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Day 40 - July 30, 2015
An extraordinarily uneventful day. After work I went home because we had a two hour long lecture about supply chain management. On the plus side, we got fed pizza again!
Until next time...here's to life outside the four walls, Kathy
Day 39 - July 29, 2015
Movie Night
Not much happening here. I left work around 3:00PM to go to WestEnd and hopefully get some shopping in before having to meet people for dinner and for a movie
I met up with Lisa-Marie, Denaye, Mike, and Sawyer in the mall outside the cinema as planned. Lisa-Marie and I decided to go to H&M while we waited for Sawyer's arrival and I finally bought a tank top, yay! We went to a restaurant called Wasabi (that's right, Japanese again!) then went to the theatre.
First of all, it's cheap movie night (lucky us) so tickets were 1,200 forints then Lisa-Marie and I split a large popcorn and two medium pops as well as a Bueno bar and M&M's. including both tickets, the total converts back to 4,400 forints, which is about $20, talk about cheap! Originally we wanted to see Magic Mike 2 but couldn't find an English speaking theatre that was playing it so we opted for Ted 2 which was ok but not as good as the first one (are sequels every better?). The movie was in English with Hungarian subtitles and we laughed pretty hard at some parts. I wonder how many others in the theatre understood what was happening or if they had to read the subtitles. Another interesting fact, tickets are assigned seating here, first come, first serve. Cool, eh? The seats were large and comfortable, though they didn't recline. The AC was pumping two, probably could have done this one on a hot day but that's all right. We went home right after the movie as there wasn't much to do.
Until next time...here's to life outside the four walls, Kathy
Day 38 - July 28, 2015
Central Market | Shoes on the Danube Banks
I left work early again, this time to go to the Central Market Hall. I spent a couple hours in there walking around, taking my time looking at everything. There were a lot of souvenirs being sold, I thought about buying some but am convinced that there are cheaper places where I can find more traditional items to give as gifts for people so I held off.
I also had every intention of going to the Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial today, which involved me walking through Elizabeth Square...where the rose ice cream place is. Do you see where this is going? Hehe. I got another ice cream! It's 750HUF for four flavours, that's just over $3, so worth it. There was also a small child’s festival of some sort going on at Elizabeth Square, something about super heroes is what I was able to make out. I walked around the square a little bit and saw some pretty cool looking games.
There's no direct stop over by the memorial so it was a little bit of a trek but I found it. It's a very unique memorial, constructed as a permanent reminder of what occurred during WWII. Jews were killed by the fascist group known as Arrow Cross, they were told to take off their shoes then were shot at the edge of the bank so that their bodies would fall into the river to be carried away. This memorial represents their shoes left on the bank. It's not a large memorial, but I spent about 30-40 minutes there just sitting, taking some photos, and (like many other times on this trip and previous ones) thought about how lucky I am to be living in Canada and to not have to experience the numerous mass murders that have occurred all around the world. It's always a humbling experience when you're put in a situation that forces you to think about what you have and how lucky you are to live the life you do. It's happened at least once to me on every big trip I've been on, the feeling never gets old and I welcome it. It keeps me grounded and appreciative of what I have, especially because (as much as I don't want to admit it) I take things for granted way more than I think I do.
I decided to go home after visiting the memorial, I was hungry and didn't want to spend more money. Earlier in the trip I had asked my friend/co-worker, Andrew, to send me a Hurricanes scarf because I figured that would be a cool gift for the football club here (get it? Because football is all about their scarves!). We weren't sure how the address for Budapest works because it's so different from back home so basically, Andrew put all the information I gave him on a piece of paper and taped it to the package. Fingers crossed that it would find it's way to me before the end of my trip. Well, it did! Took just under two weeks to get here and I had to laugh at the packaging…
An inside joke at the office but yes, that is a garbage bag.
Sharlee was home and was getting ready for a run, I opted not to go this time. When she got back she told me about this super freaky thing that happened. She was running the usual route when this young girl on rollerblades comes up to her and she's freaking out. Sharlee told her to calm down and to speak in English, thankfully she was able to speak English. She told Sharlee that there were two guys hiding in a bush just up ahead, Sharlee was pretty freaked up but she had no other choice...that was the way home. The girl also needed to go that way to get home so they decided to go together. When they approached the bush, the guys were gone. Doesn't seem like much right? Except that it's a pretty shady area, it was getting dark, and (as Sharlee found out from her boss earlier that day...how convenient…) a girl had been murdered on that path a couple years ago, that's why there's lights there now. We've also seen "missing girl" posters in the area as well. Needless to say, there won't be any solo running in the evening anymore.
I made pasta for supper while Hannah and Sharlee kept me company. We also talked Giselle into changing the final paper for the work study and by changing I mean get rid of. As in we no longer have to write a final paper for this work study! We're going to be doing an open discussion/presentation of some sort instead (yes!)
Until next time...here's to life outside the four walls,
Kathy
Day 37 - July 27, 2015
Visitors from Home
I left work early because Jessica, Jocelyn, and Carly were here! Originally they were going to be here later this week but their plans changed and they arrived on Friday which sucked a little bit because I was in Vienna so today was the only day I got to see them. I left work at 2:00PM, got to their hostel around 2:45 and we went to the Lukacs Baths. Though it was raining we didn't use the outdoor swimming pools but stayed in the indoor thermal baths the whole time while we chatted and got caught up on the past few weeks of everyone's lives. We started to get hungry so decided to go find dinner, Jocelyn wanted potatoes and Carly wanted something fairly cheap. I had though about taking them to the For Sale Pub because I thought they would like it but I wasn't sure how the prices were so I opted to take them back to the food street that we went to before our boat ride party, I figured with all the different options we would surely find a place everyone could agree on.
I'm feeling all smart and confident with the transit and since we didn't have WIFI we couldn't look up the location (not that it mattered because I don't even know the name of the street), but I knew how to get there and I knew we needed tram 2. We made it to tram 2 and then I realized we went the wrong way, we got off and flipped to the other side to go back the way we came, but without thinking, we hoped on the next tram (which ended up being tram 24). As soon as it turned I knew we were on the wrong one, I didn't even look at the sign before we got on it. All was fine as the stop we got off at was just across the street from tram 2 anyways, so back we went. Then we went 2 or 3 stops over and found our street! It was a funny experience because no one was really paying much attention either since we were all still talking about everything. Eventually, we made our way to the street and begin our journey of finding a restaurant to eat at. There's a lot of options, what are the chances that they would pick the one restaurant that I'd already been to? Slim, right? Well, they chose that restaurant. Haha. I didn't say anything because they were all okay with the place (and I was really hungry), I decided to eat ribs instead of chicken this time. Yum!
