Challenge Nr. 1 - public transport

Public transport in Budapest is relatively well organized. Not as well as in London :-))) but it is acceptable. The technical condition of trains, trams, buses, trolleys, is a bit worse. Same with the cleanliness and frequency. So the result is: Crowded and smelly transport. Which means more comfortable and clean cars in the streets.

:-) with any complaints please turn to BKV :-)

http://www.bkv.hu/home/index.php

In June 2005 my company car was not ready to a daily use, lot of problems needed to be fixed (hmmm again a cost cut item - unfortunately I could not get a new car). I needed to use the local public transport a lot. Teoretically it wouldn´t be a problem. But the reconstruction of the Metro Line Nr. 2 crossed my plans :-) - just fyi I sticked here few links about details.....

http://www.bkv.hu/2metro/index.html

http://www.bkv.hu/2metro/metro_felujitas_2005_eng.html

http://www.bkv.hu/kozlemenyek/105.html

That time I lived very close to Blaha Lujza tér and I needed to take a metro exactly there, and day by day I could really monitor the progress of reconstruction. It was really disappointing.

I understood the new meaning of words "extremely + slowly".

Same "extremely + slowly", furthermore a new "unwillingly" when you are buying your travel pass. Additional "unwillingly" if you need an "AFA szamla" :-), another special thing in Hungary.

Since October 2005 I did not use any public transport in BP. I joined those thousands of drivers who are suffering from permanent traffic jams, but they keep their health, good feeling, open mind and mood. And I walk a lot if the distance is acceptable.

One of my friends once stated: "Your car is like a living room. And it is full of your feng-shui. Nice to travel with you."

Thanks for the compliment. He stroke my ego a bit. I spend a lot of time by travelling, the most crucial was the BP traffic. Now I can say - my car is like my second temporary home :-) . Almost 50 000 kms yearly. I deserve a four-wheel-living-room :-)

June 1, 2005. First welcome.

I saw Budapest few times before. As a tourist. I flew to Budapest due to business meetings, I could enjoy the following pictures:
- view: Danube and Buda of Marriott and Intercontinental conf rooms
- walks: Chain Bridge, Buda Castle and St. Stephen´s Basilica
- "entertainment": Vaci utca and few restaurants in the evening
- bed
- hotel reception
- taxi
- traffic jams on the way to the airport
- and Ferihegy
That´s all what you can usually see on your business trips - except the conference rooms :-)

June 1, 2007 was my first day in Budapest. First day of the time period which I am going to write about. June is always hot and dry in BP. That is something you have to accept if you live there. If you look around, you cannot see any green. Just buildings, concrete, rubbish, traffic, parking cars, running annoyed people, heat, dust and smog. If you are not in the "tourist area", you can see (and smell) hundreds of homeless people everywhere around.
If you want to see and enjoy the beauty of Budapest, you have to know where to go - to find green, calm, silence, relatively clean air... But you will explore the beauty of the town later... most probably only with the help of new local friends...

I found the office very quickly. I didn´t take a taxi, I used the public transport. With my suitcase and most important stuff for a week. The first day in the office was interesting - everything I could see there was the smaller picture of this country. Mainly people´s behaviour. Various. Surprising. I noticed this fact only later. I had the miniature and representative sample of Hungarian people + culture here, on these 525 square metres.

I didn´t stay for my first nights at any of BP hotels. I could stay at one very nice old man, Havas Frici, not so far from the city centre. He was the only one person there who took care about my feelings, first impressions and wished me good night and sweet dreams. Of course except my family or friends who did the same via phone or sms.

White Christmas 2007

White Christmas! :-)

Quite strange (result of global warming? hmmm). Nice surprise this year.
I remember white winters, lot of snow, long walks, silence of the mountains around, taste of a hot black Pigi with Rum, smiling faces in the town, nice people in villages. I was a child and winters were cold, white, snowy and nice all the time. When I grew up winters became severe, dry, freezing, sometimes warm (see winter 2006), rainy and muddy. Therefore - nice surprise this year. Specially when I´m coming back, home, to Slovakia.

