A new Buddy and Baths in Budapest

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Buda

Pest

Budapest....

By the way, it is actually pronounced Budapesht, and Sziget (the festival we will be going to) is pronounced Siget. And it means island. So silly us have been walking around saying Budapessst and zzziget...But our new friend Sarolta has taken care of that, and also taught us that Meduza means jellyfish...

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So, we arrived in Budapest and were met by our couchsurfing buddy who brought us to her place to drop our burdens... Her apartment is cool- she has these beanbag chairs made by some local guys and they are unlike any beanbag chair you have ever seen www.blup.hu I desperately want one and am going to see if they will send one to canada (without the filling) and we can fill it ourselves!

Anyway, Sarolta took us out walking around her town, which she is justifibly proud of. We walked to the bridge with the Unesco World Heritage view of the city with the castle, the parliament and all the amazing building in full view. Then we went up to the castle district (A whole district of castles, can you believe that?) and saw Fishermans Bastion, which was free to see when it was a communist country and, in fact until the politicians realized a lot of money was to be had to charge tourist to go on it! However, there is one bit for free so we got to see some incredible views of the pest side of the city. We wanted to go in the cathedral but it was a summer saturday so it was one wedding after another (wouldnt you hate to have your wedding like that? "take a number" and you have to rush in and out because there are weddings on either side of yours...frankly i am biased to the mellow wedding!) but we walked all over the district, wowed by all the buildings there. We even saw a bit of the underground labrynth, but didnt want to pay to see the whole thing- it didnt look as cool as the Paris catacombs with all the bones!

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We got to experience the joys of being toured around by a local, as Sarolta brought us to mellow little artsy non-tourist parks with trees in the middle of the pond and an old factory turned into a concert hall and gallery and cafe! We also got to experience the joys of having a kitchen for a few days so I finally got the opportunity to cook for real!!!! YAY!! But the first night Sarolta cooked a simple and elegant meal and shared her wine with us and we stayed up late talking almost nonstop. She reminded us both a little of Katherine (roomate in Kelowna) so it was very easy to get along with her!

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The next day Scott and I went to some galleries, one was the Ludwig. There are two more (at least) Ludwig museums and we figured they must be like the Guggenheims, just an incredible rich family with an interest in art, but it is just 1 COUPLE!!! And they have THREE MUSEUMS of their art collection! And of course, things on loan etc but man, I would like to be so rich as to own soooo much art! I wonder if they just have a huge Jackson Pollock on their living room wall and then when they get bored of it they throw a Warhol there, then maybe a Yoko Ono (we saw our first Ono at this museum- a chess board with all white pieces and "Play with trust")

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We also went to Heroes Square (Héroq Tér) which is at the top of a long avenue, it was intended to be like Paris Champ D élysees but political situations have kind of curbed that plan. However, the square is magnificent, two large curves of columns and a huge pillar in the middle with statues all over the place. It is flanked by two museums, housed in beautiful buildings. But we didnt go to either one, instead we went down the avenue to the KOGART gallery where they had an exhibition of a Hungarian artist which we both enjoyed a lot! Then we walked around the park behind heroes square, strolling around a castle, a pond and the grass.

lazer potato
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The next day we took advantage of having a roof over our heads and a real bed and slept a bit late, then went to the baths.

In the middle of the city park, is a laaarge yellow and stone palace, it looks like a museum. But it is not, infact a museum. Its a water palace! We went in (for the price of a museum!!), changed into our swim suits and began our visit with a massage. I felt a little like I was getting beat up, getting the karate chop, but it relaxed me. Then all there was to it was to decide what temperature we wanted: 30°? 32°?34°?38°? So we tried a few different pools indoors before heading out to the GIANT outdoor pools (there are 3). One is hot and relaxing (not hot tub hot, about 38°) one is for lanes (no loose hair allowed...?) and one is a bit cooler and had geysers and a whirlpool that drags you around! After relaxing in the hot one for a bit, we went into the hottest sauna I have ever been in, I felt like my lungs were being scalded by the air! So when we couldnt handle it anymore, we plunged ourselves into an icy bath of 18°! After doing that a few more times, I felt like my heart was in the best condition ever and i felt simutaneously energized and extremely relaxed. We went and played in the whirlpool for a bit, then relaxed some more in the hotter pool until it got really busy. When we went back inside, we went into a tub that was more mineral rich than some of the others and relaxed some more (by this point we had been in the water for about 3hours and were wrinkly as prunes!!).

if scott were jewish...
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Just as we were thinking of leaving, the strangest thing happened...

We saw two people that we treeplanted with!!!!!

WHAAAT??

They have been living in Prague and I had tried to contact them but couldnt get a hold of their email! But here they were! So we stayed a few more hours and hung out with them and decided to change a bit of our plans before going home, which has injected new energy into the last two weeks of our trip!!!

Sarolta wearing a necklace I made ( she bought it!!
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The next day: SZIGET MUSIC FESTIVAL BEGINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!