Day 4 - Walking in the rain (Tuesday 16th April 2024)

I shut the lid on the computer when I’d wrapped up yesterday’s adventures at about 2:00pm and closed my eyes for a minute or two. At 6:00am this morning I woke up! Kerry was still sound asleep. She’s been that way since about midday yesterday. I could just hear the predicted rain beginning to fall outside the window so rolled over for another hour or so. By about 8:00am we were ready to tackle the day, starting with a coffee in the hotel lobby. Boy did it go down well!

I discovered yesterday that the Type C European plug adaptor I had bought with me was not going to work in this hotel as all the power sockets were for Type F plugs. The pins are the same but the socket is round and deeply recessed. My adaptor is square. Yes, I was literally trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Consequently, our first mission for the day was to find an adaptor that would work. The lovely girl in the hotel Reception directed us to a store about 15 minutes walk away near the station so off we went. The rain started coming down much harder when we stepped into the street so objective No. 2 was to get an umbrella. Well before we’d reached our target store we popped into a little grocery store hoping to shorten our walk in the rain. They didn’t have any but the cashier pointed us to a “two dollar” shop across the street. The lovely Vietnamese owner had everything we needed and was very helpful. While we were in his store he was doing a roaring trade in umbrellas! By now the weather was atrocious!

While we were travelling over the last two days we’d been in contact with Emily, when comms permitted. She let us know that she’d booked a flight to Budapest for this morning! What a terrific surprise! Her flight was due in at about 9:00am-ish so we agreed to meet her at the hostel she’d booked, a couple of kilometres from where we’d bought our umbrellas. In the rain and cold we set off at a leisurely pace to meet up with her - we had plenty of time up our sleeve. The walk along Terez Krt., Erzsebet Krt. and Rakoczi ut. was really nice, despite the rain. This area of Pest is full of broad boulevards like these, lined with trees in wide foot-paths and home to many, many retail and commercial businesses. I observed that there are barber shops aplenty. Clearly it’s very important for Budapest men to be always well groomed.

We reached Emily’s hostel in Kazinczy utca but she was still coming in from the airport so we found a lovely, warm cafe nearby in which to wait. As we hadn’t had anything to eat for 24hrs we tucked into a lovely Hungarian goulash stew, washed down with a coffee or two. The little cafe was so warm and the waitress was so obliging, happy for us to sit there out of the cold while we waited for Emily. She arrived, had a bite to eat and then we headed out into the rain.\

 

Our first port of call was the Nagycsarnok Market, a huge covered market down near the Danube River on the Pest side. It’s a beautiful old building acreoss three levels. The ground floor is given over mostly to fresh produce with many meat and fruit/vegetable store plying their trade. Kerry bought some fresh fruit for tomorrow’s breakfast (always thinking ahead) and we tasted and bought various slices of Hungarian salami, because we’re in Hungary! I found it quite oily but tasty nevertheless. Level 2, up some ancient, broad stairs was where all the other market items such as fabrics, leathers and some handicrafts were. But really it was mostly full of trashy tourist souvenirs. We bought a magnet for the fridge, as is our custom. Rest assured, by the end of this trip we’re gonna need a bigger fridge! The lower floor had an Aldi supermarket and a sprinkling of other stores that sold fish and pickled vegetables but it was mostly deserted and in dire need of some rejuvenation.

 

Just a few steps from the market is the Danube River, our first sighting of it on this trip. As a spectacle, the weather was doing the river no favours. The part of the river where we joined it is where the tour boats dock (and there’s dozens and dozens of them tied up to the shore). A busy road and an elevated tram run alongside so not a very pretty sight at all. Downstream we walked for 30 minutes and nothing improved so we took the first pedestrian crossing over the road and under the tram and found ourselves in the heart of the well-to-do commercial part of the city. What a stark contrast that three minute route diversion created. Now out of the cold wind we sought a place to warm up. Emily found a cafe called My Little Melbourne Coffee just off Deak Ferenec (a major retail and transport hub in Pest). Yesterday’s bus from the airport terminated there. Strangely, there was nothing “Melbourne” about the place save for the “Aussie Cappuccino” on the menu. But it was warm inside and the tea Kerry and I had was real tea, served in a real pot! Our new “tour director” organised the next two days over her “Aussie Cappuccino” and then we headed for home. By now it was heading for 5:00pm.

 

Back at our hotel we dropped our bags and headed down to Andrassy St to a Thai restaurant we walked by yesterday. The journey took us past the State Opera House where patrons dressed in their finest where congregating for tonight’s performance. Andrassy St is considered by some to be the Champs Elysee of Budapest. A bit of a stretch, bit a very nice street, nevertheless.

 

Our meal was very good with service and ambience to match. Back down on Andrassy St we parted ways with Emily, her hostel and our hotel being 10 minutes away in opposite directions. I wrote half today’s story and then the wearies got me again. Kerry was fast asleep by then. BTW, all my power problems have been resolved thanks to our Vietnamese friend. We’ve been saved from falling into the communications abyss. Oh, and just for some idea about today’s weather – mid-afternoon we maxed out at 7C. Two days ago it was 29C and sunny in Budapest!