Buda & Pest

Thanks for this Wikipedia: According to some medieval chronicles, the name Buda came from the brother of Attila, King of the Huns, and Buda was a popular person’s name in use at the time. Another story is that Atilla killed his brother, Buda and threw his body in the Danube… Other sources (including our tour guide today) refer to Slavic and Celtic origins – Buda came from the word voda (‘water’).

There are several theories about Pest. One states that the name derives from Roman times, since there was a local fortress called a Ptolemy “Pession”. Another says that Pest originates in the Slavic word for cave – peštera.

The way they teach Hungarian kids about the topography/geography of Budapest is to remember that:
Buda has hills = bumpy Buda
Pest is flat as a pancake = pancake Pest

As can be seen here in the model city being graced by Prince Buda & Princess Pest (which is an unfortunate name)

The statue tells a beautiful but tragic tale of two lovers divided by the Danube, reaching out to embrace over the river separating them, it represents the two halves of the city becoming unified.

So this morning – this was our view. Would you just look at this day! This building is called “The Whale”

Sitting in the lounge area this morning trying to download photos in the good wifi area, a man approached me saying, “Hello there Margaret. Hard at work I see.” “No, I’m not Margaret” and he said, “Yes you are. You’re part of that big group from Sydney.” I reassured him that I was pretty sure of who I was.

This wasn’t the first time I’d been mistaken for someone else…

Conversation with another man: “You’re in the cabin opposite us.” He told me. I replied, “No, that’s not me… not unless you’re bunking in with the couple in the cabin opposite us.” He was so confused… “But I say hello to you and your mother every morning.” I could only guess he meant another mother/daughter combo on the ship, who are Canadian. The daughter does have brown hair and wears it in a ponytail, so fair enough.

We had a walking tour included today, but first they drove us around to see some lovely buildings and bridges, then we headed to the flat side…

And the first stop was the Hero Square. The last time we were here it was teeming down, so we couldn’t get out of the bus and walk around… and this time – the main monument had scaffolding around it – the first time it had been cleaned in 120 years. So we were destined to not see it in its entirety.

So here’s someone else’s photo:

The next stop was the St Stephen’s Cathedral…

This little man here is meant to give you luck when you rub his belly and the chimney cake is a hard hollow donut cone filled with your choice of ice cream, chocolate, nuts, etc…. Me Jenny and I tried one and while the idea felt delicious, it did make us feel a little bilious 🤢.

There is a real mix of architectural styles in Budapest. The guide said that they are a city of copies and seconds. The bridges are copies from other countries and most of the big buildings are the 2nd biggest or the 2nd oldest. Some of the buildings have a French influence and some have a distinct Soviet influence…

This is outrageous. The police were called.

We were meeting the guide back where the bus dropped us off and we got back there before she did. One of our group started chatting to me inanely (the first time in 2 weeks) about some workers cleaning the pavement. Then he asked me who the main boulevard was named after. When I said “I don’t know” he suggested that I google it.

‘Weird… um, you google it yourself!’ is what I thought to myself.

Then… a lady from our tour came and tapped me on the shoulder and asked why this tree had poles holding it up. I made the small talk with her musing on reasons why it might be set up like that.

Then her friend said, did you ask her about the tree? And she replied “yes, but she didn’t know”… Then another woman came up and said “Oh, you can help me. I want to buy a hat like this (miming the shape of the hat) where can I buy one?”

Then it all made sense and I said to all of them, who were all standing facing me, “Wait, are you all asking me questions because you think I’m the guide?” and the hat lady said “yes”, still waiting for my hat shop suggestions. I had to tell these people that not only had I had been on the ship, as a passenger with them for the past 2 weeks, but I’d also been on this same ‘gentle walking tour’ as them – every day.

I even stood next to the guide to show them that we were, in fact, two different people.

But the funniest bit was that one of our new best friends, who we’ve been dining with all week, Joy started talking to the guide, thinking it was me!

The guide was a very attractive lady, so you can’t blame them… and we both have brown hair in a ponytail.

These were the views from the Buda side looking over to Pest…

And it was clearly the best place to take your selfies from. This lady tried all sorts of poses and postures to get the right angle.

Followers of the blog of old may remember Me Jenny and my intolerance of folkloric entertainment… well, tonight we were in for a big treat. I will concede that they are all very talented at their craft, but my level of enjoyment has not increased.

Then the biggest treat of the night was the night time cruise. We all went up to the deck where it was 5℃, feels like -10℃ and watched the city light up…

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It was about here when a lady who I hadn’t spoken to before raced up to me and said “I have to give you a hug”. I stopped her and asked why… she looked at me confused and said, “oh, I thought you were Jillian.”

What the hell is happening? I can’t look like everyone.