Around The World 2011 Day 26: Rome, Italy to Budapest, Hungary

There are very few things one can be completely certain about.  Sure, if you are cocky like me you think you are certain about a lot of things, but deep down you know that you really do not know anything.  But this I know; Barbie and I would be happy spending the rest of our days in Rome.  However, our next stop excites me because it is a city I have never visited and have heard much about.

Time for Budapest.

Actually, time for our last breakfast in Rome.

To the left is our apartment building door, to the right is the entrance to our local bar.  We were going to have breakfast there, but there was a wait and we went a few doors down to a café which advertises an American Breakfast.

I made Barbie and Rebecca pose for this, and let them know that I was painstakingly framing it so that YOU could see the Scarface portrait to the top right.  This café is filled with Americana, including bottles of Duff beer.  Enjoy that reference, nerds.

We each got a cappuccino.

Amusement!  This is the American Breakfast.  We did not have the heart to tell the proprietor that there is not a single breakfast in the USA that resembles this.

Our friend Lavinia came and met us for breakfast.  Last time we saw her was at our Holiday Party in Los Angeles.  We can never see enough of Lavinia.  She is one of the most delightful people we have ever met.  I am not sure why Picasa flipped this pic, but I like the result.  I believe that I look younger upside down.

Barbie and Lavinia got ahead of the pack.  I suspect it was for boy-talk, but I have no proof.

Josh and Rebecca in front of our breakfast spot.  I said something like, "Let me get a last picture of each of you."

We saw Lavinia off and then went up to the apartment to get our bags.  Our ride was on time, and we headed down the elevator.

I said "Wave.  Wave real fast."  They did, but I was hoping their hands would be blurred.  We will likely see Josh again in London, and it is possible we will see Rebecca in Paris.  I would like to inaccurately call this a moveable feast.

A last view of our apartment building's door from the car.

Leonardo da Vinci Airport.  More commonly called Fiumicino because that is the name of city 40 minutes outside of Rome where it is located.

So...  we arrived around three and half hours before our flight, and this was Barbie being a genius.  Alitalia listed the counter where we needed to check in, and then we took care of some business with Air France for the suitcase they destroyed (that I have failed to mention) and when we got back to the check-in counters Alitalia had not-very-logically changed the listings so that around eight international flights all had to check-in at the same counter.  Our counter went from a spot where one hundred needed to check-in to a place where five hundred needed to.  This was madness, and we tried a few options until Barbie used a self check-in kiosk and then we had to get into another line to drop off our bags.

This had all been very unpleasant and time consuming, but then we found ourselves in line behind an older Australian gentleman and his wife and their son.  He chatted us up, and seemed extremely friendly and energetic, and he kept telling me how Australia and the USA get along quite well and he shook my hand around ten times in a row.  His wife was trying to contain him, and push him away from us, but it was futile.  While he kept shaking my hand, Barbie began chatting with his wife because Barbie wanted to let her know that we enjoyed her husband's friendliness and were not put off by it at all.

In a very understated way, his wife let Barbie know that her husband is David Helfgott, the concert pianist on whom the movie Shine starring Geoffrey Rush was based.

Now it all made sense!  We enjoyed his company all along, but then realizing he is the man who inspired the performance that earned Geoffrey Rush an Oscar, well, that made it even more special.  And suddenly we were almost grateful for having killed all that time going from line to line at the airport.

David Helfgott, waving to me.  Honestly, I have never met a nicer person.

He was big on the thumb's up, too.

His shoe came untied, and Barbie did not want his wife to have to bend down and tie it.

Barbie got a warm hug for her considerateness.

All that is left for me to say is, "How cool was that?"

We treated ourselves to a meal at Fiumicino's Irish restaurant, McDonald's.

Soon we will be on one of those things.

There had clearly been a tennis tournament in Rome.  This young woman was, by my guess, sixteen.  Perhaps we will see her in Wimbledon someday and someone else will be carrying her rackets through airports for her.

Arrivederci, Roma.

All the rows behind us were empty.  On the flight I played a game in my head, guessing who was an Italian headed to Budapest and who was a Hungarian headed home from Rome.

My first glimpse of Hungary, ever.  I learned a new word today, exonym.  An exonym is a word a name for a place or a person's name that differs from that used in the language within that place.  To what we call a Hungarian, the name of their country is Magyar.  The name Hungary was given to this place by outsiders, most likely derived from the name of the nomadic Eurasian tribe the Onogurs.

Clearly the Magyars have no problem being called Hungarians by the rest of the world, since this has been going on since the 9th century and I think somewhere along the line they might have said something if they hated it.

Hungarian cloverleaf.

I took this picture as a just in case, because you never know if an airport will have the much-needed Welcome to... sign.

Jackpot!

Budapest was warm and sunny last week, and is cool and rainy this week.  Our driver was great, and shared a lot of information about the city and country.

For the record, I have seen a Samsung billboard outside every airport in every country I have visited.  They really want you to buy a Smart TV.

Outside the city of Budapest you see row after row of ugly, Soviet era housing.  Those freaking Soviets.

This picture is specifically for Barbie's nephew Gary, as this is a proper football stadium.

We got to our hotel, The Four Seasons Gresham Palace, which is gorgeous.  Pics tomorrow.  It has been a long day.

The view out our window of Buda.  Our hotel is in Pest, and our room directly overlooks the Széchenyi Chain Bridge that spans the Danube.

After a long day, you hit the pool.

My feet have been in the Gresham Palace's attic indoor pool.  Seriously.  This room would have been the attic.

My feet have been in the Gresham Palace's attic jacuzzi.

We ordered some room service, even though we were close to skipping dinner.

Barbie's salad.

Paprika chicken and Hungarian noodles, which we shared.

We finish the day with the view from our hotel room at three different times of day.

Until tomorrow...