Castle Hill and more BudaBuda

Sunday. Day Three. Half Tourist/Half 'jess, you are living here for a bit, you need to get yourself sorted' day.

To Begin:

Another thing that I have noticed when traveling alone is that it is very easy to become lazy. By lazy I mean, you have no one to hold you accountable to what you say you are going to do (like the need to get up early when you are trying to get over jet lag...which I am failing at at the moment). To remedy this situation, I decided on Saturday night that I would go to church on Sunday morning! It was perfect because I wanted to see some of the old churches in action (with organs a blazing), and church is always early-er on it the day. So, that is what I did. I decided that I wanted to visit Matthias Church. In order to get there, I would have to get up early, and really navigate the transit system over several 'transfers' (a double whammy!). There were a few hiccups along the way (including a 'getting off one stop early, exiting the metro realizing that I was not in the right place, and then getting back on' situation, and slight panic when I thought that kijárat was the name of a stop, and mistaken kijárat for a stop, then wondered why every stop was called kijárat, and then thinking I was not on the right metro line (I soon found out that kijárat meant 'exit', not the name of the stop, crisis was therefore averted......). Really, its hard living in a country being completely language deficient.

I got to the hill in good time, well actually a little early. As a result, I was able to take some pictures of the great view! (this is where JMN took me on the first day, but I didn't have my camera in action!). You can see from the photo, across the Danube is the parliament buildings. You could pretty much see the whole Pest skyline. It was pretty cool! Down those steps in the area where there are lots of little cafes and it is also pretty residential. My work is a short distance from there too. I was glad that I was there early because there wasn't anyone there but an old man. The left picture is the courtyard, the right is a photo I took from just beyond those arches. Look! It's me! I am working on the one-women pose! (you can see the parliament in the background!). The photo of the statue spire thing is right in front of the church. The gold was glimmering from the top!Note the rain cloud: Yes, I got stuck in it, No, I didn't have an umbrella, Yes, I annoyed a souvenir shop owner by taking cover in their shop, No, I didn't buy anything.

The Matthias church is on Castle Hill, in Buda (it is actually called "Church of Our Lady", but apparently everyone calls it Matthias Church. This church was founded by King Bela IV (about 800 years ago), and has been destroyed and rebuilt several times during its live (unfortunately, the church sits atop castle hill, which seemed to be a popular place to fight in WWI, and was occupied by the Ottomans,who used it as a Mosque, for a while too). It was also the place where Franz Josef's coronation in 1867 (the same year Canada became a country!). The flags down the centre blog represent the districts of Hungary at the time, and were brought the the church by each districts representatives at the Coronation. The designs on the walls and posts inside the church represent different historical moments in Hungary (including the Ottoman occupation in Buda, alters and statues of great kings of Hungary like King Istvan (who I think was the one who converted the Magyars to Christianity), and the wall painting paying homage to St. Francis of Assis. This church has alot of history!

After mass, I was hanging around the court yard, and I heard a mom telling her daughter that this church was actually build before there were people living in America. (I wanted to correct them in saying that, yes, well there were people, just not Europeans), but the point was to iterate the oldness of the church. It was sort of funny to see the girls face trying to organize this in her mind. A church? Older than my country? A bit perplexing for a young American!

