Errol.ca

Well, I’m in Budapest, which is beautiful and cosmopolitan, and comparably expensive to most of the places I’ve been. I suppose this is not a surprise considering where I have been. This city has a magic to it, the people are friendly, and while this is probably one another area where speaking English without hope of understanding much else, presents a problem. The adoption of an aw-shucks mentality when I’m talking does seem to help me get through the majority of the transactions that I need to from day to day.

I admit, that the loss of my big bag in Vienna had me somewhat perpetually rattled. As I don’t have the ability to give myself a physical reset and go for a run (I can’t find a decent running store here to buy shoes), the clothing I was wearing was worn for a longer than I would like (I had two shirts and two pairs of jeans), and something as simple as not having a bathroom bag makes getting ready in the morning a bit of a chore. Then there are the things I lost, the perfume oil from Egypt, the Papyrus from Egypt, the necklace given to me by the Massi warrior that admonished me for not speaking more languages. The counterfeit watches that I picked of from Thailand and Egypt, my hiking shoes, my shower sandals, my towel and my clothing, never mind the umpteen books that I have collected and marked up though my travels *argh*, and my MP3 players. A pox on the person who stole my bag, unless they needed it more than me. Still this is the height of inconvenience. The shopping in Budapest is better than in Bratislava – so I’m fairly well stocked!

But back to Budapest, and I will stop my ranting.

Budapest is a majestic city, which is still rebuilding from the communist domination. In the tourist golden zone the city is almost completely restored, However, you don’t need to go far to see the decay, and architectural styles of the communist era. Additionally, it’ clear that Hungary didn’t have the tax base necessary to maintain the city, so the buildings from the 1300’s on to the moment of communist domination show a great deal of wear and tear.
The people that I talk to – the Hungarians that speak English that I meet are mostly too young to remember the communist occupation, and only have impressions from their parents So the city/country is moving quickly into the west with reckless abandon and the history that they have to pull from is quickly becoming usless in the new free market that they are choosing.

This place is fascinating. I would like to spend a long time here, however – I have no inclination to learn Hungarian.

Missed blogs:
- Bratislava
- Vienna
- Chesky
- The Bone Church
- My social life, (the revolving door)
- Pictures in Europe
- I’m heading home
- The Hungarian equivlent of KISS
- Cool nights out
- $#@*)@#($*)& Bedbugs!
- The Hungarian Baths
- The imprints of Roman Domination
- Vienna bike tour
- Clubbing in Vienna
- Austria wine tasting
- How I feel about churches and castles
- The Jewish quarters
- Going to a Museum, and realizing how far I’ve come, and how much I’ve learned.
- Why I miss my family
- Turkey or China, where will I end up
- Absinthe

Soviena bound…