It's so bad it's great
Good day faithful readers. If you know me at all you'll know that I'm very susceptible to advertising. It doesn't have to be the type you see on TV, it can just be someone raving about something that they have or something that they did. If they talk about it for long enough eventually I'll convince myself that yes, I absolutely cannot live any longer if I don't have whatever product it is that they're selling... either that or I'll come to hate it and never buy one of whatever it is as long as I live. It's a fine line they tread really.
Anyways, for the last month or so one of my work colleagues has been going on and on about the cross country season in England and how great it is. Specifically she kept telling me about this "
hellrunner" event.
Now my impression of cross country has always been that it's exactly the same as normal road races except that it is run on trails. You might come across the odd puddle, but that is about as messy as it would get. Therefore they never really appealed to me, since they weren't bringing anything new to the table. If you have a look at the website though, you'll see that in UK cross country events at least, stepping in a puddle is going to be the least of your worries. This particular event is 16km and it run over a course used to test tanks by the army!
I'm not sure what exactly it says about the psychology of runners. Provide them with a nice flat, fast course and they might or might not to run on it. Fill it with mud and water and hills and everything else you can imagine to make it difficult and generally uncomfortable and it's a different story altogether. "So what you're saying is by the end not only will I be tired, but I'll be dirty, scratched up, wet and cold...hmmm, I like the sound of that".
Yep, running up and down sandy hills, slopping through mud, wading through waist deep "puddles", in the middle of November (ie. in temps probably around 5C)! As soon as I saw this I signed myself up. It's going to be cold, it's going to be uncomfortable and I can tell you right now that I'm going to love every minute of it! Didn't I tell you that I could be convinced that anything was good for me?
Hampton Court Palace
Good day faithful readers, and welcome to the first day of Autumn (or Spring if you're in Australia) according to my calendar. Since the first day of Autumn brought with it an absolutely beautiful day in London, I thought that I would take the opportunity to wander out to Hampton Court Palace and see what there was to see.
Hampton Court Palace is located in a picture postcard area, just across the river from Kingston-on-Thames. Getting off the bus in Kingston, given that it was such a nice day I thought that I would walk to the Palace along "The Long Water", Hampton Court Palace's version of the Grand Canal at the Chateau de Versailles. Long Water is about right! It took me 3/4 of an hour to get there!
The exterior of Hampton Court Palace actually reminded me a lot of various chateaux in France. As I said, the front of the Palace, particularly with the Long Water is very much like the Chateau de Versailles. If you go around to the side and see the smaller manicured gardens, they're a lot like those at Chenonceau. Then if you go around to the back, to the older part of the Palace, built when Henry VIII was about, it sort of reminds you of Chambord.
Having now visited somewhere like Hampton Court Palace, it makes me wonder why the Queen chooses to reside in Buckingham Palace. I mean it's a great location if you have to catch the Tube into work each morning. Five minutes and you'd be there. I don't really think that Queen has that problem though. From what I can tell, everything a monarch does could be done from pretty much anywhere they chose, so why not choose somewhere a lot prettier than Buckingham Palace, which personally I think ain't all that special. I'd take it over my place, sure, but if I had to choose between Hampton Court Palace (assuming I could kick all the tourists out) and Buckingham Palace I'd take the former every time.
It has it's own maze, which I managed to find my way to the centre of and back out again in 10mins btw, a 'real' tennis court, much nicer gardens. As a royal, what more do you want?
I pondered all this while sitting under a tree, looking out of the gardens, drinking tea and eating scones with jam and cream. Actually, I'm glad the Queen has taken bad option. Now I can enjoy her gardens.
Steve Irwin
I just read in the paper that Steve Irwin was killed and I was absolutely amazed. Somehow, no matter what he was doing I kind of thought that nothing would happen to him, he was indestructible.
I don't think that I ever watched him without thinking that he was an absolute nutter, but although I questioned his sanity I didn't for one second ever doubt his sincerity and his devoting to what he was doing. I don't think anyone did, which is why he was so popular...
His death has made front page news around the world, because the world knows that it'll be worse off without him.
Budapest Part IV - random pictures
Good day faithful readers. I don't really have anything more else of substance to add to my three previous parts. But here are a few more pictures I took that didn't really belong with any of the other subjects.
The Hungarian coat of arms
Little Princess sitting on the railing on the embankment in Pest
Inside the Great Market Hall
The bridges of Budapest (Elizabeth Bridge in the foreground and Chain Bridge in the background) crossing the Danube.
Budapest Part III - food
Good day faithful readers. Guidebooks for cities are wonderful things. Arriving at the airport they explain the best way to get into the city. In the city they advise on hotels to stay at. And once you've dropped off your bags it tells you the things that you MUST see before you have to leave again, ensuring that you can have your picture taken with the greatest number of landmarks in the time available!