Then I wandered down Castle Hill, en route to the Buda Castle.Just before I got to the castle, I stumbled upon a 'buda market'. It was basically a market filled with souvenirs. I saw some 'babushka' salt and pepper shakers that I thought would look really nice to my lego man S&P shakers, but decided to wait to buy souvenirs. But I did think of a cool plan about ooutfitting my apartment. Currently I am void of many things (which I am slowly but surely starting to find out about). So I thought it might be cool to buy such things in souvenir form, and then bring them home. For example, I need an apron. Why not buy one that says 'Budapest' on it? (two birds with one stone). The same can be said for a wine stopper. They have some that have a Russian looking wooden doll on top for 500 HUF (about 2. 50 CAD), why not by it? (to tell you the truth, I haven't been able to find these things in the local shops anyway). Here are photo's of the little market, and of Russian dolls (which are in every souvenir shop! I had those as a kid!). Look closely, do you see the Obama one? Right next to the Obama one there is an Elvis one too. I have also seen one for Sarkozy, and Putin. Yay globalization! This market was not included in the Rick Steve's book, but I really think is should have been (even if it had a caution that it was a tourist place, but heck, we are tourists, we should enjoy some kitchy things!). So after the market I headed for the Buda castle, past the Hungarian Prime Minister's office (see me, in the photo!), and over to see the National Museum! Diana Krall was playing in the background! odd eh? turns out there was a wine and jazz festival going on. This meant that I couldn't get into the castle (unless I wanted to attend the festival, which would have been fun, but I wasn't up to dealing with attempting to speak to people). In the national museum, Rick Steves said that to the left of the square you could see a free 'glimpse' of what the museum has to offer (if you didn't want to go in, I do, eventually, but not today). So I went for my free glimpse. There there was a nescafe espresso machine, so I thought I would give it a try (and I wanted to press the buttons!. A cup was 100 HUF (50 cents), worth a button press in my books!. Again, my illiteracy made it difficult to figure out what button to press, so I settled on one that said cafe au lait. Really because it was that and cappuccino and espresso that I could read. (see the photo?). Anyway, after I got my coffee (turns out Cukorral means sugar), and walked along the free portion the museum. Man, I felt like a cheap skate North American...drinking a cheap, gross coffee out of a plastic cup walking up the ONE corridor that had free access in the whole Museum. haha. it was quite a moment.

Then I headed back to the castle in search for something to eat. I actually passed by a guy with the exact guidebook that I am using, and smiled at him! I almost asked him to take a picture, but then I had to remember that some people think that strangers asking for photos might be weird.....

Taking Rick's advice, I went to Betthyany Ter for lunch. It was about a 20 minute walk from Castle Hill, and would have been faster had Rick's directions been clearer. He said 'take the steps from the fisherman's bastion (those were the steps behind me in the skyline picture). On a history note these stairs are called the 'fisherman's bastion' because this is where fisherman used to sell fish (in the Middle Ages!). So back to the story, I took the steps, when I got to the bottom of the steps there were three possible ways to go. I went the wrong way the first time. I did stumble upon a cool concert hall though, then found the concert hall on the map, and then found the right direction. The lunch place was a crepe place called Nagyi Palacsintazoja or "Granny's Pancakes". There was a translated menu there (check!). but of course the menu isn't exactly clear....I decided that I wanted a a sweet crepe and a 'savory' crepe (for lunch and dessert). The menu had both Savory and Sweet crepes, and 'potato' (all coming with various toppings that you choose). I decided to go for 'potato with spinach' for lunch and a poppy and cherry pancake (this is literally what the menu said). What I got was actually Rosti Potatoes, with a odd (but good) spinach puree and melted cheese on top. I put come Paprika on it (local point for me, the paprika is hot sauce, a thick version of Tabasco)! The sweet pancake was actually a crepe, and it had a sweet poppy seed paste and what tasted essentially like cherry pie filling. It wasn't exactly haut cuisine (everything was microwaved, but it was interesting and new and at least they didn't hide the face that they microwaved everything! It actually looked like they had the times down to the second, depending on which flavor you ordered) I took a picture of my lunch, it doesn't look as good as it tasted (all for 720 HUF, which is exactly 3.47 dollars). Okay, so this was one of the cheaper places that I went to, but very good value for money! After this, I went to the Mammoth mall to look for things I needed for my apartment. I couldn't find them (nor could I read any of the signs in the mall, so it made everything more difficult). So i decided to go back to Ikea (where I knew I could get a cutting board, french press and bottle opener). On my way to the Ikea (which is at the end of the Red Metro Line), I saw a poster for Sex and the City 2 or, to be culturally correct, Szex es New York 2 . I heard that the movies here have English subtitles...I wonder if this will be one of them! Or maybe this will be at the English Theater?I think the sign says it opens on May 27th!

Happy Mother's Day! Blogged letter to my Mutty :)

Hi Mum,

Happy Mother's Day!

Just got back from a long day at the Buda Castle. This morning I decided to get up and go to Mass at St. Matthias Church. (see the picture?)

JMN told me that the Organs were really nice to hear, and the only time the organ plays is at mass, so away I went. The church was beautiful! The mass was interesting. It was in Latin and Hungarian (and to be frank, it was difficult to tell which was which). There was also a full choir in the back singing the singing parts of the mass. The best part of the whole thing was the part of the mass when you have to say hi to your neighbors. Of course, I couldn't really anticipate when this was coming (as I couldn't understand what anyone was saying, and I am not exactly versed in what a typical mass is), but when the older lady beside be turned to me, smiled and said Hello (i think, it was in Hungarian), it made me happy. Then I turned my head to the younger couple beside me, and they were eager to say hello to0. It was sort of neat. I smiled at everyone and said in English, "Hi". Not sure if that is what you're supposed to say, but I said it anyway.

