First Few Days in Hungary

Its great to be in a new country, but I am screwed on the language. The few words I've picked up in the Slavic languages won't do me any good here - Magyar is completely different (it is one of the Finno-Ugric languages, and the closest relatives are Finnish and Turkish).

I'm now in Budapest, and darn glad to be here. Pécs and Keszthely were okay, but I've been having accomodation problems for the past several nights. We managed to find a decent place in Pécs just outside city center after a tiring and circuitous walk with our heavy packs. The place in Keszthely was close to the train station (a plus when you have to walk with your pack), but it was a dump - the sorriest excuse for a pension I've ever seen. Deserted, peeling paint on the walls, and bugs everywhere. Ever woken up in the middle of the night to a mosquito buzzing in your ear? Not fun. Neither is flailing your limbs while performing the morning ablutions to prevent being eaten alive by the buggers (though I'm sure its amusing to watch).

After a long and painful 4.5 hour train ride (the schoolkids on the trip to Budapest decided to sit in the same train car), I got to my hostel late last night. I managed to (again) pick kind of a dumpy place, but scoped out another one last night and moved over there this morning. I will now hopefully stay put for at least a few nights. After switching locations continuously for the past several nights, I just want to park it.

Off to explore Budapest...