117

June 9th 

I woke up pretty early on June 9th, a lot earlier the I though I would seeing how much sleep I had missed. Anyway I felt rested and decided to head into town. I caught the tram outside the hotel and then took the subway into town. I emerged from the subway and was pretty amazed at the buildings rising above me. I decided to just wander around, no real plan in mind. I kept a journal that day so the best way I think to share that day is for you to look at all the pictures I took then read what I wrote in my journal, keep in mind I was writing to Carmel as she wanted to go to Budapest too. So I tried my best in sharing with her how I spent my day.

I'm sitting along the river looking across towards the national gallery. A very impressive building. There are also many monuments, chapels and things scattered along the hill side. It's a very loud city. Lot of movement. Occasionally you can hear  bells ringing in the Churches, but for most part you just hear movement. There is a dog barking at me, don't know why. I'm just sittin on a bench. Maybe he peed here once and it's his. I might go wander off around town for a bit. Maybe find something to eat. I don't want to do to much walking today. I might just go hang out at a museum.

I found a cafe to have breakfast at. Their currency is so strange here. Breakfast is going to cost me around 3000. Which I cant ever remember what that converts to euros let alone dollars. It was so quiet here when I sat down then all of a sudden it came alive. There is some sort of festival going on down the street.

The train was interesting, everyone had the same cold look on their face. It's much more anti social then Seattle, which is saying something.

I have to remember to stay out of the sun.

Clouded over , still got lot of sun though. Walked around alot, crossed over the chain bridge, which is pretty cool. Heading up to the museum now, hiking, not taking the Funicular thing. I'm about half way up and taking a quick nap on a ledge that's looking over the bridge.

I think my beard has helped me to blend in, or at least people don't assume I'm an American. Maybe people think I'm from some far off northern land. Most people speak English though that I've found.

The homeless guy asking for change at the train station kept pointing at my beard, yelling "Karl Marx, Karl Marx, Karl Marx..." over and over again. To bad I didn't have any change for him.

I went back to the hotel for a few hours, was feeling pretty tired. Walked a lot more then I had intended to. Bought some sun screen and lotion but I don't think I got as burned as I thought, I hope not. I need to remember to wear sun screen.

 My Flight leaves at 5:30am which means I need to be at the airport by 3:30. he tram starts running at 3 I think. But I don't think that will be reliable. A taxi will cost a lot. I'm thinking my only real reliable option will be to go to the airport early and wait. One of the last trains to run to the bus I need to catch leave at 12:30 so I will get to the airport around 1, so I'll have to find something to do for a few hours. I like this more then missing my plane. I can't miss this place. This place will take me to you. The hotel is no help with figuring out how to get to the airport. It's a bit frustrating. The hotel itself is good. It's quiet and clean. I haven't seen any other guests. The management is a bit standoffish. It's right along the tracks which is it's only real benefit.

I came back to the same cafe I had breakfast at. It's a nice simple place. and a bit touristy but it has plenty of outside seating where you can people watch. I'm drinking a beer which is pretty good. It's called Soproni Demon. It's a dark beer. I like it. I ordered the special, or was recommended it. Not really sure what I ordered. There is a soccer game on. You can hear the excitement growing and falling with the game. It started rainingh hard and everyone made a mad dash for the awnings. Where I'm sitting it's fine though. There is lightning in the distance. It's amazing. I wish you were here. They are playing Arcade Fries.

I could spend weeks in budapest. There is so much to explore. Today I just walked for a few hours and feel like I've already seen more here then I have between Frankfurt and Brussels so far. And I've only seen a fraction of the city. I want to come back here. It's an amazing mix of the ancient, modern and communist that can be seen everywhere. The subway system still seems like how it was the day they built it. It's great. One frustrating thing is the signage. It's always hard to figure out where you are because everything is listed so poorly. Maybe I just don't know where to look.

I caught the last train out of town. I only knew it when I was the last one walking out of the station before they locked the doors. I also missed the last connecting tram to the hotel, again. So I figured out there was a bus. I started waiting for it under an awning. All this while a huge lightning store with rain pouring down. The bus was pretty quick. I've come to know where to get off by the two atlas statues just before the hotel. My plan to take the train to the airport early was not going to work. I called for a taxi to pick me up instead.  It cost $20 euros but I got here in time. The airport is quiet this early. There are people sleeping everywhere. I should have thought ahead and just slept here instead.

There is no real control at this airport. They don't tell you which stand to check in at. So there are just big crowds of people standing around until the person at the desk turns their screen on then you can see which flight it is for. I was standing with a big group of people then all of a sudden the person behind the desk we were all standing behind turned her screen on and it was for my flight. Everyone just scattered and I was standing all my myself there. I'm the first flight to leave here so I'm thinking that the plane might be pretty empty.