Getting Around in Budapest

We are becoming more adept at using the transportation system. Budapest has, as do most cities of this size, a fantastic matrix of subways, trams and buses. The monthly pass that we have is good on all of these systems. The closest stop to us is Blaha Lujza which is about 2 blocks away. At that stop there are trams, buses and the subway, so we have very easy access.



Our favorite trams are the #4 or #6 because they are brand new and air-conditioned. Budapest has ring roads that form concentric semi-circles around the city. Trams 4/6 run on the middle ring road and provide great intersecting points with the other trams, buses and the subway. Up to this point we never wait long for one to come—maybe 3-5 minutes. But starting in September, the government has announced that the number of trains running will be fewer and therefore come less often. They predict waiting 5-10 minutes. This is because the trams, buses and subways are often occupied at less than their capacity and the goal is for the system to be more cost-effective while still providing good service. We will see these changes in a couple of weeks.



We’ve had some interesting experiences so far while riding. To enter the subway you first go down some steps and then show your pass and then get on a very fast moving escalator. Some of the stations have very long escalators like the ones in Washington, DC. The first picture is looking down the escalator and the second one is looking up. You can see that it's a long way either way!



Last week when we were riding the escalator back up to the street level it stopped! We had to climb the rest of the way. We counted the steps and it was nearly as many as the four flights to our apartment which is 88. That day I decided to count those steps as my apartment climb quota, but when we got back home, our elevator was not working and we had to climb those steps too!



To ride the subway, you go down the escalator and then pick which way you want to go. One end of the line/direction is to the right and the other to the left. The platforms are clean, well-lit and feel very safe. If fact all of Budapest feels very safe. There is a comfortable, up-beat feeling here. This is a picture of people waiting for the next subway to come. There is usually a clock nearby that tells either how it has been since the last train or counts down to the time the next one is due. They are very efficient. I don't know what time they start in the morning, but they stop running just before mid-night. There are some buses that run later than mid-night.



This photo is of the inside of a subway car. Budapest was the first city in Europe to have a subway. That was the yellow line. It's cars are small and look rather antique compared to the red and blue lines (pictured) which are newer and look about like the subway cars in Washington, DC. All the stops are plainly posted on the walls of the platfrom where you wait and inside of all of the subway cars and trams and buses.



Another interesting situation happened this past Tuesday. We were riding on tram #18, one of the older style trams, going north alongside the Danube where the street narrowed. It looks just like the #2 tram in the picture. A car and the tram ahead of us crunched together and pushed into another car as well. Everyone on both trams had to get off. We walked for about 1-2 blocks to the next bus stop. No trams could run north since those two were blocking the tracks. We got on a bus and then the bus got stuck in the festival traffic! It was real grid lock. The driver just turned off the engine. After moving about a block in thirty minutes, we got off and walked a mile (yes, I map-quested it!) to the subway station. It was hot and crowded with people lining the Danube to watch the qualifying airplane races.

If we had been thinking, we could have gotten on any tram going the opposite way (south) since they were still running. That would have taken us to tram 4/6 and the ring road that stops at Blaha Lujza! We’re slowly learning how to maneuver and learn more every day! Jan DeVries, the wife of another Calvin professor who was the faculty program director in Budapest in 2005, told me that she just always remembered that with a monthly pass, the worst thing that could happen if she took the wrong bus, tram or subway was to get off and get back on another one going the other way. And that is so true. They come often and unless you’re on a tight schedule it’s not a problem to wait for another one.



This picture shows the inside of tram #18. The lady with the shopping basket is very typical. Everyone here brings a basket or an empty shopping bag to the stores. The grocery stores are a lot like Aldi is at home. You have to have your own bags and some use the coin-in-the-cart system too.

The older style tram is also the type that goes to the dormitory where the students live. We take the #4 to it's last stop and then get on a #18 tram to Temesvar Utca. The dorm is about 4-5 houses down the street. The entire trip takes about 30 minutes from our apartment.



There is a high fence around the dormitory and we all have memorized the code to enter. You just push the numbers into the key pad to the right of the gate and it opens. To get out there is another button by the dumpster that you push and the gate can be opened to get out. The gate we use is the smaller one on the left. The center double one is only opened for delivery vehicles.



The students live on the first floor just to the left as you face the building. You can't see that side because of all the trees, but it's as long as the other side that is just visible over the trees on the right. They have that whole corridor to themselves. There are lots of other students from Hungary and other countries living on other floors of the same dorm. As you look at the dorm, the computer room is right above the front doors and the "club" where they have their Hungarian class and the class Corwin teaches is also in the center, but on the 3rd level (top).



