(Source politics.hu) A crowd estimated at 25,000-60,000 converged on Heroes Square Sunday afternoon to demand early elections. The vast square was filled to overflowing, with people standing on the steps of the Fine Arts and Műcsarnok galleries, and a crowd extending along Dózsa György út and down Andrássy út as far as Bajza utca.

A great many brought Hungarian flags and Árpád-stripe and Jobbik flags representing the radical right wing. One of the main organisers, architect Imre Makovecz, told those present that if the present demonstration is fruitless, they will organise further protests in demand of early elections. The demonstration was organised by the little-known Civil Union Forum.

Speakers said the election of Gordon Bajnai as the next prime minister must be prevented, and that he and outgoing Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány must be held accountable for taking the country to bankruptcy.

Demonstrators broke a police line on Andrássy út before proceeding to Kossuth tér. When the first part of the crowd arrived outside Parliament, they began to spit on and harass policemen lined up there. Some of the 1,500-2,000 demonstrators broke through a police line at the Agriculture Ministry.

Radical activist György Budaházy demanded to know why the Magyar Gárda present were not attacking the police, prompting them to leave the square. Hundreds of riot police surrounded the square but did not erect any steel barriers. Traffic returned to normal by 9 p.m

We had a train to catch and seeing the square would have to wait for another time. We walked back to the hotel, looking for a place to eat. Not finding anything by the time we got near the hotel, we decied to try the shopping mall. Like the US, we were sure there was food court in here and there was. Still, nothing looked appetizing. There was also a super market in this mall, so we decided to pick up some drinks and snacks for the train ride. Still, we wanted dinner before our train trip, so we ended up eating in the hotel restaurant. We were glad that we did.  The food was good, as was the Hungarian wine. After dinner, we picked up our luggage from the bell hop and got into the taxi, which drove us to the train station. 

The train station was different than Brasov’s, in that when you walked into it you were actually staring at the trains on the track.  There were stairs that went down below to ticket windows, with an atrium that opened up to the train station.  Across the atrium was an electronic board with train numbers, destinations, and arrrival/departure times scrolling on it.  This time, I already had a reservation AND tickets. We had a train number, car number, and seat number already assigned. You would think it would be a walk in the park. Uh, no. The arrival/departure board was not listing our train. We had an hour before it left, but it was not showing. I told Teresa to wait to watch all our luggage and I’d go find information. 

I went to the ticketing area and walked up to an open window. The woman said something and I asked her if she spoke English. She did and asked if I had a number. “Number?”

“Yes, got to the entrance and push the button, it will assign you a number. Your number will be assign a window and you will be called.”

Ok, I can do that. I turn and walk to the entrance. There is a machine on the wall and a button. I reach for it and am just about to push it when something catches my eye, a word on the panel “rendőrség”. I’ve seen that before. I look further, in another section, the word is “policija” and in another I see “poliţie”. Finally, in the last section, in English is the “police”. It is a police call button. Yes, I am glad I did not press it. 

I step outside the entrance and look around. Off to the side is another machine with a computer screen. I walk up and see “Information” on it. Okay, I touch the screen and get a menu. Choosing English, I then select “Information”, it spits out a small ticket. Expecting a number, it reads “The information desk is closed. Normal hours are ….”. with ticket in hand, I walk back into the ticket office and stand in front of the same window. The lady’s computer had not told her that a new number was assigned to her, so she continues to ignore me and work on her Sudoku. I say “excuse me” and she looks up, annoyed. 

She starts to tell me I need a number and I hold up a finger (not the one you are thinking). I push the ticket thru the opening and say “I cannot get a number, the info desk is closed. All I need is an answer to a simple question. I have this reservation and yet I do not see the train on the board. Can you tell me which platform I need to be on?”

She harumphs, looks at my reservation, and says “The train has not arrived and I do not know the track it will come in on. The board will update when it does, usually 20 minutes before it is set to leave.” She pushes my reservation back out, forces a smile, and says nothing more. I bow slightly and thank her, turn and walk away. 

Back at the station, I explain all this to Teresa. We watched the board for the destination, but never did see it. We saw that two trains were leaving at the same time as ours, though, one heading east and the other west and north. We figured that was ours. Of course, we were not looking forward to another set of border crossings (Hungary -=> Slovakia, Slovakia -=> Czech Republic), the uncomfortable seats or benches and the wash closets that opened to the tracks below. But, life is an adventure that must be experienced, and it did not kill us the first time. 

As we walked down the train, I was looking in the cars. Some looked similar to what we had been on just two nights ago, others looks more modern.  We stop a conductor, show him our reservation and he tells us it should be the first car. We  continue to the front and standing outside the first car is an older couple. They are talking to another conductor, raised voices, almost to the point of arguing, or that’s what it sounds like. The language is Slavik based and they are speaking it very fast. It almost sounded Polish (which would have made sense as the train only stopped in Prague, then Berlin before terminating in Warsaw, Poland. 

Finally, the conductor escorted the older couple onto the car. It seemed like forever before he returned, but then he looked at our reservation and invited us on board too. He showed us to our room and explained how things worked and where things were.

To our surprise, the room was just that, a small room with a closet for our bags, a sink to freshen up in, and two bunks, already made.  They were much more comfortable than the benches. The door was solid (not glass) and the window had a curtain. The W/C (wash closet)  was

down the hall. It did NOT empty to the tracks and even had running water in it.  There was even a shower in the W/C (though I was not keen on using it). The conductor was actually the “steward” and he came by one last time before the train was pulling out. He wanted our reservation, saying he needed it to make sure we were up for our stop. I asked him about stopping for the border crossings, explaining about the last trip. He smiled and told us that this train did not stop, it was an “express” train. 

I pulled out the ladder from the closet and set it up and Teresa took the top bunk. I laid down on the bottom one with the intention of watching some of the scenery go by. The train got up to speed and the “clickity clak” we had gotten used to on the other trip was gone. Although our rooms were non-smoking, the hall outside was not.  At times, we would smell the cigarette smoke coming through the ventilation, however it appeared everyone went to sleep after a little while.  The track was smooth as glass and we felt very little. Teresa was working on her journal and I fell asleep. Teresa confessed to me later she fell asleep shortly after me.

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