PESTE e BUDA, Hungary
...I borrowed someone's title again... I assume they were from Italy...
Anyway, I have the subway all figured out already, and armed with my extensive Hungarian grammer:
Left-bal
Where is - Hol van
*Big Smile and a pleading look represents everything else I have to say*
I went to look for a Vegetarian restaurant I had read about in my guidebook. I found the cross street and then the street and then the address, and it was... closed! I was not pleased, as the guide book was only a year old. I walked around grumbling until I found a fancy Medetarrian-Thai fusion restaurant. It was called Tom-George. It had its own DJ, and was near the luxury hotels, and you needed reservations (or maybe they just dumped me at the bar - which was, incidentally, way too tall for me to eat off of because I was alone. ) In Italy or Canada or France eating at a place like this would be fabulously expensive. A meal here with beverage and tip was only 12$ Canadian! (Of course, this is the second time only in the last 3 months I have eaten at a fancy place, and that is how much I isually spend in a day, however for the venue...) They list the prices in Florints and Euros, so I am starting to get the gist of the exchange rate.
Ah, the Exchange Rate. At the airport I took out 5ööö Florints. It all came out in 1 bill, and I took it to the candy counter to change it, as I did not want to pull out 5ÖÖÖ florints on the street. The lady looked at me strangely when I apologized for breaking so large a bill with just the purchase of a bus ticket. Then later at the Metro, when I bought my weekly pass, I was astounded that it cost 32öö florints for 7 days on the metro - what, like 1öö Canadian??
Then I figured out that one has to remove TWO zeros and cut it in half and then ake away a little more too. Thus, 5ööö florints is something like 22$ Canadian. I feel so clueless. I ddid not realize what being in other countries was like for the people who do not speak German or French of Italian or Hebrew... eek.
One funny story.. while I was panicking about my Metro pass splurge, I noticed that apples cost 198Florints a KG, and I wondered why fresh apples were hard to get!
This city (at least in the dark) seems pretty modern. The Vending machine ate my money, and there are a lot of street people, but otherwise...
Okay, many adventures to be had tomorrow, and then the next day Kil Nidre
(one more thing, I know this is choppy tonight, but I am EXHAUSTED beyond belief from hours of walking and dragging and smiling. Anyway, at the restaurant the drink special was Maccabee beer - Special Hebrew Beer the menu proclaimed. I hope that is not like the Magen David Swill...)
Anyway, I have the subway all figured out already, and armed with my extensive Hungarian grammer:
Left-bal
Where is - Hol van
*Big Smile and a pleading look represents everything else I have to say*
I went to look for a Vegetarian restaurant I had read about in my guidebook. I found the cross street and then the street and then the address, and it was... closed! I was not pleased, as the guide book was only a year old. I walked around grumbling until I found a fancy Medetarrian-Thai fusion restaurant. It was called Tom-George. It had its own DJ, and was near the luxury hotels, and you needed reservations (or maybe they just dumped me at the bar - which was, incidentally, way too tall for me to eat off of because I was alone. ) In Italy or Canada or France eating at a place like this would be fabulously expensive. A meal here with beverage and tip was only 12$ Canadian! (Of course, this is the second time only in the last 3 months I have eaten at a fancy place, and that is how much I isually spend in a day, however for the venue...) They list the prices in Florints and Euros, so I am starting to get the gist of the exchange rate.
Ah, the Exchange Rate. At the airport I took out 5ööö Florints. It all came out in 1 bill, and I took it to the candy counter to change it, as I did not want to pull out 5ÖÖÖ florints on the street. The lady looked at me strangely when I apologized for breaking so large a bill with just the purchase of a bus ticket. Then later at the Metro, when I bought my weekly pass, I was astounded that it cost 32öö florints for 7 days on the metro - what, like 1öö Canadian??
Then I figured out that one has to remove TWO zeros and cut it in half and then ake away a little more too. Thus, 5ööö florints is something like 22$ Canadian. I feel so clueless. I ddid not realize what being in other countries was like for the people who do not speak German or French of Italian or Hebrew... eek.
One funny story.. while I was panicking about my Metro pass splurge, I noticed that apples cost 198Florints a KG, and I wondered why fresh apples were hard to get!
This city (at least in the dark) seems pretty modern. The Vending machine ate my money, and there are a lot of street people, but otherwise...
Okay, many adventures to be had tomorrow, and then the next day Kil Nidre
(one more thing, I know this is choppy tonight, but I am EXHAUSTED beyond belief from hours of walking and dragging and smiling. Anyway, at the restaurant the drink special was Maccabee beer - Special Hebrew Beer the menu proclaimed. I hope that is not like the Magen David Swill...)
posted by Melamondiale @ 12:34 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home