I am in London BABY!

What's up London!  

Hello friends and family.  Sorry it has taken me so long to blog but things just move so fast in London - apart from when they walk, with thousands of people walking at a slow pace it is hard to weave your way around London.  

My first day I took pretty slowly managed to get a weekly bus pass and figure out the tube sitco.  Amy, Aunty Lynn and I all had lunch together on the roof top cafe of Selfridges.  I was able to whip around the shop and check it out.  The next day I jumped on one of the original bus tours.  Known as the best bus tour it took me all around London and I was free to hop on and off whenever I wanted.   The rain was a bit of a downer as I was sitting in the open air on the top level of the bus.  I was able to see all the most important sites of London, Big Ben, London Eye, Tower Bridge, the Thames, Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and lots more in between. I had brought a ticket to the London Dungeon with the same bus company so I was able to skip the massive line waiting outside one of the best things as it was starting to really bucket down!  I nipped into the London Dungeon and had a tour of London's not so pleasant past - it was fun!

Tuesday night we went to one of Amy and Adam's locals the Crabtree and had dinner with Aunty Lynn, Uncle Chris, Chris and Sam Glasson.  It was a real treat to catch up with friends and family from back home but in London!  I had the most amazing roast lamb yum!!  

I had organised that evening to meet up with Chris and his friend Alice the next day to go and explore Harrods.  Wow this is to date one of my favourite things I have done in London.  It took a fair amount of time to walk through and I don't even think we covered it all. I giggled at the extravagance of some of the displays and things in the store but my eyes were alight like a little kid in a candy store!  Which reminds me the food halls were decadent.  I bought a sandwich here to take with me for lunch as well as "sun" in a bottle which actually turned out to be rather nice!  After this I moved on down to the Tate Modern Museum where I saw a Damien Hirst exhibition.  Any one who knows me well enough will know my wee problem with moths.  Well Damien had a room in his exhibition full of butterflies - pretty looking moths.  I thought since I had paid for this I should have a look, and butterflies don't usually fly close to you like moths right?  Ha wrong as soon as I walked in there I had a little sucker come flap around my head and land on my shoulder.  Not wanting to make to much of a scene I shuddered and let the thing stay there as I walked around keeping a very close eye on it. I guess I felt both sick and a little bit lucky as everyone was looking in amazement that I had a butterfly on my shoulder.  I didn't stick around much longer then that. 

Amy and I then went down to Bereleigh Estate that evening to visit our cousins.  We had the most devine dinner cooked by the Lady of the house and the had a relaxed evening.  The next day we explored some of the property and looked at their "glammping" tents - which are so cool!  Camping in style, Amy and I both agreed this is our kind of camping!!  After all this we had a bite to eat in the garden before jumping on the train back home.  A very enjoyable day in the country side!

Yes I have done shopping but I hadn't done that much until yesterday when we went to Portobello markets in Notting Hill.  The markets were so cool!  There was a good combination of food and antiques and clothes!  I made a few purchases some paintings to put up in a flat that I will hopefully have sometime soon!  And of course some clothes!! Amy and I then attended a show - We Will Rock you.  It was a real treat and I wish I had more time to see more shows in London or that Wellington put on more!  After this we stopped in to the M&M shop WOWZA it was incredible! Then we meet up with some friends and had a few drinks!  

Today we saw Buckingham Palace - from the inside! This and Harrods would be my favorite two activities in London so far!  It was stunning to see the inside and we were lucky enough to see some of the Queen's diamonds in celebration of here diamond Jubilee.  I would recommend to anyone that has the chance to go inside  it only happens in the summer when the Queen isn't there and only goes on for about 8 weeks!

So much more to do and see I hope to get another blog in before Amy and I hit Spain to see Emma!  I can't wait to lie on a beach in the sun!  Palma here we come!!

Recapping Vienna

Wow!  WHat a weekend in Vienna.  I was lucky enough to be hosted all weekend by Hedi and Andrea!  I can not thank the both of them enough for having me to stay and showing me the city!  I wouldn't have seen anywhere as much as what I did without them and I wouldn't have had nearly as much fun!  

On the first evening I arrived I was greeted by Andrea with a sign welcoming me to Vienna - so cute!  We then went to meet Hedi a little bit further into town.  Here we tried the most delightful ice creams at a special shop called Eis Greissler.  It is a very small shop and they both informed me that the line is regularly far, far down the street.  Andrea had the most daring ice cream - feta - which actually wasn't too bad!  I had a pear ice cream that was to die for!  It tasted like real pears you could taste the texture of the pear! YUM!  We then continued to walk around the city looking at sites until we stopped in to again have some devine food at an Italian restaurant. 

