Hey hey!
Not 15 minutes ago I completed my very first bulletin on 4BC! Yay! And the best part is, it went very well for a first time.
It's quite a different set-up than over at the Emms...you have to count yourself in and out, and hit a network pulse button to release the regional stations. I think I managed it OK...and hey, I only get more practice from here on in!
Oh yeah, and the quick version of what happened with Premier Pete the second time around...
I went to the Wesley Hospital on Tuesday where he was opening a new heart unit. We had the media conference afterwards in the operation room. Bizarre! The Premier standing in front of a fake victim, I mean patient, and everything. He looked at me and asked if my equipment was working today. I laughed and said "I hope so!"
Afterwards I snuck out quickly to wait for a cab. I bought a Toblerone and stood outside the main entrance stuffing my face. There was a water fountain next to me so I bent down to have a sip. I stood up straight, and low and behold there was the Premier and his people strolling out the entry to his car. He looked at me as I wiped the water away from my mouth - chockers full of Toblerone! He got into the car and waved at me. I just smacked my head thinking, "He's going to remember me as the clumsy incompetent one". Oh well, I guess at least that's pretty memorable!
Anyway, tell your friends about my site here. I thought I might try and get it popular - with like, maybe three or four regular readers. Wow. Those are big figures. ;)
Cheers, Nat.
Oct 31, 2004
Oct 27, 2004
How to Embarrass Oneself in Front of the Premier (twice)
So I've been back home now for three whole weeks. Three! It's a short time really - since I came back my parents have flown to Vienna, done a cruise up the Danube to Budapest (copycats!) and returned. A lightning trip for them!
I guess the most exciting news is that I am no longer an unemployed bum. I am an EMPLOYED bum. I have managed by some universial benediction to pick up work at 4BC. 1116 AM, if you want to tune in. You know the one, it's the station with John Laws!
Well, I'm very happy to be working here. It's casual, and that suits me fine at the moment. It's a different news system ("Newsroom" instead of "NewsBoss") so there's lots of new things to learn and mistakes to make. I'm good at those. ;)
The biggest difference is with a larger news staff, 4BC attends a lot more media conferences. I've been working for a week now, and I've attended about 10 conferences. Back at Austereo I might do one a week (smaller newsroom). So I'm having to learn how to use splitter boxes and mini-disks and line-ins and T-Marks and stuff. So obviously, with my technological clumsiness matching my physical ineptitude, there was always going to be problems!
Yesterday I went to the Post Cabinet conference in the Executive Building in George St. No probs, had been there before, managed to get in, set up, and start joking with the guy from A Current Affair next to me. Then our Premier Peter Beattie came out, and I started recording. No sound. I checked the plugs. No sound. I changed the plugs, which involved me leaning over the desk ungracefully. Still no sound. I had a minor internal panic attack, and decided I'd get what I could using just the old "hold the microphone up and hope it picks up some sound" technique. I had a listen in with my earphones and yep...it was pretty terrible. So I made a move to leave, (it was nearing the end anyway), and passed Beattie's press secretary Fiona. I quickly whispered that I'd had technical trouble (I'm not inept, really!) and could I put in a request for a phone interview. "Why don't you just hang around and you can grab him afterwards?" she asked. Fair enough, I thought. I'll just have a quick word out the back of the media room.
Oh no. I ended up following Fiona up the corridor, into an elevator, down a passage, through a ordinary pair of wooden doors, through a Matrix like series of halls and rooms and bang! The Premier's waiting room. 'Take a seat", Fiona said. I thought the Premier would come out so I got my mike ready.
Oh no. "Come in", Fiona says, throwing the doors open. "Natalie!" says the Premier.
So there I am, struggling to look professional, explaining away about tech problems, and Pete's ready to go with a quick one-on-one interview. Brilliant. I get the grabs, talk some bollocks, say thank you, then Fiona walked me back to the lift. I got the interview, which was good. I felt better about going back to work - my technical problems would have been accepted (everyone here is very nice and really patient with me!) but I would have felt useless. But hey, the trade was having the Premier know I'm not a person with their s*** altogether.
