Next Chapter

We are now in hunker-down mode. Dustin is BUSY preparing for his conference in Toulouse next week and the craziness that is evals. I am recouperating from whatever it is that I have and dealing with all of the antibiotics that I am on... We leave on Monday morning - Dustin for Toulouse and me for Paris. I am going to Paris to take care of the rest of our Africa visas and then will head down to Toulouse to meet up with Dustin for the week. We may spend the weekend at Taize, but who knows? Over and out.

The Mystery is solved, temporarily...

So, here is the shocker... The doc here thinks that I have Lyme Disease, of all things. After the return of the bite and swelling, we thought it prudent to go to the doctor. So, after much help from a lab-friend, Arne, I headed downtown to my doctor's appointment. After a brief wait, the doc came in, took one glance at my bite, and said that he thought I had burreloise. Then, he asked a bunch of questions and had someone else come in and consult. They both agreed that I indeed had this "burreloise" given to me by "zeckenbissfieber." Neither knew how to translate this - but drew my blood and sent me away with a prescription for antibiotics. Another round of difficulty in translating arose at the pharmacist -- she was trying to describe drug interactions and I was trying to understand. It was a far clearer in Germany than when Dustin had medical issues in Zanzibar, but still the nuances were missing... And I still did not know what I had!

I headed to Dustin's office with a bunch of German words written in my notebook. After a bit of google-translate, we figured out that burreloise means Lyme Disease. Great. I have a follow-up appointment on Monday before we leave for France. In the meantime, I am pretty zonked and taking lots of meds. Hopefully, we have nipped this thing in the bud! Good thing that we have the internet...

Hasta la Vista, Budapest...

Sunday -- our final day in Budapest... After our many marathon travel weekends this month, we were pretty low-key on our last day in Budapest (or should I say Pest, as that is where we were staying?). We started the day late -- at 11am after a restful morning and breakfast at the Hotel. We took the efficient metro from downtown to Moskva Ter (Moscow Square -- a major transit hub) to walk to Castle Hill.

The first site we happened upon was a bombed out church, presumably from WWII. It was quite an interesting site -- very few signs indicating what it was, how it was destroyed, and when, but churches are so clearly churches, you know? Here is a pic on the left...

I wanted to show Dustin some of the sites that Marianna had showed me on Thursday, so we walked through the streets, to St. Mathias Church and the Fishermen's Bastion (picture on left of the two of us taken from there), and to the castle. We stopped briefly at a cafe to have a poppy pastry and vanilla croissant (yum!) before walking down the hill and into the city.

Our next stop was the synagogue, which I had not yet seen the inside of but had planned on doing so... Dustin was pretty willing to do anything, so we walked there. As it so happened, we arrived just as an English tour was starting -- what luck! The synagogue is pretty ornate inside -- lots of geometric work everywhere. During the Nazi occupation, the synagogue was used as a horse stable. It was also located right in the Jewish ghetto of Budapest...

The ghetto was quite small and many people were packed in a very small space. When people died, they were buried adjacent to the synagogue. This may be the only synagogue anywhere which has a cemetery so close; in Jewish law, it is forbidden to have the cemetery located in such proximity to the synagogue. However, there was little choice for the ghetto inhabitants. Now, the cemetery is a quite courtyard place and is quite peaceful.

Around the synagogue and by the cemetery, the tree of remembrance is located. It is a striking exhibit. As I understand it, it is called the "Tree of Life." It has the names of Holocoust victims engraved on its leaves, and the black stone has a cutout that looks like the ten commandments, and represents the absent moral code of the perpetrators of the Holocoust.

We capped our experience with a final stop at our favorite gelato place and headed to the train station to take a night train from Budapest to Munich and then catch three more trains from Munich to Aachen. Along the way, a bite on my leg that I got in Salzburg reappeared and started to swell and itch... We decided that I should have it looked at once we got home to Aachen (and boy are we glad that we decided that when we did!)...

