Budapest, Day 4

For our final day in Budapest, we loafed. After a few shopping errands in the morning, we made for the baths. Thermal baths in Budapest are a huge tourist attraction, and Széchenyi Spa is the largest of these. We popped out of the Metro and walked directly up the steps of a fairly nondescript building that bore no markings as far as I could tell. Inside, we paid the admission and collected our "watches," magnetically coded wrist bands to operate the lockers inside. Since I managed to pack two swimsuit bottoms and no top, I had to rent a suit, so I went for the loudest red floral one-piece they offered.

The complex has a total of fifteen pools, three outside where we went immediately. The exterior pools are completely surrounded by the ornate yellow building housing saunas, massage rooms, and more thermal pools.

The first outside pool we stepped into was hot -- 37-38C (34C is body temperature). Most of the signs were only in Hungarian, but all the pools bore a sign giving the temperature.

Keenan didn't last long there, so we had to go try the further pool, which was a better 28C. This pool had jets on both sides (people are standing on them in the foreground), a hot-tub-like round area in the center, and around that the fun whirlpool with side jets to zoom you around. Joren loved that.

In between was the lap pool, restricted to swim caps only, so we didn't try it.

Inside, there are small hot tubs and large pools in a long line of rooms.

We started at one end and tried one after another. Some of the rooms are distinctly medicinal smelling (read sulfur) from the hot spring water, with handrails blackened from reacting with the chemicals. We didn't try any of the saunas nor the 20C plunge pool, despite the fact that's warmer than Barton Springs. It was only about 80F outside.

Evidently there are also medicinal treatments and therapies in the mineral waters. Mud baths even. We did see a water aerobics class in one pool. Not so difficult to read Hungarian for chemical compositions, at least!

In the evening, we went to a nearby restaurant in the direction of the market, where we sat in a glass covered courtyard. There were few people on this side of a busy road; only a few tables were occupied on the far side from us.

Joren and I ate the duck trio -- liver, breast and leg with sweet potato fritters and chocolate blackberry sauce.

Joren took my favorite photo of Keenan and me together here.

Budapest, Day 3

On Sunday, first we went to Cafe Gerbeaud, an historic coffee house on Vörösmarty tér, for breakfast.

I settled on the smallest breakfast tray, a croissant and brioche with butter and jam, served with juice and tea.

Keenan tried the next size up, with breads, meats and cheeses, and his typical hot chocolate.

Joren went all in for the big breakfast, with omelet and capuccino.

Afterwards, we headed down the nearby stairs to the metro to make our way to the small town of Szendendre (St. Andrew), a short, 40 minute train ride north of Budapest. Szendendre was crawling with visitors.

The winding and hilly streets were lined with shops selling souvenirs. Billed as an artist colony, I had hoped to find more original work here, but other than an obviously local ceramics studio we found at the end and a few painters doing watercolors on the street, all the work seemed the same to me. Evidently, what sells is the standard tourist attraction work.

I did buy a hand-painted pitcher here for a song. Later I saw work very much like this in the tourist district of Budapest for at least double the price.

Actually there was one gallery with beautiful fused glass work and I bought a small original watercolor of the town there.

We did wander through the marzipan shop and had lunch on the sidewalk (more like street) where we ate gulaz (goulash) soup served in heated kettles with bread.

It was bright, sunny, and warm for our strolls through town, and we stopped along the Danube River at a restaurant advertising lemonade. Very tart, but served with ice (a rarity) -- it was quite refreshing.

One of the more striking differences between both Prague versus Budapest is the state of the infrastructure. Both the Czech Republic and Hungary were Communist until 1989, but it shows more in Hungary. Both have huge blocks of ugly, faceless apartment buildings in their suburbs, but graffiti was rampant in Hungary and there appears to be a slower modernization. Even in the tourist district of Budapest where we stayed, many buildings needed repair. To be fair, Budapest was bombed during WWII whereas Prague was not, but even so, Prague seemed more modern and updated in comparison. The trains in Prague were new and sleek, while those in Budapest were old and bare. We did find the musical notification of stops to be quite charming, reminiscent of a polka, I thought. Overall, Prague seems to have leveraged their economy better to enable them to restore their beautiful originality.