The next day we went to the markets in the morning for breakfast!  I had a Turkish breakfast and it was soo good!  My favourite would have been the fried pastry with feta and basil inside it!  Hedi told me it was easy to do, and I could try it at home, I can't wait!  We then carried on to Museum Square one of Andrea's favourite places where you are surrounded in museums.  There was a small exhibition on fashion and technology which was really interesting and had some crazy dresses!  Mum you will like to see the photos of these!  We then choose the Mumok which was a more modern museum and I was lucky enough to at the end stumble upon some Pop Art which I had studied earlier this year and at school. We went to another famous ice cream shop and had more ice cream yum which was good as the weather was hot hot hot!  Andrea then took me out that night and we went to what is called the Night walk where there are just bars after bars and people sit outside drinking and listening to live bands.  It was great fun and we even stopped into a jazz bar and managed to catch the last of the set from a great jazz band.  

After a super duper sleep in the next day we went to the Belvedere which was an old summer palace that is now an art museum.  There is a big celebration this whole year in Vienna for one of their most famous artists Klimt so here we were able to see lots of his works!  Hedi and her Husband Rudi then took me out for dinner to a place along a channel of the Danube called Motto am Fluss.  Here I was able to try some typical Viennese food.  

On the last day in Vienna we went to another famous Viennese artist's exhibition Hundertwasser.  Hundertwasser is also famous to NZ as he lived there and designed a flag for us in 2000.  This managed to take up about all of the time I had left in Vienna one quick taste of a Viennese snitchzel and then off to the airport.  

Thank you again to Hedi and Andrea for my beautiful weekend in Vienna.  It was short but we managed to do a lot!  And for everything else I left out I will just have to come back!

 

Viennese Love

Hi ya'll, 

Just a quick note to let you al know I have touched down in Vienna!  I have met my long distant relatives who are such wonderful gems!  They are taking the best of care of me.  We had a quick walk around part of the city last night, seeing big beautiful churches and we stopped in for beers and had some devine ravioli at a wee Italian place.  Things will be pretty fast paced here so I will most likely blog about it all after the weekend! 

 Leaving Budapest was a bit stressful with all my luggage - haha any surprises there Kate Davidson? - but I made it on time.  I didn't really get to say goodbye to many people, so for those of you from Balassi reading my blog!  A fond farewell to you all, I met some truly wonderful people and I hope to keep in touch with you.  I wish everyone the best for the next stage of their lives, and most probably the travelling you all are doing.  I will be back to visit you all in your homeland! 

I am so looking forward to spending this time in Vienna, Budapest is a wonderful place and I loved it but I am ready for a change and ready to have more of a holiday now!  I am dying to see my sisters, Amy in London on Monday and Emma soon after.

On a quick side note, something I have noticed already.  I am wanting to speak Hungarian to everyone still.  I must have really had it drilled into me over the last month and all the politeness I have is now in Hungarian!  I will have to leave the Hungarian behind for now and pick up my German!

Take care everyone,

Lots of Love from Vienna xx

Tips for Travelers

I know a few of you out there are looking at or are travelling to Budapest in there near future so I have tried to think of some tips I can give you.  Unfortunately I have little knowledge on what Budapest is like in the later half of the year as it does get colder, and it does snow.  What I can tell you is that Hungarians love festivals and love Christmas so although the weather might not be as stunning as I have had - ha ha - you can still have a blast here.

Lonely Planet guide :

Pretty simple, just get one.  I got mine on Hungary not just Budapest and this still worked fine for the city.  I also managed to get it for pretty cheap from fishpond.co.nz.  However you can buy them here and of course you can buy smaller versions if you aren't going to be here for long.  Or consider using the Lonely Planet website on your phone a lot.  The book tells you great places to eat, things to see even if you are here only for a few days or here for a few weeks.  It also helps you work the public transport which is fantastic!  It also has all the maps you need!  Budapest isn't too big you can always walk everywhere if you need to.  I personally don't know what I would have done without it.  It gives you all the info on tipping here - who to tip and who not to.  Also informs you on some of the etiquette  which I will give u a quick run down of soon and this is important!

Transport :

Master it ASAP.  It is quick easy and reliable. You have the trams, the buses, metro and trains use them all!  Get a ticket for the whole time you are here it will be so much easier for you!  If you do have to buy a single ticket MAKE SURE U VALIDATE IT when you use it (stick it in the orange box and it will punch it).  I believe you can get a week pass, a month pass, and even a full day pass.  This allows you to use all the transport its want you want trust me!  On a side note, you can take animals on the forms of transport so no it isn't odd if you are seeing a dog on the bus or on the metro its normal, get used to it.  Another interesting fact for those of you from NZ this is very different from home, you can drink on all the transport and everywhere in the city apart from parks, so grab that beer from the 24-7 (they don't call them that here though) and drink it where ever you want!