Most of us have got enough time to think about aaaaaall kinds of things at the end of December. I also do so. I am thinking about my past, presence and future. Many changes in my life all the time. Even now. My dog - Cora - is sleeping under the Christmas tree. It´s her first Christmas and - waw - my tree survived up-till-now :-)

And I am planning my last trips to Budapest. I am leaving Hungary soon. I will visit this country for sure, but not due to work as it was for last 2,5 years. Most probably I will see my friends time-to-time, hopefully we will keep in touch.

Few days ago I noticed a lot of facts:

• I openned the door in my Budapest flat and I felt the smell of my home. Wood, furniture, fruits, flowers, perfume. And sleepy Cora welcoming me :-). I was standing in the entrance door. Not because of Cora. I just wanted to feel this before I pack everything to boxes. Nice feeling. And Cora waiting for my hug like a timed atom bomb :-)
• We played in the house garden where Cora explored the world in her early childhood - grass, trees, flowers, beetles, mud, rain, storms, security guys. Some neighbours didn´t like to see us there, but I didn´t take care about it.
• We were walking in the parks in the neighbourhood and met Cora´s little/big friends - Robi, Flato, Rocky, Sisi, Sába, Zsebi... and the also the "untouchable" ones - which live in our house but their owners never allowed them to play with Cora :-)
• I met my friends in my favourite "late fast base shop" on Podmaniczky utca. Zsoltike and "Kicsilany" Zsani. I like them. They always make me laughing. He is a nice "adult" man. She is a nice "childish" teenager. He owns this bolt. She works for him. Their relationship is unique. We have a lot of fun together. And at the end we close the door and go home together.
• I never saw a cleaner place in Budapest to buy my favourite fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts, eggs, meat and bread (+ my mum´s favourite chocolate) like Lehel piac is. I wrote "cleaner place in Budapest" because I really want to say "in Budapest".
• I was walking the streets of Terézváros - my favourite BP District, and enjoyed the atmosphere of the places I like. And, of course, this is the nightmare of all parking drivers :-) making circles again and again, exploring one-way streets around and improving their parking skills day by day :-) But if you once parked your car, you can enjoy all nice places there... restaurants, tea houses, cafe houses, theatres, cinema, shopping, dance schools, pubs and clubs...
• sweet and sour of Daubner - specially "málnás túrós torta", pogácsa and mákos sweets
• nice hmmmmmmm Gál wine
• relax on Margit Island - ok, you have to forget the thiefs and tourists, then you can relax. It is most probably the only one green area in the heart of Budapest.
• beauty of Andrassy út, specially in winter before Christmas
• Winter time in Szechenyi Baths, Rudas Baths, ice-skating under Hero´s Square...
• Budapest traffic jams :-))). We all like them :-). Cora likes them a lot. She lies down in the back windshield, makes faces on the drivers behind us, and sometimes jumps down to check the situation in front of us. I call this "Cora sitting in the shopwindow". Thanks God to the "obligatory equipment of our car": my favourite music, water, Cora´s toys and chewing stuff, air-condition, hands-free for mobile phone, and, if none of my CDs fits to my mood - local Jazzy radio turned on.
• Filling up my car on M1 MOL station on the way home (last one in BP district). People there are always joking - they think I am testing+checking the competitor´s shop and fuel :-) and joking again when talking about MOL´s future in connection with Russia :-)
• hmmmmm, driving home on M1, and slowing down in front of each highway radar control every 25th km :-)
• few days ago we (I mean both HU/SK) joined the Schengen area, which means no border controls any more.... nice feeling. I came home before Christmas on December 21st, I felt a bit of nostalgy - all customs officers knew me, there were only 7 people working and travelling in HU/SK as me. It seems nobody will say me "hello, welcome" on the way to Bratislava :-)
• one fact will be nice to forget: mercenary, stupid and money-hungry Hungarian landlords
• and a lot of less nice things which I can touch in my posts time-to-time

I will not touch any work related experience in my posts. I also don´t want to hurt any of my friends in Hungary (or anywhere else) by anything I write here - please note I am not going to write here anything "individually hurtable".

And one more thing - please sorry for my mistakes... I am not an English native speaker, but I try to improve my language skills.

Have a nice day!