Slovenka/Slovakia - another country, another currency..

Crossing the Hungarian/Slovakian Border..

The view from the yellow Budapest tram represented a typical Friday in Budapest.  Students were getting ready to go to school, people going to work, and this weekend was special for a fairly traditional/religious culture for it was All Saints/Souls Day.

I was anxious and a bit nervous of my day.  I have booked a ticket to go to Eztergom (a town north of Hungary..about 2 hour train ride) and then back down to Szeged (another town 2 hours south of Budapest close to the Serbia border).

Boris, a Serbian native whom I met three years ago in Los Angeles, was supposed to meet me and be my guide on the way to Belgrade.  Boris reminds me of the movie Borat.  His smile, his accent, and humor.  It's been a while but this man is probably one of the most interesting individuals I have ever met in my life.

It was about 8:50 and we were supposed to catch and 8:55 train.  I was sitting by the platform close to the Eztergom train but there was no Boris.  I was starting to get worried and was thinking of a backup plan.  I don't have a working phone and for some reason, most were not as friendly like before.  I asked this guy if I could borrow his phone and he said no.  I bought coffee and waited.

5 minutes later, I decided to walk down and use a payphone and voila!  There goes Boris! How lucky could I have been!

He was different this time around. He seems to be much more confident and already had a funny smile.  We got on the next train to Eztergom to hit Slovakia for a couple of hours.  Again, another country...back to Euros..another currency. I'm going to go crazy!

One thing I noticed during our trip is that everytime our ticket is inspected, Boris had to always show his idea.  It made me wonder whether this has anything to do with not being an EU citizen or something that he always has to go through for being Serbian.  

Train station in Eztergom..

yuck..

crossing the bridge in style...

Perhaps one of the most beautiful things I saw in Hungary is the Church on top of the hill of Eztergom.  The architecture was massive and going inside (I had to pretend I was part of this group of Asian tourists so that I didn't have to pay an arm and a leg) the church made my jaw dropped.  The ceiling was much more beautiful than the Sistine and I was almost imagining myself inside of a traditional monarch crowning inside this church.  I'm glad I went to visit Eztergom..

Of course, we had Chinese food with Slovakian beer for lunch!  Man Asian people are all over!


On the way down to Szeged...I was amazed how many children (teens) were on the train.  Schools were too far away from their home. Imagine taking the train to school everyday?  Nuts!  I also saw many undeveloped homes.  Boris told me that those were gypsy homes.

Got to Szeged around 7 pm.  Boris is always up for short cuts and adventures.  Today, we were running for the train and the bus at least 6 times.  I was exhausted given that my luggage was not exactly for the weekend.  We arrived in the dark Szeged. It's cold and there were not many people around.  Why the hell am I here!