Friday, 2 June 2006
The train departed from the Munich (München) Hauptbahnhof at 23:44 or so.
Saturday, 3 June 2006
The train rocked by Salzburg (1:30), St. Pölten (5:00), Vienna (6:30), and as the day broke, and we approached the Hungarian border, it was raining.
Alight at the Budapest Keleti Station at about 9:10, I was somewhat overwhelmed. Pigeons were flying everywhere, and a loudspeaker was announcing things in a strange language, interjected by music. An old lady came and asked me (in English) where I came from (whom I ignored). Finding the currency exchange office took about 10 minutes, and I was somewhat taken back when I was given more than ten thousand Hungarian forints after handing in 50 Euros.
The next thing on my list was to buy a Budapest day pass so that I could use the metro. I joined a line-up which was for train tickets rather than for metro tickets. I was directed downstairs and joined another line-up, but somehow got it wrong again as the receptionist, after a long break drinking water, shook head at me and pointed to another direction. By the time I finally procured a metro pass, I had been through four line-ups (more than an hour spent) and was in a rather bad mood. Nearly half of my ten thousand forints had gone into the 48-hour metro pass.
Arriving at the Nyugati Train Station, I spent a while looking for the Yellow Submarine hostel, which was on the third floor of an antique building. I rang the door bell, but nobody came, and I could not hear the door bell (so I suspected that it must be broken). Then I tried different patterns of ringing, and ultimately pressed on it for three minutes straight. Then I started knocking and hammering the door. Finally, after about 10 minutes, a girl opened the door. She had heard my knocking and ringing (including the one that was three-minute-long) but had been preoccupied. Fortuitously they had a single room available but it was a fifteen-minute walk to the neighbourhood of Oktogon. At this time my heart sank, and I insisted upon seeing the room first before paying. She led me there, and we took a curiously old-fashioned elevator up, which consisted of closing the outer and inner doors manually before the elevator would start. We ended up in a very dilapidated third floor, and used long, ancient keys to open locks that I had hitherto only seen in films or historical books.
Once I saw the room, the concern of bedbugs started to arise. I meticulously checked the bedsheets, and, lo and behold, did find a smear. I was considering changing a hostel when the girl informed me that a lady would like to switch rooms with me. I moved into another room, and did the same check for signs of bedbug infestation, but found none (the girl told me that the room was sprayed less than a week ago and thus should be pretty safe). Whatever. I went back to the hostel headquarters to pay and then set out for sightseeing.
First I took the metro to Déak Ferenc tér and found a specialty sandwich shop, where I had lunch. After that I proceeded to the nearby St. Stephen's Basilica and had a look inside. On the side chapel on display was the ancient hand of King Stephen the Great (ca. 975-1038 AD). I climbed up the tower and had a panaromic view of the city, before heading down and crossed the Chain Bridge above the yellow, rapid Danube (Duna) River.
Once on the "Buda" side of the city, I climbed up the Castle Hill, and found myself in front of a fairly pleasant square, the Szentháromság tér. The streets were cobbled, much preserving their medieval air, with shops lining at both sides. Walking northwards, I came across the Mátyás tower, which was under renovation. Proceeding further, I spotted a green statue of St. Stephen, and surrounding it, one of the most awesome and beautiful sights I have seen. For it was the Fishermen's Bastion (Halásybástya), a series of white walls and ramparts overlooking the Danube and the Pest side. Underneath the arches stood some chairs and tables for coffee, and carved into the sides of some arches were probably long-ago Magyar heroes. In fact, the whole place, no less, reminded me of Minas Tirith as it was portrayed in the movie.
Doubling back, I passed by some shops, a tourist information centre, and a church lying half in ruins. I ended up at the Buda Palace, complete with elaborate statues and decorations. Going down along the cobbled road, accompanied by the ivy-covered castle walls and occasional gates was a great pleasure for the eye (and at this time, the sun actually peeked out, and the weather was quite warm, an estimated 15 degrees).
Crossing the Chain Bridge once again, I found my way, after some difficulties, to the Vörösmarty tér. Open-air coffee shops populated the square-like street, and there were eclectic shops further on.
I took the metro back to Nyugati Station and in a supermarket bought some water. For some reason carbonated water was nearly five times cheaper than flat spring water. This I found to be true both in Hungary and Slovakia (for example, some street stands only sold carbonated water, in quantities of 1 or 1.5 litres). At the end of two days, I thought that half of my teeth had been burnt away. From the supermarket, I walked back to my room, reorganised, and headed out again from Oktagon.