Bring medicine :

If you are prone to being sick or coming at a time you think you might be sick.  BYO because you can't get much here.  They don't believe in taking drugs so the pharmacies are pretty limited on stuff.  Plus with all the public transport bugs get passed around like a joint at a Bob Marley concert.  My roommate wished she had known this!

Etiquette :

I said I would talk about this but the best info I can probably give you was given to us by one of our teachers in photo for so here it is:

Follow these.  It is important in any culture that you do the right thing.  Also you don't have to tip anyone that hasn't given you a service.  You only need to tip when something is served to you at a restaurant/bar so if you order from the bar and collect it from there you do not have to tip.  They say that between 10-15% is suitable to tip 10% if they didn't do the best job and 15% if you were impressed.  Learn some basic words, people really appreciate that you try even if you don't get it right.  Hungarian people are so proud of there language that they will treat you much nicer if you say szia and kosonom (hi/bye and thank you).  Even grab a small phrase book from somewhere and give the language a go it is said pretty much how it sounds and you will get better service!  I am more then happy to teach anyone how to order a beer or buy a ticket just drop me a note and I'll give you the low down.

Cash :

I had a real hard time knowing how I was going to use money over here.  They say most places accept card and this is true, restaurants and major shops will.  The markets won't.  The small tourist shops won't.  It is important to have cash on you at all times, most places don't include the tip to the bill so you need to leave money behind.  Which leads to another point of etiquette - it is rude to leave the money on the table.  Just don't do it.  Give it to the waitress when you pay (already have that sorted in cash) or find out if there is a tip jar, otherwise hand it to the person who served you on the way out.  One of the best things I had was a wee currency converted that Dad did for me on excel and printed out.  I kept it in my wallet and it was an easy way to see how much everything was in NZD and whether it was worth what they were asking for.  The thousands were hard to work with at first.  10,000 should be easily enough for one person for a day this will give you 2 meals and some spending money for shopping or activities.  But if you are doing activities find out how much they are before you go.  Also be aware if you are a student take your student card it works pretty much everywhere for discounts!

Funzine :

This is a free mag that you can find in cafes and all around the place.  Pick one up it gives you a low down on what happening the month in the city from gigs to festivals activities and so forth.  It also has coupons and discounts for places, maps and interesting Hungarian facts for travelers.  Well worth the read.

Sim cards :

So it is a bit of a hassel to get one of these.  I had to sign a few papers about it all and show my passport and so forth.  I don't understand why but it is a big deal here.  Once you have it though life is a breeze.  So if you don't have any international deals, bring your smart phone over and get on a deal.  I used Vodafone as I new they had an english speaking smart store I could visit.  I was on a deal that gave me 500mb of data for 2,000 ft and the card itself cost 500 ft and it lasted me my whole trip.

Things you must do :

Parliament.
 Now you don't have to go inside, just be there and take it all in.  It is a wonderful building and I gave the history of it that we were told on the tour and that is all you need to sound a little smart to whoever it is you are travelling with.  You can see parliament from all different angles all over the city. It is good close up, from the Buda side of the city and of course from Buda Castle which is my next must.

Buda Castle.
How could you not apart from parliament it is the only other building that sticks out like a sore thumb calling you in to go see it.  It like parliament is lit up beautifully at night so see it durring the day and then glance at it from the other side of the river at night.  You don't have to go inside it doesn't have anything worth seeing.  After they renovated it the inside was gutted so the best part is looking at it and walking around the town that surrounds it.  There is a secret hospital that however is worth the tour if you have the time - unfortunately I wasn't able to do this but if any one does get a chance I would like to know more about it.

Eat.
  Eat everything!  Eat the traditional dishes, eat the things they sell on the side of the roads (the round donut bread sticks covered in sugar, the breads etc).  You can a three course meal for $20 NZD so there is no need to go to the flashiest place.  We always aimed for somewhere that had mains for 1000-3000 ft per dish.  Eat at the city market.  the food is god, traditional and cheeeeap!  This is also a good place to get fresh produce if you are wanting to make your own food or are here for a loner period of time because the match stores aren't that great.