There are a couple of other types of transportation too. This is a trolley bus. It has tires but connects to wires up above. I think this is the type of bus that Grand Rapids is going to have running from downtown to M-6.



This last picture is of a regular style bus that also stops at Blaha Lujza (which is pronounced like Louisa). There is a website that lists all these type of transportation systems and includes the names of the stops along with maps.

www.bkv.hu/english/home/index.html

You may have to copy it and paste it into your browser. But it's a very helpful thing!

Flickr: Your Photostream

Flickr: Your Photostream

Festival of Folk Arts

There has been a Festival of Folk Arts going on here in Budapest for the last few days. The festival ends today, August 20th, the birthday of St. Stephen, the king who Christianized Hungary just after 1000AD. (His Hungarian name is Istvan I.) The festival is like the 4th of July, a state fair, the Rose Bowl parade and the most amazing craft show all put together. The banks and stores were closed, even the grocery stores.

They have lots of food, concerts, parades and children’s activities and probably a lot more that we didn’t understand. Today the entire center city area was closed to traffic and they were having airplane races down the Danube. They have giant buoys set in the river at different spots and the people line the entire river bank for several miles.



These planes swoop down and fly between the markers on the river, then go straight up and make a fantastic loop—a twist followed by a dive—and fly back to where they came from. It looked as if they were 15-20 feet from the water when they flew between the buoys. This took up most of Tuesday and Wednesday.



Each plane made their pass and was timed. The times were announced in Hungarian and English over some giant loudspeakers that were placed about every block. There were lots of planes and lots of people. Redbull was one of the major sponsors of the event. Maybe this would catch on in Grand Rapids? I wasn't quick enough with the camera, but you can see the jet trail between the buoys. The plane is behind the trees.



I'm getting so high tech, I don't know what to do with myself. When I was setting up the Flickr slideshow I found these photos of the same plane race taken today by someone else here in Budapest. They are so much better than I am shamelessly using them.




The main site for the folk art show was at the Castle which is high on a hill on the Buda side. We took a tram and a bus to get to the area thank goodness, since it was 86 and more humid than usual. It is so clear here that when it is warm it seems quite intense since there are no clouds. We stood in a long line to get on the bus to take us to Castle Hill. Our turn came on the 3rd bus. These buses are smaller to accommodate the tiny streets inside the castle walls.



Then when we got to the Castle area we had to stand in another long line to pay about $7.50 to get in.

Once we were in we saw the most amazing array of tents selling everything you could imagine—straw weaving, painted cookies, pottery, wood carving, baskets, straw hats, wool embroidered jackets, handmade lace, felted wool items, hand wrought iron, handmade shoes and leather items, embroidered table clothes, jewelry, hats, etc.



Then the food—jam, honey, pretzels, bread, pizza, elephant ears, ice cream, beer, wine, roasted sausage, potato pancakes, sauerkraut, slaw, roast pork, some sort of pastry that looked a lot like a cream curl! It was all unbelievable. The bad part was it was hot and very crowded. You were sort of carried along with the crowd. We took a lot of pictures of these tents, so I’m taking Cory's advice and adding a Flickr album, whatever that is. But you should see a link somewhere nearby to click on for more photos. Hope it works. The man sewing the large hat was a promotion for the hat stand that was nearby. He just kept adding more and more rounds to that huge hat. I wonder what he does with it after the fair?



One item we noticed which seems to be popular in many countries is a sort of ceramic bird. (One of our friends bought one when we were in Turkey in 2006.) If you have ever seen them you will know. They look a bit like a pipe and you put water in them and when you blow into the stem they whistle like a bird. A whole bunch of kids had them and the place sounded like a bird sanctuary. What a lot of fun they were having.



The parades were in one area of the central city and more tents with more food and exhibits were in the square in front of the parliment building. There they had entertainers on stilts and more music and kid's activities.



This all ended tonight with a fantastic fireworks display. The internet said it would last twenty minutes for the twentieth of August and it did. But the entire twenty minutes was like the finale of our fireworks in the US. They shot off fireworks constantly from four different spots on all sides. The internet also estimated that about one million people would be lining the river and watching. But the area is so spread out that our spot didn't seem all that crowded. Just at the end we decided to try to take some pictures. This one isn't the best, but I think you can get the idea. We walked home--about a mile. The streets were blocked from cars and it was a nice night. The people all seemed to really enjoy the day.

Doing the Wash

Today it was 97 degrees. Most of you probably know how I hate hot days. I had plans to go out and do some things, but because of the heat decided instead to go to the grocery store, buy laundry soap and do the wash. We had accumulated enough dirty clothes by now to fill the washer twice. It says it holds 4.5KG which is about 10 pounds or a little less than half of what my washer at home holds.

