Let's Play a Game

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Two things that most often come into play throughout our travelling have been the different currencies and languages we have encountered. As with all travel there is always a financial concern. Will we have enough money? What can we do to save money? Then factor in the exchange rates on various currencies combined with bank fees. Next we have to do a lot of calculating before spending so we know how much it is going to set us back. Most of the time we have been dealing in euros but Croatia, Turkey, and Hungary all use their own currencies. Of all the countries we have visited, we have found Hungary to be the most inexpensive. They use a currency called "Forints" which comes in a variety of denominations. Tricky to get your head around, but we have found that buying things here or going to restaurants is extremely reasonable. Knowing we only had 3 full days we allotted ourselves $200 CAD, figuring that would be plenty based on prices we had seen and so our time in Budapest began with $40,000 forints. In terms of languages, in countries like Italy and Spain we had enough general knowledge of each to get by. Also several words are similar to their English counterparts. France was easy as I leaned on my highschool French. Croatia and Turkey were a bit trickier but we are spoiled because everyone speaks English and most signs are bilingual. Then we entered Hungary. It is said that it is a difficult language to learn and I don't doubt it for a minute. I have never seen so many random letters strung together, complete with pronunciation accents, often 2 or 3 in a single word (which could have up to 14 letters and none seem to relate to English!!).

Saturday morning the first stop on our agenda was the train station to check out our departure for Vienna on Monday. It was a good 30 minute walk in the hot morning sun and once we arrived we were amazed at the sheer size of the Keleti Station. We stood in front of the schedule board, mystified. We stood in front of the departures board, confused. After standing there for a bit we finally went to customer service desk and explained our dilemna. We were assured that it would be no problem to board here instead of the Kelenfoeld Station which was at least an hours walk from our apartment. After 45 minutes we came to the Erzsebet Bridge. We crossed this busy structure with the intent of climbing the huge hill to go to the Citadella. The paths that lead up to this magnificent place were paved as well as having sections with stairs. We climbed forever, winding our way up the hill, stopping to rest on benches, taking in the view and cooling down. The air was hot with no breeze to speak of. I was wearing my neon yellow Nike shirt (I'm sure you've seen it in umpteen dozen pictures😊).By the time we neared the top I was also covered in little black bugs! They were obviously attracted to the obscenely loud colour or to the layer of sweat that I was bathed in. They were under my glasses, in my hair, stuck to my face and arms yet not one was attracted to my husband!

Okay, let's talk about my wonderful husband. Everyone who knows him realizes that he is competitive. He loves his sports and always excels at whatever he tries. Whatever sport he is involved in, soccer, hockey, biking, running, he gives it his all. I admire that. His competitive streak also shows up in game situations, both board and card. Throughout our journey he as been known to stop and watch soccer games, bocce ball games between old men, chess and backgammon games, and most recently a game he saw being played in Selcuk which involved numbered tiles. If he had had his way he probably would have pulled up a chair in order to figure out how to play! Well, as we reached the last set of stairs before the Citadella we encountered a game being played. Remember the timeless "shell" game. You know, put a ball under one of three shells and you quickly move them around and someone guesses the location of the ball. Well there was a man sitting at a makeshift table playing this game using lids and a rock. Three other men were there, two watching and another playing. As we walked by, my "competitive" husband began to watch. Intrigued, he pointed out the location of the stone! They were thrilled and said come play!! Well, that's all it took. By this time I am halfway up the steps. The next round has begun and Curtis knows where the stone is, keeping his eye on it. They start yelling for me to come back, which I begrudgingly do. The next thing I know one guy steps in front of the board, they are at me, telling me how much it is to play. I've got my wallet open, ready to hand over a 500 forint bill and they are going "No, no". The one old bugger grabs a $20,000 right out of my wallet! By this time, through their art of distraction, Curtis has lost sight of the board, they uncover the one he originally identified and it is empty!!! We just stood there, gaping. They wanted to play again but we left. I'm fuming by the time we get to the top, while Curtis is flabbergasted. Trying to calm me down, he reassures me it was only $10.00. I'm quickly doing the math in my head, comparing a purchase from the day before, knowing full well it's more. Realization begins to dawn on my husband. He pulls out his phone and does the calculation. "How much?", I growled. Looking a bit pale and slightly shocked he said, "$90.00". You can only imagine the scene that ensued. My poor husband knows he has been duped and is feeling terrible combined with going into a state of shock. I'm pacing and my blood is boiling knowing that we only had so much money left for the remainder of our time and we have lost it to four old con artists. My husband is non-confrontational, he works things out analytically. I, on the other hand, am volatile. Although I don't like confrontation, and will do everything to avoid it, I will also not back down if I, or someone I love, has been hurt or taken advantage of. I looked at Curtis and said, "We have to go back.", then I paced. Finally after stating 3 times that I had to go say something, my decision was made. My poor husband was left in my dust as I raced back up and then down the stairs to the "game" area. I flew down the steps and pointing my figure at the old fart I said,"You are a cheat and a (insert adjective of choice, but know that mine was an unladylike expletive) con artist! I want my money back now!". By this time Curtis was just coming down the stairs. The situation was made all the worse because all four men began laughing derisively at me. Boiling point turned to explosion. "You played the game and lost", he laughed. I told him that "I" didn't play and that "he" took the money right out of my wallet, nothing short of theft. They continued to laugh as Curtis arrived to stand beside me. "Fine. "I told him, "Then I will go to the police and tell them that you stole my money." By this time I am yelling and a crowd has gathered. He starts shushing me, his stupid grin gone. He motions to one of the other men to give us our $20 000 back whereupon the guy pulls out a huge wad of bills and peels the money off. No doubt we were not the first ones of the day to be scammed. He handed the money to Curtis and we quickly left. As I my blood began to return to its normal state, we took in the beautiful sights of the city below. While admiring the view we saw 4 other men pulling the same con game in this area as well. We walked by, and all the while I am chanting loudly, "Scammers, scammers, scammers". Not really mature behaviour but it sure felt good! As we stood back and watched their routine we noted that they had one guy on "lookout" and as soon as the police pulled up they had moved their game out of sight. Another travelling lesson learned!

