Our first day in Budapest was spent mostly navigating the health system to get a bleeding ulcer diagnosed for my brother. An ulcer which arguably should have been looked into before we left Canada, but oh well. He had had symptoms for a week which he had been hoping would miracurously disappear. Needless to say, they didn’t and got really fired up by the travelling. I had very little sleep on the metal-mesh benches which were available once the er waiting room cleared a bit around 3am.
We were in the er for over 12 hours and actually got what we needed, a diagnosis and a prescription, after the gastroenterologist started their shift and was available for a consult.
The main problen, as I see it after commiserating with locals who spoke English, was the incredibly unhelpful ward clerks who felt no obligation to communicate with anyone except their colleagues. The local Hungarians felt as isolated and frustrated as we did, so it was not a language barrier deal. But then again, I have never been a ward clerk, so maybe there is another excuse.This is the subway stop near our hotel. It is deep underground, not London tube deep, but deepish. We took a bus, then a subway in from the airport and saw much which seemed to be soviet era housing. The end of the line subway stop has some renovation issues, and many stops on the line are having work done.
Our hotel has virtually nothing to recommend it except it exists and we found it.
Okay, it is in a pretty, old building too. Maybe I will do some internet previews going forward. Gotta catch up with the world of today after all.