Sunday, June 25, 2006
Well, we survived Germany. We learned several things.
First, the Frankfurt airport is inadequately air conditioned. After several hours, there, we were convinced of the fact.
Second, you can't argue with people at a podium, even if they speak a number of languages. Since we were so late leaving Charlotte (2 hours -- between toilets and weather), we didn't make our connecting flight. US Air had kindly rebooked us already -- at 4:30 in the afternoon! There was a 12:30 flight to Budapest, though, and Eddie thought that we might be able to get onto it.
So we went from Lufthansa to US Air to Lufthansa to another Lufthansa. All the while accomplishing nothing. But we've toured all the levels of the Franfurt airport. We can report little in the way of interesting shopping (for us, anyhow), and the aforementioned air conditioning problems.
We got into Budapest without any other problems, took a taxi ride that was ALMOST as exciting as the one in Rome, but in a much nicer and cleaner cab. He believed in using both pedals, all the way.
The hotel is nice, by cruise ship standards. It's pretty small, but you don't spend much time there anyhow. The only thing that I would really enlarge is the shower, which can't be more than about 2 ft. square. As a result, trying to wash your feet means that you bump the water control and either scald or freeze yourself.
Oh, and the toilet is in a "Water Closet" adjacent to the shower and lavatory -- and there's no water in it. After you've done your business, the water WHOOSHES through when you flush, a bit disconcerting the first time that it happens.
We walked around Budapest after a quick shower and change of clothes. By then it was 8:00 and we were looking for supper. Of course, we're in Hungary for the first time in our lives. We ate Italian.
This morning we got up and took an open top bus tour to get an overview of key sights. My favorite is the statute to the Bishop who was invited in by the first King, Stephen I, to Christianize the country in the year 1000. The pagan locals, being unimpressed, put him in a barrel of nails and rolled him down a cliff, so he got a very nice statue and artifical waterfall put up.
Just goes to show that you shouldn't mess with the locals.
There are some incredible sights here. Like Hickory, some of the tour talked about what "used to be" in a specific location. Apparently between WWII and the Russian occupation thereafter, there wasn't a lot of historic preservation happening.
This afternoon we met Klara, a lady that Eddie had talked with over the internet. She owns an internet cafe (but not the one I'm at, since it's on the other side of the river) and offered to show us around. My pedometer says that since 2:00 this afternoon, we've walked a bit over 3 1/2 miles. We decided it was time to call it an afternoon and head back for a nap and something cold to drink about 5:00.
After all, there's a whole evening to experience out there. Maybe we can find Chinese for supper!
Larry J.
First, the Frankfurt airport is inadequately air conditioned. After several hours, there, we were convinced of the fact.
Second, you can't argue with people at a podium, even if they speak a number of languages. Since we were so late leaving Charlotte (2 hours -- between toilets and weather), we didn't make our connecting flight. US Air had kindly rebooked us already -- at 4:30 in the afternoon! There was a 12:30 flight to Budapest, though, and Eddie thought that we might be able to get onto it.
So we went from Lufthansa to US Air to Lufthansa to another Lufthansa. All the while accomplishing nothing. But we've toured all the levels of the Franfurt airport. We can report little in the way of interesting shopping (for us, anyhow), and the aforementioned air conditioning problems.
We got into Budapest without any other problems, took a taxi ride that was ALMOST as exciting as the one in Rome, but in a much nicer and cleaner cab. He believed in using both pedals, all the way.
The hotel is nice, by cruise ship standards. It's pretty small, but you don't spend much time there anyhow. The only thing that I would really enlarge is the shower, which can't be more than about 2 ft. square. As a result, trying to wash your feet means that you bump the water control and either scald or freeze yourself.
Oh, and the toilet is in a "Water Closet" adjacent to the shower and lavatory -- and there's no water in it. After you've done your business, the water WHOOSHES through when you flush, a bit disconcerting the first time that it happens.
We walked around Budapest after a quick shower and change of clothes. By then it was 8:00 and we were looking for supper. Of course, we're in Hungary for the first time in our lives. We ate Italian.
This morning we got up and took an open top bus tour to get an overview of key sights. My favorite is the statute to the Bishop who was invited in by the first King, Stephen I, to Christianize the country in the year 1000. The pagan locals, being unimpressed, put him in a barrel of nails and rolled him down a cliff, so he got a very nice statue and artifical waterfall put up.
Just goes to show that you shouldn't mess with the locals.
There are some incredible sights here. Like Hickory, some of the tour talked about what "used to be" in a specific location. Apparently between WWII and the Russian occupation thereafter, there wasn't a lot of historic preservation happening.
This afternoon we met Klara, a lady that Eddie had talked with over the internet. She owns an internet cafe (but not the one I'm at, since it's on the other side of the river) and offered to show us around. My pedometer says that since 2:00 this afternoon, we've walked a bit over 3 1/2 miles. We decided it was time to call it an afternoon and head back for a nap and something cold to drink about 5:00.
After all, there's a whole evening to experience out there. Maybe we can find Chinese for supper!
Larry J.
posted by me | 8:42 AM
2 Comments:
I will give you all the CE's you want for this. How about credit toward becoming a Master Gardener?? Call upon the powers that be, get them to make it actually rain, and then there's no watering to do! Lj
Knock yourself out, sweetheart. Just remember, I'm not there to bail you out right now.
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