As I might have mentioned to a few people, I was in Budapest this week. A colleague was giving a presentation/training on our current pumps to some of our reps and distributors around the area (Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, etc). I was there mostly to observe since this the same presentation that I will be giving all across the US when I return. There were 16 of us that had gotten together at the Ramada hotel representing about 8 or so different countries and everyone spoke English, sort of. The presenter is from England so he was the only real English speaker. Americans don't really speak English according to England, so I didn't count. Americans pretty much stole the English language and then started changing things we didn't like. No wonder England doesn't like us. We steal everything from them (e.g. music and David Beckham). Some of the group could understand more than they could speak, which was fine since Netzsch would be doing most of the talking anyway.
Let me take a step back for a second. I met up with my colleague from England and we took a taxi to the hotel. We got there around 2PM and didn't have to be anywhere until 8PM for dinner at the hotel. So we dropped our bags off in the rooms, grabbed a few maps and headed out into town. Budapest is divided into two areas, Buda and Pest (pronounced Pescht). They are divided by the Danube River. Our hotel was on the Pest side. Anyhow, we walked into town and managed to navigate to the subway and locate a place where we could get some food and a couple beers. Afterward we trekked down to the river which would lead us to the Parliament building. It's one of many buildings there that still maintain that old style architecture that looks like it came from ancient Greece or Rome. Magnificent sculptures and artwork on the outside of the buildings. Well we got a little too close to the Parliament building and a security guard in a green poncho swooped down to the ground like batman to scold us. A little startled by this angry man, we laughed and continued on our way. My partner in crime thought it was funny that he immediately started yelling at us in English rather than Hungarian. I suggested that he knew we were foreigners because no other idiots would hop over the chain-linked fence that surrounds the building. After that we used our inherited manly sense of direction to get back to the subway that would get us within walking distance to the hotel. We even managed to buy the correct tickets from the automated machine rather than going up to the teller. After getting off of the subway we were greeted by more security guards at the top of the escalator asking to see our tickets. Fuck. I had just thrown mine out in the trashcan at the bottom of the escalator. I figured I was already off the subway so I didn't need it anymore. Well they weren't buying it. My accomplice and I both tried to talk our way out of paying the fine but they weren't budging. 6000 forints ($1 US = 200 forints). Having been defeated, I payed the 30 bucks so they would shut up and we could get back to the hotel for dinner. My stomach was a rumblin!
Dinner was pretty interesting. The food was good, but the portions were pretty small. I'm still hooked on the American diet which means I don't want to see any white space on that plate. Fill it up! I ate everything that was put in front of me and made short work of the bread bowls. The rest of the night was filled with lots of international jokes and conversation that kept us up until about midnight. The presentation went fairly well the next day. I enjoyed the witty jokes that were mixed in while also learning a bit more about some technical issues regarding our pump design. The technical information proved to be too much for some people while others were simply overloaded. The presentation took about 8 hours, plus all the coffee breaks that kept everyone awake (mostly).
After the training was over we all got ready to go out for dinner at a local Hungarian restaurant. Again, the food was good. The portions were a bit better than the first dinner we had, but still falling short of the 'American standard.' Following dinner we drove around to some other historical buildings that were dressed in the same ancient looking architecture as the Parliament building. Imagining how these building were made without all the modern technology we have now is mind blowing. It's incredible how they were able to much such large structures back then and make sure that everything is in perfect alignment. We made about 4 or 5 stops before arriving back at the hotel around 1AM. Lucky me, I had to be up at 6 so I could be on time for my flight back to Munich. I was pretty destroyed by the time I made it back to the office. Somehow I snapped out of it just before a web conference that afternoon.
When I got to Budapest no one checked for my passport. There was no check in point when I got off the flight. You simply pick up your bags and leave the airport. Where the hell is my stamp? What good is a passport if you can't fill it up with stamps of where you've been? I want proof dammit! I asked someone at an information center and she told me that you can travel pretty much anywhere in Europe without needing to show a passport (other than to get your boarding pass). There are a few countries that this does not hold true with, but they're like the red headed step children of Europe. I made sure to hold onto a handful of Hungarian cash and coin, so at least I've got something to show for being in Budapest. Aside from nearly getting arrested for trespassing and not having a subway ticket that is.
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