend that were rather rude. They talked the whole time the guide was talking. She even had to shush them... and then they kept talking anyway... It was nice because they let us take pictures inside! Weehoo! Now I have been to three different Parliaments!

The next thing we did was find Andrassy Utca (street). This street is where all the other things we wanted to see are. It is a very big street. We walked down it and took a look at the State Opera House. It is gorgeous! We ended up impulsively buying tickets to the ballet that was tonight. We got cheap tickets- 1000 forints, which is like five bucks! We kept walking until we got to the museum called The House of Terror. It was about dictatorships in Hungary and Communism. It was quite interesting and took a lot of time to walk through! In each room they had sheets of paper with information on them. After a while I got really sick of reading those sheets because they were so long! Edit, people! I just wanted the highlights. I didn't want to be there all day. Apparently while Evan was in the washroom I fell asleep on the staircase... and then again in one of the rooms when we were sitting. Hey man, I didn't get my nap today so it's not my fault! Anyway, there is a lot of interesting and sad history in Hungary. It was really cool learning about it.

We spent a while in the House of Terror, and then kept walking to the end of Andrassy Utca, where we reached Heroes Square. Gotta admit.. I'm not sure of its significance but it was really neat! However, there were lots of large groups of tourists getting in the way and being annoying when I was trying to get pictures. It was nice though. After that we had some time to kill until the ballet. We were really far away from the hostel, so we had to just stay in the area. It took a while to walk back towards the Opera house. Then we ate at McDonalds. Hey, I know it's not really Hungarian, or any sort of cultural experience..But it's cheap and fast and easy and you know what you're in for... We weren't near the market or anything, and didn't want to go into some random restaurant. There are so many and they can be sketchy. I got a McChicken combo and ice cream!

After that we went back to the Opera House which wasn't very far away. We stood inside for a while waiting for them to let us up to our seats. There was a woman wearing minks around her necks, like a weird scarf/lapel deal. They linked at the back of her neck like they were kissing. I didn't like it.

When it was time for them to take our tickets and let us go to out seats, the man told us we were on the third balcony and therefore had to go outside, and around the building, then go in the door on the right. It was all very confusing but we found it. Then had to walk up 5498745687 flights of stairs. We got to the top after awhile, and then they made us check our coats... and it wasn't free. I didn't like that. After that hassel, we got to our seats. The view wasn't bad at all! Score. The guy sitting next to us was nice and took a picture of Evan and I.

The dancing and the music were beautiful. The ballet as a whole on the other hand... I don't know. It think that it was very confusing and pretty sexual.. I think it started off being about prostitution, or something.. And then there was something about a guy killing another guy, and then he was in prison.. and then there was this hermaphrodite guy dancing around all these prisoners.. I don't really have any idea what happened or what it was really about. Maybe I will google it or something. I really liked watching the dancing though.

On the way out, we had to pick up out coats and then hop on the metro on the way back to the hostel! We stopped at the grocery store across the street to get some more water and snacks. I got this lime schwepps pop. And it is really gross. I just wanted lime pop. But it is gross.

I'm not really sad that we are going back to England tomorrow. I am really craving some English speaking people, and English signs, and familiar things... It will be great. I am not looking forward to the quite possibly literally impossible workload waiting for me (I am not exaggerating). I am not looking forward to the travelling at all, but, bring on the English!

Anyway,
I had a really good day and hope you did too! Don't take any wooden nickels.

Viszlát. Google translate tells me that is Bye in Hungarian. Really I only know four words in Hungarian. Korzornom- Thank you. Igen- yes. Nem- no. and Sajt- cheese. Oh wait, and Csoki- chocolate. and Csirke- Chicken!! So I'm pretty much fluent in Hungarian.

So... Viszlát.

See you in England.

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Comments

[Corinne Peters]

Safe trip
Love reading all your fun comments! Have a safe trip back to jolly old England!