And I got a chance to reinforce that today! To be continued....
I guess the most exciting news is that I am no longer an unemployed bum. I am an EMPLOYED bum. I have managed by some universial benediction to pick up work at 4BC. 1116 AM, if you want to tune in. You know the one, it's the station with John Laws!
Well, I'm very happy to be working here. It's casual, and that suits me fine at the moment. It's a different news system ("Newsroom" instead of "NewsBoss") so there's lots of new things to learn and mistakes to make. I'm good at those. ;)
The biggest difference is with a larger news staff, 4BC attends a lot more media conferences. I've been working for a week now, and I've attended about 10 conferences. Back at Austereo I might do one a week (smaller newsroom). So I'm having to learn how to use splitter boxes and mini-disks and line-ins and T-Marks and stuff. So obviously, with my technological clumsiness matching my physical ineptitude, there was always going to be problems!
Yesterday I went to the Post Cabinet conference in the Executive Building in George St. No probs, had been there before, managed to get in, set up, and start joking with the guy from A Current Affair next to me. Then our Premier Peter Beattie came out, and I started recording. No sound. I checked the plugs. No sound. I changed the plugs, which involved me leaning over the desk ungracefully. Still no sound. I had a minor internal panic attack, and decided I'd get what I could using just the old "hold the microphone up and hope it picks up some sound" technique. I had a listen in with my earphones and yep...it was pretty terrible. So I made a move to leave, (it was nearing the end anyway), and passed Beattie's press secretary Fiona. I quickly whispered that I'd had technical trouble (I'm not inept, really!) and could I put in a request for a phone interview. "Why don't you just hang around and you can grab him afterwards?" she asked. Fair enough, I thought. I'll just have a quick word out the back of the media room.
Oh no. I ended up following Fiona up the corridor, into an elevator, down a passage, through a ordinary pair of wooden doors, through a Matrix like series of halls and rooms and bang! The Premier's waiting room. 'Take a seat", Fiona said. I thought the Premier would come out so I got my mike ready.
Oh no. "Come in", Fiona says, throwing the doors open. "Natalie!" says the Premier.
So there I am, struggling to look professional, explaining away about tech problems, and Pete's ready to go with a quick one-on-one interview. Brilliant. I get the grabs, talk some bollocks, say thank you, then Fiona walked me back to the lift. I got the interview, which was good. I felt better about going back to work - my technical problems would have been accepted (everyone here is very nice and really patient with me!) but I would have felt useless. But hey, the trade was having the Premier know I'm not a person with their s*** altogether.
And I got a chance to reinforce that today! To be continued....
Oct 7, 2004
Home again
Hello again all!
It's quite weird to be home and writing about my trip. But I wanted to finish off the tale, giving you dedicated readers (both of you) some closure. ;)
Back to Budapest - after the scary scary bike ride, in which I invoked several Gods and swear words repeatedly, I was keen to just chill out for a bit. And chill we did, with a bit of wandering through the city. We went across the bridge to the Buda side again, and to that hill of St Gillert I mentioned earlier. There is a Cave Church in the side of the hill, going into the rock. It's maintained by Polish monks apparently, and is built to resemble the worship site at Lourdes in France. We unfortunately couldn't go into the main part because they were having mass. Fair enough. We contented ourselves with a walk round I guess you'd call it the "lobby" area, then wandered halfway up the hill again for views of the city.
Back down we headed to the wonderfully named "Beer House" for a refreshingly cheap pint (for Debs and Jules anyway) and a few games of cards. At 7pm we trundled to "Fatal" (pronounced Fay-taal), a well-known restaurant our guidebook recommended for big portions and traditional Hungarian fare.
Well, big was the understatement of the year. GIGANTOR was the name I would have given our meal. Greg and I got a platter to share. It was meant for two people - and if so, it means the Hungarians have mighty big appetites. It could have fed four. Turkey breasts, chicken legs and chicken breasts were surrounded by a potato-and-onion mash, rice-with-vegetables and a virtual river of potato gems. I got some video footage of this food mountain, so you can all marvel at it.
