Bye bye Berlin...
The CESRI orientation in Budapest was certainly one of the highlights of my life. May 20th I survived a terrifying cab ride from the airport to the Fortuna "Botel", a boat turned hotel, on the Danube river. Every room is named after a famous mariner (I had Fabian Bellingshausen) and to use the shower you have to stand in the toilet (almost). There was a free English newspaper in the room with the welcoming headline "Hungary's dire domestic rap situation!". I felt right at home. By 7:30 nine of ten of the CESRI fellows had arrived and we went to dinner with Chris and Agi, our orientation hosts. Dinner included bone marrow on toast.
Buda on the banks of the Danube river.
Our first day included a walking tour with Jeff. Jeff is an immediately-likable history PhD student and professional tour guide with a clip and sardonic manor. He showed us the principle churches and interesting statues on the Pest side only, because we didn't have time to visit Buda. Lunch was in a strangely hip cafe, and the waiter gave me a weird look for ordering apple juice with my fish.
The group!
Flags of the EU, Budapest, and Hungary
For dinner the first day we went to Bor la Bor, a wine-lovers heaven ("Bor" is Hungarian for "wine"). We ate cock testicles and drank to our hearts content and our head's dismay. The 3km night-walk to the hotel was stunning, documented here thanks to Eric's invention of the Trashpod.
The Chain Bridge and the Royal Palace. Probably my favorite photo of the week.
The CESRI office is near this building, the Hungarian Academy of Science. We visited on the second day, but really didn't see much. Our tour guide was obsessed with showing us portraits of the university founders, so we spent an hour looking at wild Hungarian facial hair.
Our visit to the Eötvos Loraand University was considerably more fun. The labs were all a dingy dentist-chair green and frighteningly "eastern". These white bricks are made of lead to protect the researchers from nuclear radiation from this miniature reactor. Cool.
That night we had front-row seats to a concert at the Hungarian Opera House. This was the greatest concert I have ever attended, and the highest-point of the orientation. The conductor was a crazy old Asian guy with a fantastically expressive face. Sometimes he even growled at the orchestra. They played "The Firebird" and at intermission we had desert wine on the Opera House balcony. Fantastic!
On the third day we got up at 5:00AM to catch a train to Bratislava. We spent the day there with the Fulbright commission and took a wild tour with a half-crazed pro-socialist guide. Bratislava is kinda touristy and after Budapest wasn't much of anything. Still, I bought a cool Bratislavan mug!
The Royal Hotel of Bratislava, along with the "National Tree".
Our last day in Budapest we went to the Széchenyi Bath, the largest medicinal bath in Europe. It wish I had some pictures, but cameras were, obviously, not welcome. There were hot baths, cold baths, sulphur baths, and a whole series of spas and saunas. They had a row of baths kept at an exact posted temperature and three fantastic out-door pools. My favorite was to go in the sauna for about 8 minutes and then jump in the ice bath and rub ice cubes on my forehead. Sounds crazy, but you've got to try it!
Bettina after the baths. You can see the energizing effect.
Our last dinner in Budapest was on a tour boat on the Danube. The champagne was lovely and we presented Chris and Agi with a bottle of Uniqum and some flowers.
A group dinner on our own. Post!