Drink.
Drink Unicum, it is nasty at first but it gets better.  It is a local favourite and you will fit right in if you are drinking it! Palinka - not my personal favourite but it comes in many different flavours and the locals love it too.  It isn't really meant to be taken in shot form even though it is given to you in small amounts just sip it - it's strong!  I believe this can grow on you as well if you drink enough of it.  Try the wines, wine is always good.  I may not think it is the fine wine of NZ but the people rave about it here so give it ago.  Any wines from Tokjai are meant to be very good.

Festivals.
 Get to any festival you can.  Look it up, google that shit!  And make sure you take advantage of whatever is happening at the time I am sure the Hungarians' will not let you down.  Of course if you are here for Sziget - do not miss that!  Heck no!  It is cheap and so much fun!

Baths.
  They say any bath is fine, and I have only been to one, Szechenyi Thermal Baths out of strict recommendation from those who had been to more then one and have been often.  So of course I am going to recommend this one.  Price is about 3,400 ft for the day ticket but you can also go at night for cheaper and I am sure it would look amazing lit up by lights.  There are many pools/baths here suitable for everyone no matter what temperature you like.  Just be careful to make sure you don't go on women only and men only days - could be worth checking.  You can take the level one metro right to the bath, the stop is even conveniently called Szechenyi Baths.

The City Market.
 I mentioned this earlier in food, but it is also the place to go for shopping!  If you are wanting Hungarian gifts or memorabilia you want to go here.  I strongly recommend it even just for the experience.  

I hope this helps for anyone wanting to visit Budapest, it really is a beautiful city and should be on everyone's bucket list.  I know I will be back that is for sure!

Fast Facts

Here are some fast facts I have been collecting over my stay in Hungary.  Some of these were written awhile ago (I now drink the tap water with the aid of a filter jug) but since its the last week here I think its time to publish these babies!

1. The street signs are on the corner of the buildings.  I find this strange.
2. There is graffiti everywhere, like everywhere! On al the old buildings, all the trams, trains, trolleys, buses even the stairs on the escalators - seriously! 
3. I now appreciate having drinking water from a tap.  The water here is "okay" to drink but if anyone knows me well enough they know I like my water fresh, and the Budapest water has a very distinct smell that has me shying away.  I have tried it and it doesn't taste as bad as it smells but everyone buys their water here.  Admittedly I am paying 115ft a 1.5L bottle which is 0.62c NZD but to think what it is doing to the environment, already on day 3 I had gone through 7 bottles!  I hate to think what it will be after a month!
4. For those of you that think I have hairy arms (Phillip Ryan), you should see the Hungarian girls (and I have noticed the Italians are high up there too). So next time you are checking out the physique of a well done European you should also take into consideration the amount of hair they have on their body.
5. Fat old men everywhere!  This is not really an issue, but it seems to be that in the summer time they like to walk around with there tops rolled up over their bellies.  Exposing their large barrel like stomaches.  I think the thing that bothers me the most is the way the top is rolled up, like it is a crop top.  If they walked around topless which some do, it would be fine.  Take note old men in Hungary STOP EXPOSING UR BELLIES.
6. The smell.  Now its not quite a sewage smell, we have come to the conclusion it is more of a dirty/garbage/sewage smell.  You just get a whiff of it every now and then but boy does it sting the nostrils and leave its mark on the brain. 
7. Homeless.  So Hungary has a large amount of homeless people.  In the summer I can see the appeal of sleeping outside due to the heat.  But come winter I don't know what these poor people do.  One thing I have noticed that has been from the people who look homeless and the people who don't look so homeless is that they pick up ciggy butts from the ashtrays in that are connected to the bins.  The shuffle until they find the least smoked and then brush em off and go.  This for the first time left me speechless as I was in mid convo with someone, and from now on just makes me sick in the stomach. 
8. Lightening.  As you know we have had some storms will I have been here.  But even now I am sitting at my computer on a hot sticky night watching the fork lightening light up the sky orange, its not even raining.
9. For those of you who know our 'family whistle', my Grandmother had always told us this whistle originates from the way that the Hungarian birds whistle.  And she is right!  Sitting in a park one day I heard the whistle, a lot slower then how we do it, so I whistled back only to find out that it was indeed a bird calling out.  I had a wee moment as I thought this was mega cool!
10. Meleg means hot and gay in Hungarian therefore if you are wanting to say: "meleg vagyok" (I am hot) don't be surprised when you get hounded by the same sex as you are also saying "I am gay".  And for all my lovely gay friends out there I take this as a compliment all of you are hot!

Saint Stephens Day

Wine tasting time!

Hiya friends and family!

This week has been pretty relaxed, of course I have done more shopping - what else?!  We had one field trip this week, the Hungarian National Bank.  Not Balassi's finest pick, we just saw a heap of old money.  However I did learn a bit about the Euro in order to have my photo printed on some fake money.  

