music and motion

Stainedglass window in cathedral
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People may wonder (and it's a fair quandry) how 17 hours a day can be filled when travelling. No job, no real responsibility besides making sure there is a roof over one's head. Well Estergom is a good example of how time can get chewed up. I left Budapest for Estergom about 8:30 and arrived at Estergom-K (something or other) at 10. I thought this was my stop so out I went. Once out of the train I realized I was kind of in the middle of nowhere, so I started walking towards where the city center should be-but it wasn't instead I found what appeared to be a strip mall. I went into the pedicure place and pulled out my map to show where I wanted to be. They pointed and when I asked kilometers the answer was six. So I prepared to hike the last leg of the journey. Luckily the guy working at the train station told me, or rather motioned to me, that I could take the next train. That was good, really the best case scenario here, but now that added an extra hour.

few last shots of Budapest, Indepdendence Bridge
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I got on the next train, got off in the Estergom that I had intended and began hiking uphill to the university dorms I had designs on staying in, good location, cheap, clean, perfect. Except there were no more beds left. There was a guitar festival, which was good timing in the sense that I thought I would like to witness this, but not so good on the bed part. I asked the guy working the desk for a recommendation. He pointed, I walked and all I found were rooms costing way more than I wanted to pay. So back down the hill, to a campsite where they had a hostel on the grounds, not as clean, same price, they had rooms, now this place became perfect. Total time consumed between rail and room location close to four hours.

Cathedral
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Having obtained a bed for the night I rallied and began to wander around the town. There was a great cathedral, really massive. I didn't even bother to take a picture because the size could not be gauged and it lost so much. The inside was beautiful the paintings on the walls and ceilings really were fantasitc. Next to it was a castle with some exhibits. I saw the crown of Sigismund (maybe it was a replica) which was the highlight of that section.

That night I saw an outdoor Hungarian rock festival in the street, again pretty cool, and then it started to rain. Good thing I bought that rain gear...and left it in my room!

Buda Castle at night
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The next day was more exploring but the absolute highlight was that night when there was a guitar concert in the cathedral. I have never seen or heard anything like it, a chorus of guitars playing classical music. The acoustics were brilliant and in that setting I think I finally found the right atmosphere to use the term divine as a descriptor.

The next day I went to Eger through Budapest which was several hours on trains again, but as it turned out I was just glad to be on a train to Eger. Here''s why.

Statue Park, moneymaker/graveyard for old communist statues
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I went to buy my ticket, and realizing there is always the possibility of a misunderstanding not only asked for Eger but pointed on my map. Got my ticket went to look for the terminal and saw that my arrival was not for Eger but GyÅ‘r, the opposite way. So I went back to explain the situation, the lady who had sold me the ticket was still at her window, but the sign read zorva--closed. So I went to the lady next to her and tried to explain the situation. Language barriers do interesting things to perfectly intelligent people. Fortunately the guy behind me was bilingual.

hamming it up at at Statue Park
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Here's the short version.

The lady told me my ticket was for Győr (got it, that's why I came back) and the Eger was the other way (also understood, that explains my frustration) and that I would have to buy another ticket (here's where I went from working the problem out to seriously assertive). I explained that not only did I ask for Eger I POINTED. That should absolve me of any fault (at least in my mind). Not sure what the guy said in the interpretation, but the ticket was changed free of charge.

more posing
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Eger was very cool. Again a host of cathedrals and castles. Got to hear an organ concert here and go under the castle in the casements (underground tunnels). A nice laid back city, beautful park, authenic food. One of my favorite stops in Hungary so far. Soon, it will be off to Poland.