Teaching and Travelling Abroad

Yesterday I relaxed all day, following the cricket - the first day of the 4th Ashes Test. I couldn't stop grinning at Stuard Broad's heroics! After another excellent performance by England today, we almost certain to win this match and therefore the series.

Today I went back to Castle Hill (via the metro for the first time; it was easy to use), but I didn't visit as many places as I'd intended to because I woke up later than expected. I didn't get much sleep last night because I couldn't get to sleep to begin with, and had only managed to doze off when the other two girls in my dorm got back at about 3 am, which woke me up. They were a bit inconsiderate actually, talking to each other for ages and loudly moving their stuff around. It was past 4 o'clock by the time they eventually got into bed and stopped talking and I didn't fall back asleep for a long time afterwards. Then at 8 o'clock they got up, waking me up in the process, packed their stuff and left. I dozed off again and didn't wake up properly until about 10!

Anyway, the first place I went to on the hill was the church of St Matthias. This has a very distinctively coloured and patterned roof, and is also very colourful inside. It was originally build at the end of the 14th century, restored in the 19th and renovated in the 20th after damage from WWII. It contains the tomb of the 12th century king Béla III - the only royal tomb to survive the Ottoman period in Hungary, apparently.

After that I walked around the Fisherman's Bastion next door. This is a terrace shaped a bit like a battlement, with seven small towers representing the seven Magyar tribes that entered the Carpathian Basin in the late 9th century. Photogenically made from white stone, it was built at the beginning of the 20th century. Although my camera batteries were nearly dead by now, I managed to get out a few of the bastion itself and the wonderful panoramic views of the Budapest, the Danube and the hills beyond. I also caught a small changing of the guard ceremony.

I was incredibly hot and sweaty by now, so the first thing I did after visiting the post office was go underground! I visited the Labyrinth, which is an extensive series of tunnels within Castle Hill. These tunnels have been used for various purposes for hundreds of years - wine storage, prison, torture chambers and as a major production centre for stonecutting and carving. Apparently Vlad Tepes, who became known as Vlad the Impaler (and whose birthplace I visited in Sighisoara), was imprisoned here for a period of 10 - 14 years. When released he set out on the monstrous acts of cruelty he is known for today.

It was already late afternoon by the time I left the Labyrinth, so I took the funicular down and then walked back to the hostel via Spar. I'm going to go out for lunch tomorrow instead of having a sandwich like I've done most days in Budapest so far - I'm going to make sure to have goulash!

It looks like I will have to go case-buying in the morning, unfortunately. The gaping split in my case is so major it cannot be fixed. I wrapped it in black tape for now, but I don't think I can trust that to remain in place over the flight. I might as well get a new case here, where it's likely to be cheaper than if I try to get the old case back and then buy a new one in the UK.

The morning started the sight of a boat in the shape of a sightseeing bus going down the Danube...

...it continued with the poignant sight of the 'Shoes on the Danube' sculpture. This consists of lots of metal shoes right on the edge of the river; this is in memory of the Hungarian Jews who were shot and thrown into the river by the fascist Arrow Cross Militia in 1944.

After I crossed the bridge I waited quite a long time for the funicular up the side of Castle Hill. Once I got to the top, I took some photos of the wonderful view and then went in search of the Golden Eagle Pharmacy Museum.

The Golden Eagle Pharmacy Museum is on the site of Budapest's first apothecary, dating from 1681. I found it easily and had a look round - it was small but interesting, with books of medicinal plants dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, an 18th century book about the preparation of medicines, ceramic jars used as water, spice and medicinal plant holders, a preserved human head, a preserved bat and 18th century pharmacy equipment such as scales, a microscope, distilling equipment and strangely shaped glass tubes.

Then I went on to the Hungarian National Gallery, but before I went inside I noticed an archery stand outside, so I had a go on that; I got a bullseye, which won me five extra arrows. When I finished, the chap in charge asked me if I had a bow at home! For a second I was confused because with his thick accent, I though he was asking if I had a ball at home. I was really hot and sweaty by now so I had a very tasty and refreshing iced coffee from a stand nearby.

There were some lovely views from in front of the gallery.

The gallery was very big and contained nearly all Hungarian artists' work; 20th century and 19th century paintings, medieval Gothic painted wooden altars, 20th century graphic art including posters, some very old stone carvings/ inscriptions on loan from the National Museum, nude stone sculptures from the 20th century and more. Photos weren't allowed, so I only managed to get one or two.

When I left the gallery I found that it was a little bit cooler and raindrops were just starting to fall. It was still warm and humid though - just a little less hot than before. I power walked to some shelter beneath a tree and arrived just as the rain got harder. More people joined me and then the wind suddenly picked up and the rain became torrential. The wind started blowing the toilet assistant's outdoor ticket desk across the courtyard so I and one or two others stopped it for her; we then made a run for the toilet to take cover, as the tree no longer provided any shelter.

