Whew!

  Here we are after climbing up Gellert Hill in Budapest with some other Americans we met.  We not only climbed up, but also down the hill (most people take the bus).... aspirin and ibuprofen have been our friends with all the walking we have been doing lately. The weather has been a bit chilly - in fact it was snowing intermittently during the day and we had some accumulation that night, (Monday).

  Monday was a milestone in many ways - we learned how to get to and onto the bus (Busz) to get to the metro station where we could buy a book of tickets (saving $), then negotiated our way in our (English/Magyar) to the correct subway that took us in to meet our new friends.

  We were able to walk around a lot of part of Budapest, see the HUGE market building they have, see some other lovely buildings and then hike up Gellert Hill where there are some large monuments near and dear to Hungarians' hearts that overlook the Danube (behind us in the picture) and a few of the bridges  (Elizabeth, Liberty & Petofi) linking  the Buda side to the Pest side. (Pest is usually the flatter side). The famous cave church is in the Gellert Hill as well.

  After saying "Viszontlátásrá!" to our new friends, off we went, back to our little town.

  We have been getting out more on our own, and thankfully today I remembered to bring the "Angol/Magyar" dictionary with me on my way walking across town to wash clothes at a friend's house. I needed to buy some washing soap, so I went into a small ABC (local small/tiny store). No soap to be seen, but the lady came inside as I drug my airline bag of dirty laundry in the store as well.  Of COURSE all of my long practiced Hungarian left my brain as I was trying to ask if they had some laundry soap. So, breaking out the dictionary, I fumbled my way through... but she still was confused. We both started laughing then & I was trying not to go into the oh no, I-am-getting-so-I-can't-breathe stage". Holding a hand up, she went to the register area & produced a laptop w/ mobile wi-fi (called "wee fee" here). She brought up the equivalent of google translate and we were off... except for the different keyboard! It all worked out, they didn't have any but she directed me to where I could find some that wasn't miles in other directions.  I was practicing the words in my head... and of course they fled again when I drug my suitcase to the next ABC! Thank Heaven for dictionaries! She actually knew a couple English words, but I need to practice my Hungarian desperately & am really looking forward to school starting in a few weeks!  I said the words needed to find what I need - (dish soap & laundry soaps look amazingly similar!) and voila! Mission accomplished! I really appreciated how helpful both ladies were - and told them so...as much as I could.