After mass, I walked around Buda Castle, and Castle Hill (I will write more about the church and the walk in the next blog, this one is focused on you, mum!), then went down the hill through the small district of Vizivaros in search on lunch. I found it, and ate it (again, see next blog), then for the afternoon I went into 'local' mode. This means that I went in search of things that are badly needed in my apartment. Now, I didn't really want to go all the way back to Ikea, so I took a stab at the Mammoth Mall (a large 'American' style mall just a short walk from Castle Hill). So I got there, and well, it looks, like an American mall (although the stores were tiny, and the ceilings were very low), but ALL the stores are different (see the photo, okay, there was a subway, but there is subway everywhere!) and I couldn't read the signs. So finding a cutting board, cork screw and coffee press was a challenge. I felt very frustrated as I couldn't even ask anyone or read the mall map to see if there were 'house wares' or 'dollar stores' (would I call this a HUF store?), even in the stores I can't read what is in each row, so I have to go up and down everyone of them (the security guards just love me).

So after a frustrating hour wondering a three flour mammoth mall, I decided to cut my losses and go to Ikea. The mammoth event that made me 'cut those losses' was when I tried to buy you a flower at the market in the mall (there are flower shops everywhere!). I didn't really understand what the lady was saying when I brought the flower up to her, and there was a 50% difference between the price on the pot, and the price on the cash. This just did me in, I thought I was being swindled (which is apparently typical here), but I couldn't understand what she was trying to tell me. Sitting at Ikea, I since realised that I think the pot and plant were two separate prices.... but at the time, I was really confused and frustrated at the whole situation. So anyway, when I got to Ikea, I decided that I needed a coffee before attempting the 'market place'. This Ikea is like the Etobicoke one and not the Ottawa one, so the Market place is huge, and well Ikea in general can be overwhelming sans energy. Also, Ikea is Swedish (duh), and thanks to globalization, I knew that the cafeteria is pick and pay, and I knew what the food was (but on a side note, they do sell slightly different things!).

So, in your honour mum, I bought a coffee (for me) and a slice of cake (for you, but I ate it :)). And of course, I took a picture for you! (and I believe you can purchase this in Canada too!). (look the sugar packages are in English!).

I also send you Mother's Day wishes!!!


Post. Script.

Yesterday I bought my first Hungarian dessert. It was a slice of what I thought was chocolate cake, with caramel in the middle. I ordered from the lady in broken Hungarian (practice practice practice) and brought it home for dessert. I portioned out half for dessert last night, and well, the caramel turned out to be apricot, which reminded me of home....David remember THAT cake?). I will have the other half tonight for dessert and think of my mutty :)

Post. Post. Script.

Ma, after reading your FB comment about needing a cupcake and had I had a cupcake yet, I couldn't recall if I'd even SEEN a cupcake here. Today I was on the look out for them, and you know what? None were located! I guess 'cupcake' will turn into 'delicatessen' (the goodies here are straight out of Benna's Bakery. Very light and fluffy, and of course, wafer-y!)

The Grand Market

I started out today at the Great Market Hall. It is a huge 3 floor market place that sells everything! It reminded me a bit of St. Lawrence Market, only bigger, the stalls were smaller and there were 6 rows of them. I was guided through the market place by Rick Steve's budapest book. The book gives details related to little things that pop up in the market area (a poster of Margaret Thatcher visiting the market, where to see photos of the market in the 'olden days', particular stall that you should look at, etc). However, I found myself just wondering around watching Hungarians and tourists alike purchasing their daily (or weekly) groceries, fruits, meats and cheeses. I tried to learn a few new words but didn't buy anything (as I had a long day ahead of me). I think once I establish a routine, I will go there to get fresh food (the stuff at the local store isn't very good looking....and it is very limited). I did notice that the variety of foods here is not very large. This could simply be that they don't import as many things as they do in Canada, or that they are actually being environmentally conscious actually shop 'locally'. Either way, its neat :). JMN did tell me that it is hard to get any fresh veggies in the winter (beyond root veggies), which is why there are so many 'pickled' things. She also told me that here in Hungary, the people are very proud to sell (and buy) foods that are made in Magyar (Hungary). Sort of a 'buy Magyar' thing i guess!

