Well, here it is. My last afternoon in Budapest. It's only 3:30, but it's raining (surprise!)and seems much later = very dreary weather.
I dropped Dotty off at the metro station around 12:30, and took the Metro hither and yon, with quite a bit of walking yon, too. I went to two galleries to see the Typography show - it was in 3 but the 3rd wasn't open, thank heaven - I'm tuckered out. Although it was inspiring - I took many photographs and wondered why my students don't look at more work and get inspired - they are so dull - they should be sponges! I was a sponge today!
We overslept this morning (mighta had something to do with the two glasses of wine we had with the cake - should've written down the name - mocha with nuts, layered, hmmm, a Hungarian traditional cake) the waiter was a cutie and we lingered. ALthough the couple next to us smoked CONSTANTLY and I was distracted by that. If I wasn't already wearing my clothes for too many days in a row (the doing laundry in a sink notion works ok with underwear and sox - jeans and turtlenecks are another matter) - I am surprised my jeans don't have the metro stops memorized by now - I would find them icky simply because of the smoke they have absorbed this week. Ick. Anyway, where was I..
.. we overslept this morning and so missed the 9:30 English-speaking tour of the Parliament - so instead we had coffee and - you guessed it - croissants and took the metro there anyway, just to point and look from a distance, since the Hungarian equivalent of the Secret Service are pacing up and down and eyeing us suspiciously. I reached in my purse (my new MOMA travel bag with a zillion zippers, which is working out great, a good purchase) to pull out the camera, and got everyone's attention. Little ol' me, from the Midwest, wearing a purple hat I borrowed from Dotty. People keep guessing that we are American - mostly beggars and merchants - and I think it's the damn purple hat. Not a lot of color here. I took a photo of 4 teenagers - about your age, H, all dressed alike (as teenagers tend to do, no offense) dressed completely in blacks and grays. Not that they were of the Goth mode - I just think that's the fashion. Devoid of much color.
After messing with the SS guys, we went to two galleries - one, Hungarian Art Nouveau - fabulous, tons of the stuff, and a wide range of the style from its flowery inception to its evolution into arts arts and crafts. Then to a photo gallery, which was closed, but the building itself was so interesting - funky, old (but what isn't around here), and loaded with photo ops. So the photo viewin' turned out to be photo doin'.
Back to the hotel, dropped DOtty off, had a gyro sandwich which was actually on a tortilla instead of pita bread, and had definite chili seasoning on the meat. A little culture clash in a square piece of foil. To the two Type galleries, and now here to the internet cafe, which was swarming with students when I arrived and now it's just me and the sullen clerk behind the counter. Although sullen seems fair enough - it's kind of dank in here, and there's an arcade next store - noisy. And smoky.
Speaking of being by myself - metro episode: I had walked and walked and found myself at a big farmers market inside a repurposed train station (exotically titled Big Market on my map), then caught the metro to head up to the galleries. It was the end stop on the yellow line, and I was in a car by myself - kind of peaceful actually. THe train started, and then stopped, in the tunnel. No one else in the car. Dead quiet. Dotty would've been freaking out (although of course she's level headed - it's just that her voice gets kind of high when she's excited...)! Then a young woman and a guy in a uniform walk by, in the tunnel, outside of the car. The woman shrugs, the guy gestures to me (I'm guessing) that nothing's wrong, just stay there. Then the car goes back the way we came, I get all confused and get off, and start over again. I think they forgot we were at the last stop, went too far and had to backtrack. Hmmm. My first solo metro experience. Similar sensation to stopping in an elevator between floors. I think my cool traveling head was tested and I passed.
Some generalizations about Budapest:
Hungarian women, particularly those in their 20s and 30s, spend a lot of money on boots. Tuck in their pants. Women with money highlight their hair. WOmen without use cheap red dye from the drugstore. They seem bored with being brunettes.
Beggars here really mean it. THey are pathetic - crippled, sick, shriveled - unlike the Plaza beggars, who wear shoes that cost more than mine (not that that is saying much).
They are real big on conserving water - all these fancy low flush toilets with two buttons, 1 for #1 and 1 for #2, no kidding, but they don't recycle anything and you rarely see florescent (sp?) light bulbs.
There's no person-to-person crime to speak of. No dangerous areas. You never smell urine (travel to NY and you'll know what I mean). They don't litter. Stuff is clean, like the metro cars. Except the buildings, which are very sooty from all the cars. No SUVs, but few Smart cars either.
Ok, I'm kind of annoyed, I was going to print my boarding pass now but forgot my passport. Argh. Must go back to my room and get it. Then I will nap a bit, get cleaned up, get a recommendation from the desk clerk for a nice but not too pricy restaurant, maybe hear some music if I can find any, and I did finally find a scrubby and bath salts (Judith wrote it down for me so I could find it in a store: Furdoso!, (only with lots of dots over the letters). Turns out Hungarian is its own language, and not related to anybody else's except, get this, Sardinia. No wonder it's so difficult to figure out. So I'll get to try out that bath tub - it's like 2 feet deep, I can't wait.
My only fluent Hungarian word? Kosonome. THank you.
That's it. When you wake up tomorrow (wednesday) I will be in the air over the Atlantic. Bon voyage to me.
xos/mom see you soon. I'm ready to come home now...
Kosonome.
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