After 10 minutes standing staring at various road signs hoping for inspiration I ask a passer by who directs me to the one that says "centrum" (duh!) so I trot off confident of finding somewhere from the city map list. The first place is full and the next four hostels I try dont answer the the intercoms. By this time it is about 1.30am, I must have walked miles and there are no hostels left on the list. I stop for something to eat and sit down in a takeaway. Three options, find a hotel (cost!), stick it out in late night eating places and find somewhere in the morning (tired!), wander around and hope fate is kind (yeah thats worked so far!)
Its almost 3am and I am stood outside a hotel almost laughing (crying?) at the irony of having overcome my "budgetitis" to find somewhere, anywhere, to sleep, the intercom here does not work either. I turn around and a friendly looking guy about my age says "are you lost?", his two friends fall on a parked car behind him. I explain my situation, arrived late, need somewhere to stay, cheap if possible. Unfortunately there is nowhere nearby he knows of... but he offers to drive me to somewhere that might be open. Turns out he is the designated driver for a friends night out. He drives us through the oneway system talking about his time spent working in London recently and pointing out various buildings and sights - are his friends singing Bon Jovi in Maygar? - after 15 minutes we arrive at the place and a group are leaving to catch an early flight so bed spaces have just become available, another lucky break! I didnt get the name of this kind stranger but met him on "Jokai Ter" so I have named him Joe Terry, (a kind of antithesis to the Chelsea captain!)
Someone once said if you dont know where your going every road will lead you there, well I think that person should try finding accommodation in Budapest on a Saturday night without a map and with a heavy rucksack on their back for 3 hours, and then stop being a smart arse!
Mandragora Hostel
Waking up around midday I cannot help but smile at my surroundings. The hostel is a small apartment and each room is decorated with warm colours and pictures of the Dalai Lama and other spirtual drawings hang on the walls, there is even a hammock! In the kitchen a friendly looking guy dressed in a tracksuit and slippers is nursing a coffee. He smiles at me and says hello. After about a minute he looks up again a bit bemused and asks if I am the person who arrived late last night, yes I am, Ok he smiles. Another minute goes past. Did I check in? No. Ok, he shuffles towards a cupboard and opens it to reveal an office and I pay for a couple of nights, he hopes I will enjoy my stay and smiles again as if order is restored... er..., anything else I need to know, keys, how to get in / out etc.? Ah, yes, I need a code for the courtyard door, but the front door lock does not work dont need to worry about that, (or do I?) He goes off to bed. Nice man.Monday 19 Feb
I didnt really do much on Sunday, but I did meet two girls from America, Christine is studying in Vienna to be an opera singer, an Rebecca is teaching in France and has been asked to play professional basketball next season. Christine returns to Vienna today, Rebecca and I go out for a wander and visit the Museum for Fine Arts which has a Van Gogh exhibition. The pictures are fascinating but like a kid I am excited by the James Bond-esque air-lock doors you need to go through to enter and exit the rooms. After a couple of hours gazing we find somewhere for dinner. We find a local restaurant that specialises in Hungarian food and I get something which I think is soup but turns out to be a cold and sweet prune cream dish, interesting! In the evening we meet Don and Em, a couple from Portland Oregon, and go out for drink nearby at a bar that has Frank Zappa murials and menus shaped like LPs.
The Citadel and the baths
Only one plan for today, go and relax in a thermal bath. There are a few to choose from and I find out its cheaper if you go after 4pm so I decide to climb up the hill towards the citadel that overlooks the Danube. There are pathways zigzagging up the hill but its more fun to clamber up some of the rock faces. After a few hours scrambling around finding a perch to admire the river and almost standing on a stray cat, I head for the baths to live like a Roman. The indoor Gellert Baths are impressive with columns sculpted lion-head fountains and a swimming pool, and after two hours I am a well-sauted prune, but very relaxed! Back at the hostel I meet Don and Em again and Josh, another native of Portland, who is spending a couple of months working on organic farms in Europe, which sounds like a good life!Amory and Me
On Wednesday I head for "Margaret Island" in the middle of the river, which has a running track outlining it and many joggers
looking energetic. However, I am not, so I meander for a while getting overtaken by various lycra-clad enthusiasts until I find a spot of the banks where I can sit down undisturbed for a while and finishing reading my book, this side of paradise. A pale fog guards the Danube and although you can make out outlines of buildings its not possible to see more than a 100 yards or so. A coincidence that this matches the mood of the final chapters. Because of the fog, dusk creeps up and surprises me when I pause and realise its got too dark too read anymore. So I head back to the hostel and on the way stop at a kebab shop, cant be getting too cultured!In the evening a small crowd of guests gather in the hostel kitchen and dining room to watch Liverpool educate Barcelona. After a comprehensive display its only fitting to perform a victory dance and Im joined by Franco, one of the Chilean students staying at Madragora Hostel. I spend the rest of the evening chatting to the Tom and Franco about Chile and their experiences, and watching James, a young guy from New Zealand smoke banana tobacco through a improvised beer-can pipe!
ThursdayI spend most of the day just walking around the city as its brighter weather. Andrassy Ut (Embassy Road) is one of the main streets that leads up to Heroes Square, and has memorial plaques for those killed in the 1956 uprising. The street is flanked with fascinating looking buildings and gardens.
In the evening we get an impromtu gig from Thomas in the hostel dining room with people joining in at various stages. Later on Natalie, James, Tom, Franco and Me go out to a bar / club in one of the underground metro walkways ensuring that I am a bit worse for wear (again) travelling on Friday!
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