Wednesday 24th March 2004

Airport Venezia Marco Polo – 8:44am Local Time

It is time to leave Italy! The great journey has started and I thought of buying this notepad in order to jot down thoughts, feelings, descriptions, reports, and anything that might happen during my stay in Hungary.

I will be lodging in Budapest at my friend’s flat, which is located in the city centre (near the Great Synagogue as far as I know). I can’t remember the name of the street, but I will write it down as soon as my memory is refreshed with the some visual aid.

My flight will be boarding at 9.30 am and then leave (hopefully on time) at 10.05 am. The airport is quite empty. I have not yet realised it is still early in the morning. I left Trieste, my sister’s hometown) at 5.33 am. Not tired now, but I fear I will be later in the day. I still cannot access the NON-EU flights area so I am writing and waiting in front of this big, large window which looks on airport tracks but at the horizon you can easily spot the Venetian lagoon, even though the weather is rather cloudy, painted with a light grey fading to white.

Train, bus, aeroplane. The only thing missing is travel by sea! Anyway, it is a relatively long journey ahead so I will write later, probably when I have something more interesting and more ‘Hungarian’ to tell.

Semmelweiss utca, Budapest – Evening, Local Time

Settlend in! Journey was fine with Malev Airlines. Nice service, small express aeroplane and landing on a wet track. Weather is damp and grey. The Uszta is a huge plan and with this weather you do not see a clear skyline at the horizon. I stood at passport control for five minutes (Hungary may still be suspicious of the EU and the UK) and then met my friend.

We hopped onto the bus to Kōbanya-Kispest [Kobania-Kishpesht], which is one end of the Metro Line 3, the newest underground line built during the Communist regime. The atmosphere is really Big Brother-like with a huge minimalist design but lonely and semi-obscure places. The train are clean and so are the platforms; all the rubbish is in the station – really dirty!

Hungarians are quite nice people. They look like any other Western European population and now that democracy is something common you see them dressed in different old or new styles. However, you easily spot the lower end which I presume accounts a major part of the urban population. We noticed this when we went to a Tesco supermarket at the outskirts of Budapest (we went north with Metro Line 2 and stopped at Újpest-Városkapu [Úipesth-Városhkapu]).

The flat where I will stay is pretty nice. Built according to 1900s architecture, it uses spaces in a modern way with big doors and high ceilings. Four spacious rooms, bathroom included, a good deal – can’t complain! We are located in the Jewish quarter (the road – Semmelweiss­ – is named after a famous German jew), and we are not far from the second biggest synagogue in the world! We are basically in the city centre where the three metro lines cross each other – the only point – and the stop is called Deák Ferenc tér [Deác Ferenz tér].

Well, gotta wash up the dinner dishes and then off to bed. Tomorrow, the first sightseeing will take place at the University for Humanities in Piliscaba [Pilisciaba] outside Budapest.

Good night!

VOCABULARY:

Written	Pronounced (Italian phonetics)	Meaning
bejárat	beiárat	entrance
kijárat	chiárat	exit
vészkiárat	véschiárat	emergency exit
igen	ighen	yes
nem	nem	no
jó napot kivánok	ió napot chivánoc	wish a nice day
jó napot	ió napot	good day
jó reggelt	ió regelt	good morning
jó estét	ió eshtēt	good evening
szia	sía	hello
sziasztok	síastok	hello to everybody
csok	ciok	kiss
puszi	pussi	kiss on the cheek
en szép vagyok	en sēp vaghioc	I am beautiful
köszönöm	kōssōnōm	thank you
tessék	teshec	you are welcome (when you give something)
viszontlátasra	vissontlātashra	goodbye