In Which Hungarians Cannot Count

Today I had to go to the immigration office to pick up my residence permit and then to the land registry office to get a document for one of our teachers. I went after teaching, so by the time I got to the immigration office, the line was already out the door. I decided against waiting, instead going in search of the land registry office.

The immigration office is number 60, the land registry is number 59 of the same street. Like any rational individual, I assumed that it was next to each other. A rather safe assumption you would think. But of course, not in Budapest. Apparently for Hungarians the number 60 doesn’t follow 59. Instead the number 60 comes after the 100s.

Thankfully, I had looked up the address on Google maps which showed the address quite a distance away. I’ve learned not to trust Google maps in Budapest. It has sent people to interesting (and wrong!) locations in the past. Turns out this time it was right. The office really was located 4-5 blocks away.

It makes absolutely no sense! I was wandering around in the rain for an hour trying to figure out how Hungarians count. Well, at least I know where its located now in case I ever need to go there again.