After dinner I took them to go get the rose ice cream, thankfully they hadn't heard of this place so they were pleasantly happy when they realized they make flowers out of the ice cream! We ate our ice cream sitting on a bench in Elizabeth Square (while we watched mice scurry in and out of bushes, the fact that it didn't freak me out...freaks me out haha). We just sat and talked about everything, not truly believing that here are four girls from Lethbridge, 3 of whom grew up together since grade 6, met up in Budapest like it was a regular occurrence.
Of course, all good things must come to an end, they're off to Berlin in the morning, train leaves at 9:00AM and I had to work, plus I had an hour long commute home so we called it a night. I am so, so thankful that the timing worked out and we were able to see each other, even if it was just for a few hours one day. I've gotten to know Jessica pretty well these past few years and I've known Carly and Jocelyn since grade 6. Though the three of us are not as close as we used to be (we used to spend pretty much every moment together, especially since we all lived in the same neighbourhood) I know they will always be some of the greatest friends I've have. Their families are my family; I've learned so much from their siblings and their parents, been cared for by them and basically adopted as their own that it comes second nature to call their parents "mom" and "dad" and I know that if I were ever in trouble and for whatever reason my family couldn't be there, they would be...and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Until next time...here's to life outside the four walls, Kathy
Day 36 - July 26, 2015
Belvedere | Food Festival
I didn't sleep in much, I woke up at 9:00AM and decided to do some yoga. The studio back home had a Yin Yoga class (my favourite), they taped the class and put it on YouTube so I was able to follow along with it. After all the walking the past month with little stretching, this was much needed, plus there's nothing like starting your day with a little yoga :)
I took a shower (because you have to when you have such a beautiful shower to use) and by that time everyone else was up. We ate breakfast together like a family (cute no?) Cam and Hannah had also bought some breakfast items for all of us so we had an abundance of food). We devised a plan for the day and everyone got ready.
Our first stop was to walk through the Belvedere Gardens, which didn't take long and was nice to stroll through again. After that we made our way to Stephansplatz to kill some time, Cam and I wanted a snack to hold us over so we opted for some Chinese food at one of the vendor stores at a tram station. Cam got vegetarian spring rolls while I got duck with noodles, I asked for the small and it was cheap so I wasn't expecting much, it turned out to be quite a bit a food, a full meal basically.
At Stephensplatz, Hannah and Cam went into the Cathedral while Sharlee and I waited outside since we'd been in already and we knew it wasn't going to take long. When they came back we casually strolled through the area, bought some chocolate and ice cream and ended up near the Opera house. Hannah spotted a café across from the Opera so we went in there, this place was super cute! Hannah was the only one who ordered something (everything looked delicious but after Chinese and ice cream I was pretty full). We sat for about a half an hour maybe then made our way back to the food festival so we could get a late lunch and/or food for the ride home. Hannah and Cam got Spätzle, Cam also got a plate of Calamari. I bought spätzle but for the ride home or dinner once we get back to Budapest and Sharlee bought kangaroo and fries for the ride home. While we were eating, we met a family from Nevada, the husband works in Hungary most of the year while the wife and son were currently visiting for the summer. The husband is a cameraman and is currently shooting the CSI equivalent for Hungary (I think it was CSI, something like that). He's worked on numerous television sets and shared stories with us, pretty cool to hear!
We realized we were going to be late getting back to the apartments so we left, we arrived around 3:35PM give or take, we were supposed to be there by 3:30. Oops. We gave Giselle our keys and had an hour to get to the bus station, which we did no problem. We were hoping the bus would have some empty seats so we could spread out a bit but it was totally full. I slept the entire way, it was great.
When we were walking down the block to our house we saw cops. Cops everywhere. A lot of cops. We already joked constantly about how we live in the ghetto, this didn't help the situation as we approached the intersection we needed to cross there were about ten cops lined up and they weren't going to let us through. We still had no idea what was going one. They weren't heavily armed so we figured it couldn't be anything too dangerous, right? We didn't even bother to ask if any of them spoke English, just tried to communicate that we live on that block, our house was number 64. Sharlee (bless her soul) eventually started crossing the street, walking towards the cops, the cops looked at each other and decided to let us through. Seriously, it can't be that dangerous if they let us through so easily, right?
Giselle and her family had taken a cab home and made it there before us. They were concerned because they weren't sure if we'd be able to get to the house. Turns out there was a protest of some sort going on, we could see the group of people wearing white shirts at the next intersection, they were chanting something in Hungarian, of course none of us understood. Giselle couldn't make out what they were saying either. I can't speak for anyone else but I didn’t feel as though we were in danger at all. We went in our house and ate/unpacked/etc. then we heard the crowd's chants get louder and we realized they were moving, walking right past our house. We got a clear view of the shirts, white with a handprint in the middle in a circular "stop shape." We went on the Internet to see if we could figure out what was going on but didn't find anything. After they passed our house it was all quite and life was back to normal, cars were able to drive down the street again, it was like nothing ever happened.
Until next time...here's to life outside the four walls, Kathy
Day 35 - July 25, 2015
Schönbrunn Palace
We were supposed to meet at 8:30AM in the lobby so that we could make our way to Schönbrunn Palace for about 9:00AM. Giselle and her family had mapped out the route (and tested it the night before) so we knew where we were going this time. We didn't get a chance to buy some snacks yesterday for breakfast today so when we got to the station to switch trams we bought breakfast as well. I had this delicious meat with melted cheese throughout on a sandwich. I have no idea what I ate but it was fantastic.
We took a few group pictures with Lisa-Marie's GoPro (I'm definitely going to save up to buy one) and then were sent on our way. Thankfully we didn't have to stick as a group for the palace, that would have sucked because I really wanted to take my time in the gardens since I'd already been through the palace museum before. We started out with a group of about seven, Sharlee and I wanted to explore the garden first because it was supposed to rain later that day and we didn't want to be stuck in the rain. Sharlee didn't care too much to go in the museum and I'd already been there so we were in no rush to walk through the gardens. We stuck as a group for about 45 minutes and then everyone's different paces separated the group. Sharlee and I had long lost the group before we even got into the main gardens directly behind the palace because of our slow pace. We were really just enjoying the moment and our surroundings. Last year when I was here I didn't get a chance to go to the gardens because it poured the whole time, I stood inside the museum looking out the window wishing with all my might the rain would stop and I could go for a walk but alas, that never happened. When I found out we'd be going to Vienna for a weekend trip as a group, that we had paid for it but didn't get a chance to voice our opinion on it, I was a little disappointed because I had already been there but the fact that I walked through these gardens made it worth the trip (and also our apartment is gorgeous, also a highlight).