After twenty minutes or so the rain died down a bit, so I made my way up the stairs and into the funicular building. I travelled down the hill in it, with three other people. Just as we got to the bottom the rain became torrential again... and then ice started hitting the windows! The biggest hailstones I've ever seen. One of the last things I expected to see in August... we remained in the funicular carriage for about twenty minutes before making a run for the entrance/ exit building. There I remained for another decent period of time until the hail and rain died down. Eventually I left and crossed the bridge - the sun had now come out.

After getting some money out I stopped at Aldi to buy something to cook for dinner. I chose some gnocchi and a jar of bolognese sauce - quick and easy; I was knackered and my legs were hurting, so I didn't want to stand up for any longer than strictly necessary.

Today there were two main destinations; the Ethnography Museum and St Stephen's Basilica.

On my walk across the Parliament square to the museum I admired the fountain and caught a small changing of the guard ceremony. I wished I could paddle in the fountain - it was a very hot day.

The museum had a magnificently decorated interior which was lovely to look at and although the place wasn't quite as big as I was expecting, it had some interesting displays; my favourites were the traditional musical instruments (which included ocarinas, a double flute, bagpipes and a rough-looking folk violoncello that was beaten with a wooden stick), traditional toys and old photos of children playing with them, different costumes worn by mummers at Christmas, New Year, Epiphany and at Carnival, a collection of objects associated with the traditional fairs and a collection of more everyday items such as a bear trap, a bird-catching cage and some wicker and wooden beehives.

After leaving the museum I had a sandwich for lunch in Parliament Square and then went to St Stephen's Basilica via the Danube. Although I didn't need to cross the river to get to the Basilica, I couldn't resist some photos from the bridge anyway... The views are so beautiful. I got an unexpected bonus on the bridge, as well - I discovered a vent in each side wall that blew out cool air from below! Given the heat and humidity, this was incredibly welcome. I couldn't believe that other people weren't already there. Due to the angle, the cool air wasn't noticeable unless you stood next to the wall and leaned forward a bit, so maybe that was why.

The streets surrounding the Basilica are very grand and impressive.

St Stephen's Basilica is named after the first king of Hungary and is the most important church in the country. It is stunning both on the outside and the inside and views from the top of the dome are fantastic. I enjoyed looking at all the decoration and architecture of the interior and lit a candle before moving into a another room - a chapel containing 'The Holy Right', the mummified right hand of St Stephen. It was housed in a very fancy silver and gold, cathedral-shaped container, but was very difficult to see properly.

After that I took the lift up to the top of the dome. The 360 degree panoramic view of the city was amazing.

I rested in my dorm for a couple of hours before going out for dinner at an Azerbaijani, Russian and Hungarian restaurant with a Russian girl from my dorm. Azerbaijani soup and stew went down a treat. Following this we went for a walk down the road to get a drink. First we went into a convenience store - I was under the impression we were buying drinks to take back to the hostel with us, but when she saw that I had a bottle of Coke Light instead of something alcoholic, she looked disappointed and said that she had wanted us to drink alcohol together and that since I was only getting a Coke, she wasn't going to get anything at all. Okayyyyy... If they'd had something I liked then I would have got alcohol, but all they had was beer, which I hate.

She was desperate to go to a club, but I didn't feel like it because I was knackered and in any case wasn't dressed up for it. We decided to go to have a drink or two together at a bar instead, so I took her to a place I'd passed on my way back from the basilica earlier. I ordered a cocktail and then asked what she was having... she said that she wasn't going to have anything! I thought she wanted to a drink together...?! Oh well - I didn't say anything about that, I just enjoyed my wonderful cocktail. It was genuinely one of the best pina coladas I've ever had!

We headed back after that as the Russian girl said she didn't fancy staying out any more and I was always going back to the hostel after my drink anyway.

The long train journey continued...

It took about eight hours to get to Arad, the last Romanian stop before the border; it was past midnight by now, in fact closer to 1 am. Several people got out at this point, leaving me with only a couple of other people in my carriage. We stopped for quite a while here, but no Romanians came on board to check our passports. Eventually the train continued for a bit before stopping again - I assumed it was the first Hungarian stop, though I couldn't see a station name anywhere. Quite a long wait here before Hungarian border police came on board and checked passports. Then some more police came on board, checked passports again and also removed a panel from the roof of the connecting part of the carriage, set up a stepladder, climbed it and peered into the roof space - looking for contraband or for migrants, I assume.

We arrived at Budapest at 04.50, only ten minutes behind schedule. I took some money out, found the toilet and then set off for the hostel. My guidebook had warned me off taking a taxi from the station or from flagging one down in the street, so I didn't. I thought about using the metro or catching a bus, but was put off by the thought lugging my big case up and down the inevitable sets of steps and potentially not having room for it at all on the bus, so I ended up just walking instead. At least this time the way was flat! I was still knackered by the time I arrived though. As I walked through the streets I admired several grand-looking buildings and could definitely sense that I was in a Central European country rather than an Eastern one.

