Budapest - its a small world after all

Industrial Art Museum
Having spent yet another great day in London, we felt ready for a change of scenery. We had spent the previous day walking around the Embankment, Camden, and exploring the local market on Leather Street. By now we were feeling very familiar with the area. We had walked by all the major attractions numerous times: Westminister, the Thames, Covent Garden, and Russell Square. We were starting to feel like locals and this meant that it was time for us to hit the road. We were ready to head to Budapest.

By 7 a.m., we left William and Ralph's flat and walked to St Pancreas. At the station we found the platform for the Fast Connect Train to Luton Airport. Within 10 minutes we were on our way. At the Luton station we caught a bus to the airport. We arrived at Luton at about 8:15 a.m. Entering the airport we saw a huge line of people waiting to check in. Having pre-printed our boarding passes, we headed for the designated counter to drop off our luggage. There was no line in this lane and we suddenly wondered if we were about to cut in line. We didn't want to create an angry mob out of the several hundred passengers waiting in the ticket line next to us. As we stood there for a minute, contemplating this, Elizabeth, as we would later find out, approached us. She asked if we already had our boarding passes. We explained that we did but that we were not clear if we were in the wrong lane. She also had printed her boarding passes and appeared to be waiting for someone else to take the first step. She quickly asked the woman behind the counter and confirmed that we were in the right place. We thanked her, dropped of our bags, breezed through security, and headed for our gate. Reaching our gate we ran into other people Jane had met at Erika's hen party in Oxford.

Elizabeth and Alex
Of course, we were flying Easyjet, which meant our plane was delayed (are they ever on time?). First, because our plane was held up in Dublin, due to the volcanic ash cloud. Then, once we were on board, because the engine would not start. Both slightly disconcerting reasons.

Arriving a few hours late, we collected our luggage and went to look for our driver. Standing next to a man holding a sign with our names were Elizabeth and Alex. Elizabeth was the woman from the airport check in line from Luton. Turns out, they were two of Tom and Erika's friends, who were also attending the wedding. We all laughed and officially introduced ourselves to them. We soon learned that Alex knew Jane's parents, having stayed with them in Manhattan a few years back. We followed the driver to his car and were soon speeding off through Pest to our hotel. As we veered around the narrow streets, the driver began explaining the sights we were passing. He was talking to us in rapid Hungarian. Having absolutely no idea what he was saying, all we could do was laugh hysterically. After a few minutes, the man realized we were completely baffled. He dialed a number on his cell phone and obtained a translator. His wife! She spoke English and began translating for us. The driver would tell her what buildings we were driving past and she would give us a brief explanation.

Heroes Square
The driver kept speaking Hungarian to Luis throughout the ride to the hotel and they looked to be able to understand each other. How this is possible is still unknown but they seemed to make sense to each other. After dropping Alex and Elizabeth off at their hotel, we drove past the Museum, the Octogon, and several other historic buildings to our hotel. By now, Luis and the driver seemed to be great friends. We checked in to the Radisson Blu and walked a few rooms over to find Bill and Joy (Jane's parents). Although they were tired, having flown all night, we walked down the street in search of a place to have dinner. We walked over to Heroes square and found a lovely restaurant. We had a delicious meal and a few parlinkas. Afterwards, we returned to our hotel. The next few days were going to be filled with things to do and explore, so we turned in for the night.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lickety Split

Image
The hotel beach  Erika and Tom  We woke up ready to hit the beach only to find that it was pouring rain.  With our plans derailed for the day, we decided to take it easy and lounge around until the rain cleared. This turned out to be a good part of the day.  In the late afternoon, we headed down to the hotel restaurant for a drink.   We found the same waiter from the previous night and ordered a couple of glasses of wine.  No problem. When Luis’s arrived it had some cork or other strange floaty bits.  Noticing this, the waiter became concerned.  He leaned in close to Luis and examined the glass, practically sticking his nose into it. “No Problem” he said grabbing the glass and returning with a new one.  This guy was really funny without intending to be.   One of the palace entrances Statue of Gregory of Nin Around 4:00 pm, the rain finally stopped and we all decided to drive into Split and do a little sightseeing.   Split is t...
Read more

Mission impossible was possible

Image
London Eye along the Thames Woke up this morning early, ready to go to London. A brief stop before the next leg of our trip - Budapest. Our stuff was packed and after a quick shower and breakfast, We drove to Kingston to run a few quick errands. We got back to Granny's house at about half ten. We said a quick farewell to her, walked to the end of the street and boarded the 285 bus. Arriving at Hatton Cross we caught the Picadiliy line to London. We arrived at Russell square a little after noon. Made our way to William and Ralph's flat. Ralph was home to greet us, let us drop off our bags, and give us a key to his and Elizabeth's flat. The missing "eye" After arriving we briefly took a break and had some tea before wandering through the city. We figured we would head south towards the river and see where we ended up from there. Once there we took a couple of pictures of the London eye. A few weeks back When driving to Nottingham, we had noticed...
Read more

Great Scott this is beautiful

Image
The Artic Penguin Last night at the Stagecoach Inn at Cairndow we heard voices. The first was a woman laughing in the middle of the night; the other was unidentifiable, perhaps a man whispering. The walls of the hotel were really thick and we couldn ’t hear any other guests, even if they were right outside our door. Perhaps these were ghosts of travelers past. The building was once an old coaching inn and would have been a waypoint for the carriages as they traversed the highlands. Stepping out of the cold, damp air into the hotel feels as if you are transported back in time. Describing the inn as old and quirky is an understatement. The rooms are an explosion of mismatched prints and the floors slope to such a degree one could almost ski from the bathtub to the sink. However, the atmosphere was perfect. It was warm, cozy and we had one of the best night’s sleep of our trip. From our room we could lookout at the misty grey Loch Fynne . As this tiny “town” along the edge of t...
Read more