Planes, Trains, and Automobiles - oh my!

I knew Dave had a day like this planned, but was not acknowledging in my conscious state that it was really coming.  We rose at 3:00 am to take a taxi to the Orly airport at 4:00 am.  Dave was sure he had ordered the taxi for 3:30, but I was there, and I know he said 4:00.  Anyway - it was a VW mini-van that was very clean and the driver didn't speak much English, so we didn't have to make conversation, what little there is at 4:00 am. He took us to Orly in a jiffy, at 120 km/hr, kind of fast, since the speed limit as 90 km/hr.  There was no traffic, surprise!  Check in at the airport began at 4:40 am.  We were flying EasyJet, a discount British airline, located in the basement of the airport.  People began queueing at 4:30 and the attendants kept making everyone move back.  When we finally checked in the attendant was a cheeky young man who made comments about why we didn't know much/any French.  Whatever. [We shall comment here that Orly is the local airport serving mainly short flights throughout Europe and there are virtually no signs or announcements in English.]    I was surprised they didn't make us drag our own luggage out on the tarmac and load it into the plane.  We eventually boarded, the flight took off, and we made it to Hungary at the appointed time.

Here's where the fun really begins.

We wait for our luggage, an unusually long amount of time, for whatever reason, and head for the customs line.  When we entered France, we had to stand in a non-EU member line, for the stern woman to scan our passports, stamp them, thrust them back at us and dismiss us with a clipped, "Au Revoir."  We expected something similar in Hungary.  We had nothing to declare as we entered, as we haven't purchased anything we need to declare, so we got in the "Nothing to Declare" line and followed everyone else as we pass an empty desk.  That was it - no one stamped our passports, or even looked at them.  We probably went through the wrong line and will get arrested as we return to France.

I go to use the airport bathroom.  Nothing out of the ordinary, except that there are 2 workmen in there.  WorkMEN. In 2 of the 3 women's stalls. Yikes!!  Very odd.  But the toilets are normal, my fine friends.  but don't worry.  Toilets will get more interesting later in the day.

From here we use the ATM to obtain Hungarian Forints, as they do not use the Euro here.  [Note - it is cheaper and a better exchange rate to withdraw money from you own bank account than to exchange cash. Just make sure you are using a VISA and have cleared it with your bank.]  We then proceed to purchase tickets for the city train and check our itinerary with the customer service woman.  I should have known we were in for a treat when she raised one eyebrow and said "You CAN do it that way." and shrugged.  Dave asked if there was a better way and she admitted that there wasn't.

[Note to our smug selves - the signs in Hungary are in Magyar (Hungarian) and English.  Our crass French friends from the plane are now struggling to read the signs, as they know neither Hungarian or English.  Hummmpf to them!]

Ok - so we head for the train station across the street.

We take the city train to the subway station.  We figure out how to buy tickets.  Encounter people left over from the cold war era checking that we have validated our tickets correctly, a step we have not yet encountered on other subway systems. We haven't. We go back to try to figure out what to do next, because this woman isn't going to actually tell us how to validate them.  That would be giving it all away.  And ehr job is to check that the tickets are validated, not to be helpful.  We get past her the next time and enter the fastest moving escalator I have ever seen in my life.  I almost fainted - which isn't hard to imagine, right?  I know I have escalator issues, but this one was going about 50 miles an hour and was about 2 stories long going down!  And I had my luggage with me!!  OMG!  

Ok, so Dave realizes at this point that we have been traveling for about 6 hours and have quite a few left to go before we get to our hotel.  And it's about 100 degrees in Budapest. We get on a subway train and go three stops and get off.  We look at the directions to get to the next train, double and triple checking that we are indeed going in the direction we intend to go.  Because all we need at this point is to go the wrong way. 

Fortunately, we end up in the right place.  The next train station.  We must look like we know what we are doing - hard to imagine - because a little old busia about 4 feet tall comes up to us to ask us a question.  We say "Anglu?" to her and she waves her hand in disgusting dismissal.  

We wander through the next train station, asking at the information desk where to buy tickets, and get in line for inland tickets.  The other ticket booths are for international tickets.  We work with a woman who has minimal English - why should she know english, she's working the domestic booth - and buy two first class tickets to Pecs.  Thank God.  On a train that's leaving in 30 minutes. Thank God again!

I decide I should try to use the bathroom, at this point.  Uh - no.  I find the women's side of the bathroom and go up the few steps.  The women's door and the men's door are leading to the same room.  I see men, a cash box and the toilet paper all in the same place.  I have no money and now have no desire to try to use the facility.  I go back to Dave and say - we might as well move on, because there is no way I am using a bathroom with men in it.  And paying for toilet paper.  

Ok - we get on the train.  We have first class seats, so we have an air conditioned car and a bathroom. Phew!!

I don't know if the toilet in the train emptied out onto the tracks, sorry Mom.  I DID watch, though.  It seems to go into a tank.  

We got to our hotel, seeing the busia at the station who asked us the questions in Budapest, so seemingly she is here in Pecs, whether that's where she intended to go or not. 

Our hotel is ok.  Yes, we have a Hungarian shelf toilet in the bathroom.  Yes, it is the most disgusting thing I have ever used.  No, I have not taken a photo.  Maybe later.  It is hotter then h-e-double hockey sticks here. Unusually hot, in the triple digits.  And they don't have air conditioning.  Yikes.  It is a little cooler today, since it rained in the night. 

Ok - so there we are up to now.  Here is the view out our hotel balcony.  

Hope every one is doing great and we will post again soon!!!!