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
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
1 comment:
I see you figured out how to get spaces in between your paragraphs. Good job.
You should maybe start a photo page on Flickr or something too. More photos would be nice.
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