Friday, June 29, Budapest

I spent the day wandering the streets of the city. It was hot. I was hot. I did manage to make some vital purchases including an adaptor so that I can charge my laptop and a USB hook up that gave me access to the photos on my camera. At least I can try to make the day worthwhile by playing around with my observations of Pest (above) and

Buda (below). 

Women smoke in Budapest; lots of women smoke in Budapest. Maybe more women smoke than men, I didn't count. Hard to call the lithe young darlings of this burg attractive when they all seem to have one of those very long, thin butts in their mouths. 

I couldn't resist raving about the bathroom at the Museum of Fine Art in Pest. I don't know if it's a relic of the Soviet era (if so, kudos to the Russkies) or if it's a more recent addition but the whole place was beautiful. The door especially gripped me. I'll spare you pictures of the urinals--though I took a few. 

Stairway to my hostel. You can see how strange this place would look in the dark.

There are more sidewalk cafes in Budapest than you could imagine:  thousands of them. 

Public transport in Budapest is first rate. They have subways, trams, buses, every kind of way of moving people from place to place, and they all work--though the escalators don't always. And why is it that the Soviets put their subways so deep in the earth? It's the same in Yerevan and Tblisi. When you take the escalator to your train in one of these cities you think you are about to feel the heat of the earth's mantle. 

Dawn, check this out! I came across it during my walk.

I'm off to Zagreb tomorrow on the 1pm train.