Dustin Arrives in Budapest

Whew! After a bit of worrying about Dustin having similar (ahem) train problems, Dustin arrived before I did to pick him up. And, to top it off, Dustin's good friend from the dorms at UW was there to meet us as well. Brian (Dustin's friend) works in Budapest as a professional paint-baller and coach. I am not at all familiar with the Paint-Balling world, but Brian is quite the hot-ticket. His tournament was canceled, so we had the opportunity to hang out with Brian and his girlfriend (from Oregon!) Betty for the day... I was pretty pumped to see the ol' husband :).

We first headed to St. Stephen's Basilica. If anyone knows the difference between a Basilica and a Cathedral -- please email me! I am curious... Anyway, this is another religious site that was ignored, partially destroyed, and basically in ruins after the Nazis and Communists. With the help of the state government, individual contributors, and the Catholic Church, the Basilica has been restored. It is a beautiful building -- but the best part is the view from the top.

On our way to meet Betty at their place, Brian took us by the only remaining Communist statue left in the city. You cannot see it in this picture, but the statue is surrounded by a fence. Folks aren't too fond of recollections of the "great" Communist era, so all of the other statues were removed and placed at Statue park -- outside of the city. This one is left because it is on the UN historical monuments list!

We stopped in at Brian and Betty's place, had some refreshments and headed out on the town for some walking and site seeing. Good thing that we had B&B with us -- I had been walking on the "wrong" side of Dustin. When women walk on the left side of a man, it indicates that she is nothing better than say, his dog (because this is the side that people walk their dogs). Dustin and I had to work the rest of the weekend to remember to have me on his right side -- we don't want people to get the wrong idea!

After a bit of walking and some lunch we walked over to the Danube, the city's main attraction. Dustin, Brian, Betty, and I took a number of pictures of each other, but the one on the left is the best.

At about 3pm, I went back to the Hotel room for some much needed rest -- I had only had 14 hours of sleep from Tuesday through Friday nights, and I was REALLY tired. Dustin, Brian, and Betty went to the mall and took in some more sites.

We all went out to a fun dinner (thanks for the treat Brian!), and then to a "Cinco de Mayo" party -- on the 6th of May. Crazy, but true. There were a bunch of English-speaking folks at this party, so it was clear to whom it was marketed. But really, Cinco de Mayo on the 6th? Curious.

We headed home at 1am... While waiting for Dustin to check his email, I struck up a conversation with the night hotel guy who WENT TO BALLARD HIGH SCHOOL IN SEATTLE. Weird. He is Jewish and Hungarian -- so he had a lot to say about Israel, Sharon, Hungarian history, American foreign policy, and life in Seattle. We talked with him until 3am and learned a heck of a lot.

Hungary's Tough History

After much discussion with the family I was staying with, I started out my day at Aquincum, located north of Budapest. I was graciously driven there by my professor -- it took over an hour and a half to get there. We, in Seattle, think that we have commute problems? The entire city of Budapest seems to be under road construction, resulting in massive back-ups and frustrations for people. Anyway, Aquincum was an ancient Roman town along the border regions with neighboring groups. These groups were far from peaceful... The town, while full of what seemed to be beautiful houses and a cool layout -- complete with lots of baths! -- also had an urgent need to protect itself. It was pretty interesting to walk the grounds, as there were very few people around. It let my imagination run a bit wild!

Given the plethora of rocks and sunny weather, there were lizards everywhere. Where I walked, they scattered. At first, it was a bit disconcerting, but then I got a bit caught up in trying to catch one, to no avail.

Next on the list: the Gallery and Spanish Exhibit. I am usually not one for museums or art galleries because the places feel too overwhelming. However, in short and concentrated bursts of time, I really do like looking at art. I took the train to Hosok Tere (Heroes Square) and checked out the works of El Greco, Velazquez, and Goya. It was interesting to see this collection, as I had seen some of the paintings before in Madrid. This collection was only the best of the best of their work (according to those who know such things). It was pretty neat to look really closely at the different paintings and imagine painting such a thing myself -- impossible!

Then it was out to the square for some photo ops... It is quite a massive space. Here are some pictures... (1) the main statue, (2) a close-up of the top of the statue, and (3) a close-up of one the statues ringing the square...













