so today, i was planning to see the castle hill, where the matyas church is; and end up walking the whole west side of river danube and the central pest east of the river. geeze, if look at the map with grid line 650 meters apart, in a straight line i walked at least 7.8km not counting 'walking up and down the street trying to locate something' or 'walk within a complex in circles' and i must say there's a portion that is up hill/stairs. i must be really desperate for money, hehe.. i kept thinking: well, just walk la.. save 300 HUF... aren't i proud of myself.
that's the diff when i live in US, just drive.. and not prefer to walk or hike..
because of overcast, the whole city looks dull. plus it's really cold. also the picture doesn't look as nice as real.. well usually is the case, but moreover in budapest. honestly though, the pic attached in this blog is after quite a lot photoshop adjustment on color.. except the market bldg.
the market building is surprising. it's just local market; seems like all local market are quite nicely decorated, or similar in style: with nice exterior shell and a metal/glass roof that almost look like railroad station.
i think i wasn't dressed warm enough today, due to last nite's experience. (last nite was raining and i wear a skirt and all fine and almost sweating walking back to hotel after dinner) today, jacket + wool sweater + t-shirt and still cold. hehe.. funny event: i had to 'added' the wool sweater layer when i couldn't stand it on castle hill in a phone booth. (i was trying to wait till i find a fastfood restaurant so i can sit down and be indoor to do the change). felt like superman! changing in phone booth. that also lead to discomfort for the day, since i walked too much and it's cold enough that i probably even lost feeling on tiredness, and i didn't have breakfast and kept walking to find a fastfood restaurant. cold+tired+hungry.. hehe.. do i still remember the hot air in petra? i sweated that 'wetted' not even my t-shirt but also my backpack (yes, i will wash my backpack as soon as i get to hk).
despite i thought budapest is quite a 'normal' city without distinct feature, i took close to 300 pictures today, probably due to the extensive area i covered. remember even in beautiful places like petra, i only take 120-150 pic per day. budapest is like barcelona, once outside the major 'historic' center/attractions, the 'real world' is plain with practical no-character residential low-rises, that gives you an impression of with 'lower living standard'. there are interesting decorated exterior buildings in central pest, i guess is a bit like between 'rome and paris'. i m trying to find a distinct character of budapest/hungary. i guess the one thing i haven't seen in the places i visited before is the occasional beautiful colorful 'glass' roof, just like the market building. when they described it as 'glass', it's not really talking about the 'transparent' glass. but well, those are the attractions, it's not on normal every day buildings.
i guess, it's a 'normal' city. hehe.. with some historic attractions, and a normal average side that is right next to attractions.
