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Budapest Day Two
After a long 12-13 hour sleep, Dad and I woke up in Budapest ready to throw ourselves out into the city. My Dad and I have never been on a father son trip before this one, and so I think we were both excited to see what we would learn about each other and see what we were each like when travelling. The first thing to note is that my dad *loves* travelling, I do too, but my dad totally lights up when seeing or about to see new stuff. This was both wonderful, and good to know, as my Dad often will forgo things like breakfast or sticking to any kind of regular schedule for meals. Anyhow off we went to our first attraction a little “Vunicular” that ran up the side of Castle Hill in Buda up to the Castle. To get there we had to walk across the Danube over the “Chain Bridge” to the Buda side of the city. The line for the Vunicular was surprisingly long for 11 am on a Saturday (or maybe not I guess?) and the day was not nearly as warm as Friday. Eventually a little sprinkle of rain came down and a nice German couple in line behind us saved our place so Dad and I could run under the awning of a shwag dealer until the shower past. That challenge surmounted we eventually got into the Vunicular ticket area and found out (in what was turned out to be a series of disappointing moments) that our Budacard did not get us on the Vunicular for free, nor did it grant a discount. Ohh Well! 1,200 Florint’s later we found ourselves in the Vunicular on our way up the hill. The view as we went up was quite nice, and it was a quaint and cute way to start the trip off. (My dad had ridden one in France, and remembered it fondly. In general I’ve only travelled with my father in Europe to France, and this seems to be no coincidence as the first few days tended to include hopes that things would both be like France or to do similar activities to ones he had enjoyable memories of in France.)
Budapest Day One
My dad and I arrived in Budapest around noon on Friday. It was a warm sunny day. We were able to change some money at the airport, at a not very advantageous rate, and buy our 3 day “Budapest” cards that allow unlimited travel on the public transit grid in Budapest without problem. After a little confusion of where to go we caught a bus that took us to the nearest metro stop. The countryside was green and lush, and looked surprisingly like the countryside in North Carolina. The train was a large soviet era affair that didn’t even really have ticket takers, just a few transit employees eying the entering crowd for those who looked like freeloders. (Apparently I looked like one as I was stopped and had to show off my new Budacard before being allowed to proceed.) We got on the train and the doors eventually clanged shut with little warning and we were suddenly off.
After a quick train ride through the countryside & underground, we arrived at our stop, and emerged into downtown Budapest. The city was pretty quiet, although perhaps a lot of that was due to the May Day celebrations that were going on. My dad and I wandered down a few wrong streets, but enjoyed soaking in the sounds and smells as we hunted for our hotel. We past a band doing a sound check on a stage, a few arabic fast food places, and eventually found one of the main tourist drags in Pest which led towards our hotel. The Marriot where we were staying turned out to be in a great location, right on the river and near most of the tourist attractions in downtown Pest, and near the Elizabeth bridge which connects the base of Buda Castle hill to Pest. We checked in and were ushered to a room on the fourth floor with a great view up and across the river to the North. (We had a great view of Buda Castle & the Elizabeth bridge!)
After a little rest at the hotel, dad and I threw oursevles back into Pest, walking past the Paris Arcade, the Central Market, and tens of stalls selling “traditional” Hungarian tourist swag. People were out in force, but it was tough to tell what the breakdown between locals and tourists was. After a decent tour of the area, dad and I stopped for a beer (which turned out to be the best beer I had in Budapest) and watched the world go by. There was a free wi-fi signal there so I took the chance to fire off a few quick emails and check on the world.
After our beer, we wandered around a little more hunting for a place for dinner. Finding nothing too exciting we settled on one of the many places claiming to sell “traditional Hungarian food” with the rather ironic name of the “Havana Cafe.” Dad ordered Pork medalians with potatoe pancakes (latka like) and a kind of ratatouile pasta. I had spicy beefy stew on a bed of a dense pasta. Not bad, but not great, which is how I’d describe most of the food in Budapest. (Vegetables are hard to come by in quantity in any meal, and fresh fruit is available mostly from small bodega type groceries but not with yoru meal.)
After dinner Dad and I went for a brief stroll seeing the sites by the river. We were pretty jet lagged and worn out though, and our walk soon led us back to the Marriot. By about 8pm we were ensconced in our room watching various strange hungarian programs on tv. The Marriot beds were wonderfully comfy and the over all experience was quite luxurious and we were happy enough to turn in after a successful first day in Hungary.
I’m having a bit of an issue finding decent internet connections here, so pictures will hopefully soon follow!
On my way!
I am typing this from my seat on my klm flight to amsterdam, final stop Budapest! The flight is very full but a nice klm lady at the gate swapped me into an asile seat for the flight. Security at Dulles was, as usual, a mess but I finally got through it. Looking forward to meeting up with my dad in eight hours in Amsterdam. Ok more later, but the adventure begins. May the wind be at my back and the sails full.
