Jessie often comments that my job writing here is easier because I get to cover travel days. Because we generally do three days in one place, then one day of travel, I really only cover one real day for every location. This is all true, but because I’ve written two double posts, I don’t feel so bad. Anyways, I only have one more post to write after this one, which is already a day late, so I’ll write this up quickly!
Our last morning in Budapest was our last chance to grab breakfast, so we walked down to the Brios cafe down the road, where we attempted to use up some of the last of our cash. We’ve had bad luck changing coins at airport currency exchanges, so we had to use what we had. I got an omelette with spinach, goat cheese, pine nuts, and bacon, and Jessie got a Croque Madame, with a side salad. Pictures to be added when the internet behaves a little better.
Our bellies full, we took our hour long commute to the airport, made it through the airport, and waited for the gate to be announced. We’re both at pivotal moments in the books we’re reading, so a little bit of down time didn’t hurt. Having a little bit of time, Jessie wandered the airport looking for postcards or snacks to spend our HUF on.
Before too long, our gate was announced and set to “boarding” status, so we had to move pretty quickly. I found Jessie looking at sweets and we were on our way. You could tell that the airport needed to expand, but couldn’t, as gates A14 through A19 were all located in what was essentially a shed outside of the airport, primarily for the budget lines. Jessie found a vending machine, and bought us a Kit-Kat and a Twix. She must know my favorites or something. This girl.
Flying into Sweden, you could see the archipelago, a slew of islands dotting the sea, and eventually turning into land. It was truly a beautiful sight, and like nothing I’d ever seen before.
Due to a software bug at work and a malfunctioning mouse on my laptop, we had to purchase a mouse. We also had to check in to our hostel before 6 pm. The specific mouse that I was looking for was only sold by a specific licensed Apple retailer in town. This didn’t seem like a problem, but they did not accept American cards with their signature based authentication. They also did not accept cash.
My psyche is still reeling from the ridiculousness that is a business that does not accept cash. Instead, we found a PC parts store that happily accepted cash. We were also blown away by his flawless American accent. It’s quite surreal how everyone sounds like an American.
From there, we made it over to our hostel in Gamla stan with only a few minutes before the office closed. Success!
Now having access to stable and fast internet, with a working mouse, I spent a good half hour to an hour making a fix to a website for work. With that project finally fixed (I had tried fixing it the night before, when my mouse stopped working), we were ready to go out for dinner!
We ventured over to Södermalm for some fish out of a food truck. Jessie got a fried fish burrito, and I got a fried fish burger. I tried ordering with my provisional Norwegian / Swedish knowledge, but I think he just repeated everything back in English. The place was a little grungy, but the food was great! Other than the cook / teller, there was a man who was taking garbage and recyclables. He never really said much, but he was very diligent.
We left the restaurant with our hands smelling like a weird combination of fish from dinner and sulfur from the baths a day before. I wonder if our cat will recognize us when we get home.