HBC Hostel turned out to be up two flights of stairs in part of a huge building with a central courtyard. As I arrived I realised that my big case had broken in a new place; the bottom edge had split almost all the way across. Luckily nothing had fallen out. Despite this, and my advanced stage of exhaustion, I managed to get everything upstairs OK. The lovely owner was up despite the early hour and let me in. He showed me into a different dorm to the one I'd booked (it was currently empty and actually better than the original one) and let me check in almost straight away.

After a few hours of sleep I felt much better. I went for a walk to the bank of the Danube, changing my leftover Romanian lei for Hungarian forints on the way (they wouldn't change my remaining Bulgarian leva, however). My hostel is in Pest, rather than Buda. I passed the Parliament building, which looks magnificent and is apparently the most photographed building in Budapest.

On the way back from the river I passed a Spar! - so I had to go in and see how it was different to British ones. Cheaper, with lots of different unusual cheeses (some green, some red - the actual cheese that is, not the rind), sausages and cured meats, unusual sandwiches. After ten months in Bulgaria and then a month between Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey and Romania, it was a novelty to me to see so many ready-made sandwiches. I bought one, along with two macchiato coffee milk drinks.

On my way back from there I walked past a free walking tour just as it was beginning, so as it seemed to be following the same direction as me, I joined it for five minutes until I got back to the hostel. We stopped outside an old building covered in bullet holes from the revolution of 1956. I considered staying with the tour until the end and finding out more, but I was too knackered; I didn't have the energy to walk around for another hour and a half/ two hours. I have another four whole days to do stuff in, after all.

It was past 6 o'clock when I got back, so I decided not to bother going out again for dinner. I made the sandwich and iced coffee my dinner and have been on my laptop since then. I'm off to bed now though. More exploration to come tomorrow!

My train to Budapest wasn't until 17.00, so I had a lot of time to kill in Sighișoara before then. I got up late, checked out at the latest possible time and put my big case, carrier bag and rucksack into their luggage room. Then I went for a walk down the hill into the new town. I found a small supermarket and bought snacks and drinks for later. I was overjoyed to discover a bag of caramel flavoured boiled sweets with what looked like delicious melt-in-the-mouth chewy toffee-like centre.

After a sit-down in a small park and some photos of the beautiful view of the top of the clock tower, I returned to the hostel and had a lovely leisurely lunch. I stayed in the restaurant after that, writing a long email about the day before and doing other stuff on the internet until it was time to get a taxi to the station.

The train was a little bit shabby, but no worse than some I've seen in the UK. It was nearly empty. The train layouts have been very confusing to be honest, on every train trip so far - I don't think I've ended up in the right seat on any I've taken - and this was no different. Both carriage and seat numbers aren't always logically ordered. For example, on this occasion there were four long carriages on the train; I was supposed to be on carriage 409, seat 66, but both middle carriages were numbered 409 and claimed to have seats 22 - 80 or something similar.

I got on the nearest 409 carriage; there was a woman in seat 66 when I got there, so I showed her my ticket. She said 'Sprechen Sie Deutsch?' and I stood for a few seconds trying to remember what 'a little' is in German; Bulgarian and Spanish seemed to have pushed it out of my brain, however, so I ended up just saying it in English. She said 'English?' and I nodded, and she let out a short flood of German, which I managed to get the gist of (I'm quite proud of that actually, considering the many years it's been since I've had proper contact with the language). She was saying that she and her daughter had tickets for 65 and 66, but there was space opposite for me. She then showed me her ticket - it did say 66. I looked around and saw how empty the train was, so I just took a different seat across the aisle and at the front of the carriage.There were loads of free seats, plus I figured that if the ticket inspector had a problem with it, he or she would sort everything out.

When he came round, it turned out I was in the wrong carriage - he pointed at a sign which had 408 written on it. It said 409 on the outside and 408 on the inside! I should have been in the next carriage along. The carriage was so empty, though, he said it was fine for me to stay where I was.

Until the sun went down, the Transylvanian countryside transfixed me for quite some time; field after field of a particular type of crop I didn't recognise, hills, rivers, level crossings. Villages of shacks, colourful houses with terracotta-tiled roofs and the occasional wandering horse and cow. Every village seemed to have a church, often white, with a distinctively shaped tiled tower and spire. Sometimes the railway track ran so closely to the side of the road, pedestrians could have reached out and touched the train. As sunset drew closer I noticed an increase in flocks of birds, especially crows. One field we passed had a carpet of crows busy pecking at whatever crop it held; I'd never seen a field with so many birds on it before.