The book also tells you of things that you are to try while at the market. The first one was Potty's Turo Rudi (Too-roh Roo dee). I saw the package at one of the dairy stalls, and thought "I guess I should try it, it's made of 'cottage cheese' and chocolate I am sure it will be good". So, I got up my courage and attempted to order one. I spoke slowly, and pointed and said " Kayrem (please) ozt (one) TOO-Roh Roo Dee". The women didn't understand me, so I said it again. Then pointed. She finally understood what I wanted. Success! The Turo Rudi was mine :). I opened up the wrapper to find a small chocolate stick (similar to the size of a small twix bar), I bit into it It was like a stick of cold clotted cheese (like Ricotta) covered in chocolate with a slight lemon taste. Not sure I would get this again, but eh, I'm in Budapest on vacation for the next two days, might as well try everything once....

The ground also had a row of paprika stands. Now from the two and a half days that I have been here, I can say that yes, paprika is a very popular spice, but I am still not sure why it is so popular (I haven't tried anything with Paprika in it-yet). Nonetheless, the stands themselves were spectacular. The row was filled with dried peppers, various flavours of powered paprika (spicey and sweet), and lots of kitchy souvenirs. In the picture beside you can see the peppers handing there. All those bags and packages are all the kinds of paprika! Right beside these rows there were meat stalls and tons and tons of Pick brand Sausages/Pepperites/Kolbasa, etc.




On the first floor (in Canada we call this the 2nd floor) there were stalls of lace, table cloths, and souvenirs. See the photo? There was also a section on this floor that foods. Including a local snack called the Langos. Langos is a deep fried bread. They are similar to beaver tails, but less crunchy and they are salty not sweet. I tried to order the "local favorite" of cheese and sour cream, and I ended up also getting onions. Somewhere in between me trying to order in Hungarian, and the lady trying to help me in English, onions ended up on the Langos (and an extra 150 HUFs ended up on my bill). After I got my Langos, I had to shuffle through a million people and find an empty high 'standing' table. SO there I stood, at the top of the market, eating a langos and watching people go by. It was pretty cool. I posted a picture of a Langos (with a bite taken out of it!). It was yummy! the outsides were light and fluffy and the bottom was a bit crunchy. and the cheese in the middle was very mild. I think my brain was a little confused because it looked like a beaver tail, but also like a pizza, but the cheese wasn't melted (its gets added after the Langos comes out of the fryer), and it tasted like neither. it was a nice treat! When Max, Meg, Dad or Becca come (or any other visitor for that matter) perhaps I will take them there to try them (and I will hold the onions!) .

In the basement of the market the pungent smell of pickles was'a'wafting. I have never seen so many pickled things in my life! Here is a photo of one of the stalls (those things in the bin are ALL PICKLED PEPPERS). I think when I get better at ordering things I will go back and attempt to try some. I love pickles! There are so many things to choose from!

I just got home from a day of walking around Pest. Its about 5 30 pm here, but it is Saturday, so everything is closed. I haven't started to work yet, and I don't really know anyone here, or my way around just yet, so I think I am in for the night. Ana is going to see Lord of the Dance tonight (apparently it is Michel Flatly's last tour), sounds interesting.

Today I had to get used to being a lone traveler, especially since I had no one to tell me when I started to 'wonder', nor did have a second (or third) brain to think for me when I didn't feel like working directions. As a result of this, a 90 minute walk through central pest ended up taking me 4 hours. Rick Steves, your directions were not sound! (it's hard to gauge what a 'short block vs. a long block', and I have no idea how big a yard it!) I went astray about half way through the tour, at a ter.

