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.