Public Transportation
Perhaps the best legacy of communist rule in Hungary is the excellent public transport system they set up for the proletariat. And Agi and I have been enjoying it a lot already. There are buses, trams, trains and the metro that take you all over the city and arrive about every 5-7 minutes at each stop. We most likely won't need a car for a while. It cost us $35/each for a month-long free pass city-wide so we just hop on whatever we like without having to buy tickets.
Yesterday we were heading over to Miki's place (Agi's brother) on the tram. A young gypsy girl was walking through the tram while carrying a little baby and asking for money. She was probably 13 or 14 and we realized later that the baby very well could be her own! We shook our heads when she asked for some cash but then I felt pretty bad when I saw what she did next. The young mother saw a partially-filled cup of coke on the ground, picked it up and then served it to her baby! We were blown away and the two were apparently more desperate than we thought (though she could have gone to a restroom in the mall and gotten some free water there...). She continued walking down the tram, holding her new cup and then asked some young students drinking a soda if they would fill up her cup too. The students obliged and poured some soda in the mom's cup and then she gave it to the baby again.
I took some pictures today--and a video-- while riding the busz (pronounced "booce") and I'll post those up soon.
