Frustration
Trip Start
May 25, 2007
1
67
73
Trip End
Oct 29, 2007
Budapest, Hungary
Saturday, September 1, 2007
After breakfast I said good-bye to my stalker friends, sure that I'd run into them again...probably Florence as, again, we were supposed to be there at the same time. Coincidence? I think not.
I decided to check out both the National Gallery and the National Museum. Both housed OK collections but nothing really fantastic, IMO. I was also hoping to see the inside of the Parliament building, as I heard you could do that, but it was Saturday and no one was home.
I did get to see a couple of interesting goings-on. I was just walking down a street, when I see a group of people crowded next to a burning bus. Closer inspection revealed it was a movie set. Looking at the group, though, it was clear that they were filming a movie dealing with the civil rights movement in the American south. Why they were doing it in Budapest, instead of, say, America, I didn't find out. The director wouldn't talk to me.
Later on I heard this tremendously loud roar coming from several blocks away. It was some kind of bike rally, and there were 1000's of bikes taking over the streets. Cool to see, and very loud, but it fit right in as Budapest is easily the loudest city I've been in so far.
The one thing that I had left to see in Budapest were the mineral baths, a place that everyone said is really worth while. I was going supposed to meet Fanny and Amy and then spend a few hours there, then go and catch my plane. But for some reason I couldn't find my swimsuit. First it was there, now, not. No problem, I'll just pick up another one on the way to the baths.
Only it's Saturday, and every place that doesn't serve food or alcohol closes at 2pm! I walked around for seemingly ever trying to find a place that bucked the trend, but to no avail. I guess I was going to have to bathe in my shorts. Oh well.
But the frustrations just kept piling up. I was supposed to meet the girls at 6, but (as I found out later) we got our meeting points mixed up and missed each other. Then I realized that the baths closed way earlier than I thought they did. So not only did I miss hanging out with some new friends, I didn't even get the steam bath I was so looking forward to. Man, was I pissed.
Luckily I got to the airport OK, and made my flight. As I was sitting on the plane I realized something else. My friend Giuditta, whose place I was staying at in Rome and who was to pick me up from the airport, had my immediate future in her hands. I didn't have a hostel booked in Rome so if for some reason she couldn't be there to pick me up I might not have a place to stay in town for a while.
Realizing that there was nothing I could do about it now, I just sat back and enjoyed the ride.