Sharlee and I casually strolled through the gardens for about three hours (this place is massive, we also weren't walking particularly fast at all). We walked up to the top to Gloriette, something Sharlee didn't get to do last year when she was here because she went to the Zoo and ran out of time so this was new for both of us. When we reached the top and turned around we had a panoramic view of the city, I certainly didn't expect that.
We decided it was time to go inside and made our way back to the front of the palace but on our way, we found the Orangery Garden...the part of the gardens that I've always wanted to see. You had to pay 3.5 Euros (separate from the museum ticket) but I was willing to. Thankfully Sharlee thought to check if our museum tickets gave us entry to the gardens...it did so we didn't have to pay! We had the Classic Pass which gave us full access to all that Schönbrunn had to offer.
After our visit to the Orangery Garden we finally made our way inside to the museum. We missed our entrance time, I didn't think there was one at this palace (I know there is as Neuschweinstein in Germany but not here). The lady working the area let us through though. We opted out of audio guides and made our way through the rooms. We whizzed by (literally in and out in 20 minutes), as we walked from one room to another little tidbits started coming back to me. Of all the castles and palaces I've visited this has been my favourite. The architectural design does not compare to Neuschweinstein's but the history of the royal family was one I particularly enjoyed, especially in regards to Princess Sisi.
With all the walking we'd done in the gardens we really needed to sit for a while so we opted to go to the palace café for a drink and a snack. I tried what they called their traditional apple juice with cinnamon (it was delicious, I'm not sure why I've never thought to put cinnamon in my apple juice before) and an apple strudel (also quite delicious thought there was a lot of thick, heavy, vanilla cream sauce at the bottom). After our break we decided to go take a nap back at the apartment, on our way home we stopped at a grocery store to pick up some breakfast items (we also got coffee for Hannah and croissants for all). It was nice to just relax at the apartment and since we'd both been to Vienna neither of us felt we were missing out on anything. We had an idea of what we wanted to do and see and we had accomplished it already (the Prater for Sharlee and the Schönbrunn Gardens for me. Sharlee wanted to walk through the Belvedere Garden as well but we planned that for tomorrow). I took a two hour nap, it was so glorious (and much needed). Hannah and Cam back home at some point, Kristina was with them as well and then everyone (except Hannah) napped.
Earlier, they had found a film and food festival by Parliament and asked if we wanted to check it out for dinner...of course we did. Word spread and before we knew it the whole group wanted to go. When we got there it was bustling. People were everywhere, food was all over the place, and so were drinks. There was a big screen with lots of seating near the back and we knew we were here for the rest of the night.
We all dispersed to get our own food agree to meet in a vague area once we had our meals. Sharlee and I took a lap then decided on Dim Sum, Pad Thai, and some dough-like breakfast-like dessert-like dish. It was a lot of food, but oh so very tasty. We found the rest of the group, I'm not sure how but we did, and so did everyone else. A few of the girls left at some point and found seats for all of us for the film portion of the festival so we made our way over there. The weather called for rain all day (it didn't at all) and it was fairy chilly in the evening so we cuddled up together on the chairs/benches and watched a concert by Depeche Mode (I have no idea who that is but he sang in English and actually put on a pretty good show too). We stayed for pretty much the entire show then decided to call it a night.
Cam, Hannah, Sharlee, and I all decided we would be sleeping in tomorrow since we had nothing to worry about as we weren't leaving 3:30PM. I would like to note that it was beautiful weather for sleep, we had the windows open and were able to snuggle into our blankets (a first this entire trip).
Until next time...here's to life outside the four walls, Kathy
Day 34 - July 24, 2015
Vienna!
We are off to Vienna for the weekend! Our bus leaves at 9:00AM and we had to meet there at 8:30AM. Remember how I said Dan stayed out with Tiffany last night? Yeah, well he stayed at Tiffany's too and came home in the morning, though none of us saw him. We didn't have to all leave together so different groups left at different times. Sharlee and I were in the group that left first...last night we had agreed to leave at 7:15AM to catch the 7:25AM train because we weren't too sure how long it takes to get to the bus station. 7:20AM rolls around and there's a few of us. We didn't wait for anyone else as it was totally up to them to get there. It ended up only being a half hour commute so we were early but that gave us plenty of time to get food and drinks for the ride. Plus, it gave Sharlee and I a chance to check out the luggage storage for when we go to Croatia.
Everyone else showed up around 8:15AM ish...all except for Mike and Dan. We started to get worried and tried to contact them but the WIFI wasn't very good at the station so we were having issues. We get on the bus and Hannah is finally able to contact them, turns out neither set their alarm and they woke up around 8:40. Surely, not enough time to get to the station for the bus, they opted to buy tickets and get on the bus that leaves at 11:00AM.
I slept the whole way (3 hours), which was great and much needed. Giselle had the directions to our apartments down so she led the way. When we got to the train station (our final stop) we started walking in the direction she thought our apartments were at. No. It wasn't that way. Michael and half the group went on a little walk to try to find the place while the other half of us just stood in the shade (no use making all of us walk if we were going in the wrong direction...which we were). So they got the right directions and we hopped on a tram back to the train station, Giselle got off at the train station so we all did too. Only, that wasn't what we wanted to do. By this time people really needed to go to the washroom and people were really hungry. The decision was made that Giselle would go to the apartments first to get the keys and what not while the rest of us ate lunch and went to the washroom...at the train station…in McDonald's. Yes, we ate McDonald's. I got a double cheeseburger and it ended up tasting way better than it does back home. PS: the pricing was significantly cheaper too! My double cheeseburger meal cost just around $7. Giselle and Michael were supposed to have phones that work outside of Hungary, only they didn't. Giselle was going to come back to see meet us to bring us to the apartments but (as we alter found out) she ended up at the wrong McDonald's (the one upstairs and we were downstairs). So she went back to the apartments. We literally sat in McDonald's for over an hour waiting when finally we all got frustrated, people looked up the place on Google Maps with WIFI and it said it's like a 10 minute walk from where we were. So we left, Michael stayed in case Giselle arrived. We found the apartments (and Giselle) someone connected to the WIFI to tell Michael how to get to the apartment and all was well. Except that everyone was pretty grumpy after all that time.
Speaking of McDonald's...how about they have gluten free options. Is that a thing back home?
Hannah, Cam, Sharlee, and I opted to stay in the four person room (there were two rooms for two people, one room for three people, and one room for four people). We were expecting a room with bunk beds or something not super extravagant or anything. Turned out we got the nicest room, the newly renovated one with lots of space. Sharlee, Hannah, and I fan-girled so hard. We screamed and cheered and jumped and clapped it was probably an absolutely hilarious sight. Our washroom was big, new, extremely clean and modern. The kitchen was super cute, reminded us of a cabin kitchen. There were 2 rooms with a queen-ish sized bed and a couch in both rooms that also turn into beds. There was a living room with a dining table and a couch that turns into a bed. We could have easily fit all 11 of us in our room. We certainly weren't expecting anything as nice as what we got so we were very, very happy.
