Greetings from Budapest!
April 21, 2007
Budapest in the morning.
Greetings from Budapest, Hungary! I've been here for a conference (I love the travel part of my work) and staying at the Hilton in the Castle District (Buda side). I arrived on Monday and I'm leaving tomorrow morning to go back to Denver. Armi (my travel buddy from the Asian trip last year) has joined me for a few days in between her own European adventure.
Monday was low-key due to lack of sleep on the half-day plane ride here. I napped for two hours after I checked in to the Hilton hotel in the Castle District where the World Nuclear Fuel Cycle conference was held. My boss Gene and I went out to dinner that night. Gene commented that Budapest is a run down version of Prague (I also heard that from people who have visited both cities). Since I've never been to Prague and he has, I'll take it at face value.
Szechenyi Chain Bridge
I explored the Castle District in the morning and waited around a bit for Armi to arrive. As I was heading out to buy stamps, I saw Armi in the lobby. We picked up where we left off a year ago and started talking to each other without reservation. We walked across the Szechenyi Chain Bridge, the first bridge connecting Buda and Pest post-World War II, from Buda to Pest to catch a boat ride on the Danube . We stopped by Margaret Island, which is a like a mini-Central Park of New York. People were out and about with their kids and dogs or exercising. Afterward, we walked over to a pedestrian street called Vaci utca, a tourist trap really, for dinner. After dinner, we walked all the way back to our hotel. It took about 45 minutes. I said to Armi that if we were back home in the States, we would be driving instead of walking all this way.
But, it's the experience that's fun although tiresome.
Hungarian folk dance performed at the Museum of Fine Arts
On Wednesday, I was once again sitting in the conference for most of the day. Afterward, Armi and I met up with Csaba, someone I met on TravBuddy! He showed us around Budapest and took us to some of the parts of Pest that we haven't seen. We found the American embassy and Armi was about to take a picture of me in front of it (but I was on the other side of the street) when a security guard told us no. I wanted to yell out "I helped pay for this!" but I figure that it's for the best I didn't say anything. I'm sure Armi was relieved that I didn't say anything. Later, I bought souvenirs, had dinner, and took a bus back to the hotel.
Friday was pretty interesting.
We took a technical tour of the Russian-designed Paks nuclear power plant, which is 2-hours south of Budapest along the Danube . I didn't get the technical jargon, but it was fascinating to be able to visit a power plant. One of the visitors had visited many nuclear plants before and he said that we were able to see much closer at Paks than the other places he visited due to containments at those other plants. I'm presuming that we were safe otherwise they wouldn't give tours to us and school children on a regular basis.
Hanh & Csaba (both TravBuddy members)
Today, Csaba took Armi and me to Szentendre, which is a 30-minute train ride from here. The ride was great. We didn't have to walk far to get to the train station from here and it was a short walk from the train station to Szentendre's town square (another tourist trap). We spent a few hours walking around the place and had lunch. Armi, unfortunately, stepped on dog poop, but Csaba said that it's considered good luck in Hungary.
Armi was not amused. We took our train back to Budapest and Csaba got off a few stops ahead to go home. He's very nice young man and gave us Hungarian wine as gifts. Tonight, we went to dinner with Gene and Mike, a company business associate. We had a good time and laughed a lot.
Before heading in to tour the Paks nuclear power plant
It has been a fun week and I'm glad that I had the opportunity to come here. I met a few people I've corresponded with by e-mail so it's good to be able to meet them face-to-face.
If anyone ever wants to visit Budapest, 3 days will be plenty with a day or two visiting other parts of Hungary.
Overall, I enjoyed my time here in Budapest even though much of it was spent working. The people are friendly and the food was great. Hungary is quite picturesque. I recommend Budapest and Hungary for anyone who is interested in a low-key getaway.
Well, I have to pack now and try to sleep. As I'm getting over jetlag and started to pick up a few Hungarian words, which is a very difficult language by the way, I have to go home!
I stayed at the Hilton in the Castle District of Budapest for 6 nights. Fortunately, I had a discounted rate because I was attending a conference at the hotel.
I like the hotel's location. It's next to the Fisherman's Bastion, which has an incredible view of Budapest. The hotel is close to restaurants and the post office. Public transportation is walking distance. The staff were friendly and the room was cleaned. They even turned down our beds in the evening.
Two unpleasant things though were the cost of using the internet and tipping. In regards to the internet, I had to pay 18,750.00 Forint (about US$100) to use the wireless connection for 7 days. It costs 7,500.00 Forint (about US$40) for 24 hours. The other thing is tipping for the hotel stay. I checked out early Sunday morning and noticed that there is a "tip" line for the hotel bill. I've never seen a tip line for hotel bills before and I don't recall seeing that in any guidebooks. I wasn't sure what to do. My boss was standing nearby and I asked her. She said she's never seen that either and she didn't leave a tip. So, I didn't leave one either. I tipped the porters though.
Does anyone know about tipping the hotel in Hungary? I've looked it up online when I got home, but I can't find an answer.
I like the hotel's location. It's next to the Fisherman's Bastion, which has an incredible view of Budapest. The hotel is close to restaurants and the post office. Public transportation is walking distance. The staff were friendly and the room was cleaned. They even turned down our beds in the evening.
Two unpleasant things though were the cost of using the internet and tipping. In regards to the internet, I had to pay 18,750.00 Forint (about US$100) to use the wireless connection for 7 days. It costs 7,500.00 Forint (about US$40) for 24 hours. The other thing is tipping for the hotel stay. I checked out early Sunday morning and noticed that there is a "tip" line for the hotel bill. I've never seen a tip line for hotel bills before and I don't recall seeing that in any guidebooks. I wasn't sure what to do. My boss was standing nearby and I asked her. She said she's never seen that either and she didn't leave a tip. So, I didn't leave one either. I tipped the porters though.
Does anyone know about tipping the hotel in Hungary? I've looked it up online when I got home, but I can't find an answer.
Hilton hotel in the Castle Distr...