I walked down Andrassy Ut from Heroes Square to the City Center. There, I stopped and had some GREAT gelato. As it turned out, I had gelato there three times over the course of the weekend -- it was that good. However, as good as the gelato was, the waitstaff equaled it with grumpiness. Oh well. Such is the expectation of traveling in Europe -- the meaning of customer service is not even generally neutral but negative.

The sad highlight of the day, however, was the House of Terror. I knew very little about the Museum and had some time to kill. Little did I know that this would be such a troubling experience... The House of Terror is located on 60 Andrassy Ut. It was the headquarters of the Nazi and Communist regimes -- and where countless numbers of people were tortured and killed in the basement. The exhibit, while clearly trying to paint the picture that "Hungary would never had been like this if not for external influences," certainly shed light on a terribly sad history. Hungary was allied with Germany in WWI and, like Germany, faced terrible economic conditions in the inter-war period. At the start of WWII, it again allied itself with Germany in hopes of regaining the 2/3 of the country that was lost after WWI and the fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Until March of 1944, the Nazis did not occupy Hungary. However, that soon came to an end when Nazi soldiers crossed the border and placed Hungarian Jews on trains to Auschwitz or sent them to the Budapest Ghetto. Almost all of the Jews living in the countryside perished in the death camps. Before the war, Hungary had the third largest Jewish population in Europe. After the war, those numbers were considerably lessened.

In August of 1944, the Communist troops began marching into Hungary. After serious and brutal fights between the Nazis and Communists (which the Nazis, obviously, lost), the Communist assumed control of Hungary for two generations. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Hungarian citizenry lived under tight control by a government willing to punish dissidents. This is the picture that many Americans were likely afraid of -- the Communist threat. I would have been afraid too -- especially after visiting the museum.

This museum really forced me to think about Hungarian history and what I think about communism and Marxism more generally. I had little knowledge about Hungarian history prior to this experience; I was struck by what a crummy situation war puts people and countries in (which I think that we all kinda' know, but it is really different to "know" it and to walk through a building where people died because of it). War can be really great for the people in control, but those at the bottom get the raw end of any stick. While the Russian/Soviet interpretation of Communism may not have been authentic or accurate Marxism, it still makes me think critically about those Marxist principles that I think are correct. The museum and the city also made me think about our (the US) policy on crimes against humanity, torture, Abu Gharib, Guantanamo, and being silent.

After this heavy thinking, I met up with my professor and talked briefly about my experience at the museum and asked him a bunch of questions about his experience of growing up in Hungary. We sat along the Danube River at a swanky cafe, taking about the pros and cons of Communist government and the effects of Hungarian history.

Tamas and I headed home after talking for almost three hours... After a fun and chatty dinner with his family, the three girls took me to a movie (in English). We saw TransAmerica -- quite good. I recommend that you see it. The most interesting thing about this theater -- which I was told is characteristic of Budapest -- is that there are collages on the walls of the various movies that have been shown and there is a bookstore, jewelry store, and candy stand in the lobby. It was a pretty random conglomeration of things and people -- quite a site, aside from the movie.

24 hours later…

After getting on the RIGHT train and arriving in Vienna at 9am, I had to run to an internet cafe to email Dustin to email my professor to have him call his daughter who was to meet me at 915! Crazy, but true. All communication went through (thank goodness), and I headed to the train station. Of course, my connecting train to the one to Budapest was LATE, resulting in a minor panic that I may miss THIS Budapest train as well. However, all trains were late and I FINALLY arrived in Budapest after 24 HOURS of train travel. I was pooped, but ready to see the city.

Tamas' daughter Sylvia (spelled differently in Hungarian...) met me at the train station. We then took the metro to the tram to a bus and finally to her house. I felt like the end of the world was surely coming -- I was so bone-tired. I knew that if I did not keep going, I was going to fall asleep and not wake up for two days. And then all of the extra sightseeing time would be lost. So, I took a bath, had some lunch, and met the rest of the family. My prof, Tamas, was not due home until late that evening. I really enjoyed chatting with Sylvia and her mom Zsuzsa. To those of you whom this makes sense -- the family reminded me of a cross between the Trobergs and Hardwicks, so I felt right at home!