Sharlee, Hannah, and I had all already been to Vienna so we weren't in a rush to go see anything. This whole trip is Cam's first time in Europe but he was also pretty chill and not in a rush to see anything, partially because he didn't do much research prior to the trip to see what he wanted to go do. After the day we had we just wanted to take it easy for a little bit. Cam took a nap while the three of us all showered. When we were ready we decided to go to Stephensplatz (the main square with the cathedral) to find food. Sharlee took us to Figlmüller (claims to have the best schnitzel in town) because Cam really wanted to try schnitzel. It was pretty price but pretty good. I probably wouldn't go back there for it (breaded, fried, pork doesn't have many ways in which you can cook it) because it didn't taste much different from other schnitzel I've had.
We went to the Prater afterwards, the permanent theme park in Vienna. Sharlee had been there before and really wanted to go back. I remember hearing about it but didn't go last year since it rained the whole time I was in Vienna. This turned out to be a great decision. The park is free to enter you just pay for the rides individually. I'm not a big rides person and Hannah doesn't do super spiny rides, Sharlee and Cam are though. So we chose a few we could all go on and Cam and Sharlee chose a few they would go on. We started with this arrow/swing thing. It looked fun enough, it's a giant arrow that swings you back and forth but the seats also spin forwards and backwards. The spinning didn't look very fast so Hannah and I decided we could do it. We paid for our ride and got in line. When we got in we were told that our shoes needed to come off (because Hannah and I were wearing Birkenstocks and they don't strap in or anything) and I was asked to take off my glasses. Shit must be legit. I was scared now. We got buckled in and I instantly got butterflies in my stomach. The ride started, we swung slowly but when we would reach the peak of the forward or backward swing our seats would spin and I was terrified. I screamed. A lot. And loudly. I lifted out of the seat every time and could not keep my eyes open. But it's okay I did have a lot of fun on that ride, though I needed to take a break afterwards.
Hannah hung out with me while Cam and Sharlee went on this thing that's similar to the Octopus at Whoop-Up Days. Basically, there's a lot of spinning. Then they put you upside down and repeat. I couldn't even watch it as I started to feel sick. We opted to go on this water ride that we saw...it looked slow and we were fairly warm so getting sprayed a bit wouldn't be bad. Well, it was a round sitting thing, that spins. The water spins you and yeah, I wasn't feeling very good. Sharlee, Hannah, and Cam all said the ride really wasn't that great but it was funny because none of us expected it to be as spiny as it was and they just apologized the whole time while also laughing at the fact that I was struggling...a lot. Needless to say, I was done for the evening. Sharlee and Cam weren't though. So we continued walking and then we saw the Sling Shot. Sharlee had to do it (price dependent). We made our way over there and saw it was 15 Euros, pricey when compared to the rest of the rides but extremely cheap when compared to Canada...so her and Cam went on it while Hannah and I filmed it. Probably one of the funniest things I've seen/heard. You can hear Sharlee's ear-piercing scream right off the hop then Cam's low scream about two seconds later. We all still laugh at that. There's a camera on the ride that records the whole thing (you can buy the DVD after if you want, they didn't) but we watched the video and the two of them look so petrified sitting there waiting for it to happen. It was just great to see.
We made our way back to the apartments after that and called it a night also because we had an early wake-up call in the morning for our trip to Shonbrunn Palace.
Until next time...here's to life outside the four walls, Kathy
Day 33 - July 23, 2015
Beer Bike!!
What's that? Yes, you read right, beer bike. This was an absolute blast and I am so, so glad I did it. It cost about $20 or so per person but that includes a two hour bike ride plus 20 litres of beer (we ended up with 50 litres because we were the last group of the day and got everyone else's left over beer too. The price will change depending on how many people you have (we had 10). Since we chose to do this on a weeknight it had to be after work so we could all make it so we chose to start at 7:30PM (the latest they start a ride). Each bike gets one driver (the employee) who steers the bike while the rest of us pedal, our driver's name was Dan who spoke great English. You also get to play your own music (if you bring your device) which we did and since 9/10 of us like country music (and have been deprived of it for so long) we definitely started with that. You know the Canadian Beer Bike has arrived when...Haha.
Anyways, the ride starts and ends at Heroes' Square, I went home after work to drop off my stuff (since I needed my bag for the weekend), met Sharlee, Mike, and Dan and made our way to the square. We rode “The Underground” or Metro Line 1 (if you recall, the second oldest metro in all of Europe), this time I got photos!
Sharlee had eaten dinner already since she gets off work earlier enough to do so. Dan, Mike, and myself didn't get a chance to and I knew if I didn't eat anything I would get drunk about 15 minutes into the ride. We opted for an Italian restaurant across from the square that offered a slice of pizza and lemonade special for just 890HUF (about $4.50). Greasy food before downing a lot of beer, that's exactly what the doctor called for. We walked over to the square after, ran into Cam and Hannah and decided to take some photos. Then met up with the rest of the crew and noticed that all the girls (except Kristina and Saywer, though Sawyer had a black top on) were wearing a black top and shorts so...HELLO obviously we needed a photo.
And then we were off on the beer bike. We went down Andrassy Boulevard (a very busy, old, and well known street in Budapest) turned around at the Octogon intersection and then back up Andrassy, stopping every once in awhile for food and/or washroom breaks. Andrassy has a main street and then on other side, smaller streets where cars can drive down to park, naturally that's where we were biking because we simply wouldn't be able to keep up with regular traffic. You don't need every single person to be pedalling in order to get the bike moving (though it makes it easier) you only need probably four or five people to get it going. I'm not going to lie, I didn't pedal the entire way, not because I'm lazy but because MY LEGS WERE ALMOST TOO SHORT TO PEDAL! I had to sit on the edge of the seat in order to make a full cycle and let me tell you...the bench seat was not comfortable. I did pedal from time to time, but not for the duration and I'm sure I'm not the only person. It was funny though, so when we had to cross an intersection Dan would tell us that we need to pedal fast so we could cross traffic quickly (makes sense) so we did. And then we pretty much instantly stopped and Dan would have to turn around and be like "uh, guys...keep pedaling). Haha, he did this on numerous occasions and we just had to laugh at it.