One of the other things that it advises you on is good restaurants to eat at, which is good when you're faced with the multitude of options somewhere like Budapest has to offer. With only 4 main meal to be consumed, I wouldn't want to be wasting one of them on second rate Goulash!
On one particular evening, after walking around all day, I decided that I was starting to feel peckish, so I pulled out my book and fingered through it until I found a place that sounded good. "Rezkakas - One of the best places to eat in traditional Hungarian style" it said. Just what I wanted. Upon entering, in jeans, polo shirt and runners, I was amazed to find that despite being a communist country for quite a long period of time, Hungarians "traditionally" dine very lavishly. It would be something of an understatement to say that I felt out of place among everyone else dressed mostly in suit and tie. Nevertheless, once I had been tucked away in the corner, out of sight, I was able to relax and I enjoyed what was an extremely good meal. And for only 10,000HUF (approx 25pounds)! There is no way that you could have starters, main course, a bottle of wine and coffee for that much in London!
Another place recommended by my guidebook that I had to visit, and somewhere where I thankfully knew what to expect thanks to the fact that it was located on one of the squares, is Gerbeaud, Budapest's most famous confectionery maker and coffee house. I decided to leave this until my last morning in the city, once I had seen all there was to see so that I could sit in the square and happily enjoy my cake at a leisurely pace... and let me tell you, if I didn't have a flight to catch, I may have remained there all day enjoying their cakes!
You know, I quite often lust after material things like cars, clothes, bikes, electronic gadgets, but when it comes down to it I'm very easily satisfied. All I need is coffee, cake, sun and nice scenery... be it rolling hills, ocean waves, flowing river, scantily clad Hungarian women, and I'm totally happy.
Budapest Part II - the baths
Good day faithful readers. Budapest proclaims itself to be "the Paris of the east", with its many fine restaurants, streets modeled after the Champs Elysees and even a petit Moulin Rouge! Well, I'm not sure whether it is quite ready to go up against a city like Paris, but it does have several things going for it, not the least of which is its thermal baths.
Hungary apparently has around 1,300 natural thermal springs dotted about the place, 118 of which are located in and around Budapest, primarily on the Buda (*) side of the Danube. The baths that utilise these natural springs were originally set up by the Turkish when they occupied the city, who used them for their 5 baths per day prior to prayers. Today it seems to have become ingrained into Hungarian culture. Groups of old guys sit around all day in the warm waters playing chess... well I assume that they're old, maybe they've just been there so long they're shriveled up!
Unfortunately all of the original Turkish baths have been destroyed thanks to the numerous battles fought by those wishing to claim Budapest for themselves. This has however allowed new buildings to be put in place to make use of those same springs.
While in the city I went to the Gellert (the one in the pictures) and the Szechenyi baths, both of which were fantastic. Apparently the Rudas baths, the oldest in the city, are really good too and the best example of the genuine Turkish style bath. I would have liked to go in the steam rooms and try a mud bath too, but I didn't know what I was doing when buying my tickets and bought the wrong one... oh well, two good excuses to go back right there!
The Hungarians have a totally different approach to Australians when it comes to building pools it would seem. Whereas in Australia pools are all very sterile, not particularly attractive places that seem to only attract people who wish to train in them and parents who won't allow their young children in the sea, Hungary is quite the opposite. Hungarian baths are all about relaxation (as well as the baths there are steam rooms, mud baths, saunas, massage facilities), and much to my delight, there were virtually no young children at all.
You may think to yourself "oh, I can sit in a spa anywhere, what's the difference?" Well you see, in my opinion warm water is only part of the deal. If you want the whole experience of relaxing and spoiling yourself you need the surroundings too. Entering any of the baths you nearly feel like you're entering the Palace of Versailles. There are chandeliers, there are marble statues, there are mosaics, not the kind of thing you find in a normal pool.
As you sit there in the 40C water, half comatose as your muscles just melt, you slowly open your eyes and look at the building surrounding you and think to yourself... "those old guys have got the right idea, this is the life"
(*) On a side note, for those of you who don't know, Budapest has only been a single entity since 1873. Prior to this it was three separate cities, Buda, Obuda and Pest.
Good day faithful readers. If you know me at all you'll know that I'm very susceptible to advertising. It doesn't have to be the type you see on TV, it can just be someone raving about something that they have or something that they did. If they talk about it for long enough eventually I'll convince myself that yes, I absolutely cannot live any longer if I don't have whatever product it is that they're selling... either that or I'll come to hate it and never buy one of whatever it is as long as I live. It's a fine line they tread really.
I'm not sure what exactly it says about the psychology of runners. Provide them with a nice flat, fast course and they might or might not to run on it. Fill it with mud and water and hills and everything else you can imagine to make it difficult and generally uncomfortable and it's a different story altogether. "So what you're saying is by the end not only will I be tired, but I'll be dirty, scratched up, wet and cold...hmmm, I like the sound of that".
