Wednesday, September 25, Budapest

 

Started out at St. Iztvan Church, right in our neighborhood.  Very impressive and Charlie couldn't get over the  amount and variety of marble.  I'm not a very sophisticated appreciator of church art and architecture, but it looked beautiful to me.

St. Iztvan's Basilca

Walked to the Town Market and again we were impressed. Wide aisles, clean, uncrowded, and at last, attractive produce!  Of course didn't want it today.  Fish market and many of the butchers in the basement, and souvenirs  upstairs.  Same wooden tchotkes, (spell-check where are you when I need you?), embroidered linens, leather hats, and bags of paprika as everywhere.  Ate lunch in the food court there, where we had generous portions of mediocre food. Stuffed cabbage is not like mama used to make. But how good would food be in a shopping mall in the States?

Central Market

Next off to Parliament where we had reserved a tour.  They are laying new trolley tracks and tiles around the entire building so getting to it through the construction site was a challenge.  Getting in was worse. They check bags.  No problem.  They x-ray people. Slight problem.  I can't go through with my pacemaker and told them so. So I get to go around for a body check. But there are no women to do a pat down. So the soldier tells me to extend my arms and I think he's going to do it but instead he grabs a wand, which is also a no-no and starts with my lower body.  I shout no and cover my pacemaker with my hands. He shouts put your hands up lady!  I'm almost in tears, though I couldn't tell if it was embarrassment over the scene we're causing or fear of the wand, or frustration over not being understood or some combination.  In any case he didn't do my chest, but got well above my waist.

We proceed through the tour, with me stewing about whether or not the gizmo will work if (when) I need it.  At the end of the tour I tell the guide what happened and could she give us the name of the closest hospital with a cardiac unit likely to have the equipment to check it out.  She's ready to call an ambulance!  The upshot was we trooped in to talk to her boss who called his friend, a pediatrician, and she gave him the name of a place. Not sure if its an urgent care facility or an ER but they say come on in for an ECG, which they tell us is an echo cardio gram.  Not what I had in mind, since it wouldn't tell me if the pacemaker was working.  So we left the Parliament (quite beautiful, with an interesting history, by the way), and headed back home.  I immediately emailed my cardiologist to ask if it was even a problem at all since the wand wasn't right on the device.  Sure hope she answers before I have to rely on Romanian medical care!

House of Representatives, now the only house.  Upper house is used for conferences

Had intended to visit the Holocaust memorial of the shoes on the river embankment on the way back to the hotel, but the construction blocked access and we would have to take a lengthy detour, for which we no longer had time.  Will get there before we leave.

Met our Coronado friends, John and Jacklyn, who are touring Eastern Europe too and had a great dinner together (Italian again. Do you see a pattern here?) Now back to the hotel for blogging and bed.

20893 steps (8.9 miles -- should I get up and walk around the room to make it an even 9?)

P.S. I need tech support. How do I change the font?  There's no significance to the dual typeface.

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Posted By Connie and Charlie to THE PINKI VIEW at 9/25/2013 12:49:00 PM