Sharlee and Sawyer also got to take turns driving for a little bit, which they both said was slightly terrifying and badass at the same time. Can't blame them. Though we needed an actual driver the whole time (and someone who is sober to drive) this was obviously the beer bike employee. It never crossed our mind about how the bike would need to stop when we're at a red light and there's a car in front of us...how can we possibly time it stop without hitting anyone? The first time we had to do it, Dan turned around and kind of freaked out, frantically saying we need to stop or we will hit the car in front of us. This got our attention and people started screaming at others to stop. Guess what? He has a break. Yep, he has a break. Smart thinking beer bike people, smart thinking. It still made for a great time.
We finished our ride at 9:30PM and well, I was drunk (I wasn't the only one) but I was certainly more drunk than most of the gang. We didn't want to go home yet (we have tomorrow off because we are going to Vienna for the weekend but our bus leaves at 9:00AM and we have to be at the station by 8:30AM then factor in our travel time to the station). Plus, most of us hadn't packed yet so we knew we probably shouldn't stay out late. Well, we also had a lot of alcohol flowing through us and no one was ready to call it a night. We were going to head out to a club but somewhere along the way the plan changed and we ended up going to Tiffany's apartment instead. We just hung around, snacked and drank in her nice air-conditioned apartment. Finally people were beginning to get tired and wanted to go home, though Dan (our Dan and not the driver Dan) wasn't ready for that so he and Tiffany went to hang out in Elizabeth Square for a bit longer while the rest of us caught a cab home.
Until next time...here's to life outside the four walls, Kathy
Day 32 - July 22, 2015
Gellert Hill Hike
I got to watch the first team (the professional team) practice today at work. They were on the game field as opposed to their normal training field and they practiced at 3:30 as opposed to in the morning or evening like they normally do. My boss thinks they did that as a way to prepare them (mentally and physically) for the game on this Saturday which will be played at 3:30PM instead of 6:00 or 8:00 in the evening. It makes sense, between noon and 4:00PM is the hottest time here and it's been f*&!ing hot here the past few days. The team was practicing in 42 degree heat. They got a water break about every 15 minutes or so and would immediately run over to this large bin filled with water to splash it on themselves. It was hot. They weren't running drills, more like a scrimmage and there was no one in the stadium so it was pretty quiet, I could hear the players talking to each other. Earlier I had asked my boss what language practices are run in because the coaches are Italian, most of the players are Hungarian, but there's a few from other countries like Serbia, Guinea, and Croatia. He said practices are run in English. Well, it didn't sound like English on the pitch. Then I realized it was the Hungarian players hollering at each other. Hmm, I wonder what they were saying and also, how do the other nationality players feel about that? Does it cause some tension or frustration because they don't understand? Or did the Hungarians teach them those specific words so they do understand? I don't know. Then I heard the coach yell, yep, English. Though I found it very funny because he barely ever finished his sentence. There were also a lot of hand gestures being used, it was funny to see (and then, of course, the coaches spoke to each other in Italian).
After work I went to meet Sharlee, Mike, Tiffany, and Sawyer to hike up Gellert Hill. We made our way there not sure where it starts but saw an uphill path so we figured that's the way to go. It was, sort of. I think we took some "shortcuts," some "off the path" trails but we made it up there, stopping every once in awhile to snap photos and admire the view before our eyes. We went pretty early so we didn't wait for the to set, we figured we could do that some other day.
We headed back home to make dinner, Sharlee and I bought our tickets for the Sziget festival in August so we're pretty stoked! And we've been trying to figure out how to get to Croatia from Budapest because it's a wee bit of a hassle.
Until next time...here's to life outside the four walls, Kathy
Day 31 - July 21, 2015
Today marks my one month of being abroad! I left on June 21st and I haven’t looked back :)
After work I went to Margaret Island again, this time to meet Sharlee and Tiffany. But first, I needed to take more money out as I'm down to just 7,000 forints (approximately $30). I've never had to take out money on any trip before, I've always exchanged enough money back home that lasted me the entire trip but I didn't know how safe the place we're staying at is and what not so I only exchanged $300 worth of forints which has lasted me until today. That's pretty good I'd say! Anyways, I was planning on just exchanging some Canadian bills for forints but knew that the exchange rate is usually lower at an actual exchange store so I wanted to go to a bank. Only to realize you need an account to do that...duh, that makes sense. So I was going to suck it up and go to an exchange store, the rate was fine, barely a difference from what the interbank rate but then I looked at the cost and the percentage increased as you exchanged more money. I didn't bother to do the math of how much it would cost for me because I knew it would add up fast. Decided to (yet again) suck it up and pay the fee to withdraw from an ATM I went back over to the bank. Only problem is that the bank was closed, though their ATM is 24 hours, you just have to swipe your card to unlock the door (like you do back home).
I wasn't sure if I needed a card from their bank or if my VISA or MC would work but I figured I would give it a shot. I swiped my VISA, pulled the door handle, nothing. Tried again, nothing. Okay, maybe my debit card. Swipe, pull handle, nope. I was about to grab my MC to try it when a guy said something to me. I 100% didn't understand what he was saying then he motioned with his hand to push the door. Oh. I wasn't supposed to be pulling, my bad. So I tried again, swipe, push, nothing. Feeling embarrassed (and frustrated) I didn't know if I should try again or what. The guy was confused as to why it didn't work so he took out his own card and opened it for me. Phew. Problem solved. I got my money (unsure of the fee I'd pay for it, but at this point it didn't matter because I really needed the money) and I made my way to the island.
We had agreed to meet at the baths on the island because it was close to the middle and would hopefully be less of a walk for Sharlee and Tiffany (who were going to be exploring the island for a few hours before I got there). I waited about 15 minutes and I heard someone calling my name, I looked up to see where the two of them were standing...they weren't. They had rented a golf cart, yes! Hallelujah! How absolutely splendid. We did a quick lap then decided we were hungry, there's an all you can eat and drink (in 2 hours) restaurant close to Tiffany's apartment so we decided to go there. If you have a reservation you can stay for 3 hours, if you're a walk-in you can stay for 2 hours. It's roughly $28 and it's all you can eat and all you can drink (beer and wine included), so on a party night it's a pretty good deal. The food wasn't the best, just okay. I'm happy I tried it out but probably won't be going back.
It was about 10:00 when we got kicked out (not literally, but we were politely told our 2 hours was up) so we bid Tiffany adieu and made our way down to the river to catch tram 2. Evening strolls are one of my favourite things to do in Europe. I've noticed that each city has a different feel to it at night time and it's usually pretty awesome. Plus, during the day it's so hot you don't really want to stroll the streets with the sun glaring down on you (and in my case, I work until 5:00PM so I can't do anything during the day anyways). So Sharlee and I decided we would walk down a few stops and catch the tram, as opposed to getting on the first stop. Well, we ended up walking a little over 2KM because the weather as great and the scenery was even better. We finally decided to get on the tram and made our way home just after midnight.
