Despite my original plan to have a quiet and homework filled weekend, I actually ended up doing quite a bit. Luckily I’m still doing pretty well on my homework, and I think I’m pretty much set until I get back from Egypt.
A bunch of us had opera tickets to see Otello on Thurday night. We all dressed up in whatever dress clothes we could cobble together, ate a quick bite at McDonalds (we were late and it was close), and then headed to the Opera House. The Opera House in Budapest is really gorgeous. It’s big and ornate and just seems like what an opera house should be. We were sitting way up in the top balcony on the side, so I had to crane my neck a bit to see the stage, but it was kind of fun to be able to watch the other operagoers in the seats below. The opera itself was well done, but the language thing made it a bit hard for me to appreciate it. We had a plot summary which covered the outline of the story (it’s just Othello), but the individual arias were still incomprensible. The music was nice though, and I had a nice view of the pit orchestra.
Friday was pretty quiet, but Adam and I did go to a vegetarian/vegan restaurant called Wabisabe for dinner. I was somewhat apprehensive about eating at a vegan restaurant, but it ended up being one of the best dining experiences I’ve had here. The fact that the restaurant was vegan actually ended up being very good for me, because it meant that nothing had milk in it. They had pizzas without cheese and cream soups made with rice milk, for instance. I ended up having a sort of pasta dish made with seitan, which is a wheat based meat substitute. It was really quite good. I’ve always said that I would never become a vegetarian because I would have to be a vegan, but that would be so bad if I could just eat at that restaurant all of the time :).
On Saturday I did some homework in the morning and then went wandering for a while. I ended up on Vaci utca, which is one of the more touristy shopping streets in Budapest. I’ve been told many times not to buy anything there (because it’s expensive), but it was fun to browse. There was a really big English language bookstore which I poked around for a while, and I also found an international newsstand which had some American newspapers and magazines. Saturday afternoon I played ultimate frisbee for a while, and then went over to Kelly and Rachel’s apartment for dinner, frequent games of boggle, and a bit of analysis homework.
People mentioned Saturday night that they were going to Estergom, a city about an hour-and-a-half north of Budapest, so I decided I’d check it out. We caught a train on Sunday morning made it to the town at about lunchtime. The main attraction in Estergom is the largest basilica in Hungary, which I think is also one of the largest in Europe. It’s right on the Danube at the top of a hill, and it really is pretty impressive looking. The interior is much more open than the Basilica in Budapest, though it is somewhat less ornate. We got to go down into the crypts and see the tombs of some of the Cardinals based there. We also climbed to the very top of the dome and got a great view of the city and the surrounding countryside. We had to navigate something like 300 steps in this tiny spiral staircase that looked like it had no support, but it was definitely worth it.
Before we left Estergom those of us who remembered our passports walked over the border to Slovakia just to say that we did (and to get passport stamps :). I felt a little bit ridiculous walking across the border in one direction and then turning right around and coming back, but I figure it’s okay to be a dumb American tourist once in a while. Anyhow, we caught the 4:50 train back to Budapest, after which I made mushroom barley soup and did some homework.
All-in-all it was a good weekend. I put a bunch of pictures up from Estergom and I began to create some categories for my photos. I still need to add names and descriptions to a lot of them, but it’s progress. This will probably be my last blog post before I go to Cairo, but hopefuly I’ll have some exciting stories after that.
hikegirl14 (10:03:20 PM): ben has new post and new pictures
Auto response from kikimachi: I am Divya. I like giant paramecium pants. That is all.
kikimachi (10:03:25 PM): oooh
kikimachi (10:03:26 PM): fun
hikegirl14 (10:03:30 PM): i know
kikimachi (10:03:32 PM): commenting together?
hikegirl14 (10:03:43 PM): can we do a comment by copy paste our IM conversation?
hikegirl14 (10:03:48 PM): that’d be funny
kikimachi (10:04:03 PM): sure, but it has to be quick
kikimachi (10:05:38 PM): ooh, Kelly and Rachel!
hikegirl14 (10:05:39 PM): he actually appears in one of his pictures, so that confirms he’s alive
kikimachi (10:05:44 PM): he has none carleton friends!
