Tower of Babel

This morning we joined Dr. Szirmal, a Hungarian art historian of significant prestige, for some site seeing and a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts. From the Gellert Hill on the Buda side of the Danube river, an old fortress, we were able to get a great panoramic view of the city, and learned some history of the country. It was a beautiful morning for this, and we took the opportunity to take a group photo. 

At the museum, built in the Baroque style (this was mandated since the funding was provided by the Hapsburg empire) I saw some original Da Vinci, Rembrandt, and Raphael. 

We had the afternoon free, but my energy level was in the red, and I wasn't feeling well/could barely keep up with our elderly tour guide, therefore I opted to come back to the hotel, after stopping off at a Spar for hummus, bread, carrots, and an ice tea, had my meal, watched some BBC, and took a long nap! I woke up completely disoriented, but feeling much more rested. I then showered, and am now watching BBC again. This group trip has taken a lot of energy for an introvert, so it has been nice to be alone for the past several hours!

A note on the hotel: 

First of all, our hotel is hideous from the outside. It's a gross baby blue/grey cylindrical, 20 story building. The furnishing is equally aesthetic: ply-wood desks and tables, and a gross grey fabric for the bed covers, curtains, and chair upholstery. It could certainly use an update! Worse still is the lack of wifi in the rooms! We have to be in the lobby to use the Internet, which is a pain. And there are only two elevators that seem to have minds of their own. 

Regardless, the hotel is full, and languages are abundant! I feel like I'm at the Tower of Babel because every group/couple of people seem to speak a different language! I've heard Spanish, French, German, Italian, Hungarian, English, and Chinese at least! Plus other languages I can't detect. I don't know what language to use to say thank you or please, so I just bow and smile, which seems to work. 

I think tonight will be an early night for me. I hope to be able to keep up with the site seeing tomorrow!