I Once Was Lost…But Now Am Found!

After a long day of lectures and project work, I was eager to feel like I was on vacation again.  So Franzie and I went to discover the Labyrinth caves under the Buda castle.  It turns out getting there is harder than walking through them!  After begging my hotel concierge to write down the metro and bus stops for me in Hungarian, we felt well prepared to get there (plus we has walked by it the day before).  Turns out the bus number was wrong, but we did take a nice stroll (and climb) through some lovely residential parts of Buda–the hillier side of Budapest.  Fortunately the caves were very cool, but also a little dank and wet (big surprise!)  On a more serious note, the people of Budapest lived in the caves during bombing in World War II and even created a hospital in them, so it must have been a very difficult and scary place to be. 

Also interesting was the installation piece called the “Panthenon.”  I’m going to have to read more about this to understand the artists’ intent.  There were lots of everyday items on display in ice cubes and in the rocks of the wall, plus some carved into ancient dolomite rocks.  Note the cellphone and Coke bottle…

Afterwards, we came out by the Fishermans’ Bastion and ate a little bit while admiring the view of Pest–the more modern and flat part of the city.  Prices here are quite reasonable and I was lucky enough to watch some impromptu folk dancing by a girl next to me while I ate.

In other news, I finally have my own hair dryer and won’t need to keep signing out one of only three the hotel has…