We headed home for another pint in the Marco Polo pub (in the hostel downstairs) before turning in.
Friday we got up and checked out, deciding to split up on the final morning. Greg and Debbie went to the Terror House Museum, which Greg assures me was very good. Julie and I went cruising the shops. We didn't have much money left, so I couldn't buy up big, and besides, clothes etc in Budapest are nowhere near as cheap as the beer. As they improve their economy to fit more into the EU, prices will no doubt rise more in Hungary, as they have done in other well-known "cheap" places like Prague.
We headed to the airport around 1pm, and flew back into Luton around 5pm. We released our massive heavy bag from Luton Storage, and hung around with Debbie and Julie for an hour while they waited for their flight back to Glasgow. We then had to say our fond farewells to those two lovely lasses, promising to visit again soon.
Getting back to Twickenham thankfully proved a bit easier than I expected. for 5 quid each we took the easy bus to Hendon Central Tube station, then the underground to Waterloo, then the overground to Strawberry Hill. We were lugging 5 bags around, but we managed to get home in one piece. We did have a slight scare on the overground train though. We were standing on the crowded train, which got a bit less crowded after the first few station, enabling us to hear the lively conversation of a group sitting near us. Two of them were older punks, and obviously together. Then a weird young bloke standing near us starting getting a bit mad, and making not-so-quiet remarks about "queers" and "f***ing faggots". The punks, to their credit, just ignored him, but Greg and I found it a bit unnerving. But of course, the homophobe was just a coward, and eventually one of the punks gave him a good stare and he retreated to a back seat, still muttering. Idiot.
Eventually the punks got off, then we got off. Luckily the bloke was still on the train!
After Friday night at Norman and Tessa's, we headed into London for a busy day on Saturday. We first went to Trafalgar Square for some net time, and to my joy I realised interest had come through on my account, giving me some much needed cash for the day!
We cruised around the Square, past the National Gallery into Soho, into Leicester Square, then onto the Tube for Tower Hill. We walked around the Tower of London and used our Heritage Passes one last time to see the Tower Bridge exhibition.
I must say the Heritage passes worked really well for us. They cost us $150 each for a monthly pass, but we reckon we got $420 value EACH from them. A substantial saving - plus it helped us plan our journey, as we visited mainly Heritage Pass places. That's over 600 properties though, and we reckon we saw maybe 45 of them. So there's still a lot to go!
After Tower Bridge we headed to Oxford and Regent streets for some old school London shopping. Boy was it packed! thousands of people pushing their way around the Oxford Circus. Greg got quite tense! I was looking for Von Dutch stuff for my fashion-conscious brother, but balked at paying 45 pounds for a cap, the only item I could find. I bought him an FCUK shirt instead!
Saturday night we were lucky enough to see one of the Spontanaeity Shop's shows. The Shop is run by our good friends Deborah and Tom, who we stayed with in Camden. The show was hilarious - we got to see "Dreamdate" the show they're filming a TV pilot of in November. Now we know what it's all about!
We headed back out to Twickenham for a restful night!
Sunday we had to pack. Boy that was fun! Trying to squeeze everything in. I must say though I'm a brilliant packer and got it all to fit. Around 2pm, Jax and Ben came round, and we went out to lunch. It was really great to see them one last time, and I have some great video footage of the two of them which I will play for the girls!
They left around 5:30, and at 6:15 we got our cab to Heathrow. And after several hours of frantic perusal at Boots, the English chemist shop I love so much, we finally boarded the plane home. ;(
Many hours and repeats of Spiderman 2 later and we were back. A massive queue in Customs and Immigration saw us out around 8am.
And so we're back! Journey over, but the fall out beginning. How will Natalie edit 10 hours of videotape into a watchable DVD? How will we get the over 300 digital photos into some kind of album? How will Natalie eat with no job at home and no immediate prospects of employment? Hmmm. It's all adding up to an interesting couple of months!
Cheers all, and here's to the next trip!
Love Natalie.