The oldest daughter, Marianna (nicknamed Matzo -- but again, spelled differently in Hungarian), took me into the city to see the sites of Castle Hill and the Danube. She is pictured here (on the left). The other daughter (Sylvia's twin) is named Chilla (again, spelling). I ended up not meeting her until that evening. Chilla is quite the ER fan -- it reminded me of "ER nights" that Sierra and I used to have on Thursday!





The first site was the post office at Moskva Ter... It looks like an old castle:















As we walked up to the castle, we passed a number of buildings which were in disrepair. When I asked Matzo, she explained that they were still damaged from WWII and were on the list to be fixed. Here is a picture of some of the damage from the bombs...










Being the good student that she is, Matzo wanted to show me her school. It is an old building -- apparently it is like the building described in Harry Potter? It is also a public school -- who wouldn't want to go to school in such a cool place?













We then walked up to Castle Hill, to St. Mathias Church and the Fishermen's Bastion, pictured below.













The view from the Bastion was GORGEOUS. Here is a picture of Parliament across the Danube... And a cityscape...




















Finally, we made it to the castle. This is the entrance:













And then down to the Danube. If you recall, two weeks ago, the Danube was flooding. The water came up to just below the "P" on the sign (the Danube is just on the lower left of the picture). Pretty crazy.













After all of that -- it was to home, dinner, and to bed!

What time is it? And where am I?

I left for my journey right on time, or so I thought. I misread the 24-hour clock that everyone uses here and actually left an hour earlier than I need to -- no wonder I was so rushed! While waiting for my next train at the Aachen main station, I set my clock a little ahead so as to be on time. As it turns out, I was turned around -- I set my clock a little late and I was late for my second and third trains and could not figure out why... Once the clock situation was rectified, I was on my way to Cologne.

I had a two hour layover in Cologne and checked out the Cathedral. It is rumored to be the largest in Europe, and I had my doubts before I went in. It is massive -- but that is about it, as far as I am concerned.

Well, all was going according to plan -- I made all of the rest of my train connections and was relaxing into my trip. I arrived in Munich and checked with the conductor, asking which car I should get on to head to Budapest. He said "one of the next cars." So, I got on the next car which had lights on (the others were dark because people were sleeping -- it was midnight). I got all settled, had my ticket checked, and got ready to take a really long nap. At 2:30 (roughly an hour after finally falling asleep), I was awoken by a conductor asking where I was going. "Budapest" I responded. He said that the train was going to CROATIA -- Zagreb, to be more precise. Given that I did not have a ticket to go to CROATIA, I was kindly asked to get off the train at the next stop, in some town I did not (and still do not) know. As it turns out, the train split in two at Salzburg, and I was on the wrong half!

Well, as luck would have it, a train heading to Vienna stopped by this small station (which is still a mysterious place to me -- maybe it was a dream?) and I hopped on board there. The problem was that I was to meet my professor's daughter in Budapest at 9am -- 5 hours from the point I got on the train. There was no way that I was going to make it there on time and my cell phone did not work. So, I was a bit panicked and did not sleep much the rest of the night/morning... But at least I was on a train heading in the right direction!

Upcoming Travel Plans!

So, now that we are all caught up on our happenings the past week and a half, we are geared up for another trip :). On Wednesday, I head off via night train to Budapest and will stay on Thursday and Friday nights with a former professor of mine (Event History Analysis) and his family. They live in the suburbs and it sounds like they will be very hospitable hosts. Dustin stays in Aachen until Friday and then takes the overnight train and arrives in Budapest on Saturday morning. We then will stay the night with an old friend of Dustin's from college -- Brian Ravenel. So, more adventures to be had and things to be learned! The week following Budapest, it is off to France: Taize for the weekend, Paris, Cherbourg, Mt. St. Michelle, and Toulouse for me, and Taize and Toulouse for Dustin. We have yet to firm up any other plans for the remainder of May and beginning of June (before I leave for Africa)...