Monika was kind enough to write the directions for the washer in English. She wrote out the type of clothes for each program or number on the washer dial.
white cotton and flax - 1
dirty white cotton - 2
Colourfast cotton - 3
soft cotton, quick wash - 4
colourfast synthetics - 3
soft synthetics - 5
soft synthetics with no pre-wash - 6
quick wash-36 minutes - 7
wool and silk - 8
rinse & long spin drying normal cloth - A
quick spin drying for soft cloth - B
long spin drying - C
quick spin drying for soft cloth - D

I chose #3 and never did figure out what to do with the letter setting. The wash was quite dry when I took it out. The soap goes in a kind of drawer on the front at the top left. The "drawer" has three sections--softener, regular wash and pre-wash. We think the washer took about 1 1/2 hours to cycle.



Then I got out the drying rack which was folded up and stored in the closet. I could have easily put it in the back bedroom, but I put it here so I could photograph it more easily.

I hung Corwin's shirts on hangers, but everything else fit on the rack. Even though it's hot here today, the humidity is only 35% according to the internet. It must be right because everything dried very quickly.



There are also some nifty rods on the bathroom ceiling that you can lower, hang the clothes on them and raise them again for drying. The first picture shows them down with the towels. And on the picture below that one you can see how high the clothes are when you raise the rod. Because of the high ceilings they are above Corwin's head.



The gizmo that controls the cords that are connected to the rods is on the wall just to the left on the next picture. It has knots in it to regulate how high you can put the rods. This seems to be a pretty good way to keep the wash out of the way. It is also good for indoor drying in the winter.





There are water gauges and shut-off knobs right by every thing that uses water--the washer, the kitchen sink, and each bathroom. Every month the landlord will come to read those meters. He will also read the electric meter that is inside a cupboard near the door to the apartment (bottom picture). They get a bill with this on it too, but it seemed very important for them to also read and record the meter readings. I don't think I've ever read my meter at home.

Our Apartment

Several of you have asked for more detail about where we live. As I mentioned, we are staying in the apartment where the Calvin professors have lived for the past three or four years. This picture shows our living room. The inside of the apartment is lovely, but I need to show you the outside and entry first to really appreciate the interior.

From the outside it looks quite gray and unattractive. This is largely due to the dark dust that seems to settle on everything. I imagine it comes from the use of diesel fuel, but who knows?



The outside door is barred as all others are. You have to use our key or enter a push button code to unlock the door. On either side of our door you find a men's clothing store, a manicure place, and a grocery store. There are restaurants on the corners to the left and the right. It is a typical urban area with lots of shops on the street level and apartments up above. In the apartment next to us is a dentist. Apparently it is his office as well as his home.

Once inside, the lobby shows the wear of many years. The building appears to have been built some years ago--we can't tell the date. The floor is marble tiled set in a quilt-type pattern, but with some tiles missing.

It may be that our 'common fee' provides only enough for the garbage pick up and basic repairs, since the walls in the lobby and most of the stairway have not been painted or repaired for some time. The plaster has a lot of holes in it. I keep reminding myself that cosmetics here do not have the same priority as they would in the States. Sections of the walls in the stairway have been repainted and look very nice.

The lift is to the left as you enter and as you can see in the picture above, the open stairs to the floors above are straight ahead. There are light sensors that turn the lights on just as you think they are not about to. When you go down the stairs in the dark you need to push a light switch (really it's a push button) every couple of floors or you'll be in the dark.

The lift says it has room for 4 persons, but that is a very tight fit. So we always take the stairs down and even take them up sometimes! I make sure to climb them at least once a day. I know you're shocked! We did use the lift for our luggage and we use it for bringing bags of groceries home.

The building is a sort of U with a courtyard in the middle. People hang their wash out on the railings to dry and also put drying racks out. The folks at the bottom have a nice spot for flowers. Our door is to the right at the end with one more apartment next to us. The dentist's door is just before ours. It's the one with the mat and you can just see a ceramic name plaque on the wall to the right.


It's a very spacious place with large rooms and very high ceilings (about 10-12 feet). The apartment has been remodeled in the last ten years or so, since it has new-looking ceramic tile floors in the kitchen, living room and bathrooms. The floors in the study and the bedrooms appear to be the original oak parquet--all in a herring bone pattern.






There is no air-conditioning but there are windows on three sides that keep us very comfortable along with two fans. There are no screens and no bugs. Amazing!

