November 26: The Unforgettable Segway Tour

This morning we walked to A La Maison Café for breakfast, and then went back to the hotel to wait for Alyx to arrive.

She had an interesting transfer driver- he said he had lived in the United States for a time in upstate New York. Alyx asked where exactly, and he said he was not sure if she had heard of it, but in Lake George at a resort called the Sagamore. What a coincidence, such a small world. Fun fact, he also said that the Christmas Market stalls all have to have at least one lower priced item so everyone, regardless of income, can enjoy the markets.

I had originally booked a day trip to Szentendre, a UNESCO World Heritage town near Budapest, but the tour provider contacted me to tell me that we would not be taking a private transfer. Instead, she would take us to the train station where we would have to purchase our train tickets, and then she would give us a tour in the town before leaving us. I found out that we would have three transfers on the way back, and there was no way I was taking ten people through that with our group size. So we cancelled.

Instead, I found a Segway tour in Budapest. I sent it out to the group to see who was interested, and only Cindy S and Garry wanted to join. So it ended up being the five of us, including my Sister Cindy, Alyx, and me. We walked over for the 2 pm start of our two and a half hour tour. We had all been on Segways before, so we did not need any time to learn and just took off.

We went first across the bridge to the Buda side, went past the castle, and then up the castle hill. We had some free time to try and warm up, and then went down and across the Chain Bridge to the Parliament Building. We stopped and went into a cafe for warm drinks, and then headed back to the shop.

Okay, so that is the general idea of what happened. What really happened was that there were five crashes or falls, and every one of us ended up on the ground at some point. A couple of us fell twice, but thankfully there was only blood once.

Here is how the falls happened.

Fall number one was Sister Cindy and me. We were both going to the back of the group to make sure no one was left behind, and we crashed. Both of us ended up on the ground.

Fall number two was Alyx and Cindy S. Cindy S accidentally came too close to Alyx, and Alyx did not have room to move out of the way. She got stuck between Cindy’s Segway and a car, hit the car, and then crashed to the ground. A government official came over and spoke to our tour guide, and he told us we needed to move out of there quickly. I asked him later if there would be any problem or cost to fix the car, and he said no, the car was not damaged.

Fall number three happened when we were stopping in the castle area at the top of the hill. Our guide was helping us stop our Segways and dismount. The next thing we knew, Garry was face down on the ground, and when he lifted his head we saw his bloody nose.

Fall number four was all me. We were going down the street from the castle, heading downhill. My Segway would not turn left, and I ran into the curb on the right. Cindy S was right behind me and crashed into me, and then there were two of us on the ground.

Fall number five was Garry again. We were near the Parliament building, going between different parts of the sidewalk. I did not see it happen, but evidently the dance academy would have been proud of his one legged pirouette as he tried to avoid the parked car next to him before he went down.

All of us had been on Segways many times before and had never fallen. We should have asked before the tour, but at the shop afterward we asked our guide if we had more accidents than his other groups. He laughed and said no, and that he has to call the ambulance about 10-15% of the time.

So I would not recommend taking a Segway tour in Budapest. Enough said.

The weather has been chilly, but today with the wind chill from riding the Segways, we were absolutely freezing. It has also been gray skies, but we had a few breaks in the clouds and got some really nice photos from the top of the castle hill with a bit of sunshine.

We finished around 4:30 pm and then walked back to the hotel. I had been in touch with my friend Eva, who lives in Budapest, and we agreed to meet at Cafe Muvesz at 5:30 pm. Eva and her daughter Liza arrived, and I had a fruit soup that was cold and really good, a salad, and dessert. I left them a little after 7 to walk back to the hotel.

On my way back, I remembered that yesterday on the Segway my boots had ripped when the fabric on the top tore. I decided to take a little detour and stopped at a shoe store. How lucky am I, they had Skechers boots. I walked out with two pairs.

At 7:53 pm, I sent Alyx a photo of the shoe store so she knew where I was. I got back to the room around 8:30 pm and walked in to discover the room dark and both of them in bed. Then they jumped up and turned on the lights to scare and surprise me. Evidently they had not understood that the picture I sent meant I was actually going into the store, and they had been waiting there much longer than they expected.

The next morning, I discovered one of Alyx’s Apple AirTags in my purse. I guess they wanted a more accurate location for their next surprise attempt, lol.

The three of us then bundled up, and headed out into the nearby Christmas markets to explore, grab a sweet treat, and do a little shopping.