Hungary: Oct. 21 - 24

Budapest: Friday Oct. 21, 2005

Jo napot!

Unlike most of the Austrian trains that we have been on, the train from Vienna left the station about 20 minutes late. Except for that and three passport checks on a three hour train ride, it was an uneventful trip to the largest city in Hungary. What was noticeable however was the drastic difference in the condition and styles of the buildings after crossing into Hungary. Everything in Austria had been so orderly and well maintained whereas there were signs of wear and age evident in the Hungarian buildings. Although like the Austrians, the Hungarians were very tidy.

As we were late arriving in the train station, we quickly caught a cab to our apartment where we knew that someone was waiting for us. After a short lesson in a combination of Hungarian, German and English with Brian occasionally throwing in the odd “si” (He still thinks he’s in Italy.) on how to open the keyless entry system, we climbed the large spiral staircase up to the third floor. By this stage of the trip, we were actually getting into good enough condition that three flights of stairs with bags was not that big a deal. Amazing huh? What we weren’t prepared for was the number of locks, deadbolts and various security mechanisms that the landlady had to open for us. What kind of neighbourhood were we going to be staying in, I wondered?

The apartment turned out to be very large and quiet. The kids were thrilled because they each got their own room. The space was appreciated after all the time we have spent together. The only downside was that smokers had obviously rented the place many times before us. So I immediately opened up any window I could, even though it was quite chilly outside. Brian thinks that I am hypersensitive to smoke which could be true although I think that I have become more accustomed to it after traveling through Europe for two months. So when I closed the windows, I still smelled lots of stale smoke. I decided to pull out the big guns. Just a week earlier, I bought a can of deodorant spray for shoes. Now that we are no longer wearing our sandals, our sneakers/hiking boots don’t get a chance to air. (This is especially problematic for certain members of our family.) So I figured maybe the spray could help freshen up the couch in the most offensive room. I was like a madwoman, showering the furniture with shoe deodorant! It didn’t work however. The kids and Brian got used to the smoke smell, but I couldn’t use the front room. Thankfully the bedrooms and kitchen weren’t as bad.

After my little adventure with the spray can, Brian and I headed off to find the usual supplies for a new apartment, an internet café and restaurants. It turned out to be quite a challenge. Hungarian writing wasn’t quite as indecipherable as Russian but it was very close so reading the store signs was very difficult. We eventually found a small grocery about 10 blocks away. The next dilemma was figuring out the Hungarian currency called the forint (HUF). Approximately 200 HUF is equal to 1 American dollar. So I had to stop thinking in Euros and convert HUF to dollars. Oh my god…..MATH….under pressure!! As well Brian kept telling me to hurry up and pick out supplies for today’s dinner and tomorrow’s meals from all Hungarian labeled food. It reminded me once again why I prefer to shop for food alone! Finally we got all of our supplies and tried to shove them into our two grocery bags unsuccessfully. So we walked the ten blocks home juggling loose groceries under our arms and then up the three flights of stairs to the apartment. We passed several restaurants on the way, so we were two out of three in our search.

Not two steps into the door still laden with groceries, Brennan jumped us with the news that he had found a wireless internet connection. He was dreaming of playing World of Warcraft with his buddy Trevor. We “borrowed” the signal to talk to our parents on skype and download our emails. We were all excited about talking to friends on the weekend as it would be free and private. Any Hungarian neighbours in the surrounding apartments must have thought we were nuts because we had to sit in our bedroom window well with both sets of windows wide open and the computer on the edge of sill to get the connection. At one point we had to get our coats on to keep warm. By the time we finished our computer stuff; neither Brian nor I felt like cooking. Time to try Hungarian food was my decision.

We stumbled upon a fabulous tiny restaurant called Kisharang. As we sat down at one of the four tables, an older Hungarian gentleman was leaving and he told us in impeccable English that everything on the menu was delicious. He spoke the truth. We all enjoyed our choices of stuffed peppers, goulash or pork cutlets. The interesting thing about the meal was that the food was the same price as the soft drinks; about $2.50 each. I also tried a traditional dessert of dumplings with a sweet cream sauce. Fully sated, we waddled back to the apartment and called it a night. ( NEXT PAGE )