There is a modern automatic clothes washer in the pantry and we have a microwave. There is no dishwasher, but so far washing the few dishes we use hasn't been a problem.

The language teacher for the students will be coming to our apartment soon. She and Corwin will plan the Hungarian classes for the students. They have these early on to help them adjust in Budapest. I get to attend also, so hopefully I'll learn something.

Our Second Week

Now that I finally have this blog created, I need to try to remember what has happened since we arrived. Wow, time does fly! It seems like we're always doing something, but it's hard to keep track of what and when. We have been sleeping a lot!

One day last week we went to the bank where Calvin has an account. They put dollars into it and we can take Hungarian Forints out over here. We have to pay the rent and most other charges in cash, although we do have a Calvin American Express card as well for some types of expenses when we travel later with the students.

We were a bit apprehensive about the bank trip since the professor who was here last year was unable to withdraw money for the first several weeks after he arrived. He had to use his own money until it got straightened out. We were not eager for that to happen to us. When Corwin was here last December he visited the bank and signed different forms so that the account would be all set now. Apparently that worked because we had no difficulty withdrawing about $2,500 that we needed to pay for two months rent, common fee for the apartment, our transportation costs from the airport and our first month's worth of subway/tram passes. We felt a little funny carrying around that much cash, but that is what we have to do and it worked out fine.

The money takes some getting used to since it has a lot of zeros. The common denominations that you get from an ATM machine seem to be 20000 ($125) and 10000 ($63) bills. They also have 5000, 2000, 1000, 500, 200 and 100 bills as well as 100, 50, 20, 5, and 2 ($0.01) forint coins that we have seen so far. We have to be careful when paying so that we're sure of how many zeros the bills have! They don't say 10,000 just 10000, so a 10000 can look a lot like a 1000.

We also went to the northern train station (there are 3 main train stations in Budapest) to check on trains to Romania. I was delighted to see the West End Shopping Mall there. It is two floors, air-conditioned and looks much like Rivertown Mall. I have to go back without Corwin.

On Saturday we went to Deak Ter, one of the main squares in Budapest, to visit the bookstore where Corwin needed to order the textbooks for the course he is teaching this semester. On the way we stopped at St. Stephen's Basilica. There was a wedding just ending. It appears that Hungarian weddings are much like ours. Differences that I noticed were that the bride and groom walked out arm in arm with the priest in between them (the groom also wore white), then the flower girls, then the parents. We didn't see any bridesmaids or groomsmen. They had a receiving line outside and a limo waiting. St. Stephen's is an amazing building and we plan to go back again when there is no wedding and we can see it better. The bookstore was closeby. Corwin was able to order the books he needed and I bought some Hungarian cookbooks.

We've been having fun at the grocery store. First we have to learn where everything is and then try to figure out what things are in English. Last week we needed toilet paper and came home with paper towels! They look a lot alike over here, since the toilet paper is about the texture of paper towels. It's a good thing that the grocery store is only 1 1/2 blocks away.

Sunday we went to St. Columba's Church. It's an English-speaking Scottish Presbyterian Church. There were only about 50 people there Sunday because people go away on vacation in August. We still enjoyed the service and plan to go back again.

After Church we went to the Gellert Hotel for brunch. The Gellert is one of Budapest's oldest hotels. We stayed there in 2005 when we were here last. The brunch was wonderful, of course. It was a great way to sample lots of Hungarian foods. They had cream of garlic soup, herring, salmon shaped into roses and several salads for starters. For entrees they were carving turkey and pork with your choice of sauces. There were chaffing dishes of pasta, vegetables, duck, fish and potatoes as well as two more with meat dishes that I already cannot remember. The last one I do remember, it was pullet with tomato and mozzarella cheese. Corwin really should learn to like poultry more.

There was another table with various breads and cheeses and then the dessert table! It had various pastries and glasses with fresh strawberries and strawberry mouse; chocolate mouse, a dessert made with a chestnut puree (I didn't try that.) There were several tortes and mango and vanilla soup (sweet & cold) that you could float a small meringue on top. There was also gelato and a fruit tray, but I don't think anyone even touched the fruit. It was a splurge, but a wonderful one.

After that we took the tram to Margaret Island in the middle of the Danube. It seemed to be the place to go on a Sunday with lots of folks walking, biking, skate boarding, swimming, picnicking, etc.

Yesterday, we went to Statue Park which is about 20-30 minutes outside of Budapest. You take the tram and then another bus to get there. This park contains many of the Communist statues that used to be in Budapest.

Instead of destroying them like the people in Iraq destroyed that big statue of Sadaam, they were all brought to this park as reminders of the way of life under the Communist rule. All that remains of one large statue of Stalin is the boots. It was very interesting to see.