Ter is the Hungarian word for 'square', and well, they are not exactly squares (the one I got lost in was actually an oval). They are all over the city, and well for me, they are incredibly confusing. (JMN warned me of the confusing nature of them, but I guess warnings are never really understood until you experience the problem). During the Cold War many of the streets in downtown Pest were reconfigured to allow for motor ways to be built through all the major street (or so I am told in Rick Steves Book). Because huge motor ways seem to go right through major streets , you have to go underground and 'choose the right stair case' that corresponds to one of the 3-7 streets that all converse at the ter (see the posted photo...this is one of the ter's that caused problems for me :)). Now this wouldn't be very difficult if the stair cases were labeled with the streets that they are on. In truth, only 50% of the time this the case. On top of this, most squares are so large (literally one side will be the length of a typical city block, in the photo i was standing in the middle of the Ter, it ends where the two 'sister' building are seen and it is about size behind me...notice the motor way and barrier in between the road!) that there are shops and buildings with addresses that just say the name of the square. I literally walked a two block radius lost for an hour (this wasn't the Ter that I got really lost in!). During that time two older Hungarian men came up to me and asked me if i needed anything. I thought that was nice, and told them I was looking for Karolyi Utca (which was supposed to be attached to K. Mihaly Utca which is connected to the ter) They didn't know exactly which street/exit to go down (they did offer the general direction, which for me was very useful!). Later on in the day I saw them sitting in a cafe and we exchanged smiles! Eventually i found the street and was on my way to see the University, the Serbian Orthodox Church and this beautiful park just perfect for a picnic (which is on my to do list!). In the park there was one lone pink Tulip (spring is earlier here). Look carefully, you can see it (if you click on the photo you can see it better)! The other photo is me beside the Serbian Orthodox church. It was beautifully bright and yellow, and really jumped out at you on the street! (I am getting used to lone traveler photo ops).

I also strolled by the 'local government buildings' and the town hall (the buildings were pink (the former) and pale green (the later)).


I did notice on my walk that the higher floors of the buildings in the city are beautiful. Behind all the smog and grime, the details in the architecture is wonderful! Apparently during the cold war many of the store fronts were 'renovated' so they would all look the same (as per the communist organization, see the picture of the shoot covered building and plain store front?). This means that walking down the streets of the city you won't see anything special unless you look up.


The walking tour actually started at the Vorosmarty Ter, where there was a big statute of Vorosmarty. Vorosmarty was a famous Hungarian writer, who apparently made 'lower class Magyar dialects' considered 'worthy', and wrote a famous poem/song that rivals the Hungarian National Anthem (according to Rick Steves). Beside the statue, there was the oldest metro stop on the whole European continent. Built in 1896, It looked like everyone stop, but I took a picture anyway. (You can see all my pictures once I figure out where I want to post them).

Then the travel guide started to talk about finding a little statue that apparently have no actual significance other than the fact that it is cute to look at. I started to look for the statue, in the place where it was supposed to be at, and well I just couldn't find it. Then memories of searching Kensington Gardens in London for the Peter Pan statue, and Walking around downtown Brussels looking for the Mannekin Piss came flooding back. I told myself 'you will not spend 3 hours looking for a statue...again...". So I put on my thinking cap! (okay, I looked at the photo in the book and saw that there was the buda skyline in it (this told me the direction the statue was facing). Then I reread the guidebook and it said that it was small-ish and hard to miss. Looking at the skyline in the photo I saw that you could just see the remnants of the Kiralyi Palota (the Royal Palace) and so I walked near that area....and voila! I found it! (the book was right, it WAS small and hidden). I was a little kid wearing a jester had and just sitting on the tram railing. I took a picture and posted it. I would have done a "hold camera and attempt to smile pose" that I was doing all day, BUT, there were two people in the middle of a heart felt snog right beside it....and well I felt a bit weird looking at the statue with them right beside it, and even taking a picture. (you can see the girls arm in the photo). I sadly could not get a picture from the front of the statue (Deja Vu, remember our loving picture of peter pans' butt in London?), but you can sort of see why this would be harder to find (it really blends in to the scenery).

The tour of central pest also took me to the first Macdonalds 'behind the iron curtain'. Apparently people would wait in line for hours to have a hamburger from the golden arches! Not really worthy of a photo, but it did sell different things like crepes and specialty ice cream.


The tour was ended at the Grand Market Hall (or in Hungarian Nagyvasarcsarnok). . Because the Market closes at 2pm, I decided to visit there first and I roamed around the stalls, deciding if I had enough courage to try and order something. (I will post another 'post' on the Grand Market Hall next!). So after a 4 hour walking tour that was supposed to take 90 minutes, I decided just to stroll home (I do have a metro pass, but I couldn't figure out which tram to take..I really need to get a better map).

When I was walking down one of the streets I noticed two things that are worth repeating here on this blog. 1) a building under construction. (I will explain). 2) Gremlin Holes. (I'll elaborate on that one too).

