Budapest
No CommentsI left Vienna on a train for Budapest. The ride was a uneventful, the passing scenery compensated with very beautiful scenery. Oh, and riding first class rocked… nice leather seats, pull down shades, air-conditioning. It was so comfortable that I didn’t get a headache reading Bill Bryson’s “The Lost Continent”– I’m not saying that the book is horrible, it’s actually quite good.
I arrived in the late afternoon; I was met by my host, Reka, at the train station; and we went back to the flat to drop off my stuff. I wasted no time to settle in and went off to see the city. Reka walked me a bit around town for a nice tour, but we parted– some people actually have to go to work– ways and I sat down for some dinner. I ordered the traditional Hungarian Goulash, and I was so hungry that I shoveled it down my throat before I thought to take a picture. I did take a picture of the sweet cottage cheese dumplings served over a sour yogurt and with powdered sugar and honey. The goulash was very tasty and the dumplings topped me off, I actually went into a food coma. I had to walk it off; then called it a night because the walk didn’t wake me up.
Friday, the next day, we went out to a cafe where I tried a local soft drink. I was quite pleased that Reka mentioned the existence of such a pre-1989 Soviet era soft drink. In the day where the almighty Coca-Cola dominates the global market, and squashing smaller local beverage companies, I was glad to try something new (to me). I quite liked the taste of the drink because it reminded me of the “Lemon” soft drinks from Japan– citrus and sweet.
I parted ways with Reka– work responsibilities again– and spent the rest of the day walking about the city… I mean, I really walked and walked and walked… I was so dead tired that it was apparent to others. I would have liked to provide some nice historical (or insightful) stories about the pictures here, but I can only present them as random places in the city of which I mindlessly took pictures:
The following pictures are, however, of the castle located directly west of the river. The climb up to this castle (and the walk down) finished me off. I’m not sure if I was fully able to enjoy the castle, I think my mind shut down when I got there. But I know that I saw no fewer that three churches in that castle… that’s the interesting story I could tell– gosh I was tired. 
After spending the rest of that night recuperating, we got up Saturday to visit a small town (used to be a size of a village just a few years ago) about 30 minutes north of Budapest. The town had no tourists when we arrived, but had a fair amount by the time we left. We went for lunch through a back alley up the hill into a small niche where a fast food lunch shop had set up shop… and it sold Lángos (first picture). This treat is a piece of deep fried dough that is traditionally covered in cheese, sour cream, and garlic sauce; I had one with sausages stuffed in the dough. These things are high in calories and fat! It was explain, to me, that the Hungarian people used to be nomadic so they needed foods that could give them enough energy to travel long distances. This dish definitely met those requirements. We sat up at the top of the hill, next to a church, trying to polish off these greasy lumps. I came close, but it KO’d me. We sat around for a time longer so our stomachs could digest. Not that we were in a rush because our plan was to spend the rest of the day leisurely walking through the town and down the river banks; a stop in a garden cafe helped us wake up; and finally left for Budapest when we had enough.
My final full day in Budapest was spent indoors watching DVDs, with a side trip to the Hero’s Square. I got caught in the rain, again. But the rain came down in such a way that gave me a feeling that I haven’t felt since I was a child in Yellowstone National Park. The sun was shining warmth down upon me, the rain came flowing straight down in wide spread drops, and I could look up into the sky and feel it all come down without actually getting wet. It was quite odd, and it was quite euphoric. It’s something that I just can’t properly put to words. Anyways, the rain came down for a good 5 minutes, while I stood in the square gawking, before it stopped. I walked on to the near-by castle– a small thing tucked inside a large park. It was at this castle where the rain really came pouring down soaking everyone to the bone, everyone not standing under the tree. This happened to be the first time I’ve been caught in the rain, while in shorts and unprepared, without getting soaked; it was a sign. I walked back home after the rain stopped (15minutes) and watched DVDs for the rest of the day. It was much needed rest.
The next day, I set off to Ljubljana, Slovenia.
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Gamers-The movie
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Finally, a movie for my people…the D&D geek.
The reviews and clips make me indescribably excited to see the movie. Which explains why I purchased it.
After purchasing the movie, the funniest thing happened: I was sent this thank you mail from the writer and director-
“
Aaron Adams your sir are a rock star.Thanks so much for ordering the movie “Gamers” We really appreciate it.
Best Regards,
Chris Folino
“
Now it may have been a form letter…it may have even been automated… But Amazon and BestBuy.com have never called me a rock star!
Thank you Mr. Folino, I assure you that you also are a Rock Star!
I will be posting a review of the movie as soon as it arrives, but if it is even half as good as the trailers imply then I will be able to confirm it as “Spinal Tap for Geeks”.
Posted in Entertainment, Life Stuff, Movies, Satire
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Conmen in Budapest
1 CommentI was walking, on my way to the castle quarter, down a side street a bit south of the Parliament building in Budapest. Some guy– we shall call him Randy since he looked like Randy Quaid– stopped me and asked if I knew where X- street was. I didn’t, but I did point on the map to where we were just to be helpful. He kept on saying “X-?” What is with this guy? “No, I don’t know what you’re saying, but this is where we are.”