My roommate has been as sick as ever so I have been keeping far away in order not to catch anything before moving on the the rest of my holiday.  Which I am now getting super excited about.  I am looking forward to seeing my blisters, Amy in just a week!  The time has really started to fly by but once we have done our tours of Buda Castle (which is tomorrow) I think I would have felt like I have done everything I needed to for my first time in Hungary!

We had a day trip yesterday out to Lake Balaton, nipping out of the city and getting to see another side of Hungary was fantastic.  The lake was packed as it was one of the hotter days we have had reccently, the sun was shinning and all the tanned people were out.  So I had been complaining/surprised that I have spent so much time in the sun and haven'r worn sunblock once or been burnt once.  Ahh classic "don't speak too soon" situations here.  I didn't wear sunblock yesterday and yes I got burnt!  Not too badly, not anything near as bad as it would have been if I was in NZ.  But enough to give me a wee bit of colour before I see my sister who has been living in Spain all summer so I don't feel like a polar bear next to her.

We were on the "nicer' side of the lake so we had to pay to get on to the waterfront.  there is a little bit of fake sand - and I mean a little bit a meter and a half from the water.  The rest of the place is grass and it was packed.  It isn't anything like what we have at home, and the lake is shallow for about 5 meters before you can actually cool off.  I didn't end up swimming myself - bit of a water snob I am.  After years and years of swimming in Taupo my lake standards are pretty high and a combination of the mossy green stones all on the bottom and the colour of the water just had me reading my book on a nice wee grass patch all day.  There are shops and stalls selling food clothes and traditional Hungarian stuff all along the waterfront in between all the trees what a sight!  Most of the people around here are Hungarian or German speaking so I managed to pull my socks up and use my Hungarian to order food and buy some stuff, all the classes appear to be paying off BOOM!

After this we jumped back onto our bus and set off for a vineyard where we could do some wine tasting.  We walked up a hill in a small town to reach a restaurant that looked out over Balaton and a heap of vineyards.  It reminded me of all the picturesque scenery we have at home.   The wine tasting had to be translated for us by but it was such a blast!  They use a Glass blowen utensil to suck the wine up from the jars and then pour into peoples glasses.  We were able to have a go ourselves at doing this later on.  They brought out a sweeter wine which ladies tend to like better so they had a glass blown lady in which the men had to suck through the boobs of the glass lady and then pour the wine out from here too.  It provided many giggles from the crowd.  Later on the even had one for the ladies to try but I will leave to to guess what shape that was in!  After a few too many wines they finally brought us out some food a traditional Hungarian dish that I do not remember the name of - oops!!  We were then able to purchase the wine before we headed home on the bus.  All in all it was a fantastic day and I wish they had done something similar to this sooner in the trip as it would have been a great icebreaker for everyone to meet each other!  

And now for a photo overload!!

SZIV SZIGET!

From where I last left you I have...

Hit the zoo and seen bears for the first time up close!!

Had traditional Hungarian Goulash x2 YUM

Seen Snoop Dog live (10/10)

Crowd surfed to Sum41 (8.5/10)

Got up close and personal with The Killers (10/10)

Party rocked with LMFAO (7.5/10 - better then I thought)

Discovered a few more interesting bands

Finally got a taste for Unicum 

Tasted traditional Hungarian wine and realised I am a wine snob

Been to the National museum

Sziget was sick.  I can't begin to describe what it was like being at an international music festival - if you have been to one you will know but otherwise just wow you have to do it!!   So crowd surfing yeah?!  I did it!  Not only was I scared I was going to lose everything I had on me, my phone my camera my recently purchased Sziget hoodie as the weather was shit for awhile there, but how the hell was I going to get down.  After being separated in literally the first few seconds of Sum41 playing - due to being so close everyone decided to push and mosh !?!?! - I spent the rest of the time rocking out with the hardcores boom lol! Some English dudes who had spotted me alone ever so kindly asked if I would like to go "up" i quickly debated in my head - would people hold me up?- with nothing to lose (ok so I could have lost all my stuff but I am talking my friends had already disappeared I was only going to get closer) I gave them a "hell yeah!".  Two seconds later I am being thrown left then right up and down hitting people on the head with my shoes - apologies to those at the end of my feet - but I could not knock the smile off my face.  Wow what a view!  Crowding surfing my new fav!

