Another Normal Day

My trip home from work in central Budapest requires several buses and a tram, but I like living in the country so the hassel is worth the effort. The view of the mountains from my back door is worth every bump and jostle from the city. Plus some days things happen on a train that you just never want to miss.
Today I got on the #47 tram, and was followed by four girls, probably American, guide book open. They were chattering about the difference between a tram and a bus, and whether they needed a tram, and was this a bus. I knew it did not matter, so I didn`t say anything. They stayed on the bus and were talking about that damn statue park. Why we let that man put all those statues up again is beyond me, but at least it was far out of town. I`m still not sure what the attraction is, not too many people make that trek, but these girls were in for a ride. The bus we were on ends, and to keep going now you have to get on the tram #47. Too bad this is my stop, I`d love to see how they do.


I boarded the tram #47 to head out to my village. I had come into Budapest to do some shopping. There were some tourists on the bus, and I thought wow, they are far away from the sights. I listened in to their conversation to see where they were going, and they mentioned the statue park. I chuckled to myself, all we wanted to do was get those bad reminder statues down, and now people come from all over to see our trash basically. I wasn`t sure how they were going to get there from the tram though. At the end of the line, just a few stops down, I was passing these girls on the tracks, when I heard, "Do you speak English?". Okay, I wanted to get home but these poor girls were in trouble! I walked them across the square and down to the bus stop. I thought they needed bus 3, until they could connect to #50, but I confirmed this with another Hungarian woman at the stop. I showed them on the sign and the map what they wanted and told them where to get off - I hope they make it. I told them to take the red bus to the yellow bus home, that will be much faster. I don`t know who told them to take this route but it was bad information.

I drive route 50 from the mall out into the country and then back to the shopping mall. Mostly I just have country folk coming into town to pick up some items at the big mall, and then heading back out to their farms, so when I pulled into the station and saw four tourists waiting at my next stop, I was intrigued. Especially since that stop was the next to last and I the bus did was go to the station, unload, turn around and head back the other direction. But, they got on rode one stop and got off. They unloaded with confused faces, but then just started laughing histerically. They started walking circles around the station, like they were looking for a sign, or some sort of information. When I started to turn around to wait at the stop they came running across the street. I knew then they must be headed up to the statue park, nothing else for foreigners to do in this area. So, they got back on the bus and rode up to the park. They got off at the park stop, and headed in the right direction. I sure wish I knew how to tell them the park is closed this time of day in English!