Today is my Friday, but really it's Wednesday.

This Friday is St. Stephen's Day. A national Holiday here in Hungary. It also means I have the day off, and when certain important people found out that I was headed to a destination some 8 hours by train away, they offered an extra day off for me...this is how today is my Friday. yeah!

This past week I have fallen back into the tourist mode here in Bpest as two visitors have ascended upon me. With the exception of a couple of lost moments (in the dungeons of the underground cross walks), I think I've done okay as a tour guide.

So where to begin? Well, Becca arrived last Thursday and after picking her up, taking her to my flat, and then gawking at all Canadian things that found home in her suitcase, and a cup cake that came in her carry on, I took her on a mini tour. Well actually, I took her on the exact same tour that Janet took me on my first day (minus all the logistical information that was fed to me. I didn't think Becca really needed to know that the spice shop beside mammut mall sells every kind of spice available in HU). Although jet lagged, she seemed to have enjoyed the Great Market Hall, the Danube, Parliament, Buda Castle etc. I made her stay up until 9 pm and by then she became slight loopy (nearing the 9pm line she asked me why the numbers on my clock were "flashing". I looked over to find no such flashing, and then thought it best to let her sleep).

Friday morning I was off to work, leaving a sleeping Becca in Pest. at 2 she met me in Buda, and I took her to the children's railway. The children's railway is a railway that runs through the Buda Hills, and with the exception of the train driver and one adult supervisor, every role and job on the railway is done by a kid between the age of 6 and 14. It was quite odd to be ushered onto a train by a 12 year old, be soluted 'goodbye' by a six year old, and listen to an 8 year old kid screaming 'all aboard (in Hungarian)'. It dates backs to the communist era, when it was called the Pioneer Railway, and was meant to teach children about work ethic, and attached to the Communist version of the Boy Scouts, etc. Today, its run my kids who get extra credit at school for their work on the railway. It was very unique to say the least.

We took the train about half way along its course, getting off to head towards a lookout spot (Janos Hegy). The railway website said it was 'a few minutes walk from the stop'. They lied. It was a 1.5 km up hill hike, through the woods. After trudging all the way up to the stop (and failing to see the chair lift, which would have been friendlier way of getting to the top), we arrived at a slightly intimidating white stone tower. The Erzebet Tower (named after Sissi....as everything seems to be here). There were three levels, with a double helix stair case. I think the tower was used for a lookout at one point in time (as the windows and view points seemed to be strategically placed with places to put the barrel of a gun.....BUT gun whole or not, the views were spectacular! Really, you not only could see all of Budapest, but also all the surrounding towns and villages for miles. The first level was in doors, and had a mini exhibition about the towe itself. All in Hungarian. We looked at the pictures and went on our way. The second story was great, windy, but the views! Wow! We also saw a lizard. Very Random.

Then we decided that the 500 metre high tower just wasn’t high enough, and ventured to the top. We had to walk through construction to get there though. At first we were stopped by a sign in Hungarian and German, we didn’t know what the sign meant, but decided to be cautious and follow the rest of the pack up to the top. It was one of those ‘dumb traveller’ moments, as well, in order to get to the top of the tower we had to climb over several green metal support beams, up stairs covered in paper, and walk past cement walls that were still wet. When we got to the top, there was nothing but a guard rail that came up to my hip. Oh man. Being over 550 metres in the air with nothing but a rod iron guard rail, on top of a tower being held up by metal support beams, all the while the wind is blowing, my skirt is flying everywhere and the ground looking a lot further away than we imagined, meant that we stayed there for about 3 minutes. Just enough time to check out the views!

After spending about an hour at the tower we made our way to Keleti Railway Station to buy tickets for Bratislava and Zagreb, and then we went home and made Chicken Paprikash! Becca really enjoyed it too (and we’ve packed some souvenirs accordingly).