Budapest was a special trip for me for several reasons. The first was that I had very good advice on where to visit, I had very interesting people to stay with, and I purposely loosened my budget and relaxed from my usual strict €10 a day. I chose to do things on the 'luxury' side, which for some people might still come out looking cheap, but for me it was luxury!
I arrived after a 7 hour bus trip from Prague. I was going to stay with the parents of a friend of mine who I met while Au pairing in Seattle. I have a habit of travelling to visit the other Au pairs (or their families!). I arrived at the bus stop and immediately realised that the bus was not parked in a central bus depot - where my host was waiting for me. I did a quick assessment of the area and decided that the main bus depot must be across the road, so I quickly crossed the road and entered the bus station (my assessment was right!). However, the bus station was large and barren, and I had no idea where to find Zsofia, the sister of my Au pair friend. My bus was already late so I knew I needed to act quickly otherwise she might have given up on my arrival and left. I stopped and prayed and asked the Lord to help me find her. Then I walked upstairs and caught a glimpse of a woman leaving the station, I ran over in that direction and to my surprise it was Zsofia! She was walking to her car about to leave - she has wondered if she was at the wrong bus station. I had caught her just in time. Thank the Lord!
Zsofia took me to a small pub where her mother was performing with her string quartet. They were just finishing, so I did not get to hear them play, but it was great just to relax and chat! I had met Zsofia twice before in Seattle when she had been visiting Dora, but it was the first time that I had met her parents, who I would be staying with. I loved them the minute I met them. Warm, welcoming, joyful, generous – they were amazing people to spend time with and they helped me tremendously by telling me where I should visit and by dropping me off at the metro each morning.
The first thing I had planned for my luxurious Budapest trip was a visit to the baths! In Budapest there are several thermal baths, some are Turkish, some are Hungarian. I went to a Hungarian one, Szechenyi Baths, one of the largest and most well known in Europe, or so I am told. I took my time, going from pool to pool. Some are hot, some tepid and some cold. And there are saunas everywhere also at all different temperatures. It was just what I needed. I had a good rest. I sat and people watched, it was fascinating - there were even old men playing chess on a table in the middle of one of the pools! It seemed the most common visitor to the bathhouse were old men, all in varying degrees of hairy-ness. Some walked with pain, leaning to the side. I couldn't help but wonder if some of these men had been scarred by the soviet rule and before that the second world war. Hungary has had a devastating history over the last century. They suffered huge losses during the final stages of the second world war and over 10 percent of the country lost their lives. Entire towns were stripped of all the men, leaving only widows and their children struggling to survive. Jews in Budapest were lined up along the banks of the Danube river and shot, witnesses said that the river turned red from all the blood. A memorial now stands to those who were killed there - a sculpture of various different shoes lined up on the edge of the river.
But when the war ended, it did not bring freedom to Hungary, instead they became enslaved under Soviet rule for over four decades. The Soviet authority turned people against each other, the citizens lived in constant fear of being dobbed in by neighbors, coworkers, friends or family members if they were perceived as being anti-Soviet. Hundreds of people were accused of conspiring against the government and were thrown into prison, interrogated, tortured, sentenced in unfair trials and many were executed. I visited the museum 'Terror House', which sounds like a theme park attraction, but was the actual building that housed the headquarters of both the Arrow Cross (the Hungarian NAZI party) and, later, the Communist secret police. The basement was where most of the torture and interrogations occurred.
It was a reflective time for me, coming from New Zealand we simply do not understand the brutality and savage atrocities these people suffered for so many decades. But despite the past, Budapest in the present is a buzzing city with so much to see. I spent a long time wandering the streets of the inner city, gazing at the incredible architecture. Later in the evening I took a walk with Zsofia and her dog PJ around Margaret Island, which is a recreational park accessible by foot from the middle of one of the bridges that connect Buda to Pest (Budapest is the product of merging the two cities, Buda and Pest).
In the following days I was treated to wonderful care and generosity by Dora's parents. They were great people. Professional musicians serving in several orchestras all around the world. Now he teaches music, and she is an optician by day and in a string quartet by night. Every year they travel to China to perform in the Vienna Orchestra. Every morning her mother would lay out breakfast for me, and would even organise packed lunches for me with sandwiches and fresh vegetables from their garden. I was spoilt!
I would then go exploring other areas of the city. I downloaded an app which suggested different walking itineraries for me, and I took the best ideas from them and made my own routes. I also had a haircut, which was an interesting experience because the hairdresser spoke no English and I spoke no Hungarian. But I was desperate for a haircut, so I asked the bilingual receptionist at the hair salon to just tell the hairdresser to do whatever she wanted with my hair. She did her magic, and I left feeling wonderful.
The next day Zsofia had kindly arranged for me to get a free ticket on a hop-on hop-off tour bus. I was so grateful and excited – it's not my usual style of travel, and allowed me to visit places which were too far for me to walk to. I spent the day on my gallant blue open-topped bus. It was slightly worn around the edges – noticeable each time the driver jumped up to manually open and close the door, and also by the plug in audio system beside me which was half hanging out of the wall with its screws jangling away merrily. However, it was still functional, and I wore my headset and listened to the steady stream of music that they played. A strange variety of songs, including dramatic movie scores, opera, and “What a Wonderful World” – a cover version (naturally!). It all added to the experience. I couldn't help but smile to myself at the entire circumstance.
The next morning I went with the mother to the supermarket and stocked up on food for my train trip to Croatia, then, in the early afternoon I said goodbye and headed out. I felt so lucky to have had such a wonderful week with them in Budapest.
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