1) the wierd thing about the building construction site is that, while I think it was in the process of being torn down, there was one single room that had all the furniture still set up in it. (THere wasn't a window, but there was furniture!, wierd eh?). I stopped and looked at it for a while, and looked to see if there were any other rooms like that. There wasn't. DO you think they forgot to clean that one out before they torn the front of the building off?

2) Gremlin Holes. Bridget, Meg'N'Ed, and Teresa all live together in a super neat apartment with a room that they have called the 'Gremlin Room' (why, because it only has one window, that I think is metal or steel, that opens up to a large square 'hole' that is the height of the whole building. I think the proper word is 'shaft'). Anyway, beside the construction building, there was another building, with an EXPOSED gremlin hole! I saw it and instantly thought of you guys, so I took a picture and posted it! it was a HUNGARIAN GREMLIN HOLE! The construction site revealed it!

I am now going to make something for dinner......I guess I will try and make a dent in the half kilo of Kalbasca that I bought yesterday!....





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Budapest Day II

Blog Post IV.

Today was the first real day in Budapest. Jmn came by and we got me a metro pass, and then we toured parts of pest (where I live) ,went to the parliament and then Buda. I crossed to the other side (okay, she was showing me where the embassy was). Here are photos. the bottom is the parliament (taken from castle hill), top is a church, middle is part if castle hill...i think...

We also went 'site seeing' to the grand market hall, parliament, the embassy, and walked by the main jail (on street level, you can walk by and prisoners can see you and call out to you!).

for lunch we went to a 'typical' hungarian food. I didn't feel much like pork neck, so I had scallops with this spinach thing. Not as good as the ones as Play in Ottawa, but apparenlty they 'weren't bad' for Hungary, which is a landlocked, cured meat loving country. They had a good americano...or should i say espresso longo.

Today I also learned some useful communication tools (WORDS). Below I have listed them (and how I used them to interact with the locals!).

My Experiences with the Local Language used at Match Grocery Store, The Pharmacy, Metro, etc)

Survus- Hello. said this to women at the pharmacy and pretty much anyone who looks at me funny.

kérem- Please (Kay-rem)- Rules of use: I am Canadian and apparently we are polite. I tak kérem on the end of everything. (and did when I ordered an ice cream cone only using my wonderful acting, pointing, smiling and nodding skills). I ordered 'Roche' which is apparently chocolate. who would have known?

köszönöm- Thank you (keu-seu-neum). same explanation as above. However, at the vegetable scale, there was a staff member weighing the veggies (at the spar you did it yourself). Everytime she weighed one of the 6 or so different veggies that I bought, I said köszönöm. After about the 3rd time, she was on to me (and my limited vocabulary). She started smiling at me and chuckling. Then I said.....ready for it.....köszönöm. and laughed.

fél kilót- Half Kilo (fawl kl-lawt)--the default weight for ordering produce and meat....i now have a fél kilót of Kolbasa, which is the length of my whole arm. must find out the word for 250 grams....

bocsánat Excuse me (baw-chaa-not)- I figured this one out while at Ikea trying to get by a gazillion people (and their buggies). I checked my phrase book, and was trying to remember what it was so I just kept saying it over and over again. The people must of thought I was crazy because at one point I was standing beside a chair and repeating the word bocsánat. then i realized that it looked like I was asking the chair to move. I immediately stopped.


what i understood today:

The only thing I understoof today was:
bocsánat Excuse me (baw-chaa-not). This happened at Match, where a lady said it as she pushed me out of the way. I wasn't really annoyed, more excited that I knew what she was saying. I smiled at her. She gave me this "who is this person" look.

Outstanding Linguistic needs:
- How to make a sentence with verbs and nouns and adjectives and subjects, and all that jazz.
- How to say "I would like

I didn't take alot of pictures today, but tomorrow i will for sure (I didn't want to look like the nerdy photo snappying 'tourist' with JMN) lol.

First Day in Budapest

Things to be covered in this blog:
1) My first impressions
2) My new roommate
3) Mrs. L
4) Mester Utca
5) Spar and the Feline sandwich meat and sour cream yogurt and flat Perrier.
6) Hungarian Television

To organise my thoughts and mind (and given the fact that I am still awake, having only slept a couple of ours last night), I thought I would write in numbers.

1) My first impressions.

