Two Tickets Please! The Train to Surreality

Unity Hostel, Central Pest of Budapest, September 21st - The train ride from Prague to Budapest passed with a whiff of surreality. You know when you feel awake all night long but somehow manage to "wake up" intermittently and with due irritation. Yeah, one of those. In this case the unwelcome interruptions came when the train stopped ("Oh God! Are we here already?!? But I'm not wearing pants!") and when the police knocked on my door. In the former situation I would try and calm myself. "Look Self," I would say, "you're just paranoid because you haven't done this before and your language skills smell. It will be LIGHT OUT when I/you/we get there, stupid. In latter case of police knockery I would rouse myself grope for my passport until I found it in the dark, lurch to the door, pause to consider finding a shirt, decide that it would only cause a delay and open the door shirtless, blurry eyed and generally dishevelled. It's better to be a slob dealing with a stern Slovakian policeman at 4am than to be presentable but dealing with a angry Slovakian policeman at 4:05 am. I'll have to remember to tell that to my son on his wedding day. Then I would hand over the passport with a friendly incoherent gutteral vocalization and then mumble something I meant to sound apologetic as the wrinkled brow searched for the right stamp in my little collection. Finding it, it is stamped again on the door jamb. I got used to the routine and started to feel like I was actually resting around day break. After sleeplessness at night, once it's time to get organized and pay attention I am unable to stay awake.

Fortunately Budapest was also stretched a little thin that night, what with the demostration and all. I met some Argentines at the hostel and we went for a walk. The scene at the paliamentary building was civil but angry. Speakers spoke. Protesters protested. Guards Guarded and Journalists journal-listed it all for our consumption. We moved on, and I will say that Budapest is a soulful city, also not to be missed.

It was recruitted to "go out" with the Argentinians. They made it clear that anything less would be lame. I was tired but I agreed. Social pressures are strong stuff when you're on unsteady ground. The spot we went to featured a Hungarian usion jazz folk band playing some US pop covers like "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" by Nancy Sinatra and, of course, Hungarian fusion jazz folk songs. A loud mix of Hungary and places further West through and through.

Topical Digression: I love hostelling. I bummed around Budapest all day with Argentines, ate dinner with them them, an Irishman and a Japanese girl (we were all traveling solo), talked world affairs, talked religion, coversed of topics unfit for conversation, slept, cooked, checked email, learned the best route in the city from a friendly local, and ate breakfast on a tine balcony with two Israelis. The music school across the street bleched opera and flute scales. All that and more for $15/night! Eat that Hilton.

Chronological Progression: On my way home, and their way to the next happening joint, we came to the hostel. It is about a block away from the biggest street in Pest (Buda is on the other side of the Danube). A chemically smell hung in the air and a crowd of a few score was backing up the main street slowly. Loud pops that sounded like gun shots (but certainly were not!) confirmed that the police were nearby. Aha, the "chaos gripping the Hungarian capitol." I got my camera. This must have been a minor group of hooligans or something because there was little chaos, just lots and lots of police, a solid serving of tear gas and a sprinkle of hooliganism. It was a recipe for cautious photography. Lots of other photographers where running around, so I felt good about the situation.

To summarize, stupidly reckless unnecessary force begot stupidly wielded unnecessary force. From my vantage, police chased unseen perpetrators of unwitnessed offenses. Burst into side streets and buildings seemingly at random and found what they were looking for. 6 arrests were made between my side street and the main square where they called it a night around 3am.

My camera is high def and this connection slowish. More pictures are in the gallery though.