from györ
yep back to the eastern keyboard
this lovely small town is the birthplace of lucy's grandmother and we are staying in the university here for a great rate. the end of summer will sadly signal both the end of warmth AND cheap accomodation (and free internet: which will be very costly for me).
spent another great day around budapest yesterday seeing those general areas of the city that we didn't get to the day before. the millenium monument was particularly amazing, again incredibly grandiose and permeating a definite sense of 20th century nationalism - particularly with the large statues depicting the history of hungary's rulers/kings. all cast 3 times the size of life, with broad shoulders, strong physiques and triumphant poses. mind fought over and defended by its various rulers with various weapons for centuries. speaking of which the other highly impressive/ing moment was when we reached the summit of the citadel and saw the large liberation monument that sits atop the gellert hill. the beautiful angelic female figure commemorates the soviet soldiers that died liberating budapest from the nazis (and which incidentally ushered in a communist regime from which lucy's grandmother, as an intellectual, fled). mostly, this place offers an amazing view of the city...
took the train to györ thismorning after our 3rd night in our appartment on the ridiculously stiff and curvateous pull-out couch. managed to sleep better last night with the aid of a pillow underneath the lower back, but lucy is suffering from a sore hip because she jarred it on an unsighted step in the dark, aggrivating an old injury for her. will have to find a chiropracter somewhere in italy and get my cousins to translate for us; the next couple of weeks could be uncomfortable for her - might be time to crack the neurofen.
the once-a-month fruit, veg and flower market that happens to be, by chance, on today was just enough to cheer lucy up and so we had a nice afternoon walking around full to the brim with blackberrys, nectarines and the local delights of "langos" some other sweet pastry thing - the name of which escapes me now. there happens to be a church of st ignatius here, the founder of my school, and this managed - despite my lack of nostalgia regarding religion - to inspire some awe at the breadth of this institution. managed to confuse lucy's sense of direction completely due to the several bends in the river which didn't much help the glumness of her mood (as she's still kicking herself about missing that step!)
looking forward to dinner (as usual) and then some local pastry for desert... may pay a visit to the thermal baths here which are open until 10pm unlike the ones in budapest which close bizarrely at 7pm. i guess thats the trade-off you pay for when you get western keyboards.... language is a big barrier here but there is alot of german due to the proximity of györ to the austrian border - this is suprisingly a MUCH easier language to guess at when it comes to menu's etc but the problem is that there is alot of german food. lucky for us we have a small "eastern european phrase book" which, with its lack of croatian, i was carrying around uselessly until now. the hungarian language is a fucking mystery despite this - even to lucy who has it in the blood! apparently its closest relative is finnish, which says alot. i have managed to master the über-touristy mandatory "thankyou", "yes" and "excuse me" but am yet to work out "no".
guessing krakow will be next post...
this lovely small town is the birthplace of lucy's grandmother and we are staying in the university here for a great rate. the end of summer will sadly signal both the end of warmth AND cheap accomodation (and free internet: which will be very costly for me).
spent another great day around budapest yesterday seeing those general areas of the city that we didn't get to the day before. the millenium monument was particularly amazing, again incredibly grandiose and permeating a definite sense of 20th century nationalism - particularly with the large statues depicting the history of hungary's rulers/kings. all cast 3 times the size of life, with broad shoulders, strong physiques and triumphant poses. mind fought over and defended by its various rulers with various weapons for centuries. speaking of which the other highly impressive/ing moment was when we reached the summit of the citadel and saw the large liberation monument that sits atop the gellert hill. the beautiful angelic female figure commemorates the soviet soldiers that died liberating budapest from the nazis (and which incidentally ushered in a communist regime from which lucy's grandmother, as an intellectual, fled). mostly, this place offers an amazing view of the city...
took the train to györ thismorning after our 3rd night in our appartment on the ridiculously stiff and curvateous pull-out couch. managed to sleep better last night with the aid of a pillow underneath the lower back, but lucy is suffering from a sore hip because she jarred it on an unsighted step in the dark, aggrivating an old injury for her. will have to find a chiropracter somewhere in italy and get my cousins to translate for us; the next couple of weeks could be uncomfortable for her - might be time to crack the neurofen.
the once-a-month fruit, veg and flower market that happens to be, by chance, on today was just enough to cheer lucy up and so we had a nice afternoon walking around full to the brim with blackberrys, nectarines and the local delights of "langos" some other sweet pastry thing - the name of which escapes me now. there happens to be a church of st ignatius here, the founder of my school, and this managed - despite my lack of nostalgia regarding religion - to inspire some awe at the breadth of this institution. managed to confuse lucy's sense of direction completely due to the several bends in the river which didn't much help the glumness of her mood (as she's still kicking herself about missing that step!)
looking forward to dinner (as usual) and then some local pastry for desert... may pay a visit to the thermal baths here which are open until 10pm unlike the ones in budapest which close bizarrely at 7pm. i guess thats the trade-off you pay for when you get western keyboards.... language is a big barrier here but there is alot of german due to the proximity of györ to the austrian border - this is suprisingly a MUCH easier language to guess at when it comes to menu's etc but the problem is that there is alot of german food. lucky for us we have a small "eastern european phrase book" which, with its lack of croatian, i was carrying around uselessly until now. the hungarian language is a fucking mystery despite this - even to lucy who has it in the blood! apparently its closest relative is finnish, which says alot. i have managed to master the über-touristy mandatory "thankyou", "yes" and "excuse me" but am yet to work out "no".
guessing krakow will be next post...
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