Driving from the airport to my flat was interesting. Hungary is a developed country and everything, but the wear and tear on the country's infrastructure was pretty clear from the drive in from the airport. From what I read about Bpest before I left, the crumbling infrastructure is remnants of the communist era, and that slowly but surely the city is turning around. but in the 'burbs' is still pretty crumbly and it was odd to see so many houses with holes in their roofs, broken fences, walls that need be repaired, etc. BUT there seems to be alot of construction going on, which also means upgrades :).

The city centre (of pest at least), is very nice. Its a bit grimy, but not more than Parkdale. But it does have the European flare! Its funny though because even though I am a bazillion miles away from Ottawa, there is a schwaema place right across the street from my flat. When I learn some more Hungarian words maybe I will venture out and attempt to order a schwarma! (I saw a bunch of locals eating there....which is always a good sign!). I wonder if it compares to Schwarma Palace? probably not...but who knows!

When I got into the flat, it was a bit more worn down than I thought. It still perfectly nice, but more worn. The building was built in 1900 or something (and there is still alot of the original moulding etc), so I guess it looks good for its age. When I walked into my room, I noticed that the couch/bed looked more like a couch then a bed. I didn't really know what to do, or how to react, so I decided to make my bed. When my mom dropped be off a 1st year uni, the thing I remember the most of that day is her telling me to 'make your bed first' then go from there. (I also seem to recall that my grandma Logan also used to say that about cleaning my room, make the bed first). So, that is what I did. I don't have sheets that fit the couch/bed, so I used three sheets of various sizes. the douvet cover looked dirty, and well, i just don't think i really want to use it anyway (the apartment is a bit hot anyway). So i am now using a couple of empty duvets for now. I don't' have a pillow (okay, well, the pillows are the hard 'couch' pillows'). Ana, my roommate ended up lending me one, but I may acutally go an buy one for the summer (its nice to have a new pillow!). I actually went to look for one, but I couldn't find a store on Mester Street, and I didn't want to venture too far at dusk, in a city that I do not know, with out a map (I doubt the map would have been of use to me, but still).

2) My new roommate. Ana, she opened the door to the flat for me. She seems really nice, she too is writing her thesis. so we already have something in common. that's all I really know about her, but that is to be expected seeing as we have had about 5 minutes of conversation. She took me to meet Mrs. L. The women who 'watches' over the apartment.

3) Mrs. L doesn't speak english. at all. and all I could remember in Hungarian is Utca. that means street. so when we tried to get the keys from Mrs. L, it was a bit of a gongshow. I said 'hi, I am the new tenant' she responded in hungarian. I said "can I have my keys" she said words in Hungarian and something that sounded like "english" (I think she was saying she couldn't speak English). This went on for about 5 minutes, then we left. We waited until a second neighbor could come home (who then translated for us). Meeting Mrs L made me realize that I really have to try and make at least and EFFORT to communicate with everyone here. There really aren't a lot of people who speak English (and to be frank, I really should be making an attempt to speak their language (even just words) as I am in Hungary! I bought that phrase book, I should use it!

4) Mester Utca is the street that I live on. And at first glance it seems like nothing. But I took a walk out (looking for the pillow), and well, i noticed all these little bakeries and fruit markets, and dizcount shops! They are tiny tiny but really cool. Again, when I get that phrase book out I will have to go to them all. There is also a couple of cool restaurants and several tram lines. Basically, its a pretty good location!

5) Spar. For most people who have been or lived in europe, you will know what Spar is. Yes, they have it in Budapest too! I was walking along mester street looking for a pillow and walked by a spar. i thought it might be a good idea to grab something for dinner, so I went in to pick up some groceries. It was pretty funny. Firstly, as the prices are all in HUFs I was trying to figure out the prices of things in the fresh veggies section. Then I saw a couple of scales near some of the veggies and like a good people watcher, I watched what people did with the scale. I noticed that for all lose veggies you have to weigh and barcode yourself. So I got my tomato and did just that (one "living like a local" point for me!). Then I decided that I should get some yogurt (As Kyla would say "for the bacterias", and well all the labels were in Hungarian. and there weren't clear 'favlours' either. for example, the strawberry yogurt had something that looked like a cookie beside it (does this mean it is a dessert thing?). I saw 'kefir' and thought it was plain greek yogurt, so I thought I would get that. turns out it tasted more like sour cream. pretty sour when you're thinking you are getting yogurt! Did the same in the cheese and bread section (picked the nicest looking packages, but really had no idea what I was buying (with cheese, really how can you go wrong though?). Then I went to the meat section and was totally overwhelmed. As most people know, I am not the biggest meat eater or meat fan, or meat anything, but I thought a sandwich would be the easiest thing for dinner. I couldn't read the labels, and it was really hard to decifer the difference between them all (beef and salami was easy!). Then I quickly glanced at a label, and read the Hungarian label as English, and thought it read Feline as the 'type' of meat. That did me in on trying to choose a meat, so I left meat less. But as I am not a meat person, I wasn't too annoyed. Before I left I went and grabbed a bottle fo water. It said 'still' i thought this meant water without gas. nope. it is this weird tasting water that is basically carbon less Perrier. It's gross...but I will drink it because I am thirsty, and I haven't ventured to tap water just yet.

