Day 3 - Paris and Budapest... Mon Marte, Beauvais, partying in the basement of a castle

September 13, 2007

Woke up a little before 7 am since Rachel had to go to work at 7 am. She was so kind and let me stay longer so I could clean up after me and have breakfast. Then I walked from her place up to Mon Martre. It was great going there. On the way I posted a postcard to my grandmother, a very important part of all the trips I've ever gone on....I've always sent my grandmother one postcard from each of the places I've gone to. But on to Mon Marte...the church itself is SOOO beautiful and the altar piece is amazing (the painting of Jesus is wonderful). Took a long look at the church it self, prayed and donated 2 euros to a saint that I picked out. Then it was time for Stairmaster Mon Martre since I wanted to go to the top there. Up there I met some really wonderful English people, I think they were from Norfolk, Chris and Sue. I'm really glad I met them, they have had an early retirement and are just travelling now....have a camper outside of Paris and just go back and forth, really great ;) After meeting them I started to think that it might be a problem just how easy it is for me to meet people. I'm always meeting people and it's getting a little time consuming. Maybe if I wouldn't have met so many people I would have had time to go to the cemitary where Jim Morrison is buried...but in retrospect I don't care. I'm really glad having met all these wonderful people that have certainly enriched my experience and I can hardly believe that it's only day 3....amazing.

Then I had to get to airport Beauvais, which is outside of Paris and I've never been there. That's where the flight to Budapest will take place, that Auréllion found for me. He told me what metro station to go to and I got there and met great Scots on the way and also found a wonderful store called the Store of Angels (those that know me know how ME that is). Auréllion told me to follow the people with suitcases when I got there...I took it one step further and started talking to these 2 guys and funny enough they were Hungarian and were going to Budapest too. Laci and Feri are without a doubt 2 of the most helpful, wonderful men I've ever met!!!! They showed me how to get to the bus that took us to the airport. The ride there was loads of fun and filled with phonecalls ;)

When I got there I saw Scots and they won the match the day before, 1-0, vs. France and I was congratulating them. They started arguing where I was from and one of them said I was from Germany the other said I was from Iceland: "He looks just like John Paul Sigmarsson!" hehehehe... very cool to be likened to a man that won the Strongest man in the World so many times. They missed their flight in the morning and were there trying to get flights...only 5 of them got on. If you are reading this guys I hope all of you got on a flight that day!!!

Then I went into the building terminal, after checking in with Wizz air, and got a 15 minute massage. Man I needed it and so cool that they offered that in an airport :D I had so much fun in the airport, they delayed our flight by an hour but I didn't care at all. I was with Laci, Feri, another girl from Hungary called Tekla and a girl from Transylvania (she gave a cool tatoo on my neck, 2 spots) and we just laughed and laughed the whole time and I just kept goofing around.

When we got on the plane we met a great guy from Serbia named Goran (means man of the mountain), Belgrad to be exact. He sat next to me on the plane and has invited me to come stay with him when I get there. Hope to meet him soon and come party with him in Belgrad. The plane ride was awesome and we saw the alps and kept on laughing. At one point I needed a little more massage on my neck so I sat down in the isle and Tekla gave me a neck massage...very good...and everyone around us seemed to be so interested in it ;)

Arriving in Budapest was great fun. I'm so glad I decided to come here and the people I met on the way alone seem to have been worth it. When I landed, Goran gave me a Cuban cigar...a real one :D And we said goodbye to Tekla and the Transylvanian girl. Laci and Feri took such good care of me. Helped me find an ATM machine, got me a ticket to the bus and told me what bus to get on, then when we got to the metro station they helped me buy a weeks pass for the metro/trains/trolly's (much cheaper to buy it that way, 10 euros for a week) and they were going the same way so I was with them all the way to the end....or where I was supposed to meet Steinunn!!! ;)

Steinunn was having a nice time with the other Erasmus students in Budapest and when they heard that her friend from Iceland was coming to visit her they asked her if she wasn't afraid of her friend being here in Budapest all alone??? She simply answered: "NO, not at all. He's already met 2 Hungarians and they are taking care of him. He'll be fine alone no matter where he is!" ;) I met her at the metro station closest to her house. She's renting a flat with 2 other Icelanders here in downtown Budapest and we went there and put my stuff in the extra room.

Next on the agenda was having dinner and of course to puff the magic dragon....no wait....puff the cuban cigar ;) Very good but too big for one puff so I actually smoked it in 3 strokes over the night. The dinner was really good, deepfried mushrooms with cheesefilling for starter and pork medallions as a main course.

Party time!!! We went to an Erasmus party and met loads of people: Dirk, Svenja, Hannes from Germany, Daniel from Budapest, Sophie and Sabrina from France and so many more. Great time and got to know everyone pretty quickly. Then after the party we went walking to some establishment to party some more. The long walk was great fun filled with getting to know that Hannes always wanted to ride across the States on Highway 66, straight across the USA on a Harley Davidson and almost did it twice, dancing cowboy dances with Sabrina in the street and trying to pick out a place to go on the way.

We finally ended up in a party in some sort of castle and the main dance area looked like a dungeon. There was electronic music in one room and then classic party music in the other and I mostly stayed in the electronic music one. Great fun there and met loads of more people like Daniel from Germany and Srika from Finland. Danced and danced and danced.....love it!!!! Ended up dancing just like I did in the old days on the electro music dance floor and my belt strap ripped off...good times ;) Sweaty sweaty Mr. Bergmann :D

A great end to a great day and I must say that it was so much fun. Getting home on the night bus was cool and at the end of the day I had been awake for 23 hours, walking a lot and generally having an amazing time :) Thank you everyone for wonderful times ;)