The Killers: SICK!  Sick as in cool (P.W.Ryan 2012).  Blew my mind!  It started to rain just as they were coming on but that didn't stop us!  Right up the front we were packed in like sardines and they rain didn't really bother me.  It was probably more the guy in front of me who decided to throw his half drunken beer which in turn as he reached back ended up all over my face and hair that had me soaked.  Not that I could care less as i frantically tried to video message all the right people all the right songs as well as trying to record it all on my camera and boogie at the same time!

It has been a super slow start to the week.  The last day of the festival was on Sunday which made wine tasting Monday afternoon such a drag.  Hungarians drink a special kind of drink called froccs, which I am ashamed I am yet to order one here.  It comes in many different types and forms.  The idea is that it is pretty much a spritzer and I am trying not to be rude but it would make the wine (that I tried anyway) more bearable.  I can see now why NZ is raved about having such good wine.  The guy who took the lecture was chatting away about how Hungary wants to get a rep like one that NZ has for it's wines.  Yea I was giggling in the corner rooting for us.  Back to the spritzer, it can be 1 part wine 1 part soda water, 2 parts wine 1 part soda water and so forth.  It is ideal for the hot summers and lots of the people we are here with drink it too. We are heading to Lake Balaton this weekend so I guess the wine tasting was a precursor for what is to happen this weekend!

Farewell far away friends.

  

Another one bites the dust

As I pondered on where to start with my blog today to catch you up on week two, I found this picture from last night, and where better to start with good food right? BOOM

Before any of you say anything, no I am not wearing make up I am not sick I am just pale, even in mid summer in Hungary.  This is what is called Kobci and OMG I had two.  They are a speciality of a wee open air pub we visited last night on a field trip.  Thats right you heard me - school field trip to the pub, thats how Hungarians do it.  We were here to learn traditional folk dancing but I will get to that after the food.

This pub was in Obuda which means Old Buda.  On this wonderful piece of deliciousness  we have toasted flat bread smeared in a garlic yoghurt/sour cream spread.  Dusted with a spicy ground sausage and I assuming that was spicy paprika that gave it the colour and kick.  Freshened up a bit with some cucumber and yummy, yummy Hungarian tomatoes which have so much flavour!  I could eat other one right now NOM.

Now that the food rave is complete the week has been filled with more lectures, more shopping and a trip to a local club on Tuesday night called Szimpla.  I am not going to lie we had heard people talking about Szimpla and kinda "poo pooed" it.  But wow were we wrong!  This place was awesome!  It was what looked like old flats that had had their walls knocked down to make it a club.  It was like a maze having to go up and down stairs, some even cool narrow spirals and pop in to different rooms.  But everything connected up to over look the out door patio in the middle.  Here they had a old fashioned black and white movie projected on to a stone wall.  The place was filled with junk, bicycles and all sorts of other second hand goods you would need to fill a place like this.  The chairs didn't match and there were plants everywhere.  Not to mention the graffiti which is in theme with the rest of Budapest.  Walls were covered with tags.  People from all over the world come here, it is mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide to Hungary which may have something to do with it. So people just leave their mark on this place whether it is in the bathrooms or just anywhere you can find.  

Last night we were on a misson to pick up some tips on Hungarian folk dance.  Man this was so DOPE.  The music rocked, they had a live band, a violinist which provided the main tunes, one large drum, a small guitar and a lady with one hell of a powerful voice.  The music was so cheery and locals come to show people how to dance.  It was packed!  They just get you to come up when you want and join the circle - lots of hand holding!  The moves were simple but with lots of bouncing everyone was quickly worn out.  So we spent most of the night singing, jumping and dancing.  We were only to take one break when everyone gathered around the TV to watch the last few seconds of the women's waterpolo match between Australia and Hungary.  Hungary scoring a goal in the last few seconds had the crowd roaring, it reminded me of being home and watching a rugby match!  But unfortunately in over time - as that goal bought the game to a tie - Aus won with another goal.  No hard feelings though everyone clapped and then back on to dancing.

After this a few of us decided to head to a bar in town for some karaoke!  BOOM.  Good option!  A wee place called Morrison's in Pest housed the karaoke set.  Not long after we arrived here some English dudes jumped up and started singing a Ricky Martin song.  They were getting rather into it and eventually took off their tops.  There were some inappropriate dance moves and the large Hungarian bouncer was there in a jiffy signally to cut the music and told to the guys to put their tops on.  However I did managed to get some good photos before they were ushered out.  For a giggle I will share them with you.

We moved into another room of this club and started to dance to what at first appeared to be more recent music.  Just as Alyssa and I were starting to think we would dip off to catch a bus home as the public transport stops and we were not walking home this time!  But we got slammed with some absolute tunes all in a row which included Jitter Bug, Grease remix, Cotton Eyed Joe, YMCA, The Macarana wowza what a mix!  We still managed to catch a bus home and I took a snap of a church on the ay.  Unfortunately I can't quite remember which one it is but I am sure someone can tell me.

