Glenn and I are getting really smart and cultured. Last week we went to see Les Miserables at the theatre and this week we went to see Anna Karenina, the story of a late-19th century Russian aristocrat who makes decision to enter into an affair with the affluent Count Vronsky that changes her life forever, ... and I would say, not for the better!
If you look really closely, you can see Glenn at the top of the stairs. We arrived about 4 minutes before the movie was to start and we were the first ones there for the showing. When we buy our tickets, both online or at the ticket counter, we have to choose our seats before going into the theatre! Last week we ordered our tickets online and had to reserve the specific seats we wanted. This week we bought them at the counter, so she asked us where we wanted to sit. (Up high? Down low? Center? Side?) Sometimes they will show us the chart that indicates which seats are already taken and we can tell her specifically which seats we want.
When we first arrived here 6 years ago, we bought tickets but didn't like the seats they assigned us. (We didn't understand that we were supposed to tell them which seats we wanted because we were new to the country and HAD NO IDEA THEY DID IT THIS WAY!) So, when we got into the theatre, we found seats we liked better. There were only about 10 people in the whole theatre, but would you believe we sat in someone's seat who arrived after us and "reserved" those seats, so we had to move.
Anyway, back to my story. The movie was interesting, and had the most unusual way of changing scenery. It was as if the actors would step into the backdrop of a play, and then they'd be in a different location. Eventually, you'd be able to figure out whether the location was St. Petersburg or Moscow.
Backside of Parliament
See the scaffolding? Notice how clean the left side is where they have already worked, compared to the right side?
Every year so far, Glenn and I have done our member care visits together with our families that live here in Budapest, but this year I suggested we do them separately. I'd meet with each of the wives, and he'd meet with the men, and not necessarily on the same day. So, this past week we started those appointments, and as it turned out, Glenn met with the husband at one restaurant and I met with the wife at another. We met up afterwards at a pre-arranged location and from there, Glenn and I decided to do a little research and a lot of walking.
We walked to two import stores to check on prices to determine whether it is more costly to buy certain food items (peanut butter, brown sugar, yellow mustard, corn syrup, etc.) at the import store or bring them out from America when you have to pay for extra luggage. We decided it is still cheaper to bring it out from America if it can go in the first excess bag at $70, but if we have to pay $200 for an extra bag, it would probably be better to just buy it here.
We passed this fairly new statue of the former President Ronald Reagan that is on the square in front of the American Embassy. While admiring the statue, we met 5 young men, 4 of whom were American tourists, and asked them to take our picture. I love it when American tourists ask us where we're from. "Us? We're from Georgia, but we LIVE here!"
The weather was a little dreary but at least it wasn't freezing cold or raining! I am so ready for spring. I think everyone had cabin fever because it seemed like the streets were teeming with people!
Home for another couple of weeks, but have two sets of company passing through in the meantime. Catch you next week!
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