Though we tend to talk for about an hour after we're both ready for bed so really, we didn't get to sleep until after 1:00. Remember, Sharlee has to wake up at 5:15 for work. I imagine it's going to be a long day for her.
PS: can you tell blogging is getting more difficult? My posts are definitely not as detailed as they used to be (or at least not as deep). Hope I'm not boring you with just basically explaining my day to you. Oh well, I guess if you're bored you can just stop reading anyways. Though now that I'm caught up on my blog, I can probably update quite regularly (minus the weekends) because that's pretty much all I've done at work the last week and a half...
Until next time...here's to life outside the four walls, Kathy
Day 30 - July 20, 2015
A mostly uneventful day, especially after the weekend I had. Though I did find bacon wrapped hotdogs. Yum.
I had to look up some arena management companies in Europe for Tamas. And I decided to take the whole day to do that.
I went grocery shopping with Sawyer and Denaye when I got home, I was desperately running low on food. We found hot dog covered bacon at Tesco so we picked up a pack and decided to make garlic toast and pasta with it. Yum! Sawyer and I did (Denaye's a vegetarian).
That was about the extent of the day, everyone was finally under the same roof again so we all shared our weekend stories.
Until next time...here's to life outside the four walls, Kathy
Day 29 - July 19, 2015
Margaret Island | A little slice of paradise in the heart of the city.
I told myself I wasn't going to sleep in anymore, but I didn't get up until about 10:00AM today because I was just so tired from yesterday. I did some laundry, taking advantage of the fact that almost everyone left for the weekend except for me and Amanda.
Amanda and I decided to go to the House of Terror and I wanted to go to Margaret Island (Margit-Sziget) afterwards. The House of Terror is a museum showing the fascist and communist regime in Hungary. It was eerie, I got goosebumps as soon as I walked in the entrance. The way they have it staged with the music and everything certainly instilled the right emotions in you. At least it did for me. I don't think photos are allowed in the museum so I didn't take any. I recommend you go for yourself if you get the chance. They accept the ISIC card that gives you 50% off, I didn't get the card...again. Oh well, at full price the fee is just $10 anyways. The basement was the creepiest part, it's been remodeled so I don't know how much of it is from the original building, if at all. But just to think about what happened in the basement of the building is gruesome and to walk through it, it's heavy.
We decided to go get food but didn't know where. We finally settled on sushi (hah). This place had significantly more options than the last place we went, the price was about the same but had more rolls and also had Thai, Dim Sum (which looked pretty plain), and other Japanese dishes as well. I had this delicious Japanese Cherry Lemonade or something, I'm guessing it's some kind of cherry tea with slices of lemon, lime, and orange, absolutely wonderful. I would go back just for that drink.
Amanda wanted to go home after because she still needs to book a flight home, I made my way to Margaret Island for the remainder of the day. This place is absolutely awesome. It's 2.5KM long, I walked from one end of the island to the other. There's a running path along the outside of it, there's restaurants, and club, an athletic stadium, and café's everywhere. There's a huge fountain you can dip your feet in at the front of the island, I got there just as the music show was going on so that was awesome. I sat for about a half an hour, cooling off by dipping my feet in the water then proceeded to explore the island.
The island has a swimming pool and some thermal baths (awesome), there's a rose garden, a Japanese garden, a water tower, an open air theatre (stage), a hotel, a spa, and of course...lots of open space. I just walked, took some photos, sat down to do some reading, continued walking, bought some ice cream, and just really enjoyed being by myself (something I haven't had the chance to do in a while). There's also a café where you can rent a picnic basket (complete with food, drinks, and a blanket) for the day. How awesome is that?! I'll definitely go back with some people. I think I'll be spending a lot of time on this island, it's quickly becoming my favourite spot in Budapest.
Look at the cute variety of bikes you can rent to explore the island!
As I was walking to the bridge to catch the tram, it was already dark out. The island is north of Parliament, Buda Castle, the Fisherman's Bastion, and the Chain Bridge; all of which were lit up for the evening. I skipped the tram and ran to the other side of the bridge so I could snap some photos, there was a little ledge that you could sit on (well, I sat on it anyways) and just ended my weekend taking in the beautiful sights of Budapest, 100% content with where I am.
I was ready to go home, so I caught the tram to the bus stop I needed. Got on bus 23, got off at the stop I needed to transfer to bus 66. This stop is in a pretty shady area, and at night, it's definitely not ideal for a solo female. This guy approaches me, he looks greasy and dirty. He's eyeing me up and starts talking to me, I tell him I don't speak Hungarian. He's pointing at my phone (I assume trying to get my number) and I'm like "no" so he says "Facebook" and I'm like "no," he's touching himself trying to get me to look down and asks "sex?" I'm totally pissed now and feeling pretty scared so I gave him a STERN "NO" and he wouldn't leave me alone for a bit. I was praying, hoping the bus would pull up soon. The guy eventually walks away (though not very far, I could still see him out of the corner of my eye) and a bus pulls up. I get on the bus and continue reading on my phone. About four or five stops in I realize I was on the wrong bus. I guess in my state of wanting to get the f*** out of there, I hopped on the next bus that pulled up (though I swear it said 66 on the front. I must've been delusional and really just wanted to get out). So I got off at the next stop so I could catch a bus going to other way, dreading the fact that I probably missed bus 66 at the original stop and would have to go back and wait for it, with that creepy guy there. I noticed one of the other stops (before the one I was planning on going to) was one I knew and stop by all the time on my way to work. I knew bus 66 would pick up there so I made a last minute decision to get off. This place is usually buzzing in the morning, at night it was totally silent. I was pretty freaked out, I didn't know if I was in a safe neighbourhood or not, there's pretty much no one around, if something happened to me I don't even know if anyone would hear. The screen indicated that bus 66 was 17 minutes away. Shit. This could be a long 17 minutes. I read some more (waiting and traveling on transit offers you plenty of time to do some reading), looking up at my surroundings every once in awhile to make sure nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Bus 66 eventually pulled up and I was on the home-stretch. Phew. I made it home finally (though it took me about 2 hours to do so). Either way, I was glad I was home and safe.
Until next time...here's to life outside the four walls, Kathy
Day 28 - July 18, 2015
Game Day | A soccer home opener in Europe.
Last night, Lisa-Marie and I agreed that we would go to the big city market today at 10:00AM. Well, we both slept through our alarms so that didn’t' happen. She had booked an AirBNB for the weekend on the Buda side so we went to this place to get the keys. First, we got on the wrong tram then took the other one going the other way and finally had it figured out. Pest is flat, is it ever flat. Buda? It's the fucking mountains so there's hills all over the place! We had some steep climbs and along the way we found this wonderful street….
