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Thoroughly enjoying myself!
Budapest, Hungary
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Budapest, Hungary
After dancing last night, it was a little tough to get up this morning and make my way back across the river into Buda for the Invisible Exhibition. But, boy, can I say it was ever worth it! I was very curious when I discovered the Invisible Exhibition in the brochure. It was a bit expensive, as you need to hire a foreign guide (who can speak English), but I managed to tag onto a group of 6 Brits who were also going in English (you need to book in advance). For any of you who have been to NYC or Toronto and gone to “Dans le Noir” or “Au noir”, you know that there is an interest in Blind Dining. Well, imagine trying to go through a day in the life of someone who is blind. Our tour simulated that, and for the next hour, I was immersed in complete darkness (the kind we get at the cabin when there is no moon or stars). You think you can see your hand waving in front of you, but that is just your brain tricking you. We started by going into an apartment. I am completely lost without my sight. I know that I am a visual learner, but, unless I could feel the wall, I had no sense of direction or space. In the apartment, I could make out items like the fridge, range, sink , sofa etc, mostly because I ran my hands over them or ran into them. There was a piano too. The apartment was ok, as it had a lot of furniture you can feel your way around with. Then we went “outside” (remember, for our safety, this is simulated). The street noise is quite loud. At least (due to the Doppler effect for all you science folk), you can somewhat tell the direction of the traffic. That’s all great, except that I couldn’t even lead myself along the sidewalk. Our guide (who is blind btw) turned me in the right direction, and I managed to cross. On the other side of the street, we stopped at a fruit stand. There were only a few that I couldn’t figure out, but the apple, pineapple and coconut were pretty easy to distinguish based off smell and feel. After that, we didn’t exactly stick with the “typical” day theme, but went to a hunter’s cabin. Inside, I could find the wood burning stove, the furs on the wall (one was shorter, like a deer or beaver or something and the other was fluffier). The kerosene lamp was also easily identifiable. Then we went through the woods, and over a bridge. They have done a wonderful job at making the trees feel realistic. Next stop: a Statue park. I figured out Atlas, as you can feel the globe with a man underneath. The statue of David was a little harder, as I could tell by body parts that it was a man, but had no clue as to who. I would never in a million years have figured out the lion though… One of the girls in the group asked a very interesting question: When you are blind, what are your dreams like? Our guide was sighted as a child, and lost her vision at age 3 (she is probably in her early 20s now). She told us that she couldn’t answer for a “never sighted” person, but for her, she used to dream in images, but now dreams in sounds. She also told us that most blind people will not feel others faces like in the movies, they base their knowledge of who is who again based on sound. Finally, we made our way into a bar. Once again, I was hopelessly lost without a wall to feel, and our guide basically had to seat me in the sofa. We then had the opportunity to buy something, and pay for it (in the dark). I had a small chocolate, and (having been warned beforehand) knew the shape and size of the 100 Ft coin. Another interesting thing: In Canada, we have Braille on our bills, in the UK and Europe, they have different sizes for different values, but in Hungary, all the notes are the same size, with no Braille. Our guide told us that she has a system, keeping different values in different areas of her wallet, but I believe her sister helps her organize it. They also do not have the sound chirp-ers at crosswalks here. I don’t know what you would do if a tram was coming, they are very quiet! This was the end of our intense journey. It would have been really cool to go through again in the light, to see if what our brains visualized was close to what was there. (We also kept saying sorry as a group, because you can’t see each other and we would run into each other).
Anyways, after that experience, I am even more grateful that I can experience this world through my eyes, and hope to keep my sight for a long time!
From here, I stopped at the shopping mall, and was really tempted to buy some shoes, but didn’t have the space to carry them. I did get another one of the chocolate cake balls that are absolutely delicious. I made a huge effort to remember their name, but it is no use! Starts with a K. Has what tastes like kirsch in it (some are quite boozy). Overall they are delicious, a staple of my diet here, along with mulled wine!
Then, as it is cold out, I went to the Szechenyi baths, and soaked for about an hour and a half. There are more than 20 pools to visit, although it was only in the last 30 mins that I found most of them. You can read my review if you like, but it was very nice to relax in the hot water. One old gentleman told me that he has a yearly pass and comes to Szechenyi every week. The outdoor pools are nice, but it was quite frosty to get from the building in to the pool (not like Banff, where you can walk directly in).
I had really wanted to go skating on the giant rink, but they close from 1pm-4pm and there wasn’t enough time 😦 (funny that I want to skate here, when skating is probably my least favourite winter sport at home).
Next stop was the Opera house, for the tour this time. It is magnificent inside. Apparently Franz Josef (Emperor of Austro-Hungarian empire) commissioned it so that he could enjoy opera in Budapest as well as Vienna. Franz Josef only came once, although his wife went all the time. He never came back, because the Hungarian opera house was more beautiful inside than the Austrian one! As the empire was so big, almost all the materials were Hungarian (aside from some of the marble in the Imperial entrance).
The opera house is stunning, and we got to see people practicing, as well as had a mini-concert (2 arias in the main bar). I can not believe how they project their voices!!
A last minute decision, and I had a ticket to La Boheme. This time, it is set in Paris, France, but the opera is done in Italian! This time, I was smarter and read the synopsis beforehand, or I wouldn’t have known what was going on.
Then I tried the hostel pub crawl. We once again didn’t have a ton of luck, we started at Fogas Haz, and it was pretty dead. Next we went to Kuplung, which had a concert on, and I would have gone inside, but not many others wanted to pay the fee (it was Hungarian rap, which sounded good). Then we went to Lokal, which had potential, but was some sort of swing pop music. I was not feeling it… I went back to the hostel, and listened to some dubstep and my own music while I waited for the rest to make it Instanz (Instant, right across from the hostel). The club itself is really neat (Alice in Wonderland theme, with tons of rooms, all different). Even with that many rooms, we had a lot of difficulty finding music we liked. The room we had been in last night was where the music was amazing, except that it was so full, you couldn’t dance, just get shoved by other people. By 2-2:30, we left. We gave it an honest go, but the beats weren’t right.
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Curious Julie's Colourful Adventures 