Thursday, June 28, 2006
Once again, I´m on a strange keyboard, and can´t figure out how to change it to English from German. You´ll just have to deal with it.
Dinner last night was incredible. We walked down to a restaurant off of Roosevelt Square, which is at the end of Andressz Utca. I have no idea what the name of it was -- it turned out that 6 of our group ate there, though, even though we went independently of each other, and all voted it as top. Eddie had a pork cutlet with roqufort cheese which was breaded and pan fried, and I had pork medalions with mushroom gravy. We each had a bowl of cold sour cherry soup and have decided that we´ll be doing some cold soups when we come back.
There were live musicians there playing (told you it was classy), a violin, bass and what I thought was a piano, until I realized that the guy was hitting strings with a hammer, kind of like a dulcimer. Have no idea what it was, I´ve never seen such an instrument before. They were very good, though, playing traditional hungarian music.
After that we just sat by the Danube and waited for the lights to come on. Budapest has a reputation for being one of the most well and beautifully lit cities at night, and it deserves it. We watched the prostitutes for a while (both genders -- apparently it´s an equal-oppurtunity employment), told all the beggars NO, and met up with some of the others from the group eventually.
When they lit the chain bridge, we walked down that way and ran into Harley and Jonathon, from New York. We all decided that we needed desert, so we started off in search of it. Nothing to knock your socks off there -- just desert. Watched a man who wasn´t quite all there keep blowing up long balloons, the kind you make animals with, and then let them go so they squealed into the air. We never figured out if he was trying to sell the balloons or what -- as many as kept getting stuck on buildings, though, his profit margin had to be pretty slim.
So our trip to Hungary ended. We learned that they are very independent people. One little old lady wanted help down from the curb -- she just needed an arm to lean on -- but made it quite clear to me that she did NOT need help stepping up after we crossed the street!
That´s another funny thing. Some of these little Maw-Maws and Paw-paws can hardly walk along, sometimes using one or two canes, but let the street light to cross change, and they´re humpin´across there like a bagworm across the blacktop on a summer day. Then, after they´ve crossed, they´re back to their normal pace.
This morning we were all packed and ready to board the shuttles to take us to the train station promptly at 8.00, as directed. We had one little start, though -- we couldn´t call and confirm our ride because the travel agent had put the hotel´s number on the sheet instead of the shuttle company´s, and their name wasn´t on there anywhere! Fortunately, they showed on time.
The trains are unique -- we had reserved first class seats, which means that 6 seats faced each other in a compartment with a door (like in Harry Potter movies). We moved back and forth between the three compartments, since the train wasn´t full. 2 1/2 hours of watching the contryside, riding along was pretty nice. It´s a shame that the US doesn´t have a decent train system.
Much of what we went through looked a lot like western Oklahoma. Wheat fields, almost ready for harvest, soybeans and peanuts in the ground, and the maize was about 18 inches tall from what I could tell.
After we arrived, we were met by another transport and brought to the Rathaus Hotel, where we are staying. It´s very near a college, although the tour we went on later said that everything -- the opera, spanish horses (Lippenzer stallions?), etc. are about ready to stop for the summer --like on the 30th.
The overview tour of Vienna was just that, an overview. Won´t bore you with details right now until we get a chance to see some of the things up close.
Eddie and Larry
Dinner last night was incredible. We walked down to a restaurant off of Roosevelt Square, which is at the end of Andressz Utca. I have no idea what the name of it was -- it turned out that 6 of our group ate there, though, even though we went independently of each other, and all voted it as top. Eddie had a pork cutlet with roqufort cheese which was breaded and pan fried, and I had pork medalions with mushroom gravy. We each had a bowl of cold sour cherry soup and have decided that we´ll be doing some cold soups when we come back.
There were live musicians there playing (told you it was classy), a violin, bass and what I thought was a piano, until I realized that the guy was hitting strings with a hammer, kind of like a dulcimer. Have no idea what it was, I´ve never seen such an instrument before. They were very good, though, playing traditional hungarian music.
After that we just sat by the Danube and waited for the lights to come on. Budapest has a reputation for being one of the most well and beautifully lit cities at night, and it deserves it. We watched the prostitutes for a while (both genders -- apparently it´s an equal-oppurtunity employment), told all the beggars NO, and met up with some of the others from the group eventually.
When they lit the chain bridge, we walked down that way and ran into Harley and Jonathon, from New York. We all decided that we needed desert, so we started off in search of it. Nothing to knock your socks off there -- just desert. Watched a man who wasn´t quite all there keep blowing up long balloons, the kind you make animals with, and then let them go so they squealed into the air. We never figured out if he was trying to sell the balloons or what -- as many as kept getting stuck on buildings, though, his profit margin had to be pretty slim.
So our trip to Hungary ended. We learned that they are very independent people. One little old lady wanted help down from the curb -- she just needed an arm to lean on -- but made it quite clear to me that she did NOT need help stepping up after we crossed the street!
That´s another funny thing. Some of these little Maw-Maws and Paw-paws can hardly walk along, sometimes using one or two canes, but let the street light to cross change, and they´re humpin´across there like a bagworm across the blacktop on a summer day. Then, after they´ve crossed, they´re back to their normal pace.
This morning we were all packed and ready to board the shuttles to take us to the train station promptly at 8.00, as directed. We had one little start, though -- we couldn´t call and confirm our ride because the travel agent had put the hotel´s number on the sheet instead of the shuttle company´s, and their name wasn´t on there anywhere! Fortunately, they showed on time.
The trains are unique -- we had reserved first class seats, which means that 6 seats faced each other in a compartment with a door (like in Harry Potter movies). We moved back and forth between the three compartments, since the train wasn´t full. 2 1/2 hours of watching the contryside, riding along was pretty nice. It´s a shame that the US doesn´t have a decent train system.
Much of what we went through looked a lot like western Oklahoma. Wheat fields, almost ready for harvest, soybeans and peanuts in the ground, and the maize was about 18 inches tall from what I could tell.
After we arrived, we were met by another transport and brought to the Rathaus Hotel, where we are staying. It´s very near a college, although the tour we went on later said that everything -- the opera, spanish horses (Lippenzer stallions?), etc. are about ready to stop for the summer --like on the 30th.
The overview tour of Vienna was just that, an overview. Won´t bore you with details right now until we get a chance to see some of the things up close.
Eddie and Larry
posted by me | 10:32 AM
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