After we got to the keys we headed down to the market, arriving just around 2:00PM or so. I had to work at 5:00 today because it was our home opener and I didn't bring my work stuff with me because it was going to be hot and I didn't want to carry it around. It takes about an hour to get to work from home and about an hour to get from the city centre to home so we had to leave around 3:00 ish. We took a quick walk through the market, this was is massive! No way we were going to be able to see it all so we opted to get food instead, stating we would come back another day. Food in the market didn’t appeal to us much so we left and walked across the street where we found this place that looked reasonably priced and good. It also wasn't far from the tram so that's a bonus. I ordered chicken with homemade dumplings or something like that (I don't remember how they had it written in the menu) but I think this is what my boss at home, Terry, was talking about. He wants me to learn how to make this, or at least get the recipe and now I understand why. It was so good!
We ate quickly then caught the tram back home, got there with about 15 minutes to spare so I changed and fixed my hair then I was on my way. Timing worked out perfectly as I got to the stadium just before 5:00PM and just before a storm rolled in...again. The winds weren't nearly as bad as last time but it did pour and hail, Tamas seemed to think it would only last about 15 minutes or so (he was right). After the rain we went outside and did some last minute set-up and walked around to make sure sponsor items were properly placed, etc.
I was given the opportunity to watch the game because there isn't much to do during the game, this was a nice change. The little pre-game ceremony they do seemed to be organized by the facility coordinator with the help of the academy students. They don't do in-stand promotions or half-time games so legit there was nothing to do. This was a welcome change from what I experience back home. Also, there wasn’t a big ceremony for the home opener, which was very surprising to me.
So the players come out, I still find it odd that in soccer the players of both teams walk out side by side. At our stadium, both teams use the same tunnel to enter and exit the field, what if a game got really heated? Wouldn't that be problematic? They also didn't walk out with any kids like you normally see in the professional soccer matches. I'm not sure why. I also noticed that during the first half when our bench players went to warm-up, they walked through the other team's coaching box to get to the end of the field to warm-up. Why they didn't just use the end that was closest to their bench I'm not sure, but I also thought that was strange. The stadium holds 10,000 though less than 2,000 were on hand. The atmosphere was incredible, they have a section for their "Ultra Fans," these are some passionate people. They sang, they cheered, they clapped, and they jumped the entire game. Ok, maybe not all at the same time but a combination of those activities, they literally did not stop ever. On the opposite end, a section usually dedicated to the other team, sat more of our fans. A group of about 50 men, shirtless, with two massive flags and drums. They took turns waving the flag and banging the drums the entire game. I was sitting in the sheltered stands, on the upper deck. On the lower deck, more fans, they all had drinks in hand and one old man (seriously white hair and all) stood and started the chants on our side. It was absolutely incredible to see. And I loved every minute of it.
I guess it's handy to have your own academy, the players (I assume) take turns working the games as flag bearers and ball chasers. Very smart. The rest of the academy players were sitting in the stands, watching the game. Sunflower seeds seem to be the popular snack of choice at the games as I saw piles of empty shells all over the stadium after. Two sponsorship vehicles were parked right on the field, one at either ends. Guess that's one way to advertise. I asked my boss if there were any concerns that the car would get hit by a ball, there wasn't. Guess what? One got hit probably two or three times during the game. Hah.
I was warned that Hungarian soccer is of lower quality than most other countries in Europe (such as the UK, Spain, Portugal, Italy, etc.). The players in the past gave it a bad reputation and it's been a struggle to build a new identity, though teams are trying. Well, I felt that there was an excessive amount of players spending an excessive about of time on the ground. I felt there were a lot of dives, though others said the tackles were very aggressive...Mmm, I don't know about that. Too bad there's no instant replay so I could really make that call. It just seemed absurd how much time was spent on the ground and how often the player would get up and join the play once they realized no call was coming…
Aside from the diving, it was an exciting game with lots of scoring chances for Honvéd. Youla, an attacker for our team, a very skilled attacker, had numerous chances, missing on all of them except for one that came in about the 85th minute. He scored! How absolutely fantastic and exciting, I even cheered! As soon as he scored and celebrated with his teammates, they ran over to the "Ultra fan" section and saluted them. Great, great showing of fan appreciation, absolutely loved it!
You should have seen the crowd the last five minutes of the game. They were all on their feet, all cheering, all having a great time. We beat last year's league champions! It doesn't matter what league, what sport, or what level you play, beating the champs from the previous year is always a good feeling. We kicked off the season on a winning note, a very exciting winning note. So here's to more!
Did I mention that there were fireworks at halftime? No? Well, there were. For what reason I'm not sure because it wasn't from us. But there were fireworks, and this girl was happy once again.
Until next time...here's to life outside the four walls, Kathy
Day 27 - July 17, 2015
A quiet weekend awaits. Pretty much the entire house left for the weekend, it was just me, Amanda, and Lisa-Marie. Though Lisa-Marie was only at the house tonight. Check out what the three of us got up today today!
After work I met up with Amanda , Lisa-Marie, and Amanda's friend from Finland (Janneh). They were at Elizabeth Square, dipping their feet in the pool, it sounded absolutely refreshing. We got some beverages and hung around for a solid couple of hours talking to each other and talking to other people. Eventually we left, though I think Lisa-Marie and I would've been totally content staying at the pool the rest of the evening. We wanted to find the Jewish Quarters and get to a bar...eventually we made our way there, but not before getting "lost." We ended up at Szimpla, it was busy and pretty packed inside, but not as bad as the last time we were there (the night was still early). As soon as we got in the pub we lost Amanda and Janneh. We made a lap on the first floor, didn't see them. Lapped the second floor, saw them on the first floor and ran to get them but as soon as we got down the stairs, we lost them. Classic. So we lapped the first floor again, Lisa-Marie even stood on a stool and garnered A LOT of attention for that. It was pretty evident that she was looking for someone but everyone around us just stared at her.
We gave up after about 15 minutes (there’s 20+ rooms in this bar, we weren’t going to find them) and decided we wanted ice cream. We hoped figured Amanda was with Janneh so she would be safe and hopefully wouldn't have to find her own way back to the house. Lisa-Marie and I ended up at a McDonald's for ice cream because we couldn't locate any open ice cream shops. We got McFlurries, they have Oreo and M&Ms, and then a cottage cheese one that's probably specific to Hungary or Europe. We opted to get one normal one and then try the cottage cheese one, which wasn't too bad. Kind of tasted like a cheese cake. You also get an additional topping at no extra cost (strawberry, chocolate, or caramel) I think it was just syrup but still a good idea.
By the time we finished it was around 1:00PM and we figured we could try to take the night bus home. Thanks to Google maps we were able to figure it out and got on the bus about a minute before it left. Phew! We made it home safe and sound, relieved that we figured out there is a night bus that will take us home. Cab rides will be no more.
