Air conditioning, anyone?

Well, where to begin. Its hot. It’s the fourth consecutive week and there is no relief in sight. A true summer experience for this gal from the city by the Bay, where you always have to have a sweater or a coat with you in the summer.

After the World Cup, my evening hobby has turned to Hungarian langugage classes (beszelek Magyarul). Learning this language is like decoding morse code. Fascinating, but incredibly complicated grammer. I will happy when my vocabulary expands and I can conduct a grocery transaction in Hungarian. At least, my number comprehension is not bad. Maybe at the end of the summer.

Housewarming: I invited my colleagues (we had several visiting from our US offices) to my house. It was a lovely evening with good wine from the Wine Society next door. Contrary to popular belief, Hungary has a large selection of good dry white wines as well as good red wines – not only the sweet dessert wine Tokai.

Lake Balaton: The biggest freshwater lake in the world, I have been told. It is fairly large and one of the few lakes in this country. Balaton,-“Plattensee” in German- is approximately 2 ½ hours by train from BP- without air conditioning. However, upon arrival in Balatonfured, my colleague and I felt for the first time in weeks a nice cool breeze. The lake is beautiful, but full of German tourists. Literally, one has to speak German rather than English or Hungarian there. After spending 5 minutes at the tourist infested beach front, we escaped to a pier where we could dip our feet into the clear freshwater (it was not clear at the beach front, rather the opposite) and relax.

Chain Bridge: the famous Chain Bridge of BP shuts down on the weekends and a pedestrian-friendly arts and music festival appears. A nice initiative of the city that I think many cities should follow. Plus there are numerous outdoor concerts here in the many squares in the city. So much to do!!! The attitude here is to enjoy summer to the fullest, as the winter is a depressing time.

Vacation: As part of the summer festivities, many Budapestians escape elsewhere. Many go to Balaton, but also Greece, Spain, etc. I will be taking one week vacation to Germany. I will visit with friends from California and from Stuttgart. Plus, my aunt and I will venture to the Alps for hiking and relaxation.

Enjoy the summer (and stay cool) wherever you are!