"He just likes to look at her"

We went to Parliament today, for a tour.  Dani and I got up super early to get tickets because they were sold out yesterday, and realized that our heat had shut off.  She pressed a lot of buttons on the water heater and saved us.  Anyway, our tour was at 2, and it was really unorganized initially, because we were with a bunch of French people and we couldn't hear what the guide was saying.  After we got through security, though, we were separated into a smaller group of English speakers for the tour.  There was a really cool model of Parliament made out of matches!  The inside of the building was absolutely gorgeous.  All of the materials (except for some marble columns that were a gift from another country) were from Hungary.  Photography was actually allowed, which was awesome because in most museums here, you have to pay for a photo pass, which costs more than it's worth.  We saw the Hungarian coronation jewels and the upper house.  It was rather magnificent.  Inside the dome where the jewels were, the guide told us about the statues that adorned the pillars.  All of the statues faced the center of the room, except for one, who was looking at the only woman statue.  A man asked why, and the guide explained that he's just being a typical Hungarian gentleman, meaning he likes to look at the ladies.  Or something like that- her accent was thick. It was funny nonetheless.
                                                    

Although our initial plan was to explore the castle district after, we were all tired and cold, so we went to our bakery instead.  Caitlin met up with us there.  She didn't come to Parliament because someone had set a fire in her apartment by leaving something in the oven all night, and Hungarians apparently don't have smoke detectors because she only found out when she woke up and smelled smoke.  Everything ended up being okay, which is good.  And it reminds me, I still haven't found the pilot light on my oven! So, no baking for me.

Yesterday, we went to the Hungarian National Museum, where we learned about Hungary from the dawn of civilization through present day.  It was exhausting, but very interesting.  The clothes, jewelry, and weapons were the best artifacts.  There was an old printing press, old violins and a harpsichord, and lots of other old stuff that was interesting to look at. There was a really cool archaeological exhibit that had skeletal remains of prehistoric Hungarians.  Something odd- holographic stuff was apparently a big deal, because in the modern part of the whole museum, there were holographic plates and a myriad of other holographic things.  And, strangely enough, there was a Maryland driver's license for some Hungarian guy sitting on display.   I really don't have anything intelligent to say about it, because most of the signs were in Hungarian, which is probably a big reason why the whole experience was so exhausting.

We also went to Culinaris, the international food store nearby, because Julie and Caitlin hadn't been there yet, and I bought pancake mix.

Last night, we finished the Lord of the Rings! Return of the King was epic as usual.

As for this past week, a lot of trip planning happened.  I found $120 round trip bus tickets to Berlin for Spring Break, $50 round tip bus tickets to Prague, and looked into some other options for hostels and stuff to do while we're there.  I'm so excited!!

Next weekend, we go to Pecs, which is a town in southern Hungary.