It's quite weird to be home and writing about my trip. But I wanted to finish off the tale, giving you dedicated readers (both of you) some closure. ;)
Back to Budapest - after the scary scary bike ride, in which I invoked several Gods and swear words repeatedly, I was keen to just chill out for a bit. And chill we did, with a bit of wandering through the city. We went across the bridge to the Buda side again, and to that hill of St Gillert I mentioned earlier. There is a Cave Church in the side of the hill, going into the rock. It's maintained by Polish monks apparently, and is built to resemble the worship site at Lourdes in France. We unfortunately couldn't go into the main part because they were having mass. Fair enough. We contented ourselves with a walk round I guess you'd call it the "lobby" area, then wandered halfway up the hill again for views of the city.
Back down we headed to the wonderfully named "Beer House" for a refreshingly cheap pint (for Debs and Jules anyway) and a few games of cards. At 7pm we trundled to "Fatal" (pronounced Fay-taal), a well-known restaurant our guidebook recommended for big portions and traditional Hungarian fare.
Well, big was the understatement of the year. GIGANTOR was the name I would have given our meal. Greg and I got a platter to share. It was meant for two people - and if so, it means the Hungarians have mighty big appetites. It could have fed four. Turkey breasts, chicken legs and chicken breasts were surrounded by a potato-and-onion mash, rice-with-vegetables and a virtual river of potato gems. I got some video footage of this food mountain, so you can all marvel at it.
We headed home for another pint in the Marco Polo pub (in the hostel downstairs) before turning in.
Friday we got up and checked out, deciding to split up on the final morning. Greg and Debbie went to the Terror House Museum, which Greg assures me was very good. Julie and I went cruising the shops. We didn't have much money left, so I couldn't buy up big, and besides, clothes etc in Budapest are nowhere near as cheap as the beer. As they improve their economy to fit more into the EU, prices will no doubt rise more in Hungary, as they have done in other well-known "cheap" places like Prague.
We headed to the airport around 1pm, and flew back into Luton around 5pm. We released our massive heavy bag from Luton Storage, and hung around with Debbie and Julie for an hour while they waited for their flight back to Glasgow. We then had to say our fond farewells to those two lovely lasses, promising to visit again soon.
Getting back to Twickenham thankfully proved a bit easier than I expected. for 5 quid each we took the easy bus to Hendon Central Tube station, then the underground to Waterloo, then the overground to Strawberry Hill. We were lugging 5 bags around, but we managed to get home in one piece. We did have a slight scare on the overground train though. We were standing on the crowded train, which got a bit less crowded after the first few station, enabling us to hear the lively conversation of a group sitting near us. Two of them were older punks, and obviously together. Then a weird young bloke standing near us starting getting a bit mad, and making not-so-quiet remarks about "queers" and "f***ing faggots". The punks, to their credit, just ignored him, but Greg and I found it a bit unnerving. But of course, the homophobe was just a coward, and eventually one of the punks gave him a good stare and he retreated to a back seat, still muttering. Idiot.
Eventually the punks got off, then we got off. Luckily the bloke was still on the train!
After Friday night at Norman and Tessa's, we headed into London for a busy day on Saturday. We first went to Trafalgar Square for some net time, and to my joy I realised interest had come through on my account, giving me some much needed cash for the day!
We cruised around the Square, past the National Gallery into Soho, into Leicester Square, then onto the Tube for Tower Hill. We walked around the Tower of London and used our Heritage Passes one last time to see the Tower Bridge exhibition.
I must say the Heritage passes worked really well for us. They cost us $150 each for a monthly pass, but we reckon we got $420 value EACH from them. A substantial saving - plus it helped us plan our journey, as we visited mainly Heritage Pass places. That's over 600 properties though, and we reckon we saw maybe 45 of them. So there's still a lot to go!
After Tower Bridge we headed to Oxford and Regent streets for some old school London shopping. Boy was it packed! thousands of people pushing their way around the Oxford Circus. Greg got quite tense! I was looking for Von Dutch stuff for my fashion-conscious brother, but balked at paying 45 pounds for a cap, the only item I could find. I bought him an FCUK shirt instead!