After riding back to Budapest, we rested up for our outing to see a folklore performance in the evening. To save time, I caved to Joren's begging to visit Gusto Burger across the street from our hotel. Listed in some review Keenan read somewhere as a good quality, fair priced local competitor to McDonalds (everywhere!), I sent the boys over for burgers and fries. Evidently Gusto Burger caters more to locals, because English was not to be had. Instead of the three double-meat cheeseburgers (with lettuce and tomato) they tried to order, they came out with six single burgers with ketchup (yuck!). Joren had commented on some table at the local Burger King that we had passed earlier in the day that seemed to have six huge orders of fries, so we laughed now, thinking that perhaps they'd had a similar experience.

We took the metro under the river, and popped up in the square in front of St. Anne's church.

The Rajko Folk Ensemble performance was terrific, consisting of a live orchestra and dancers. The orchestra consisted of eight violins, bass, clarinet and an instrument that we weren't sure about -- a dulcimer, perhaps? They played both classical pieces and gypsy tunes, with great virtuosity. You can watch a performance here with some of the same performers we watched (younger), filmed in Szentendre. Here's a version closer to what we saw, in the theater we visited, very small where we had excellent views. The dancers changed costumes for each piece, each one more colorful than the previous. I did find a clip on YouTube that seems very much like what we saw. Our favorite dance was the bottle dance, where the five women danced with large glass bottles filled with red liquid on their heads, sometimes swapping with their neighbors. Nary a drop was spilled.

After the performance, we walked back along the Danube, taking night photos of the Parliament and Chain Bridge.

Budapest, Day 2

On Saturday, we visited the Grand Market, by walking the opposite direction down Vaci Utca (Fashion Street) to the end. This direction was quite different in flavor, with souvenir and antique shops.

The market is a huge building with three levels. In the basement is a grocery store, but the ground floor is covered with stalls. Merchants proffer meats and sausages, fruits and veggies, beans and legumes, pastries and sweets, and, of course, paprika. Entire booths filled are filled with paprika, sweet and hot, in gift packs, tins and bags, with tiny wooden scoops. Tourists throng to buy their souvenirs.

On the top level, we waded shoulder to shoulder through the prepared food stalls, watching people buying a beer to help their shopping (at 10:30 am!) or langos -- fried bread with toppings, either savory or sweet, many looking like small pizzas.

Then we perused the souvenir wares. Ceramics, woven blue with white painting or white with multicolor floral decals. Brightly embroidered linens and traditional folkwear vests. Wooden toys; brightly colored cut crystal; T-shirts. We saw a rhinestone version that said only Buda, but never found the more masculine version for Poppy.

I found some hand-painted blown eggs that were different from the traditional motifs, and succumbed to a bright coral egg with a chickadee set in a scalloped oval. 850 HUF (Hugarian forint) or less than five dollars.

Leather was very common as well, purses and gloves and fur-lined caps, not quite the thing to take home for summer in Austin. The cutwork felt bags were too tempting to pass up though.

When we emerged after our shopping trek, cherries and chocolate cookies in hand, the streets were wet. Back to the hotel we went to plan our trip to Trofea Grill, an all-you-can-eat-and-drink Hungarian buffet. Off we went again, to our first trip on the Budapest metro, in the oldest line built before 1900. The old trains were noisy and wobbly. Most interesting was trying to buy the tickets from a machine with no information in English. Hungarian is NOT related, and those 14 vowels and 30 consonants don't make any sense to us.

We managed to make it to the restaurant, and sat down to our table in an old, traditional upstairs room with beamed ceilings, informed that we had two and one-half hours to consume all we could of the 100+ dishes. Keenan immediately tried out the seltzer water bottle and sprayed us all. The waiters brought us glasses of champagne and were a bit mystified by Joren only asking for still water. They tried to talk him into a soft drink, to no avail. When I refused a second glass of champagne, the response was "Really!?"

The food was fun to explore. I most enjoyed the salad bar, since salad seems quite expensive here in restaurants. There was a large selection of conventional salad veggies, plus another large display of prepared salads and one of fruits (Joren finally got the banana he has been seeking since getting leg cramps). We didn't even make room to try the various sausages, the tray of liverwurst, or other appetizer items.

We were entertained by the automatic chafing dishes that opened when you stood in front of them, to retrieve goulash, sliced beef in gravy, chicken with peas and mushrooms and roast potatoes, etc. Best was the roast duck legs. I've even enjoyed the sauerkraut here, which doesn't have the strong vinegar flavor it seems to have at home.