kikimachi (10:05:49 PM): *non-carleton
kikimachi (10:05:54 PM): yay
hikegirl14 (10:06:00 PM): i know
hikegirl14 (10:06:08 PM): but we still don’t know who they are
kikimachi (10:06:22 PM): but they have names!
hikegirl14 (10:06:32 PM): and he PROMISES to get back to them
hikegirl14 (10:06:45 PM): (that is describing them. do it Benji, do it)
kikimachi (10:07:07 PM): oh, and the picture
hikegirl14 (10:07:11 PM): walking over the border makes plenty of sense
kikimachi (10:07:19 PM): he is still in existence
kikimachi (10:07:29 PM): I know, and the passport stamps are fun
hikegirl14 (10:08:51 PM): personally i could see ben going vegetarian
hikegirl14 (10:09:17 PM): and he could still eat eggs, and honey, and such and so not be complete vegan
kikimachi (10:10:20 PM): I could too
kikimachi (10:10:33 PM): even if for no other reason than ecause he didn’t want to cook it
hikegirl14 (10:10:42 PM): laughs
kikimachi (10:10:55 PM): he’s like you in that sense – it’s just that he wouldn’t have it around
hikegirl14 (10:11:10 PM): hey, when i live in a real house i’ll have some meat
hikegirl14 (10:11:18 PM): unless i’ve decided not to
kikimachi (10:11:25 PM): you’ll have limited meat
hikegirl14 (10:11:33 PM): probably
hikegirl14 (10:11:35 PM): 😛
kikimachi (10:11:41 PM): I mean, compared to a lot of my friends at home
kikimachi (10:11:48 PM): my family doesn’t eat a lot of meat
hikegirl14 (10:11:50 PM): or even my home probably
kikimachi (10:11:56 PM): but compared to you, I eat a ton
hikegirl14 (10:12:06 PM): at least while we’re here
hikegirl14 (10:12:47 PM): different note on the blog, though not really
hikegirl14 (10:13:02 PM): i’m not sure i could do the spiral staircase
kikimachi (10:13:31 PM): where are they?
hikegirl14 (10:13:37 PM): actually pretty sure i couldn’t. i’ve chickened out of lighthouses before. so i’m impressed that they (again, yay plural) did
kikimachi (10:13:51 PM): not finding the stairs
hikegirl14 (10:13:52 PM): end of 3rd paragraph from end
kikimachi (10:14:06 PM): oh, I’m still in the pictures
kikimachi (10:14:15 PM): oooh, pretty with the clouds and the son
kikimachi (10:14:19 PM): well done Benji
kikimachi (10:14:39 PM): oh right
kikimachi (10:14:42 PM): before Slovakia
hikegirl14 (10:14:44 PM): though, i’m more of the people fan. though who knows i might get jealous
kikimachi (10:14:44 PM): dude
kikimachi (10:14:57 PM): he went Slovakia
kikimachi (10:14:58 PM): and what?
kikimachi (10:15:02 PM): you’re jealous?
hikegirl14 (10:15:06 PM): no
hikegirl14 (10:15:09 PM): but i could be….
kikimachi (10:15:14 PM): of who?
hikegirl14 (10:15:24 PM): the people who get to see him when we don’t
kikimachi (10:15:35 PM): ah
kikimachi (10:15:41 PM): in some ways
hikegirl14 (10:16:00 PM): (i think that was my lead in to…mis you benji)
hikegirl14 (10:16:11 PM): edit: miss you ben
kikimachi (10:16:31 PM): I miss you too!
kikimachi (10:16:44 PM): hey, how much of this are we posting?
kikimachi (10:16:50 PM): can we edit first?
and so we did. though not too much.
complied by Sarah, posted by Divya.
Hi Ben,
So theoretically you have now returned from Egypt and hopefully are feeling very overwhelmed by homework. (Because hopefully you didn’t take any, well not too much, with you on your trip. And so are now playing catch-up/get ahead again or something like that.)
That’s great. Just remember to take a break and update us on your adventures. And any day can be an adventure worth telling. (Though D&I have a substantial enough comment here, I’m not telling you about the daily life right now. You’ll have to e-mail to get that sort of response.)