We then headed down the hill and up to the Buda Castle. We passed into the square that overlooked the "Buda" side and saw a beautiful fountain flowing with water, adorned with a number of statues. There were quite a few tourists milling around, but not crowded at all. Perfect! Next we went through a small tunnel that lead to the other side, overlooking "Pest" and the Danube. This area was filled with vendors selling meats, cheeses, wines, as well Hungarian delicacies. The smells that came at us were fantastic and we soon found the source. There was a large "buffet" like booth where you could order huge sausages, cabbages, goulash stew, potatoes, and vegetables. It looked and smelled amazing! Batttling our way through the crowds we then headed up towards St. Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastien. This church was beautiful, with colourful mosaic tiles decorating its roof. The Fisherman's Bastien is a series of stone turrets and walkways that look like something out of a fairytale. We made our way down the resplendent staircase and through the streets until we crossed the Chain Bridge. After six hours of walking our legs were done so we returned for an afternoon siesta. Later we went out for a gyro and salad and then back to Face Time with family.

Sunday we walked down to the beautiful Varosliget Park where we saw the Vajdahunyad Castle, the Church of Jac, and the Szechenyi Thermal Baths. This huge city park then lead us to Heroe's Square where a massive monument was standing in the middle along with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This square has the Palace of Art on one side and the Museum of Fine Arts on the other. Leaving there we then came to the Terror Museum. Out front of this museum were numerous information boards which recounted the atrocities that 700000 Hungarian people endured as they were sent to Soviet labour camps, specifically the Gulag. We read this sad historical account of how people were forced to build new structures, roads, etc, in the Soviet Union under extremely terrible circumstances and deprivation. The last Hungarian prisoner was returned home in the year 2000. It is very difficult to reconcile how these beautiful cities have such sordid and horrendous pasts. We passed by the beautiful Opera House and soon found ourselves in Szabadsag Square where there stands a highly controverial memorial. Several people say this memorial distorts the history of the German occupation and the subsequent treatment of Hungarian Jews. Again, another painful time in history. Next it was on to the Parliament buildings in Kossuth Square where we learned another chapter of this country's life. The massacre of 800-1000 people in the Kossuth Square occurred in 1956 and to this day the historical facts and data remain a mystery. We watched heartwrenching videos of people who recalled the horrible events of that day. The buildings themselves are examples of beautiful architecture but it was hard to dispel the image of "blood flowing through the square". Walking down along the promenade we experienced yet another bleak historical fact. We came to the Shoes on the Danube Bank. This artistic memorial consists of old fashioned shoes made out of iron that were designed to honour the Jews who were killed by Fascist militiamen in Budapest during WWll. They were ordered to remove their shoes and then shot at the water's edge so that their bodies fell into the Danube and were swept away. This was a very emotional dedication to another dark time in Hungary's history. It is very difficult to imagine the horrors that this wondeful country endured. Let's hope peace continues to prevail.

We enjoyed a nice dinner out before packing up to head to Vienna.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!

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Photos

Bazaar
Buda Castle

Hosok Tere
Heroes' Square