DAY SIX
We started off easy. It was nice to be
in bed until nine or so though I was awake from seven on—I waited
for Brigitte to wake up. She isn't feeling great, has a bit of a
hack because other Eurotour kids got sick and didn't take care of
themselves (being responsible generally goes against the grain of
anyone having “Brazil” on their passport)
Once we packed, the hotel nicely stored
our stuff as we went to Hero Square.
It's a set of four monuments.
One of the statues has an angel representing Hungary's freedom and religious background. The center leader was responsible for bringing the leaders of the tribes of Hungary to come
together.
Two of the others are collections of statues on pedestals
running from St. Stephen holding the Orthodox cross up to Kossuth,
the man responsible for Hungary gaining dual-status with Austria
within its empire—so that it was no longer the Austrian Empire, but
the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
St. Steven
Kossuth
This is a relief under the statue of Kossuth depicting him as an orator.
Also among the statues was St. Laszlo
and his statue even has an angel's halo around it—which is
wonderful since I wrote a novel where Laszlo is a central character
and am working on another which involved his legacy for
Hungary...they're pretty good, but remain unpublished—still on the
list of things to do...of course, the skeptic in me says no one will
read it because it involves Hungary rather than England, etc....even
if there are Nazis as bad guys...
Note the halo around his head.
Relief depicting St. Laszlo in battle.
The fourth monument was the Hungarian Tomb for the Unknown Hero.
The phrase basically means something like "Heroes Anonymous". I was bothered by the tourists--this is at the base of the giant central hero statue and some tourists were using this merely as a way to get in a picture with the big statue rather than for its own merits. I told Brigitte that I thought it deserved an honor guard like is done with the US version, but she said there's some ambiguity in that regard since Hungary hasn't been on the winning side of a war in quite a while.
We also walked past the Szencsenyi
Baths. They are huge—the building may take up as much ground space
as parliament. They've got mineral water and baths, aroma therapy, a
ton of things and the place is packed...sadly, some of that is by
European men wearing Speedos. I can't unsee that unfortunately—in
that regard, American modesty is a very good thing. A day at the spa
(and that's used in the European sense) is about US$100 which seems
like a lot—then again you get some aroma therapy time, unlimited
access to the bath, and a 30-minute 'hands-on session' (which we
interpreted as a massage).
This is a statue outside the bath. It's a cherub riding a fish. There was a fountain but it was pretty normal. The bath exterior is in some disrepair.
After the Baths, we went past the
Budapest Zoo. It's about US$12 to visit and looked like a nice zoo.
We went there and took photos because the elephants there are housed
in a building which mirrors the Fisherman Tower.
These are the roofs at the zoo, but you can see the beauty of these.
The elephant icons
are everywhere—over the entrance, by the elephant area, and even on
the concrete roadside blocks just outside Gundel's which is
considered one of the best restaurants in Budapest (and the only
reputable one for serving true Hungarian dishes). The prices looked
reasonable—US25-35/person, but it was absolutely a suit/tie sort of
place. Jeans and a t-shirt won't even get you a look in the window.
We had time to ponder some of this with a quick ice cream stop.
And that was Budapest. We picked up
our stuff at the hotel, shared a medium fries at the McDonald's
(making sure to use the bathroom because free bathrooms are scarce
across Europe, and then to Nyugati Palyaudavar which is the central
station for the metro and railroad. We took the Inter-City which is
the equivalent of Am-Trak—including wi-fi, air-conditioning, and
comfortable seats (unlike Polish trains where the A/C comes from
rolling down windows and praying there's no rain AND the temperature
is all right.
There's a slower train that takes twice the time, but
Brigitte wants to get to Debrecen and the difference in cost between
the two (for two passengers total) is about HUF 2000 (a little under
ten bucks). The Inter-City takes about two hours while the normal
train takes five-and-a-half.
That was about right, too...and
Brigitte took a picture of me asleep. Nice. Though the train is
air-conditioned, that's a hindrance on a beautiful day—it doesn't
run when it's nice out and there are no openable windows, so it was
warm. The train really was like Am-Trak with seats with leg room.
The normal train between towns is set up like Polish trains—think
Harry Potter rail cars, and with people crowded in wherever possible.
At the rail station, we were met by
Brigitte's host mom, Eva, and host sister, Blanka.
This is the train station ticket office.
Blanka was an
exchange student to Jacksonville, Florida before college. Now she
studies International Business in Budapest and has been a tour guide
for Rotary trips—and is on a three day break before heading to
Brussels for some sort of study program while Eva teaches at the HS
Brigitte attends.
Can you guess the architectural style of this? -->
At her host family, I was treated to a meal of Pogacsa--at the most basic level, they are 'cheesy biscuits', but that does such a disservice. They are done much more thoroughly. Blanka brought some to the station, dropped a couple on the ground...picked them up because they needed to be eaten. I mentioned the "10 second rule". After the Pogacsa came home-made goulash. That was pretty amazing--a lot of vegetables and some meat...you could see the fat separated from the liquid, too. Mmm, mmm. This was followed by Turos Csuza. That's noodles cooked with bacon fat, sour cream, and cottage cheese. I hate cottage cheese, but Turos Csuza tastes like pasta in a bacon sauce...and bacon is never wrong.
Tomas--the host dad--bought a bottle of 2007 Tokaji, a wine grown northeast of Debrecen as a dessert wine. It was sweet--they rate them on a scale of 1-6 and recommend nothing hire than 3 for foreigners. This was a 3. I hate win (don't let them know!!), but this was tolerable--it didn't taste like moldy grapes. I would drink it again if asked.
After dinner, I spent a little time petting the Nagys dog...and I have a new best friend. Whenever I go into their front room, Bodza (Elderberry) their beagle, comes over to me, drops on my feet, and demands to be pet. ...of course, it helps that I am happy to rub her belly. Then Brigitte and I walked past the zoo and the new football stadium, as well as the water polo arena and an outdoor theater. The only unfortunate thing is running into a bunch of cheer teams. Some things are universal--cheer teams suck.
As the day ends (and I finish this), Brigitte and I are catching her up on home news, listening to some music, and getting ready for tomorrow. It's hard to believe I'm heading back to the US in four days....
Are you speakking German with people?
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