And as I was just about to give up and walk on, some guy comes up saying, “Police, controller.” He quickly flashed his badge and said, “ID, Passport.” Randy shows Mr. Plain Clothes Policeman his ID, and I’m thinking shit, “Why is trouble always finding me today?” (I had a rough day). I obviously had a good guess to what was going on, and my blood started pumping with adrenaline. I thought, “Hmmm. This might be interesting, let’s play it out because I’m not 100% sure about the situation.” I took a calculated risk– partly unthinking, which was probably a bad thing– and handed over my ID. I keep my IDs separate from any cash (or valuables) I carry, so there was no opportunity for a grab and dash. Not that they would’ve gotten anything anyways since I’m not in the habit of carrying around $1500 in cash on my body anyways.
Mr. 1.6 meter tall, and fat, guy takes a look at the ID, and hands it back. I guess there wasn’t any demand for a skinny Asian guy’s ID in Hungary.
“You two together?”
“Nope”, Randy and I reply.
Mr. Police Officer turns to me and says, “You in big trouble. Cocaine, drugs, money fake.”
Hahahahahahahaha. Was that the best they could do?
“No.” I just turned and walked away across the street. The closest person I saw was a block away and I was partly concerned that the con would turn into a full on mugging (two on one), so I was prepared to run or fight. Regardless, that was that and I went off to finish sightseeing. I think I got even more tired after even more walking.
And on reflecting about the situation, I figured that I had two problems:
- I probably made a mistake by showing my ID in the first place, just because it’s kind of a pain to get IDs reissued;
- I must have, in general, hit some sort of travelling fatigue wall because I probably radiated the tired-zoned-out-tourist vibe. I had mentioned this fact before to some friends, but I didn’t come to a full realization until this experience. The fact I had been walking for 4 hours straight, with zero break, when this happened probably didn’t help my rational thought.
I didn’t know about this lost with map trick to stop tourists, and I also learned a valuable lesson: Always beware of the shill.
[Side note: Berlin's streets have lots of Three-card Monte scams. Germany's 18% unemployment rate must be making things tough for people. I counted six different groups (three shills, of mixed gender, partnered up with one dealer) all up and down one main street.]
Vienna
1 CommentVienna has some rich history and is packed with tourist sites (all within walking distance of each other). But the time I spent here did not reflect an average tourist’s trip, which would’ve ran through the entire list of things to see & do; instead, I mixed my time between laundry, CouchSurfing stuff, and site-seeing.
I arrived on the evening of July 2nd into a somewhat rainy city. I had directions to where my host lived, but had no clue where to go because his street did not show up on the list of Tram stops– the maps I had did not go into great detail and this put me at a loss. After much unease, I ended up, with the help of a Viennese local who happened to be on my train, in the general vicinity (district) of my host’s home. (I was surprised to see so many other Asians in this city who all acted/looked as locals, they probably were). I then popped into an Italian restaurant where I got more specific directions and was able to walk the last 500 meters to my host’s home. His CouchSurfing strategy meeting– the CouchSurfing website was down, and it claimed to be down for good– was still in session so I joined in and met a few more CSers for the productive night.
But the next day was shot; I spent my entire day working out plans for the rest of my trip, doing laundry, and contacting people about CouchSurfing– surfing the web here and there . So my first real day in Vienna was on July 4th and it was a very sunny day. I didn’t do anything to celebrate the holiday, I just toured the city. My tour began with a tram ride around the city center. I got on the #2 tram at the Opera (pictured: front and back), which travels counter-clockwise, for the ride and eased my way into knowing the city.
My 72 hour transportation pass– this time I double-checked the timestamp in case I ran into any transportation controllers– allowed me to hop on and off at any stop. So when I saw some interesting activity over in the Rathaus Plaza, I got off and checked it out. It turned out that I arrived in time for a summer outdoor film festival. Huge rows of chairs were lined up in front of the city hall where a huge theatre screen had been erected. The walkway leading up to the plaza was lined up with vendors selling all different kinds of ethnic foods. I paid an overpriced sum for a light snack and I sat by a streetside fountain; I relaxed for a couple of hours. It was lunch time (a late one at that) and I took the time to catch up on writing in my travel journal. I would have loved to say it was relaxing, but I had been putting myself under great pressure to write volumes… so I’d say it was only partly relaxing.
Afterwards, instead of jumping back onto the tram, I walked passed the Parliament Building (unpictured) to the Museum Quarter where I spent four and a half hours in the Kunsthistorishes Museum looking through the old Habsburg family’s collection. The museum looked like it was once a palace for a royal family, but it was actually built specifically to be a museum. I quite enjoyed the different works on display: Ancient Egyptian artifacts, Ancient Greek artifacts, French art, Italian arts, and Dutch arts… I saw it all, and I think I enjoyed the experience more than the overcrowded Louvre.
Then I walked just across the street to visit the Hofburg palace, a complex that looks much larger than it actually is. I felt that the courtyards I ducked in & out of were more interes