We left Pecs this morning. We had our typical hotel breakfast of cereal, scrambled eggs, and pastries over 80's american pop music. We decided to go to the local market to get a few items for our trip such as water and chocolate. We also stopped by a bakery (pekseg in Hungarian) we visited yesterday for a few train treats. We purchased a pastry with sour cherries, one with caramel, and another with walnut filling. All were very good. I have read that Hungarians eat one pound of lard every week and I think the pastries contained lard instead of butter. Needless to say, all were quite tasty, but I liked the walnut the best.
We then walked with our luggage to the train station. It was a nice day and mostly downhill. Unfortunately, I got a flat tire with the wheel on my suitcase. This was surprising because the wheels are solid rubber. Anyway, the wheel was rubbing and causing the suitcase to be hard to pull. Wheel trouble seems to be a recurrig theme for me. The train station was not crowded and we paid for our first class tickets and boarded the train with about 20 minutes before departure.
Despite being first class, the car was not as nice as the previous car. Most of the seats faced forward and there were no car dividers. The car had many people, but was probably 30-40% full. One exciting item of note was that the bottom valve on the train's toilet was stuck open, allowing one to view the passing track as I stood there. We sat behind a couple who also attended the conference. We chatted math and academia for quite some time. He is a professor in Canada and she is in graduate school in the US. I had assumed they were father and daughter and made a comment to that effect. The response was "we are a couple" - OOPS. This was near the end of the journey which left the encounter in an awkward state.
We arrived at the Keleti station. Having been there I knew the direct route from the train to the metro station. Well almost. We went down and back up some extra stairs. Lucky for Amy I had committed to carry the suitcases up and down. We purchased our tickets and validated them properly, zoomed down the escalator and caught our train. We switched trains and took the train to the metro stop for our hotel. We got out a bit disoriented, but using the sun I determined which way was north. I then looked at my google map that I had printed of the area. Well, there was a software glitch and the region where we were was missing. Oh well, I had another map of the area and knew roughly where we needed to go so off we went. We walked about 6 blocks to where the hotel should have been, but it was not there. We asked a nice person at a gelato stand and they indicated we had about a 10 minute walk up the road. So, off we go again under the hot afternoon sun. The wheel on my suitcase is still giving me some ocasional grief, but we trudge onward, past the gelato stands and outdoor bistros selling cold beer. We also passed some ill-kept places that made Amy wonder if we would ever get there.
We finally arrived at our hotel and checked into our room. We are staying at a another Danubius hotel, the parent company of the hotel we stayed at in Pecs. We did not know what to expect after the accommodations we had in Pecs. The hotel lobby was quite modern with no 80's music. We got our room keys (electronic) and found there was not free internet in the rooms and no free internet in the lobby. A minor setback, but we are too tired to care that much. We get to our room and find that it is very modern with some nice features like a shower and a modern toilet. We still have twin beds, but the carpet and decorations look like they are from this millennium.
We relaxed a little and then went looking around the hotel and surrounding area. One thing we discovered is that there is a much closer metro station about 5 minutes from the hotel, rather than the 20 minute walk we took. We found a nice restaurant that had nice food and cold beer. I had some Gosser bock beer that was very tasty. Amy had a lasagna dish that she said was very good and I had a chicken dish that was also good.
We then walked back to the hotel to check out the spa facilities. The have lots of massages and therapies one can purchase. We took in the free pool area. There were three pools of varying temperatures. The first was 36-38 C, the second was 32-34, and the final pool was 24-28. Hungary has many thermal water features and Budapest has many naturally heated baths. The hotel gets its naturally hot water from a nearby thermal spring on Margit island. The spa was very relaxing and we stayed about one hour.
Anyway, Tomorrow we plan on visiting the local university that hosts the Budapest Semester, one of the top mathematics study-abroad programs for undergraduate students in the USA. We will also try and take in a few of the local sights, but have not made any plans.
We are now watching track and field on TV in our room alternatively in German and English. We purchased a 30 minute internet pass and so will not be online much during our stay here, but will try and post again tomorrow evening.
We did not take any pictures today, but will try and take many tomorrow.
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