It tuns out that we had a few things in common; Itti was a Persian woman traveling to Iran via Germany, with a daughter she calls Shari. I also have a "Shari" close to my heart. We instantly bonded. We talked for several hours about Iran, god, and Persian culture. She was even kind enough to show me pictures of her daughter Shari. I reciprocated by showing some photos I had of my girlfriend on my laptop.

After a little while Itti began to tell me about her life in Iran. Apparently she was part on an Iranian TV show on channel 18 for several years back in the late 80's. She also mentioned that she is finishing up a book (in Farsi) that she is witting titled "My Mother's Diaries". I it's about raising two her two Persian children alone in America.

Itti, was incredibly nice; so nice in fact, that I offered her to email me when she got back to Boston, so that I could take her, her "Shari", her Shari's husband, and my "Shari" out to dinner sometime.

since then, my trip has been filled with jet lag, bad weather, and lots and lots of work. To be honest, I haven't really left my hotel. It's been raining and I've been busy with work. I haven't even taken any new photos!

Hopefully this weekend will turn things around...

Then, about a half hour after I finished that, the Budapest office had a little party to celebrate the recent release of Rescue 6.0. The Rescue team did an amazing job with it and deserved some much needed "R" and "R".

The company bought three rooms worth of these little sandwich thingies, and 25 bottles of champagne.

Gerzson (design director)

Barbie (designer) and Kata (localization). They are both a little camera shy.

Adam (principal designer), my new boss is also a little camera shy... he actually said I stole his soul... hehehe.

Derek (designer) being a little lame and not drinking. It's ok though, it just isn't his thing.

Sean Jorden (with drink), perhaps the coolest guy working out of the Budapest office. He actually took Derek and I out one night the last time we were here. He saw me on the street today (random) and couldn't figure out where he knew me from. I'd be hurt, but he just flew in from Cuba and was jet-lagged too.

Me!

After most of the people went home, it was just Derek, Kata, Gerzson, Adam, and I left. We killed off the last two bottles of champagne. I personally had six or seven glasses, and was having a really good time with my friends.

Eventually we had to leave too, but the night wasn't over. There was a Rescue after party at Szimpla Kert; the beer garden that I had a really good time at on the last trip. Derek just went back to the hotel, which left me to walk there on my own. Lucky I had the forethought to look at a map and memorize the directions (5 block down, 2 to the left). Once I got there I didn't drink much more, but I ended up staying there with Sean, Lazslo, Kata, and Gerzson until around midnight.

Lazslo, Gerzson, Kata

Sean making friends

Salome Tattooed by Gustave Moreau. It's really hard to tell from this, but all of those white lines look like alchemic symbols floating in the air. It gives the whole painting the feeling of being "tattooed".

El Greco (the Greek's) The Disrobing of Christ. Again, the tiny rinky-dink photo I've posted doesn't do the painting justice. The reflections on the knight's armor are amazing, and Jesus has these eyes that make him look truly beatific.

We also saw some really cool mummified Egyptian crocodiles in the Egyptian section of the museum. Neither Derek nor I knew that the Egyptian"s did that. It's amazing what you can learn by looking at what people have robbed from graves.

after that we really were feeling pretty beat and took the rest of the afternoon off. I snapped a few pictures on the way back.

That night we went out on a pub crawl with a few friends from work. We met up with Miklos, Barbie, Adam, Gerzson, and Barbie's husband Dave. I didn't take an photos of that night, sorry. Sometimes it's better just to do it than to worry about trying to remember it. Miklos is a really cool guy, he's funny, interested in beer brewing, and knows all of the good communist bars in Budapest (apparently not a joke). I told him that the next time he is in the states I'd take him out to the Sunset Grill. Maybe we can go through a few hundred of the beers they have on tap.

Eventually Derek and Miklos took off and the rest of us made it to a place called "instant" that had a cool looking dance floor in the basement. It looked kind of like a disco version of the inside of an old castle. Actually, if you have ever seen "An American werewolf in Paris", it looks like the club in the beginning of the movie; except no werewolves... or Neo-Nazi... it's a weird movie. Anyway, even though I thought it looked cool on the inside, the lights started to make me feel sick. Damn strobes get me every time. Luckily, we didn't stay there long and I made it safely back to the hotel around 3:30 am.

I didn't get much sleep that night because I had to get early on Sunday morning. Derek and I had agreed the night prior to go to church the next day. Church really isn't my thing anymore, but Derek goes every Sunday and I felt obliged to go with him. He is my friend after all.

It was all wasted effort on my part though. Derek failed to wake early himself and we kind of missed our window of opportunity.

With no real plans for the day in mind we sat down in front of a tourist map of the city and looked for anything that interested us. I pointed out the Museum of Military History on the other side of the river and suggested that we go there. Derek thought it was interesting too so we headed out on foot.

On the way we passed by St. Stephen's Basilica. We took the chance to photograph it again. I had taken a few shot of it the last time I was here, but it was at night. This time, the doors were open and we went in for a look around.

outside above, inside below.

I lit a candle for my Grandmother who is fighting cancer. I'm not sure if my prayer's will get answered, but I know that praying will make her feel better.

After that we discovered this guy in the Square nearby. He looks remarkable close to a drawing I drew only a week before. Except for the hat in the drawing that is...but now that I've seen this guy I might redraw it to match.

I have no idea who this guy is...he just jumped into the photo and gave a big smile. Maybe he's drunk? I don't know.

Eventually we made it up the hill to the castle that I posted photos of last time. I took a bunch of photo's here, but I'm not going to post them all until later on. Here are a few highlights:

The view from the bridge.

A guy wary of the Falcon next to him.

Derek goofing off.

A cool statue.

the view from the other side of the castle.

Then we made it to the Military Museum and I took a lot of photo reference for The One State.

After that we went and got food, then went back to the hotel. I took a nap for a while because the jet lag was still bugging me. Around 9ish derek came over to my room and we watched "Robinhood: Prince of Thieves" on my laptop since we were both bored and too tired to go out.

That's all folks. I've been back to work since.