Other than those two outings, we had a light day because we just needed a break.

Budapest, Day 1

After two weeks of travel, all in our party are tired. On our first morning in Budapest, we weren't chomping to hit the trail as early as usual. Keenan ventured out for pastries to bring back to the room, while Joren and I luxuriated our sore tootsies in the deep tubs.

Then we undid all the soaking by hoofing it down the river promenade toward the Szechenyi Chain Bridge. Legend has it that Count Szechenyi had the bridge built in the mid-1800s after storms prevented his crossing of the Danube River to be with his dying father (he even missed the funeral).

On the far side of the bridge, the funicular took us up to the top of Castle Hill, where the Royal Palace/Buda Castle and Matthias Church stand. Royal residences here date to the 1200s, but have been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. The view from the funicular was the best view of Chain Bridge.

In the back of the palace complex, excavations of the ruins are underway, and the hills surrounding Buda are apparent in the background.

Nowadays, the castle houses three different museums, but we found ourselves not so interested in the Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest History Museum or even the Contemporary Art Museum (showing Croatian sculpture). I feared we are museumed out.

We did enjoy the views back across the river toward Pest, flat as a pancake in contrast to Buda.

Prince Eugene of Savoy, who built the Belvedere Palace in Vienna, stands overlooking the river.

Nearby, the mythical turul bird from Hungarian myths guards the palace

Friday was hot, in the mid-80s, so we kept seeking shade. Somehow heat in Europe is harder to tolerate, probably because of the dearth of air-conditioning. The combination of breeze and water cooling made this fountain a popular place to hang out.

After wandering for awhile in the Castle District, including finding an apothecary (pharmacy) for sunscreen, we settled at Sisi's Etterem (yes, the same Sisi we learned about in Vienna) for lunch. We all finally caved to the pressure of pizza, and each ordered a different variety to share. I went Italian with ham and mushrooms. Joren tried Hungarian, with Kielbasa, onions and paprika. Keenan was obviously craving Mexican food, so his pizza was decorated with chilies and beans.

Later we walked on through the winding streets, peeking into souvenir shops, until we found a tourist information booth. There we collected a better map and booked tickets to see a Hungarian folklore dancing performance on Sunday evening. Eventually we made it down to Matthias Church, where we declined to pay for admission.

We did pay to go up on the ramparts at the nearby Fishermen's Bastion, with its fairytale turrets. The view from there included the Matthias Church, the statue of Stephan I of Hungary, and the Hungarian Parliament Building, second in size within Europe only to the English Parliament building.

Eventually we returned to the funicular for the ride downhill, then crossed back over the Chain Bridge and moseyed again down Vaci Utca to our hotel.

A few hours of rest found us ready to try a different sidewalk cafe for dinner, but unwilling to walk too far. Joren had been craving pasta, so we stopped at Cucina, an Italian restaurant just around the corner. There he proceeded to skip the pasta and order duck with pears and potatoes. Keenan had chicken with gorgonzola sauce. I tried the chicken special, stuffed with zucchini and cheese, wrapped in thin ham, and sauced with saffron. Yum! One of the best meals of our trip. Of course, we left room for ice cream after another stroll.

Vienna to Budapest

On Thursday we boarded the Rail Jet from Vienna to Budapest, rolling at speeds up to 160 kilometers per hour across rolling hills lined with crops and wind mills.

Our taxi driver spoke just enough English to establish that our hotel is on the flat, Pest side of the Danube River. The opposite, hilly shore is Buda.

Our hotel this time is an Executive Apartment, with two bedrooms. Joren is thrilled to have a king size bed of his own, and I'm thrilled to not have to share a bathroom with a teen. Our bedroom looks out over the Ersebet (Elizabeth) Bridge.

In the early evening, we went out walking along Vaci Utca, Fashion Street, which is half a block from our hotel. This is a long pedestrian shopping district, lined with street cafes and coffee houses. Eventually we settled in at one corner for dinner, watching the thick throng of passersby. After dinner, Hungarian specialties like Chicken Praprikash, we wandered around a bit more to find pastry shops to try for breakfast munchies. Then we went back to the hotel for the exciting task of laundry.