Saturday, April 15, 2006
Friday
Friday was a new day, but still no bus. We ate breakfast at the hostel, then packed up and all 4ö of us rode the tram, then switched trams and went to our tour guide's apartment to drop our luggage - then off the íhouse of Terror - a museum about the ínazi and Soviet reigns in íhungary from the 194ö's to 1991 when the Soviets left. A chilling part of history which affected us all deeply.
Then, a bit of America - what else was there to do but GO TO THE MALL and hang out. A HUGE mall in downtown, several stories. Even had a food court where most of us got a little taste of home as we went to McDonald's, Subway or Burger King. Those who shopped till they dropped said the higher you got in the mall, the pricier the shops.
Then, Hallelujah! Our bus was broke, our bus was lost, but now it's found!
We rode the bus back to our guide's flat to collect our belongings, and then took the bus trip up the hill on the Bud side of Budapest (one side of the river is flat river plain which flooded badly two weeks ago - the other side is very hilly.) We stopped at the castle which was gigantic - many buildings, some dating back to the 14öö's. A magnificent cathedral, c. 15öö, probably 15ö to 2öö feet tall, was unfortunately closed - it was Good Friday afternoon and they were having a Stations of the Cross service and we did have time to go. We walked on the Fisherman's bastion and over looked the Danube and the ípest side of Budapest from the hills of Buda.
Many went shoppng, some of us just walked around, and a couple of us had our pictures taken holding a 6kg (that's 13 pounds, folks) falcon. Ever try to hold a bowling ball with your arm straight out?
Then on the bus again and a 2 hour ride to Tata. A reformed church there had dinner for us - soup and a pastry, and we met with their youth group, one of the largest youth groups in íhungary at 35-4ö. We did our skit again, If I weren't a Christian, then we played a game which was great fun, then came time for some serious discussion - we had the Hungarian teens from the church ask our teens questions about America - our religion, where we hang out, what we thought of the Hungarian girls, and what we did in our free time.
posted Saturday afternoon 4:ö8
Then, a bit of America - what else was there to do but GO TO THE MALL and hang out. A HUGE mall in downtown, several stories. Even had a food court where most of us got a little taste of home as we went to McDonald's, Subway or Burger King. Those who shopped till they dropped said the higher you got in the mall, the pricier the shops.
Then, Hallelujah! Our bus was broke, our bus was lost, but now it's found!
We rode the bus back to our guide's flat to collect our belongings, and then took the bus trip up the hill on the Bud side of Budapest (one side of the river is flat river plain which flooded badly two weeks ago - the other side is very hilly.) We stopped at the castle which was gigantic - many buildings, some dating back to the 14öö's. A magnificent cathedral, c. 15öö, probably 15ö to 2öö feet tall, was unfortunately closed - it was Good Friday afternoon and they were having a Stations of the Cross service and we did have time to go. We walked on the Fisherman's bastion and over looked the Danube and the ípest side of Budapest from the hills of Buda.
Many went shoppng, some of us just walked around, and a couple of us had our pictures taken holding a 6kg (that's 13 pounds, folks) falcon. Ever try to hold a bowling ball with your arm straight out?
Then on the bus again and a 2 hour ride to Tata. A reformed church there had dinner for us - soup and a pastry, and we met with their youth group, one of the largest youth groups in íhungary at 35-4ö. We did our skit again, If I weren't a Christian, then we played a game which was great fun, then came time for some serious discussion - we had the Hungarian teens from the church ask our teens questions about America - our religion, where we hang out, what we thought of the Hungarian girls, and what we did in our free time.
posted Saturday afternoon 4:ö8