We are hoping to get to the zoo today after we have our team talk about the weekend.  Which includes nothing less then the Famous Sziget festival!  So I don't think you will hear from me again till after the weekend!   Miss all of you at home lots and lots. 

Aroha <3

Terror Haza

After having a slow start this morning skyping family and Phillip back home we started to move towards the Terror Haza (Terror House).  Bare in mind that with 50 of us transport around town is rather long, tiring and squishy as we do all jump on to one bus + the public.  Here is what it looks like:

So we finally make it to the house of Terror and have to wait as half the group go in first.  Altogether transport and waiting time in mid day heat was an hour and a half.  Phew!  It was all very worthwhile though.  Although the tour we did took almost 2 and a half hours it was very moving and informative.  I was going to write some history information so you could all understand a little bit better.  However I have come to the conclusion that it is just way too complicated, way too long, way too confusing and way too debatable.  So instead of getting political I will tell you what we saw.  

I really enjoyed learning more about the double occupation (Nazis and the Red Army) not only because my Grandmother has told me stories of her life her before, during and fleeing from the war.  Coming from little New Zealand I felt pretty naive, I knew things in the communist era must have been bad but the fact that the last Soviets didn't leave till 1991 the year I was born, and they only had one of their prisoners returned in 2000.  Call me dumb but how was this all still happening?  I feel so protected in my little bubble New Zealand that I forgot the rest of the world has serious political problems that affect the citizens lives even now.  I don't know a lot about Hungary's government today,  but on a positive-ish note they had their first "democratic" vote on the 25th April 1990 just a year before I was born.

The Haza itself include original cells, torture weapons and thousands of photos of the people who were killed her and over this time frame.  It was in a very normal looking house/block of flats and it was kept secret so the people didn't know it was happening.  They said they also found more places like this and there were sometimes tunnels between the two.  One of the disturbing things was that durring the communist period the KGB (Hungary's secret police) were not ordered to carry out these tortures, they did it on their own accord and even after the change in government and power these people were not trialled or prosecuted for the murders and war crimes they committed.  Also that the way the Hungarians were treated was the same as the ethnic cleansing of the Jews,  meaning they went to both working camps and concentration camps. We also saw the basement and all the different killing stations and torture techniques.  When trialling people from other parties or that had come back to Hungary they have said now that the trials were just for show.  They had already fixed the outcomes of the people before the trial had happened, we saw videos of the people pleading for their lives.  Overall it was done really well.  I would almost like to go back through myself and take the time to watch more videos from the survivors and people telling their stories.  So if you are ever stopping by in Budapest I would say this, no matter how much it costs, it is a must do.  It is Hungarian history and culture it shapes the people and the country so to get a real Hungarian experience it is a must see.

The photo above the last paragraph is a Red Army tank, there is a large photo above it of the people who were killed in the building.  The photo with just five pictures was from one of the cells where they held multiple captives sometimes 15 in one tiny cell.  What is really nice is that they praise a lot of people now whom were killed for being heroes there are memorials, names and photos everywhere remembering all the people that lost their lives unjustly.   

If anyone is interested on knowing more I took all the hand outs and listened to every section carefully so would be happy to depart some of my knowledge onto others.

Until next time. Peace out.

A Productive Day

Today we visited parliament in the morning.  This 108 year old building is truly one of Budapest's biggest assets.  The way it lights up at night is only just the start of it.

The building is made out of almost only Hungarian materials (and remember it was built a long time ago, this can't have been easy). The only things that don't belong are the 8 marble Pillars in the entrance way which come from Greece and some little marble pillars which are from Italy. The interior is dusted with gold form the walls to the top of the highest ceilings.  The stain windows were taken out during WW1 and kept safe in the basement, they were then returned to their original place but unfortunately when some bombs hit in WW2 most of them were destroyed.  However there are a few which survived and we were able to see them in their original place.  One of the other interesting and rather well thought out things about parliament is that the boilers which heat the building are situated in another building completely separate from parliament to protect it from any fires or anything like this that could harm the building.  They say that the building is pretty much unbeatable, it will stand forever along the Duna.

The crown jewels!  Yes I know they are hard to see but we were not allowed to take photos with the flash on as it damages them.


After this we visited a Humus Bar to die for.  It cost me 600FT for my pita which is about $3.25.  Mhmmm this is what we are talking about people, good cheap cheeeap food!

