Budapest and Tata

Had an absolutely fantastic weekend. Since my last class was cancelled for exams on Friday, I was able to catch a train at 10:40 (had to run to catch it) and get into Budapest around 3pm. I met up with Jamie, CETP teacher in Ujszasz and we headed out for the great Market Hall at the end of Vaci Utca, a pedestrian boulevard near the Danube. We enjoyed walking through looking at all the food products on the ground floor and the souvenirs on the second floor. Jamie bought a beautiful necklace --- I might go back next weekend to get one myself.

We ended up walking for hours through Budapest, looking at sites and enjoying the city. We had dinner at a Thai restaurant and later went to a Mexican restaurant for margaritas. Our hostel was in a good location for getting around and was clean and nice. Unfortunately, there was a loud obnoxious guy in the room next to us who decided that 4:30am was a good time to chat with his roomies - argh. Glad I always carry earplugs and an eyeshade.

In the morning we grabbed a quick sandwich from the food laid out at the hostel and caught the train to Tata (I had to run again, this time not as far) to visit CETP teacher, Carla. Tata is a small town about an hour by train NW of Budapest. There were re-enactments of battles between the Hungarians and the Turks and a medieval type fair going on. The Hungarians were retaking the castle that they lost to the Turks 150 years prior. We spent the day walking around, watching the different battles, taking pictures, trying the beer and wine, checking out the different booths, taking a guided tour in Hungarian through another of Eszterhazi's palaces and going an a boat ride on the lake. What an absolutely fun, relaxed day in the sun. We went to dinner at the Pirate Restaurant and then headed to a club to people watch. We had a lot of laughs, a chance to talk about our students and jobs, and our future plans. I've reduced a day packed with fun to one short paragraph! I will post my pics later, and will add links to Carla's and Jamie's blogs which I am sure will be much more detailed!