08-14-2016, 08:44 PM
My heel hurts so much I've decided it would be best if I gave it a rest. So, I'm not doing my morning walks. Consequently, all these big breakfasts (and other meals) are going right to my belly. Good times.
One of the plans that HK had was to visit some local flea markets in Budapest to see if we could find fencing memorabilia. To that end, we were going to spend the morning in the Ecseri flea market. It is supposed to be big and have a lot of antiques.
Saturday is also the first day with our driver. One of the suggestions I got from our benevolent overlord was to hire a driver to always be with us. I spent a lot of time in prep working with one company that was pretty inexpensive. But about a month ago, they stopped responding to my emails. I spent the early part of this week scrambling to find a back-up. I finally found one but this company charges about $10 more an hour.
Anyway, our driver and his new Mercedes van showed up right on time. His name is Sándor and he will be with us for the next seven days. For those playing historical name game at home, Sándor is Hungarian for Alexander.
We were also bringing Xenia along with us to act as a go between with dealers in case we found anything. After we had stood on the curb waiting for her for about 15 minutes, I sent her a text. She called back, sleepy and loud and I could barely understand one word in three from her. I guess she had had some problem over night , had just woken up and was going to meet us at the Ecseri.
Sandor dropped us at the gate and we walked around. The first item we spotted in the first booth was the Hussar statue we have seen in everyone's house we have visited. They had two versions, one ceramic and one bronze. Eventually, we learned that they were selling for a bout $150 bucks.
If you like antiques, this is the flea market for you. I walked into one booth that had glass negatives from 1914 of World War 1 that were very cool and there was no way I was buying them. There were a lot of paintings, furniture, and russian memorabilia. A few stalls had swords but HK mentioned he would be killed if he brought any more swords home.
HK stopped at a book stall and found a book that had a picture of Borsody in it. The seller said he wanted 6000 ($20) forint for it. Naturally, HK just reached for his wallet to buy it. I almost slapped him. Doesn't he watch pawn stars? While HK continued to stare at the book, the seller dropped the price to 5000. I countered with 2000. The seller waved us off as if I had insulted him. HK panicked and immediately offered him the 5000. Oh, HK.
Xenia finally showed up after we had been there an hour. I'm still not sure what the problem had been. I think it was she was sick and had been up all night. She did mention to HK that cigarettes were helping to loosen the congestion in her chest. I did not mention that I had been up since midnight.
We found another dealer that had a 5th place medal from the 1930's that had the Hussar on it. The dealer wanted 5000. HK reached for his wallet. I slapped HK. I got Xenia to translate to the dealer that we would pay 4000. The dealer gave us the medal. I explained to HK that we would be negotiating for him from now on.
Xenia talked to the dealers about finding things we were looking for. She also took time to shop for herself. She feels she made a great deal on some chairs.
We didn't find a lot at Ecseri, but HK was happy with his two purchase.
Since we still had a lot of time left on Sandor's meter, HK wanted to stop at the Olympic museum on the way back. Google didn't really seem to know where the museum was. So our first stop was outside the Olympic complex itself. There was no sign of a museum. We started driving around with Xenia following us in a quest for the right address. HK kept declaiming that it had to be at this other spot he kept seeing since it reminded of what he had seen on Google maps.
Turns out he was right, and we only had to wrestle Sandor a little bit to have him let us out of the car.
The museum is in temporary accommodations while they wait for the real building to be built. Although small, the collection was quite nice. I was particularly taken with the flag from the 1956 Olympic team that had a black stripe across it to symbolize the mourning over the failed revolution. They had Jeno Fuchs mask from 1920. They also had a giant poster of Jeno Hamori who were interviewing on Sunday.
Our afternoon plan was to visit with Dr. Sakaly Sandor at the Veritas institute. He's a historian specializing in military and sports figures from before World War 2. His name was prominent on the exhibition at the Museum of Military History that I had been using as a guide to find people to interview.
We took a taxi over to meet him at his office near the parliament building. We had a few minutes to kill before the meeting, damn you Greg and your promptness, so we walked over to take pictures of the parliament building.
Dr. Sakaly's interpreter met us at the door. Our interpreter, Xenia, showed up on her bike a few minutes later.
In about two minutes, Dr. Sakakly expanded our knowledge of Piller about 1000%. He knows his Piller. He is going to talk to us knowledgeably about Piller's entire military career. Dr. Sakaly agreed we could come back on Wednesday afternoon to do the formal interview.
We asked him if he wanted to go out to dinner. He declined, but he did say we could go out after the interview on Wednesday. He suggested the Fighting Squirrel in Obuda. I am down for any restaurant called the Fighting Squirrel.
After the interview, Lazlo walked us over to Olympic Park where all the Hungarian gold medalist's names are listed. There is also a giant set of Olympic rings painted in Hungarian colors.
The restaurants near the Hotel Nemzeti are crappy so we asked Laszlo where around the Parliament building we could eat. He suggested a great restaurant called Kiskakukk. He kept repeating the name and I wasn't getting it. He finally said just look for the restaurant with all the K's in the name.
HK and I had our best meal so far. I had goulash for the third day in a row. This time it was really good. The restaurant has been in business for over a hundred years. My waiter looked at me like I was crazy when I asked if the place had just opened up. Americans and their stupid humor.
