Last moments in Budapest

[slideshow]We are on the train on our way to Prague. We are sitting in our compartment with a very nice Russian couple. Mikhail speaks very good English, so we've been able to tell stories back and forth about our travels.

But back to Thursday, our last full day in Budapest. The rain and cold was definitely beginning to hamper our energy. Jan really wanted to go Memento Park, which is almost completely outdoors, so we bundled up and took my newly purchased, very cheap umbrella. It is a cute little red thing that wanted to flip inside out at the slightest breeze. And we had more than slight breeze.

Memento Park (far from the center and hard to got to) is the place where Hungary put all the old Soviet-era statues that had been erected to the “people's heroes.” Most other former iron curtain countries tore them down and destroyed them. But Hungary decided to save them as a remembrance. It is part funny and part tragic. And some of the statues are very nice art – albeit politically motivated. The statues are out in a park, which has not been very developed yet. It has been raining a lot, so the ground is very muddy. They gave us little booties to wear to protect our feet. It rained the whole time we were there, so we walked through pretty quickly.

The really interesting part to me was the film portion of the exhibition. It is indoors – which made me want to stay there along time. It was made up of actual training films and spy footage from the cold war. The training parts were about how to recruit informers, how to train them to spy on their neighbors, how to pass information, etc. This was interspersed with clips from actual spying. The message of the film was so disturbing. There was such paranoia and fear. People couldn't trust anyone. Recruitment happened thorugh intimidation and threats – so people were coerced into informing on each other. And most of what they did was simple, inept, almost laughable gossip.

The story of the 1956 uprising was told as well. Hungarians are quite proud that that act features prominently in the long process of bringing down the wall.

We were both absolutely chilled to the bome bythe time we finished We headed straight for the Szenchenyi baths upon arrival back in Pest. I can't put into words how great it was.

Budapest is on the Danube river and built over hot mineral springs. Budapest was also once a part of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans did love to bathe (think Turkish bath). So there are public baths all over the place. We went to the one in City Park. It is huge, beautiful architecture and the perfect thing to do when one is cold.

There are a million different packages you can buy; from swimming, to sauna time to massages or mud baths. And you can rent bathing suits, cabins, etc. We didn't know what we were doing, so the woman at the counter decided for us. We got plastic things that looked like wrist watches; which were magnetized to identify us , what we did and how long were spent there. I still don't know what all we could have done with the package she gave us. We just sat in the indoor and outdoor pools. But to get that warm for about $15 was all good by me.

The changing area was ingenious. You could walk into a little room from either the hall way or the locker area. From inside you shut both doors and flipped open the bench, which served as a temporary shelf, but also barred both doors from opening. We changed in that tiny space, opened the door and found a locker (the attendant had to mime to us what to do). We put all our stuff there and then locked it with our wrist-watchy thing. That meant that we were the only ones who could unlock it again.

The pools are all different temperatures. We spent the most time in the outdoor pool marked at 38 degrees celcius. (100.4 farenheit.) But there was also a pool where people swam laps that was only at 29 celcius (84.2 farenheit).

My favorite part of the time there was watching old Hungarian men playing chess in the outdoor pools. They just stand in the water playing chess – and watching each other play chess. In one of the indoor pools we saw men playing speed chess.

Newsflash: Mikhail's phone just alerted him to the fact that we are now in Slovakia.

When we left (reluctantly) the baths, we headed through City Park to Heroes' Square (amazing statues and museum architecture) and then on down Andrassy Utca (as Libby's sister Mimi told us, the Champs Elysee of Budapest). Andrassy is lined with grand old mansions, embassies and fancy restaurants. Again – as Mimi told us, this is where they filmed part fo the movie Evita. It does remind me of Buenos Aires.

For our last night in Budapest, we decided to visit some local haunts. We started by having coffee at a hip little coffee shop/art gallery. We watched the funniest cartoons about a friendly little mole. No language was required as he tried to start a garden, water his plants and take care of his little bird and mouse friends. We giggled at the contrast between it and all the paintings and sculptures of heads around us.

Then we went to Szimpla Kert, an old underground speakeasy our French magician friend told us about. It was just a great experience. A wandering cement warehouse of a place with bars and sitting areas all over the place. Dark, with wacky art, graffiti and light shows. A group of spaniards came in and decided to sit in the bathtub that we had decided against. I also had the greatest hot mulled wine there.

Next we went to Queen Pizza and Pub, a pizza place near our apartment. Someone on Foursquare claimed it was the best pizza theyt had ever had – anywhere in the world. We thad the Magyar (Hungarian) pizza and thought it was pretty darn good (and huge). :-) Again – so affordable here. Pizza and beer for about $12. We tried to find ice cream somewhere to spend down the rest of our forints, but ended up having to do so in the all night grocery.

We were sad to leave this morning. We said good-bye to Flora as we gave her our keys this morning and headed out to the subway. Stop a cblock away.Three stops on te subway and we were at the train station. We spent the last of our forints on the ubiquitous morning pastry, coffe and a Budapest t-shirt.

The train ride is delightful. We have plenty of room and lovely company. Now time to turn the computer off and enjoy the ride.

Note: I am posting this from Prague, where we now have internet access (and where the people downstairs appear to enjoy karaoke). There is a crazy end to the train-ride story, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. Too tired to tell it all now -- but let me just say that there was a wacky shift in vibes when our Russian friends got off the train in Brno.