So Much to Share

To the surprise of many, I must confess that I took a wife yesterday in a successful attempt to evade Hungarian security at their House Parliament. It was back to my tourist list, for part of the day, so I traveled by foot (after my renewed ability to walk since popping the enormous blisters on the heels of my feet) along the River on the Pest side. A few words about my feet - I realize the water contained in blisters is our body's way of healing itself, but the resulting pain involved in constantly putting additional pressure on the blisters by walking and walking and walking around Budapest proved too intolerable for me to take any longer. I have certainly developed an increased awareness and appreciation for foot health during this trip, certainly magnified for everyone reading, since I think I have now blogged about foot pain at least twice previously.

My new wife, Michelle, who hails also from Peru (beyond calculable odds to find another Peruvian in Hungary that I would befriend), stood in the line for the Parliament tour (compulsory as they do not allow self-guided entry), with her equally beautiful sister, Melissa. As the sun drew sweat drops from her delicate face, I inquired if she spoke English (which I had already established after I overheard the sisters complaining about the line and the heat). Michelle turned to address my question and this time her accent, now clear to me, spoke volumes. She had to be American, the accent now obvious, caused me to grin and miss home slightly for the first time since I left. After exchanging a few cursory remarks, I learned she hailed from from Peru, but studied at the American school in Lima, as did her sister, giving them the unmistakable (certainly in these parts) American English accent.

Part of the fun of traveling is that no one knows me and this allows me to re-invent myself each day to the new people I encounter, or to be more precise, to reveal parts of me while keeping other aspects of myself private. I find human interaction so incredibly intense and interesting - the whole dance of perception and evaluation we exercise in our initial interactions. I realized about halfway through the line, that Michelle was single, Melissa married. They took turns keeping their place in line with me, exchanging places with each other at my side, alternating with taking refuge under the large shade tree across the park. I can be a ruthless flirt and took the opportunity to pour on a little charm. Michelle and I had a few things in common, at least the ones that keep conversations moving, like work. She was, of all things, a pharmaceutical rep. This relevation also mad me laugh - what are the odds? Like all people I have been meeting, Michelle too took great interest in the fact that I was taking a couple of years to travel and not work. She told me her father had done a similar thing when he was our age and that he speaks highly of it (good to know I am pursuing something magical). Since I had been to both the Rudas baths and the Szechenyi Baths, I informed them of my opions, which apparently persuaded them to give up on Szechenyi in favor of Rudas or Gellert (the more typical Turkish style).

Near the front of the line, I began to notice that the tourists all had passports out when they exited the ticket office (yes, we were in line only to buy tickets - the real tour line zig-zagged the length of the park to our right). That's when Michelle and I devised our ruthless plan to pretend to be married. We would say, I left my passport at the hotel (which I do for security purposes) but that we were married. Michelle took a ring off her right finger and placed in on her wedding finger, then she joked that I was cheap because no giant diamond rested on top of the band. Perhaps it was just my perception of things, but I sensed a slight interest on her part when I jokingly promised her much more interesting experiences and travel instead of a stupid diamond ring. All our subterfuge and ridiculous planning proved completely irrelevant - the whole identity thing had absolutely nothing to do with security, it only served to establish EU identity. EU citizens get in free; others pay. We paid and headed off to line number two, which at this point, had moved beyond the chain ropes and onto the grounds of Parliament. After an airport like security check/metal detector passage, we found ourselves standing in the official entry area they use only for offical visits by foreign leaders and certain ceremonial Hungarian holidays. To say the inside of this place was beautiful under sells the truth. Since the Hungarians have been pretty good Catholics throughout history, their design aesthetic involves many of the same elements one would find in churches across Europe. The style of this place seemed an interesting mix of gothic, venetian, neo-classical, classical, and uniquely Hungarian elements. For the uninitiated to European high design, let me be clear - if you covered everything you own inside your house with Gold Leaf and bold fabrics, then resurfaced all walls and floors with marble and granite - you would have something resembling the feel of this place. And, even though it would not work at your home, nor mine, it somehow manages to not only work, but due to the scale and majesty of this building it allows the architecture to shine - scream with brillance and beauty. I learned something very interesting and quite crafty about the Hungarians. The Parliament building, the second largest in the world, is so big that the marble needed would have been more than available in the whole of Hungary and too expensive obviously to buy from Italy or other countries. So, the Hungarians mixed horse hair, qypsum, glue, and color agents (maybe one other item that I cannot recall), creating faux marble, capable of fooling even the most savvy. Since I routinely use these types of real stone when renovating homes, I took great interest in this part of the tour. While the others continued, I touched, tapped, rubbed, and closely inspected the marble. This Hungarian invention amazed me. Near the entrace to the voting chambers, out in the foyer, the Hungarians have installed these brass cigar holders - long trays with individual cigar indentions, complete with ash catchers. Only in Europe! Overall, the tour earned the twenty dollar entrace fee (for non-EU member nation citizens).