I took the metro to the Millenary Monument at the end of the Andrássy út. The monument and the surrounding structures were more than impressive, celebrating Prince Árpád and the chieftains in the Magyar conquest, while the figure at the top of the monument was reputedly Archangel Gabriel. To the left-hand side of the monument stood the Museum of Fine Arts, but it was already closed when I got there. Oh well.
From the monument, I entered the Városliget City Park, and soon came across the Vajdahunyad, a lovely castle complete with moats and awesome gates. As I approached the castle, there were many street vendors. In a stand, three people, dressed like Native Americans, were singing various folksongs or playing music. I eventually recognised a tune from the movie The Last of the Mohicans. Other shops featured trinkets, memorabilia, and fur (I did not find out whether or not it was real fur). People were everywhere, boisterous.
I entered the castle, but unfortunately found all but the decorative styles and architecture uninteresting: for this seemed to be a children's museum of some sort, and everywhere there were gadgets (i.e. Lego) for children, and small children running around everywhere.
Outside the castle again, there was a street harpist. Just behind him stood a monument of a hooded figure, below which was inscribed Anonymous = glorisissimi Belae regis notarius. The figure's face was barely visible unde the hood; he was writing something in large sheets of parchments which lay by his left side. As I stood by the figure, the harpist's music seeped into the air around figure, and for an instance I was caught in wonder and awe: who is he, this hooded figure, being silently celebrated here today but whose name has been forgotten by the centuries?
Going past a festive ground, just opposite from the Budapest Zoo was the famous Széchenyi Baths, for Hungary is often known for its geothermal hot springs. By the time I encircled the park, it was already 18:00, so I started looking for a place for dinner. There were several restaurants near the park, but were too expensive for me (by that time I only had about 3500 forints or so left). Of course, eating at places like McDonald's or Burger King posed a great temptation, especially when one saw them so often in Budapest. But I ultimately resisted the temptation, and visited the Márkus Vendéglo, which reputedly offered Hungarian dishes. However, what I ordered, fish on rice, seemed quite familiar and western, not what I would associate with the spicy Hungarian plate. Perhaps I ordered the wrong thing.
After dinner, I was greedy enough to still want to visit some places that I had missed in the day, such as a close-up look of the parliament. But at this point, clouds suddenly gathered, and wind whipped. After only about 10 minutes, the city, which had previously been soaked in sunlight, was drenched in an intense thunderstorm. All that was left for me to do was to walk from the Oktogon Station back to my room. But with limited visibility I soon got lost and headed in the wrong direction--all the buildings in that area looked quite similar anyways. At this time (around 20:00), the sky was growing dark, the street was almost devoid of pedestrians who had succeeded in seeking shelters, my umbrella proved useless in this downpour, and I was lost and almost frightened. Finally, I came across someone, and hurled at him the only word that came to my mind: Nyugati, the train station. He pointed me to the right direction, and after some work, I finally reached my room. My socks, shoes and pants could not have been wetter.
Sunday, 4 June 2006
Before I went to sleep yesterday, I did my best taking precautions against bedbugs, such as moving my bed to the centre of the room, and covering the four feet of the bed with tape. I didn't bother to use the blankets provided, which looked unwholesome. At around 1:00, I was awakened, either from the coldness, or from the voices and singings outside (people were partying and getting drunk, like many in my university on a Thursday night). As I turned on the light, I spotted a bedbug on the bedsheet. I crushed it like a bug, and it gave off a sick, almond smell. It was a while before I gathered my nerves and convinced myself that I really needed to sleep (and also convinced myself that bedbug bites were no more than mosquito bites). I lay down for about 30 minutes, and then jumped up again to check my bed (but found nothing). From about 1:30 to 3:30 or so, I did this at regular intervals, almost paranoid. Finally, I slumbered off. As the morning came, I found no signs of bedbugs, nor any evidence that I had been bitten (perhaps I was not warm-blooded enough). I got about five hours of sleep.
At around 6:00, there were already people on the street (imagine--this was a Sunday). I returned my keys, hopped onto the metro, and departed from the Keleti Train Station to catch the 6:50 train that would carry me to Bratislava.