My plan for the night was to sleep a long time.
One of the plans that HK had was to visit some local flea markets in Budapest to see if we could find fencing memorabilia. To that end, we were going to spend the morning in the Ecseri flea market. It is supposed to be big and have a lot of antiques.
Saturday is also the first day with our driver. One of the suggestions I got from our benevolent overlord was to hire a driver to always be with us. I spent a lot of time in prep working with one company that was pretty inexpensive. But about a month ago, they stopped responding to my emails. I spent the early part of this week scrambling to find a back-up. I finally found one but this company charges about $10 more an hour.
Anyway, our driver and his new Mercedes van showed up right on time. His name is Sándor and he will be with us for the next seven days. For those playing historical name game at home, Sándor is Hungarian for Alexander.
We were also bringing Xenia along with us to act as a go between with dealers in case we found anything. After we had stood on the curb waiting for her for about 15 minutes, I sent her a text. She called back, sleepy and loud and I could barely understand one word in three from her. I guess she had had some problem over night , had just woken up and was going to meet us at the Ecseri.
Sandor dropped us at the gate and we walked around. The first item we spotted in the first booth was the Hussar statue we have seen in everyone's house we have visited. They had two versions, one ceramic and one bronze. Eventually, we learned that they were selling for a bout $150 bucks.
If you like antiques, this is the flea market for you. I walked into one booth that had glass negatives from 1914 of World War 1 that were very cool and there was no way I was buying them. There were a lot of paintings, furniture, and russian memorabilia. A few stalls had swords but HK mentioned he would be killed if he brought any more swords home.
HK stopped at a book stall and found a book that had a picture of Borsody in it. The seller said he wanted 6000 ($20) forint for it. Naturally, HK just reached for his wallet to buy it. I almost slapped him. Doesn't he watch pawn stars? While HK continued to stare at the book, the seller dropped the price to 5000. I countered with 2000. The seller waved us off as if I had insulted him. HK panicked and immediately offered him the 5000. Oh, HK.
Xenia finally showed up after we had been there an hour. I'm still not sure what the problem had been. I think it was she was sick and had been up all night. She did mention to HK that cigarettes were helping to loosen the congestion in her chest. I did not mention that I had been up since midnight.
We found another dealer that had a 5th place medal from the 1930's that had the Hussar on it. The dealer wanted 5000. HK reached for his wallet. I slapped HK. I got Xenia to translate to the dealer that we would pay 4000. The dealer gave us the medal. I explained to HK that we would be negotiating for him from now on.
Xenia talked to the dealers about finding things we were looking for. She also took time to shop for herself. She feels she made a great deal on some chairs.
We didn't find a lot at Ecseri, but HK was happy with his two purchase.
Since we still had a lot of time left on Sandor's meter, HK wanted to stop at the Olympic museum on the way back. Google didn't really seem to know where the museum was. So our first stop was outside the Olympic complex itself. There was no sign of a museum. We started driving around with Xenia following us in a quest for the right address. HK kept declaiming that it had to be at this other spot he kept seeing since it reminded of what he had seen on Google maps.
Turns out he was right, and we only had to wrestle Sandor a little bit to have him let us out of the car.
The museum is in temporary accommodations while they wait for the real building to be built. Although small, the collection was quite nice. I was particularly taken with the flag from the 1956 Olympic team that had a black stripe across it to symbolize the mourning over the failed revolution. They had Jeno Fuchs mask from 1920. They also had a giant poster of Jeno Hamori who were interviewing on Sunday.
Our afternoon plan was to visit with Dr. Sakaly Sandor at the Veritas institute. He's a historian specializing in military and sports figures from before World War 2. His name was prominent on the exhibition at the Museum of Military History that I had been using as a guide to find people to interview.
We took a taxi over to meet him at his office near the parliament building. We had a few minutes to kill before the meeting, damn you Greg and your promptness, so we walked over to take pictures of the parliament building.
Dr. Sakaly's interpreter met us at the door. Our interpreter, Xenia, showed up on her bike a few minutes later.
In about two minutes, Dr. Sakakly expanded our knowledge of Piller about 1000%. He knows his Piller. He is going to talk to us knowledgeably about Piller's entire military career. Dr. Sakaly agreed we could come back on Wednesday afternoon to do the formal interview.
We asked him if he wanted to go out to dinner. He declined, but he did say we could go out after the interview on Wednesday. He suggested the Fighting Squirrel in Obuda. I am down for any restaurant called the Fighting Squirrel.
After the interview, Lazlo walked us over to Olympic Park where all the Hungarian gold medalist's names are listed. There is also a giant set of Olympic rings painted in Hungarian colors.
The restaurants near the Hotel Nemzeti are crappy so we asked Laszlo where around the Parliament building we could eat. He suggested a great restaurant called Kiskakukk. He kept repeating the name and I wasn't getting it. He finally said just look for the restaurant with all the K's in the name.
HK and I had our best meal so far. I had goulash for the third day in a row. This time it was really good. The restaurant has been in business for over a hundred years. My waiter looked at me like I was crazy when I asked if the place had just opened up. Americans and their stupid humor.
My plan for the night was to sleep a long time.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm