Budabudabudapest

OK, so it might have been over a week ago, but here's what happened in Budapest:

LOVE.

One of the consequences of being a weirdo is having really strange obsessions. One of mine is all things Russia/Eastern Europe. Flip through my ninth grade world history notebook and you'll find plentiful doodles of the Ukrainian flag (yes, I realize that the Ukrainian flag is a rectangle with a horizontal line through the middle - not exactly an entertaining doodle. weirdo, remember?) Anyway, just the feeling I got from Hungary was tantalizing. The architecture? Amazing. The museums? Fascinating. The markets? Bustling. The coffee? Strong. The metro? Strictly monitored. The zoo? Crazy good.

As a group, we did a lot of walking around and taking pictures of buildings and we went to the zoo, where I saw a KOMODO DRAGON. Ever since the episode of Crocodile Hunter where Steve Irwin wrangled komodo dragons, I've wanted to see one. I guess we could put reptiles on my list of really strange obsessions. The zoo also had hippos and kangaroos and a cassowary and a polar bear, all of which I'd never seen in person before. Plus, being Budapest, the somewhat docile animals like zebras and giraffes were in enclosures that allowed visitors to stick their hands over/through the fence. So I pet a giraffe and almost pet a zebra. One of the things I found most entertaining about the zoo, though, was the fact that every so often, in the middle of animal cages, they'd have an enclosure of manikins depicting the people of the region that the animals were from. So it looked like they were keeping Africans and Aborigines and Neanderthals in the zoo. I chuckled.

One morning, since I am a grandma and raise at the crack of dawn, I set off on my own for a bit before the others woke up. I met an old lady carrying a Scooby Doo bag in the metro. She needed help mounting the escalator, since they are steep and rocket fast in the Budapest underground - no joke, so I offered my hand, she grabbed hold, and we ascended side by side. Halfway up she started babbling at me in Hungarian, so I politely smiled and nodded my head and faux laughed for as long as I could, until I realized she had asked me a question and was looking at me expectantly. So I kept smiling and said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm American." To which she continued babbling, then made the motion of shivering, and I realized that she was trying to tell me I'd be cold without a jacket on. Old Ladies, your cross cultural constancy rocks. By then we were at the top, ending our ride, and I again offered my hand and she happily took it for help in the dismount. Nothing like holding hands in the morning to let you know that the day is going to be a great one. Later, I ran into some Auburn brahs, who just so happened to know my brah! It was one heckuva family reunion and a reminder of how small this big world can be.

On our last day in the city, we spent some time at a big market. I went in with the resolve to be an awesome haggler and talk down ALL the prices. My resolve broke when the shopkeeper helping me looked horrified that I had (unknowingly) grabbed the largest size of blouse -"Is that...for YOU?" - and immediately said she would get the smallest for me. Oh, Shopkeepers, you know your job so well. I will gladly be a sucker under these circumstances. Then we went to the Budapestian Luby's and got some tasty tasty tasty főzelék - basically a stewed vegetable soup. Mine was pumpkin. Mmm. (Apparently, Luby's is a Texan institution, which explains why no one at Tech knows what I'm talking about when I mention it. So, linksies, for reference.)


Hurrah for Budapest.