Borne into Budapest

After I grew tired of Novi Sad (almost immediately) I took the train to the northern Serbian town of Subotica. This place was truly stunning in it's Art Nouveau architecture, shady streets, and quiet walking boulevard. It's too bad that I didn't have anyone to share it with.

Subotica is one of those places that doesn't receive many tourists. I got off the train around 1pm and walked around for 3 hours trying to find the lone hostel listed in my guide book. I took a cab eventually to the address after giving up on walking, but it wasn't there. I walked through countless downtown streets looking for unlisted hostels or small pensions but with no luck. Usually by now I would have been approached by a dozen people offering rooms in their homes for a small fee but no luck there either. Finally I found a tourist information center and they told me that the hostel in the book is closed and that the cheapest place in town was a small hotel nearby that wasn't especially cheap. Oh well.

The city hall is housed in an impressive tall tower and surrounding structure built in 1908. It used the aforementioned Art Nouveau style that emphasizes organic curves, floral motifs, and pastel colors to great effect. It really didn't look like anything that U had seen in Belgrade and I though it was really breathtaking. I found out later that this town was originally Hungarian but was given to Serbia after WWI.

The next day I wandered around town some more, looking at the outside of several nice buildings and intended to go to the impressively housed modern art museum near the train station after I left my luggage there. I thought the first train going North left at 2, but when I got to the station at 11 I found out that it was leaving immediately so I hopped on without a second though. So much for art.

Unfortunately I didn't have guide book so I didn't know where to visit in Hungary besides Budapest. I heard a few ideas from other travelers, but I had to connect through Budapest to get to any of them so it seemed that it was in my destiny to go to the capitol a week or so earlier than I had planned to. You see, I've got a concert to attend on the 16th but I know a few people to stay with before then so it's no big deal I guess. Also, I wanted to see Sofie again anyways so it didn't really bother me so much. Maybe I can still do a few days in another city before the concert rolls around.

The train ride was pretty long but uneventful and when I got to town I checked into a hostel in the middle of 'Pest' and got cleaned up. Budapest is actually made of two different cities separated by the Danube river. The old and stately side, home of royalty, is the city of Buda. The other city is one for business, nightlife, and urban living. That's the city of Pest of course. Most of the hostel and museums are on this side and it's really really beautiful. Sofie and the Hungarian friends that I made all live in Pest. Later that night I met up with Sofie and a bunch of her friends at a bar near my hostel.

Sofie has been living in Budapest for 3 months so she knows some people. She originally came here when a stranger at her coffee bar in Oregon mentioned that they knew someone who would pay for her to fly there and teach their kid English. She did just that, and intended to only stay a while, but then 3 months slipped by and now she has some new job prospects and an apartment. I always wondered how to become an expatiate, and it's just that... you go somewhere on vacation and just stay.

Her friends pretty much all had the same story. Now they work for large internationals like IBM, some airlines, and others don't seem to work. I liked the lot of them and I hope that we get to hang out again. The next day I met up with Sofie and we had a picnic at Margit Island in the middle of the Danube. The island is a huge park covered with flower beds, trimmed grass, running and bike paths, and more than a few bars. We sat near a huge fountain that timed its jets of water to match classical music blasted from a loudspeaker. Great place.

Later in the day we wandered the streets, talked to some shops about getting her AT&T phone unlocked so that she could use a local SIM card, got ice cream of course, and had a traditional dinner of goulash (beef and tomato stew) and Langosh (flat fried dough topped with heaps of sour cream, cheese, garlic, and bacon). Both were awesome. The conversation was interesting to me... she has a lot of good points about the way that the mind and world interact though I don't agree with some of it. A lot of it boils down to either karma or predetermination and I don't put much stock in either. Sure, there are some ways that you can demonstrate what looks like karma in action but are the repercussions caused by a random chain of events or some sort of cosmic justice? I guess that I need to think about it some more.

That night I moved my backpack over to Sofie's apartment since her roomie's out of town and I'd like to save a few bucks on hostels. Surely that's not the only reason. There were thunder storms all night and some of the lightning struck some nearby buildings by the sound of it, and by the wail of car alarms. I guess that's why every building in the Balkans has grounded metal rails going along the edges of the roofs and towers. The next day I cooked breakfast (Birds in a Nest) and we drew some pictures before heading out for a good long walk. We went to a market and got fresh veggies before crossing an awesome old iron bridge to get a brief glimpse of Buda. It looks really nice, I'll have to come back another day since the sky still looked threatening. The rest of the night we just talked, cooked, and practiced music. She's learning to play the violin.

Finally, today I set off on my own to walk around the city for a bit and to do some blogging in this random cafe that I wandered into. I also goto to see a few more great buildings, all in an elaborate style. Several of the most beautiful buildings in town are synagogues but other greats include the opera house, national museum, and train stations. Since it's a Saturday night, I'll see if I can't round up some people (or get Sofie to) for a little bar hopping. Wish me luck!