I’m typing this in a big green bus / That hurtles across the highways / Probably looks just like the USA / But it’s night so I can’t see, hey /
Today started out pretty quiet, I got up, showered, had breakfast. Befriended a Belgian nurse, Jordan-Ellen who was headed to tour the Synagogue; I had wanted to do the same thing so, after packing up and dropping our stuff in lockers, we headed out. The Synagogue is in the part of town where, at the very end of WWII, the Jews of Budapest were packed 14 to a room and made subject to random, brutal, violence. The place has a palpable emotional depth.
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Returning to reality, at the Synagogue I couldn’t get a student ticket with my Zürich student card, but after a bit of imploring the guy just let me in. It’s an interesting tension the minds of these people must be in. I think a vague notion of rules and what is proper would not suffice to battle with the impulse to do kindness; and there’s not enough accountability that they have to be strict. I think, the battle (among good individuals not on a power trip) is between feeling like their job is meaningful, and the impulse to do random acts of kindness. I’m not sure though (some little acts of kindness mean doing a better job).
We got in, and levity overturned gravity as I opted to join Jordan-Ellen, originally from Argentina -> Spain, in the Spanish speaking tour. Also, as I tried to join her, I was tugged back by a fellow who awarded me a compulsory paper yarmulke. I tried to hold it on my head, not noticing the little pin, as I went to the tour.
The Spanish tour lady fortunately spoke reaaaallly slowly and I understood most of it. The synagogue was shaped like a Catholic church and had pulpits and an organ, which was weird–I got that it was super weird and had something to do with wanting to be friendly with the Catholics, and that all sorts of weird legal thinking was invoked to make it kosher–the church organ was somehow considered to be outside the building. It had pews, and railings on either side where I think the women would stand (I wonder if that’s still true today).
We went outside to a big mass cemetery, which was pretty impressionful. There was also a big plaque dedicated to different foreigners who had worked to save the Jews during their ghettoization, one now called the Angel of Budapest.
The tour ended and we hit a museum, which was neat–it had a circumcision loveseat, a Torah scroll, some menorahs made from household materials during the war…
Then I had to haul back to the hostel. I snapped a selfie with Jordan-Ellen and took off at a run. Grabbed my bags, got my 5 euro deposit back that would be my dinner in Vienna, ran around like a headless chicken looking for the metro entrance, realized this tram was aboveground, got there just as it arrived, quickly computed it was going the right way based on its direction wrt the square, hopped on with no ticket because it was super crowded, got off, got on another metro (with a ticket after waiting behind a lady buying 12 tickets with little coins), finally arrived in Kelenfold station, bought some pizza slices and a weird poppy strudel with my last 700 Hungarian forint (so now forint i = 0, ayyy, been waiting for a while for that one), headed up to the bus place, found the platform, and yelled a great LEEEEROY of logistical genius (not actually). Befriended the girl standing there, a quiescent soul named Lex, going back to Austria to see her family, bringing a couple kilos of home-grown beets and squash. We chatted for a bit and I stared up into the snow and thought about specialists and generalists (for that line of thought, follow me on Twitter: m’twitter). Finally the bus arrived (late, those laggards! Stupid information asymmetry and me having to arrive on time, miffed emoji). We hopped on and rode out into the snow.
I read some quantum, made some progress and then couldn’t keep my eyes open. I woke up as we were nearly entering Vienna. It was cold and dark and I had only $8 in my bank account and no offline map saved and I began to think it had been folly to book this bus with its 2 hour layover. I asked Lex where she was going, she said she was going into town to catch another train and I could ride in with her. We set off to the metro station, got tickets; we boarded a really fast and crowded train; she helped me figure out what stop I should get off on and then vanished into the swirling metro crowd. I was now alone in Vienna (dramatic paragraph break).
A huge dramatic cathedral loomed at my stop in the very downtown. I walked around it, then beelined to the nearest Mickey D’s, where I siphoned off some Internet. I found a pay-what-you-want all-you-can-eat Pakistani restaurant, super well reviewed, less than a mile away, with suggested donation, you got it, 5 EUR. Yippee! I briskly trotted through really very cool streets with beautiful buildings to my destination.
The place was bustling with students. I sat down at a table with permission from a dude by the name of Lorenz, who turned out to be really nice! A free-spirit homeschooler kind of a guy, understated but enthusiastic personality, taking classes in Wood Science to make surfboards. I got some delicious Indian-buffet style food and we chatted about US politics, and his family, and learning. He said he was going to a nearer Metro station and would take me there, so I had some time. I chowed down on some incredible dessert, a warm fluff of some kind that tasted of cardamom and apples and had just come right out of some hot pot. I took a second plate, then we left. Lorenz dropped me off / at a stop / with the invitation to by his place hop / next time.
I got on the next train, no ticket. Lorenz had confirmed the weird fact that it doesn’t pay to pay on any European metro system and regaled me with a story of, the one time he’d been checked, running away from the checker, who doesn’t even have the legal force to restrain you physically. I popped out my phone to check the details of my connection, and realized with horror that it was 15 minutes earlier than I thought. I’d arrive just barely on time. I cursed the last plate of dessert and steeled myself to sprint out of the station.
Like a bat out of hell, I burst from the train doors, up a staircase. Left? Right? Wait, there’s a bus through that window, it’s left! Blazed down the cold dark road, hauled into my parking lot, and looked up at the driver, who confirmed that yes, this was my bus. (It left a good 20 minutes later, jeez, guess I should be thankful (miffed emoji) (pious emoji)).
Read more quantum information; after a particularly difficult part I stopped and posted a tweetstorm about #formtoleaveform and System 1 vs System 2 approaches to math. We stopped at a rest stop with a classy restaurant and hotel that would have been weird on an American highway; but they served tap water (Hahnenwasser) upon request, so I was happy.
Got back on, wrote a twitter bio (am I wasting my life or am I embracing it?!) then wrote this log. Cheerio!