June 25, 2017     Budapest-Debrecen-Budapest

I’ve posted the albums for June 22, 23, 24 & 25, and I haven’t curated the albums.  

I had looked at the train travel to Debrecen to see one painting, the ride was 2.5 hours and the ticket was pretty cheap, and didn’t need to be purchased ahead of time.  So I didn’t.  What I forgot was that this train left from a different station.  I had called Hungarian Rail the night before to see about buying tickets.  The short story was that we bought expensive tickets for a 3.5 hour ride to Debrecen.  A young lady getting a refund at the ticket window had to help translate with the ticket agent, but we got it done.

When we got to Debrecen the Tram was right outside the station.  I had emailed the public transport office in Debrecen to find the best way to and from the Museum.  That went off without a hitch.  We then had a short walk to the Museum.  As we approached the Museum there was nobody going in or coming out.  When we got to the front door there was a single page posted on the door.  All we could read was the “25^th”.  This didn’t look good.  We walked around to see if there was an open door, and there wasn’t.  There was a guy in an open window, so we tried to ask him if the Museum was open.  He of course didn’t speak English, but we got the idea that it was closed.  Shorter story: after going through our “Chicago to Debrecen” routine with about three guys, they agreed to let us in to see the painting.  Apparently the day before they had a “Night at the Museum” event that lasted until 2 or 3 in the morning.  The painting we saw is one of The Christ Trilogy that is the treasure of the Deri Museum.  Each painting is gigantic.  All three are in one room and it is impressive.  We were in and out in a few minutes.  We thanked them profusely.  

On our tram ride back to the station we could see that everything in this nice little town was closed on Sunday, except for the station.  I’ll let Sue describe her bathroom experience.

Okay, so I know in almost all toilets in European train stations you need to pay to pee.  I was prepared for this even in this small town.  I headed to the hallway where the toilets are and saw 2 very old ladies sitting there.  One pulled out what I thought was a token and handed it to me.  I asked how much, knowing they did not speak a lick of English.  We went back and forth for a while and I finally figured out I needed to pay her the same coin she was showing me.  This is Hungary and the Forint is the currency and I have been using rubles, zloty, euros and who knows what.  Luckily I had such a coin.  Next I eyed a large roll of gray paper.  You guessed it, toilet paper.  You needed to pull an amount from the roll for personal use.  I guess I pulled the right amount, cause they didn’t admonish me.  Down to the dungeon toilet and was thinking, I am paying to pee in this sh*t hole. Disgusting.  There was water to wash hands, no soap or towel for drying.  As I left I grabbed some of the gray rough toilet paper and dried my hands, smiling at the 2 gals.

2017 06 25 Budapest-Debrecen