Saturday night we were lucky enough to see one of the Spontanaeity Shop's shows. The Shop is run by our good friends Deborah and Tom, who we stayed with in Camden. The show was hilarious - we got to see "Dreamdate" the show they're filming a TV pilot of in November. Now we know what it's all about!
We headed back out to Twickenham for a restful night!
Sunday we had to pack. Boy that was fun! Trying to squeeze everything in. I must say though I'm a brilliant packer and got it all to fit. Around 2pm, Jax and Ben came round, and we went out to lunch. It was really great to see them one last time, and I have some great video footage of the two of them which I will play for the girls!
They left around 5:30, and at 6:15 we got our cab to Heathrow. And after several hours of frantic perusal at Boots, the English chemist shop I love so much, we finally boarded the plane home. ;(
Many hours and repeats of Spiderman 2 later and we were back. A massive queue in Customs and Immigration saw us out around 8am.
And so we're back! Journey over, but the fall out beginning. How will Natalie edit 10 hours of videotape into a watchable DVD? How will we get the over 300 digital photos into some kind of album? How will Natalie eat with no job at home and no immediate prospects of employment? Hmmm. It's all adding up to an interesting couple of months!
Cheers all, and here's to the next trip!
Love Natalie.
Oct 4, 2004
A Changi is as good as a Holiday
Well, maybe not. But here we are again, at the free internet terminals in Singapore's Changi airport. We will be home in about another 10 hours - early Tuesday morning Brissie time.
Just a brief note back to Budapest - I should just tell you what we did on our last few days.
Thursday we went on a bike tour of the city. I have to say I was the world's biggest wuss and terrifed the whole time. It didn't start well because our guide was a heavily tattooed and pierced Canadian, who apparently previously worked in porn movies. Strange world. He had tattoos saying "Defiance" and 'Sedition' down his forearms, and a piece of barbed wire in his lip. Still he knew his stuff about the city.
The problem was he rode so fast, and everyone else rode fast to catch up. I haven't ridden a bike since our LAST trip overseas so I was nervous and slow. Consequesntly I lost the group several times, fell over bruising myself and actually ran into an angry Budapest lady.
Hang on....net time over..have to go again!
Just a brief note back to Budapest - I should just tell you what we did on our last few days.
Thursday we went on a bike tour of the city. I have to say I was the world's biggest wuss and terrifed the whole time. It didn't start well because our guide was a heavily tattooed and pierced Canadian, who apparently previously worked in porn movies. Strange world. He had tattoos saying "Defiance" and 'Sedition' down his forearms, and a piece of barbed wire in his lip. Still he knew his stuff about the city.
The problem was he rode so fast, and everyone else rode fast to catch up. I haven't ridden a bike since our LAST trip overseas so I was nervous and slow. Consequesntly I lost the group several times, fell over bruising myself and actually ran into an angry Budapest lady.
Hang on....net time over..have to go again!
Oct 2, 2004
London Calling
And I...live by the river! etc.
Anyhoo, we're back in London, and on our last frantic day of shopping and meeting people before we fly out tomorrow night. Our sojourn is almost over!
The good news first is I checked my bank accounts and I got a nice whack of interest come through on one account which means I have cash! I can now buy my brother all the Von Dutch T-Shirts he's been barracking for! ;)
I will talk a bit about Budapest, considering I got cut off so quickly when I was in a net cafe over there.
We got up a 4am to leave Glasgow on a 6am flight. Greg, Debbie (his sister) and Julie (her Scottish flatmate) and I were all a bit bleary-eyed, and I was still a bit worried about my labyrinthitis. Luckily I was OK, just the normal sore head I get with airports and planes.
We flew down to London Luton, from where we caught our flight to Budapest. We had to wait a few hours at the airport, and Greg and I actually left a bag in storage so we didn't have to lug it around Budapest! At every castle we visited, Greg bought the guidebook, so consequently we have one very heavy bag!
Budapest was lovely. Quite a big city, with a population just under 2 million, about one-fifth of Hungary's overall people-count. It's very very smoggy though, with many older buildings black with pollution. Budapest was formed in 1873 when the towns of Buda and Pest, on either side of the Danube, merged to form one city. Most of the sight-seeing stuff is still on the Pest side.