Until next time...here's to life outside the four walls, Kathy
Day 26 - July 16, 2015
Lunch at work goes a little something like this...
I literally worked on my blog all day at work. Did nothing else. Had a nice feast for lunch (not really, but it was a lot of food today). I was going to go shopping after work but found out Christian is in Hungary this weekend so I went back home to try to coordinate meeting up with him. Fingers crossed!
This is pretty much what I eat everyday at work. Sometimes the chicken is different, if we’re lucky there’s pork or beef (this is rare) but there’s always rice, potatoes, or pasta. And soup. Yes, there is always soup.
Until next time...here’s to life outside the four walls,
Kathy
Day 25 - July 15, 2015
Töltött paprika | Hungarian stuffed peppers for dinner
Not much was happening at work today. My boss and I had like a two hour conversation about different food and places I should try in Budapest. I wrote them all down so I'm pretty excited to try it over the next few weeks. We had a lecture in the evening from someone who works at Nielsen, a television audience measurement firm. He talked about various marketing research methods, etc. It really wasn't anything new to most of us seeing as we'd learned that already in our management classes back home. We did, however, find out that meat is the number one most purchased food and beverage item (they literally eat meat with meat here). Laundry detergent is the number one most purchased consumer good item in Hungary and Hungarians are at the top of the list for watching the most amount of television (just over 5.5 hours where the global average is 4.5 hours a day). Remember when I said we got fed pizza at our lecture last week? Well, we got fed again! This time it was töltött paprika (stuffed peppers), stuffed with a mixture of meat and other stuff (I have no idea what), served with some kind of sauce, a meatball, sour cream, and bread. It was delicious! We ate that pretty darn fast.
We were also treated to Kürtőskalác (chimney cake) and that was delicious! The lecture ended around 8:30 and everyone just wandered off to do their own thing. I skyped my parents! It was great to see their face and talk to them, hehe :)
Until next time...here's to life outside the four walls, Kathy
Day 24 - July 14, 2015
A European press conference | Sushi | Drinks
We had a press conference at work today, to kick off the season, which starts on Saturday.
I didn't have to do anything for the conference but I got to go watch it (after I discussed my Facebook findings with Denes and sent him my report). There were six players, the head coach, and the assistant coach in the conference that was moderated by Mr. Hemingway, the owner. This was interesting because Mr. Hemingway addressed the media in Hungarian then randomly switched to English. Clear, understandable, definite North American English. He talked to the players in Hungarian and English. Asked the head coach to say a few words, he spoke in English. Asked the assistant coach to say a few words, he spoke in Italian...he doesn't understand Hungarian! So the head coach translated for the assistant coach because they're both Italians. This was sweet, then the question period came up and the media were asking questions (I assume) in Hungarian. Mr. Hemingway would translate it to English, the player/coach would answer in English and Mr. Hemingway would translate it back to the media in Hungarian. I know there are different languages spoken all over the place so this really shouldn't have been a surprise to me, it was just cool to see. Also, there were snacks and drinks set out for the media (did you hear that Esther...SNACKS AND DRINKS! Damn. What a splurge.)
I basically did nothing else after the press conference, and left just after 5:00PM for dinner. My boss told me about this great sushi place so I asked the group if anyone wanted to go, most people did...fantastic! We decided to go at 7:00PM today. Good thing my boss told me that this place is underneath, I thought he meant a flight of stairs down, but you can still see the shop from the sidewalk. I ran into Mike off the bus, thankfully we did because this place was not easy to find. It took us about 20 minutes to find it, we saw two other Japanese restaurants in the area though. We walked down the road that Google Maps had told us to, it was totally under construction so it was choose one side or the other. The first side we chose totally wasn't there. So we went back to the other side, which had more restaurants, it would make sense that it would be there but we couldn't see any signs and it definitely didn't look like any of the stores were going downstairs. There was a building that kind of looked like some apartments so Mike kept walking, but there was a bunch of signs on the wall beside the door...lo and behold on the very bottom right corner, Okuyama No Sushi! We found it! So we walked inside and found ourselves on the second level of this building, we look down and there's another sign for the restaurant...but it's on this little hut in the middle of the building and we're like..uhhh….that can't be it, it won't fit all of us! We found the stairs to take us down a level and we're just staring at this hut, laughing, still super confused. This older fellow must have heard us or something because he comes around the corner and points at a corner saying "Okuyama"...sure enough there's another set of stairs going down. We went down and found the restaurant! Wow, there's no way we would have found this place if we weren't told about it. Mike and I decided if we had problems finding this place the rest of the crew probably would too so we decided we'd go wait outside the building for them. Luckily the restaurant is on the Buda side and we live on the Pest side, plus most of us work on the Pest side so there was one common way for everyone to get there...bus number nine. We waited awhile and still didn't see anyone so we were slightly concerned, we needed to find wifi and try to contact some people because some have iPhones and put a Hungarian SIM card in with data. We found a Tesco Express who had wifi so we stood in front of it using their wifi haha. By 7:10PM we had gathered everyone and proceeded to the restaurant.
There were ten of us total, this place wasn't big so we took up almost half the space. Excited for sushi we started looking at the menu only to realize it's actually a little more on the pricey side (or, if you were having sashimi or nigiri sushi it was pretty much equivalent as back home). I ordered the 7+1 assuming it was seven pieces of nigiri sushi and one order of maki, I also got a plain udon noodle soup. The nigiri sushi pieces were massive! So much bigger than back home and the fish was more fresh too (though not as fresh and Vancouver). It was delicious. When we left, we saw the sign on the front of the building...not entirely sure how we missed it the first time around.
A few people went home after, but most of us continued our evening back on the Pest side. Kristina had found a cool looking pub called For Sale Pub and we wanted to check it out. Thankfully we did because the place is awesome! Very chill vibe, they had live music from a duo covering classic rock and old school country. This place had paper hanging all over the walls from their customers, it was sweet. We sat down for a drink and decided we would definitely need to come back for dinner one day. It was warm in there though, it was dimly lit and had candles on every table (slightly concerning as there was paper hanging all over the place, if a fire started this place would go right down). The service was pretty poor (our waitress was quite rude) but that won't deter us from coming back. OH! I forgot to mention that on our way to the pub we saw an ice cream stand, Sharlee and Tiffany bee-lined it there. So happy someone spotted this place, it cost just 200 HUF for two scoops...that's not even $1! Sick! Scoops weren't very big but for less than a dollar, I ain't complaining. As the night passed by we decided we should head home as we all had to work in the morning.
We also left our mark on the walls :)
Until next time...here's to life outside the four walls, Kathy