Budapesting

Autumn is raging in Europe like a plague, but a good plague that everybody wants and needs. Are you a good plague or a bad plague? That sort of thing. Today, on my flight from Budapest to Frankfurt Hahn, the plane came out of the higher, blue atmosphere, and as we passed through the final clouds, the German landscape appeared out of nowhere. Personal confession: I have never seen more red, gold, orange, yellow, marigold, crimson, and/or burgundy (of course the list of colors goes on) hues on a single landscape of earth in all my life. Add to it the drive from Frankfurt Hahn to Frankfurt Central Airport, and you might as well just say that I have seen Heaven because I don't think the world as we know it can get much more colorful and beautiful than that German landscape. I couldn't help but wonder how something so beautiful and precious as this could be so havocked by years of heartless destruction and cold murder.

The trek to Budapest was yet another example of why having a strict travel plan is vital in Europe. The group of us (Lauren, Scott, Michelle, Lily, and myself) left Well on Friday at around 5:30 PM. Our plan was as follows:

-Bus to Njimegan Train Station (1 hour)
-Train from Njimegan to Frankfurt (3 hours)
-Bus from Frankfurt to Frankfurt Hahn Airport (not in Frankfurt at all -- 1 hour, 30 minutes)
-Slight (all-night) layover in Frankfurt Hahn until 7 AMish flight to Budapest (2 hours)

Despite a misunderstanding of the bus schedule from Frankfurt to Hahn, everything went as according to plan. We were exhausted to say the least, had made a new friend "Canadian Cal (who was as drunk as an ex-priest when he came up to us and hung out with us for four hours or so), and really wanted to find our hostel. However, we made the decision that it would be best to plow through the day and go to bed early that Friday evening which we ended up doing. Our hostel was situated in the

Friday morning we explored a bit, with our ultimate destination being the Széchenyi Medicinal Bath, which is the largest medicinal bath in Europe. It is located in the Városliget (Budapest City Park where we saw the famed Heroes Square.) The experience at Széchenyi was a natural, natural high. Most are thermal springs that both exist indoor and outdoor; however, the most exciting one for me was a sulpheric-based bath that smelled really awful but that was very good for the skin. Afterwards, we felt like nothing mattered and wandered around the Városliget until night started creeping in without any hesitation. One of the quirky characteristics of Budapest and Hungary as a country is that the night sets in extremely early (4:30 PM sunset), so it was a definite way to get to bed earlier on both nights.

I was out like a bellybutton at 7:45 PM. It was magnificent, those 12 hours of sleep.

I can't help but mention something about the owner of our hostel, Joe. Joe is a Hungarian who speaks very good English. He is everything you'd expect of a Hungarian: gruff, looks like he's always hungry, thick accent, no emotion. He was great. And that is my kindly tribute to Joe.

The next day we planned to go to a flea market/outdoor market. The Nagyvasarcsarnok (Grande Market Hall) is an indoor market that sells food goods. We were unaware of this as all of the websites that would have explained its purpose were in Hungarain. Joe gave us a directions (although they were not clear or concise, at all), and we headed in the direction he told us to go. After about two hours of wandering aimlessly, we decided to get our bearings, check in an internet cafe, and then go from there. We never found it (at least, not until much after it had closed.) Plan B kicked into gear, and we crossed over the Danube River into Buda (I forgot to mention that Budapest is a combination of two separate cities: Buda and Pest. 1873 marks the anniversary of the Buda, Pest, and Óbuda unification into the now widely known "Budapest." There's your short history lesson.) After walking along the Danube, finding dead animals and an old Hungarian license plate (yeah, I took it), and almost dying on a highway, we discovered this beautifulllll building overlooking the river. Going inside was a trip. It was an empty college (I seem to remember College of Economics or Social Sciences?), and besides an old lady in an office, the huge place was deserted and extremely creepy. After looking around all of its secret, underground passageways, we left.

It was in this moment that I finally took a moment to realize where I was. You hear the word Budapest sometimes in high school classroom situations, and it seems like something so exotic, so avant garde. On the contrary, I was noticing the sadness of the place. It was empty, like an African stomach or the Grinch or the last pen I threw away -- the people had nothing to tell me with their eyes. It was hard to compare my expectations of Budapest from daydreaming to that of its almost harsh reality.

I digress.

Onwards to the Citadelle we marched. The Citadelle is a very large hill overlooking the entire city. The river was still cleansing itself in the last bits of sunlight as we approached the first hilltop overlook. In front of the hill was a street vendor selling hot wine. I had remembered that the Sound of Music tour guide had said something about trying hot wine, so I decided to try it. Delicious, absolutely delicious, and only delicious when hot.

We climbed and climbed, making pitstops at various locations, including a marvelous park that had all sorts of colorful slides going partially down the hillside. Creeping kids and their parents out, we played for a bit. The sun was going down, so we continued. Reaching the top felt like something of an accomplishment simply because it took three times as long to climb as it should have. The night had crept over and kicked me from behind. The city looked ephemeral. The soul-searching had happened. I purchased gifts. Nothing was wrong in my head.

Later, after finding the Szent István-bazilika (Saint Stephen's Basilica) and the Magyar Állami Operaház (Hungarian State Opera House), we booked it back to this tiny little art movie theatre right below our hostel and watched an American art film with Hungarian subtitles. Very raunchy and disturbing, kind of funny, but extremely poetic. The Hungarians in the audience (everyone but us) lovvvvvved it. That was the best part.

I have nothing else to say. I found something different in Budapest than any place else I've been. A sense of belonging to my country, I feel. A sense of myself -- ? I suppose.