I will save hungarian TV for later (but I do want to say that the first channel I flipped to, CAKE BOSS was on, in hungarian).

Also, does anyone know the allure of Britain's first High Definition elections?

Travel to Bpest!

Well, it has been a while, but I have arrived in Budapest!

The last few weeks have been crazy, with all the good byes, the packing, the moving (to Toronto), the unpacking (of university stuff), the repacking (of bpest stuff), and then the second move (to bpest), has meant that I have been going non stop!

The flight to bpest was just fine though, actually, it was relaxing. The volcanic ash that is currently annoying most of northern europe, meant that our flight to munich was diverted a hour or so outside of the normal flight path. This meant that I missed my connection to bpest, which then meant I spent most part of the day hanging out in the Munich airport. It was pretty big and they had this huge outdoor area, so I sat outside for a while and ate a pretzel sandwhich and had a, ready for it?, a SCHMECK(T) coffee. Seriously, I have no idea why the word 'schmeck' was on the coffee cup, but it instantly made me happy. (I took a photo and attached if for all the schmeckers to see!).

All day wednesday, me and timing and all things 'technical' just were not in sync (including, apparently my connection to Bpest). That day I missed every TTC connection by literally seconds, got stuck in people traffic all over down town Toronto, and became very very very late for a lunch with my dad. Thenthere was traffic all the way to the airport. When we finally got there, I was told that the '2nd' bag that I was allowed, I actually had to pay for (which was NOT specified when I checked in), then after i just paid for the bag, there was printing problem at the check-in boarding pass desk. I also couldn't to reset my blackberry (thanks mum for figuring that one out), and I couldn't to purchase snow patrol tickets for their concert in Belfast because ticketmaster Ireland won't let someone without a UK billing address book the tickets! Basically nothing was going my way.

At the airport I saw a women waiting to board a flight to Munich and she brought with her a dozens of tim horton's donuts. I thought, 'hey, that's sort of cool, her bringing donuts from a 'famous' Canadian coffee ship. Then it reminded me of when I took Max to tim hortons in Ottawa and Toronto and BOTH TIMES it was horrible and BOTH times he wondered why a 'double double' was so popular, and why Tim Hortons was so popular. (Don't worry, I assured him that Tim Hortons was a bit hit or miss, but there are times when you can get good coffee!). There was also a man on the flight that reminded me of one of the profs at uOttawa but a bit older and a bit more vocal. He was pretty entertaining! The man sitting beside me was a canadian, and was probably 6'5. The only thing he said the whole way there was "that man standing there, he's famous, I can't place him, but he's famous" then silence.

Arriving in Munich was fine. But when I realized that I missed my connection I went strait to one of the Lufthansa desks. But Munich airport isn't labeled very well, so I had NO idea where I was in the airport. I had to ask the attendant and when I asked "where am I in this airport" she looked utterly confused. I realized my question was a bit odd, so I clarified that I wanted to know where 'outside' was, if I was in a secure zone, etc and she gave me this 'wow this girl is really out of it look, and explained very slowly exactly where we were). In hindsight, it was pretty funny.

When I got the airport, J, the women who has been helping me with the logistics of bpest moving, had to unexpectedly cancel her meet and greet. She gave me clear instructions on which cabs I should take (and which ones wouldn't gouge for tourist money), and so following her instructions, I got to my house in no time.

The cab couldn't actually drop me off in front of the house, so he dropped me off about a block away from the apartment (I had to walk around to get to the cross walk). Uneven streets and two rolling suitcases is a recipe for hilarity! expecially trying to get them both over curbs and bumpy streets! ( and me, who can't walk in a strait line already, carrying a backpack and a purse (along with the two suitcases!).

next post: first few hours of Bpest!