Travel to Hungary, Budapest.

I believe we all agree that I have terrific language skills, but I must admit Hungarian has thrown me for a loop. Yet even with the language barrier ... today I witnessed another example of how we are all the same. At lunch, under a huge umbrella, in 104 degree heat, I witnessed the following, and although I understood only one word of the entire conversation ("gelato") I knew precisely what was going on.

Two tables, the first occupied by two couples, the second occupied by the four children of the two couples (lets call them 8-12). Lunch was over and the waiter was cleaning up and asked if anyone wanted desert. As the parents shook their heads "no," the waiter was already rattling off the options, which included GELATO. The ninos, of course, wanted gelato, and after some energetic cajoling the parents relented. After sorting the ninos, the waiter asked the parents if they want to join in the gelato. The two husbands (who I believe are brothers) did not need much encouragement.

Read more at http://www.travelblog.org/

Travel to Hungary, Central Transdanubia, Lake Balaton.

Wednesday July 17 –Today was just hectic. I had breakfast in the hotel (eggs and ham – another new one) and then went to the bus station for my bus to Balatonfured, on Lake Balaton, the largest lake in Hungary. I actually didn’t find a place to stay here, earlier on, so after I got there, I took another bus going to Keszthely, a bit further away. The first bus of course had a blood thirsty pack of people trying to all get on at the same time again. But in this case, I saw why. There were too many people, and not enough seats. I got one, luckily, but many people had to stand. Now this bus was by no means direct, so people were getting on and off many times through the journey. I was on this bus for 2.5 hours, so I’m glad I could sit. I also had to pee desperately for 2.5 hours. Quelle nightmare. As soon as I got off the bus, I went into the info office and found out that my next bus was leaving in 20 minutes, luckily.

Read more at http://www.travelblog.org/

Travel to Europe, Hungary.

Buda is dominated by Varhegy (Castle Hill) and we climbed it today by its nineteenth century funicular. As well as visiting the main attractions, the Matyas Church, a recreation of an original 13th building and the Buda Palace a former royal residence which has been rebuilt several times over the centuries but is now a collection of museums, we also wandered around the streets which included several interesting buildings. Everything has been impressively reconstructed after severe damage during the Second World War fighting.

Read more at http://www.travelblog.org/