After this we visited Hero Square.  Unfortunately I can't give you much info on this one as I don't know a lot myself other then it is famous and we were to go there.  Ops maybe I should have looked it up before going!  But what I can tell you is it is beautiful.

After this Alyssa and I went to an art museum which had an exhibition on titled "What is Hungarian".  Topical right?  It was pretty cool seeing how Hungarians looked at their own culture and what they thought made them Hungarian.  There was also a few things that were questionable - R18 - one video was of a man who got up on a train and went to the bathroom, yes we saw it all, and he took a long time to do his business and we saw it for a long time.  But the reason for this was apparently this dude has some OCD thing and he feels the need to jump on a train and do his thang at the exact time he goes over the Hungarian-Serbian boarder (if Stefan is reading this don't be pissed at me it is just what I saw, I am sure Serbia is a lovely lovely place).  Odd.  I then went shopping.  I hadn't really brought a lot and it is a week in so I think I have that up my sleeve as an excuse for my wee shopping binge.  But boy *sigh was it good.  Check out what I got.

Tomorrow we shall be visiting the Terror house and not much else is really open, so I am hoping that we might get  to a flea market in the morning but that starts at 7am, ha we will see about that!


For now farewell and good evening to all!

Zwack Unicum the Spice of life?

 Sziasztok!  Becky vagyok.  Huszonegy vagyok. Uj-Zelandi vagyok.  Diak vagok.   En Magyarol tanulok.  **

 Hi firends!  I have know learnt how to introduce and give some basic information about myself.  Above I am greeting everyone, saying my name, my age, where I am from, that I am a student and that I am learning Hungarian.

 In our classes we have a range of cultures and some which do not speak Angol (English).  Although the teachers do not take the classes in Angol we as diak (students) communicate to each other in Angol.   If others in the class can't even understand Angol and can learn Magyar (Hungarian) I should be a pro right? No, no I sit there stumbling over my pronunciations and dreading the moment when it is my time to talk in front of everyone.  It is like high school French and German all over again the only difference I want to be here.  I am still really enjoying the classes, I can count reasonably well which helps out a lot at the local markets (which are incredible!).  The language itself though has what I think is the most confusing structure, and as you can see from my writing I hardly know the structure of my own language!  What I taught myself previously about Magyar seems to have gone out the window.  There are multiple meanings and ways to say everything.  For example: Kerem which I know to be please can be used to also say "You are welcome" when buying something.  This is just one case of many which I find hard to wrap my brain around.  The language is also what I would call backwards in many ways.  As you can see form above I say "Becky vagyok" which when translated becomes "Becky I am".  We have been working on how to order foods in restaurants which is so handy, but I have not yet got the confidence to do so myself.

 We went to the Zwack Museum on Tuesday.  Zwack produce an alcohol called Unicum which some people say is similar to Jagger.  This I don't quite understand.  The company has been owned by a family for 5 generations and they were lucky enough to get the company back after the Government took ownership over it during communist periods.  It started off as a medicine - who said booze wasn't good for you!  It is now one of the most popular shots in Hungary.  It definitely needs a chaser to get rid of that medicine taste.  We got to sample three different types they have made, and we LOLed when the Italians got drunk and loud from just the three shots.  My binge drinking culture has made sure that I can handle three shots at a school field trip thank goodness!

 Apart form that my days have been fulled with class in the morning.  It is long, hot and sticky.  Then we have had two Hungarian culture lessons which has left me more in the know about how Hungarians came about and what happend WW1 & WW2.  I am beginning to feel more comfortable telling people I am Hungarian with all this knowledge and bits of the lingo.

 Last night we went for a walk along the Duna (Danube) and into town.  The streets really come alive at night and I feel like I am starting to see why everyone loves Hungary so much.  There are street performers and patio bars everywhere.  The lights in the city make all the old historical buildings look 10 times more impressive then they already are (see photos from post yesterdayof Buda castle and one of the bridges).  I couldn't stop smiling, I think it is finally starting to set in that I am overseas in this beautiful city and my eyes are really being opened!  Tonight we are going to venture out to a restaurant to get a bit more spice in our diet as the food at the hostel has been a bit bland, but that is a story for another day.  Then we are going to check out what the nightlife has to offer here!

 I hope all is well back home, if anyone has any questions feel free to leave a comment and I will be more then happy to reply!  I will leave you with some photos I took this afternoon of the City Market.  The one of the lace table cloths is for Mum, they are gorgeous and so long! One on the dinning room table would be nice!


Sziasztok!

**Unfortunately I am unable to use the right characters on my computer so it is not correctly spelt without the accents.