The first day we climbed Mt Gillert on the Buda side. Gillert was priest made a saint for trying to convert the pagan Hungarians around 1000. They thanked him by putting him in a barrel and rolling him down the hill! Hence the hill of Gillert. It was a big climb up, but we were rewarded with good views of the city and of the Statue of Liberty on top. It's a giant bronze woman holding a palm frond. It was put up by the Soviets to celebrate their liberation of Budapest from the Nazis. After the communists left Budapest in 1991, they thought about tearing it down. But they changed their minds and left it there to now symbolise Budapest's freedom from the Soviets!
On Tuesday we headed out first to the Synagogue. Over 600 000 Hungarian Jews died during WWII, most in concentration camps. They have a memorial statue out the back of a steel willow tree, with the names of victims on the leaves. It was actually paid for by the American actor Tony Curtis, whose dad was a Hungarian Jew who died in the Holocaust.
We needed some cheering up after that, and boy did we get it. We walked along the Danube on the Pest side, past their impressive Parliament building, currently being cleaned, and across to Margaret island. It's a long island in the middle of the river. The first thing we came across were converted golf buggy-type mini cars, available to rent. It only cost about £3 each so bugger it, let's do it!
We rocketed around (well, as much as you can rocket at about 7 miles an hour) that island for an hour. It was the best fun. We've got some great bits on video, including when Debbie, Greg and I clambered into the buggy and took off, leaving a hapless Julie chasing us! It was great. I don't remember much else about the island but the buggy sure as hell will stay in my memory! My parents are actually going to Budapest in about a fortnight and I strongly suggest a buggy ride!
Tuesday we also decided to visit the baths. Budapest is famous for its hot springs, and there are numerous baths around town. It was a bit of a debacle because no one spoke English at the baths, and we were trying to rent towels and lockers with hand gestures! We also discovered we needed bathing caps to swim, so we had to buy them in the end, as it was cheaper than renting them? Bizarre.
The baths were lovely, and we felt refreshed. So we took off and grabbed the furnicular up to the castle district on the Buda side. We went into the labyrinths underneath - there are miles of caverns naturally carved through the hill by hot water thousands of years ago, and then used and maintained by locals. It was fun, because we had to take a gas lamp with us to see by - as in the evening they turn the lights off down there! They'd also put in for some reason, a fountain that flowed with wine! I think it was to signify the rich history of the early Hungarians. Or something.
Wednesday we took ourselves of on a 'Hammer and Sickle' T0ur. It was about 4 hours of communist talk. Our guide, Czaba (pronounced 'Chubba'), was really interesting. He was about 30, and had been lucky enough to visit Australia when he was 15, while Communism was still in place. It made him a bit of a rebel at school, following his father's footsteps. His father had been a sportsman so had been able to travel the world and see the cool capitalist stuff the Hungarians weren't getting. He was very against it, and it caused clashes with Czaba's grandfather, who was a very committed communist party member and local leader.
Anyhoo, we visited a communist era flat - just a sitting room, bedroom, small kitchen and bathroom, and narrow balcony. There are loads of big ugly concrete blocks still all over Budapest.
We also visited statue park, where famous soviet statues are now kept. It was funny seeing the statues with no artistic value - just propaganda!
Crap! My net time's out again...will write soon!
Hi to everyone, and sorry Clare and Briony for missing your birthdays! I'll try and pick you up something festive!
Anyhoo, we're back in London, and on our last frantic day of shopping and meeting people before we fly out tomorrow night. Our sojourn is almost over!
The good news first is I checked my bank accounts and I got a nice whack of interest come through on one account which means I have cash! I can now buy my brother all the Von Dutch T-Shirts he's been barracking for! ;)
I will talk a bit about Budapest, considering I got cut off so quickly when I was in a net cafe over there.
We got up a 4am to leave Glasgow on a 6am flight. Greg, Debbie (his sister) and Julie (her Scottish flatmate) and I were all a bit bleary-eyed, and I was still a bit worried about my labyrinthitis. Luckily I was OK, just the normal sore head I get with airports and planes.