This one is huge and was supposed to inspire the people to join with the Communist Party.
It has been warm here in the high 80's, but not terribly humid. We were going to go to Timisoara, Romania this coming weekend, but the forecast there is for 97 degrees. Now we're investigating some other cooler cities to visit!
I think I'm caught up on our activities and 'talked' out for now.
More later.
Marilyn

Arrival & Getting Oriented

We left Grand Rapids on Monday, August 4th, at 5pm and Detroit at 9pm as scheduled. Each of our four bags was just under the allowed 50# limit. The 5th and smallest is Corwin's carry-on which was also quite heavy since it was full of books and paper. Luckily they don't yet weigh carry-ons.

We had enough time in Amsterdam to go through the EU customs and stop for some coffee. Then we caught our two hour flight to Budapest. All the flights were very nice, smooth and on-time. In Budapest we watched as the luggage came by on the conveyor belt. But our luggage did not arrive--not even one of the four. So then we stood in a fairly long line with many others whose luggage also did not come. It seems that Amsterdam's luggage sorting equipment is not working. I had heard that a city in the US had that problem last week too and all luggage had to be sorted by hand!

Then we took a taxi to the apartment, which we were told was as economical for two people as the minibus (airport shuttle). The landlord and his wife (who do not speak English) were waiting for us at the apartment. They wondered where our luggage was but with the language barrier, I'm not sure what they thought. At any rate, all four of us managed to fit into the tiny elevator (lift) for the ride to the 3rd floor.
I should explain that our apartment is 5 flights up, but the first floor is labeled F (foundation?), then EF (I have no idea what that means), then 1, 2, and 3. There are two more floors above us. We push the button for 3 in the lift, but if you walk it, it's on what would be the 5th floor in the States.

Moni (Monika), the landlord's grand daughter who speaks fluent English, has been our contact. She has also been the contact for the last three Calvin professors who lived in this same apartment. Her grandfather and grandmother, who are the owners of the apartment, were the folks who met our cab. Who knows how long they waited there, since we were delayed in the lost luggage line and had no way to contact Moni?
They showed us the apartment. That was a fun time, since we didn't speak the same language, but still got the idea of how to lock and unlock the door, use the microwave, washing machine, coffee maker, clotheslines, TV, etc.

Moni came to see us at 5pm after she got out of work. She explained everything again in English. She also called the number for the lost luggage at the airport. She was able to tell them in Hungarian where to deliver it and give them our local phone number. She gave them her number as well.

Since we had to stay awake to learn about our luggage, we took a walk and found a restaurant close by. Moni called about 10pm and said our luggage was on it's way and all 4 bags arrived about 11pm. You can imagine how glad we were to see it!
The time difference is 6 hours. So at 11pm on Tuesday (5pm in the States), we had been awake and traveling for 24 hours.

Wednesday, Corwin slept until noon and he woke me up at 1pm since he was just sure I wouldn't be able to sleep that night if I slept any longer. I was sure that would not be a problem!

We had quite a time with the internet, but finally it started to allow us access on Thursday. I still don't know exactly how/why. We have a cable internet connection. I think what did the trick was figuring out how to disable the wireless connection on the laptop. Basically, I just clicked on every spot I could find! The internet is such an amazing help with everything, I'm so glad that it is working now.

We've been eating out every night in nearby restaurants--just like at home! We live very close to the center of the city and there are small restaurants everywhere. Food is a bit pricier than three years ago when we were here, but still not too bad. It sure would be nice if the US$ got a little stronger! There are about 148 Hungarian Forints to one US dollar now. When Corwin was here last December there were 175HF/US $1

We went to the grocery store and bought bread, butter, and coffee on Wednesday, but our refrigerator did not work when we got here so we didn't buy anything that needed to be refrigerated. Monica's father and grand father came with a new fridge on Thursday. A man also came to fix the cable, so now have CNN, BBC, Animal Planet and Turner Classic Movies in English. So we are all set--TV, internet, luggage, food, an apartment close to the center city and oriented mostly.

Yesterday we got our monthly subway passes and went over to the Buda side to the dormitory where the students will be living. There are some items that Calvin stores over there from year to year. We had quite a time communicating with the desk clerk. But finally with the aid of some students, he understood that we were American and that we wanted to look at storage bin #3. It was down in the basement that had to be accessed through a door outside the dormitory. Corwin brought back some course materials and we had a fun exercise with using the subway, trams and buses.

We just watched the Olympic opening activities--quite exciting! Next week we hope to go to Timisoara, Romania for a few days. The students come about August 22nd.