We flew down to London Luton, from where we caught our flight to Budapest. We had to wait a few hours at the airport, and Greg and I actually left a bag in storage so we didn't have to lug it around Budapest! At every castle we visited, Greg bought the guidebook, so consequently we have one very heavy bag!
Budapest was lovely. Quite a big city, with a population just under 2 million, about one-fifth of Hungary's overall people-count. It's very very smoggy though, with many older buildings black with pollution. Budapest was formed in 1873 when the towns of Buda and Pest, on either side of the Danube, merged to form one city. Most of the sight-seeing stuff is still on the Pest side.
The first day we climbed Mt Gillert on the Buda side. Gillert was priest made a saint for trying to convert the pagan Hungarians around 1000. They thanked him by putting him in a barrel and rolling him down the hill! Hence the hill of Gillert. It was a big climb up, but we were rewarded with good views of the city and of the Statue of Liberty on top. It's a giant bronze woman holding a palm frond. It was put up by the Soviets to celebrate their liberation of Budapest from the Nazis. After the communists left Budapest in 1991, they thought about tearing it down. But they changed their minds and left it there to now symbolise Budapest's freedom from the Soviets!
On Tuesday we headed out first to the Synagogue. Over 600 000 Hungarian Jews died during WWII, most in concentration camps. They have a memorial statue out the back of a steel willow tree, with the names of victims on the leaves. It was actually paid for by the American actor Tony Curtis, whose dad was a Hungarian Jew who died in the Holocaust.
We needed some cheering up after that, and boy did we get it. We walked along the Danube on the Pest side, past their impressive Parliament building, currently being cleaned, and across to Margaret island. It's a long island in the middle of the river. The first thing we came across were converted golf buggy-type mini cars, available to rent. It only cost about £3 each so bugger it, let's do it!
We rocketed around (well, as much as you can rocket at about 7 miles an hour) that island for an hour. It was the best fun. We've got some great bits on video, including when Debbie, Greg and I clambered into the buggy and took off, leaving a hapless Julie chasing us! It was great. I don't remember much else about the island but the buggy sure as hell will stay in my memory! My parents are actually going to Budapest in about a fortnight and I strongly suggest a buggy ride!
Tuesday we also decided to visit the baths. Budapest is famous for its hot springs, and there are numerous baths around town. It was a bit of a debacle because no one spoke English at the baths, and we were trying to rent towels and lockers with hand gestures! We also discovered we needed bathing caps to swim, so we had to buy them in the end, as it was cheaper than renting them? Bizarre.
The baths were lovely, and we felt refreshed. So we took off and grabbed the furnicular up to the castle district on the Buda side. We went into the labyrinths underneath - there are miles of caverns naturally carved through the hill by hot water thousands of years ago, and then used and maintained by locals. It was fun, because we had to take a gas lamp with us to see by - as in the evening they turn the lights off down there! They'd also put in for some reason, a fountain that flowed with wine! I think it was to signify the rich history of the early Hungarians. Or something.
Wednesday we took ourselves of on a 'Hammer and Sickle' T0ur. It was about 4 hours of communist talk. Our guide, Czaba (pronounced 'Chubba'), was really interesting. He was about 30, and had been lucky enough to visit Australia when he was 15, while Communism was still in place. It made him a bit of a rebel at school, following his father's footsteps. His father had been a sportsman so had been able to travel the world and see the cool capitalist stuff the Hungarians weren't getting. He was very against it, and it caused clashes with Czaba's grandfather, who was a very committed communist party member and local leader.
Anyhoo, we visited a communist era flat - just a sitting room, bedroom, small kitchen and bathroom, and narrow balcony. There are loads of big ugly concrete blocks still all over Budapest.
We also visited statue park, where famous soviet statues are now kept. It was funny seeing the statues with no artistic value - just propaganda!
Crap! My net time's out again...will write soon!
Hi to everyone, and sorry Clare and Briony for missing your birthdays! I'll try and pick you up something festive!
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