Clockstopper
Yeah, sorry, it's been a bad stretch lately. Work has sucked, we've been trying to clean and organize the house, work has sucked, the administration of our move to London continues to be almost impossible, work has sucked, it's been lousy weather, and to top it all off, I launched myself down a flight of stairs last week and spent a few days on the couch nursing some really ugly bruises, a seriously swollen foot, and a immobile neck. Nothing broken, nothing that will keep me off my feet at High Sierra, but it's not been the happiest of months.
However, I have finally uploaded our pictures from our trip to Budapest at the beginning of the month, which was a really good time. Some highlights:
It's a gorgeous city...full of a mix of influences (Ottoman, Classical, Communist...) and it seems to be revitalizing quickly. We stayed on the Pest side, which is considered the more urban area (despite a gorgeous park and the lovely tree lined Andrassy Ut (street) where we stayed) and we didn't do very much other than wander, eat, and drink. We did have mostly lovely weather, though, and it felt much greener than London.
Our first day, we headed straight for a wine store so we could make sure to get a few bottles of Tokaji before the weekend and the holiday. Wine in hand, we explored the Pest side of the city, and did end up walking across the Chain Bridge...
...and then down the (very flooded) Danube river on the Buda side for some amazing views of Parliament (which is being cleaned...this is the clean part):
We figured out the metro system – which wasn't that difficult, but you have to read the ticket instructions (and the stops, which all look alike!) very carefully – and had lunch at an amazing wine bar that the man at the wine store had recommended.
That was our first experience with Hungarian food and wine (both of which are seriously underrated and heavily under-marketed...we had brilliant meals all weekend!), and the gourmet fest continued that night at Gundel for dinner.
We had an awesome wine tasting menu (on Faye and Nigel's advice) and could barely finish our meal. The nice picture-happy couple at the table next to us took one of us looking fat and happy....
After dinner, we wandered around Millenium Park a bit and learned that we can't take a good night photo to save our lives:
The next day we explored the Pest side of the city, Castle Hill in particular. You get to take this cool old funicular up to the top.
And then you get to roam around castles and churches and museums and such. I say "roam" because we were lazy tourists and didn't exactly go in anywhere. We just walked around and took cool pictures.
And more cool pictures:
And the we came back down the hill and across the river, wandered some more, drank some more awesome Hungarian wine, and wandered some more. Didn't go in here...
or here either...(sadly).
Sunday night we continued what's becoming a weird travel tradition for the two of us and had Mexican food. Yes, in Budapest. Yes, it was good (better than anything we've had in London, that's for sure!). No, no pictures...we do have SOME pride.
Monday was May Day, the traditional "Labor Day" for the Communist party. And lo and behold, the last gasp of the Hungarian Communist Party were right outside our hotel window trying to muster a march. They had Che Guevara flags and t-shirts, a few people dressed like Santa Claus, some with Palestinian head scarves, and they were blaring old Elvis music.
And you wonder why communism died in Europe.
More wandering on Monday, thwarted a bit by the rain (no chance to go to the baths in the city park that we planned on visiting), but we ended up relaxing in a family-type restaurant with more wine (duh) and good apple cake. For dinner, we took a chance on Fat Mo's Speakeasy...a guidebook recommendation for jazz and good food that could have easily gone VERY wrong.
Turns out there's nothing wrong with good steak well cooked, our last bottle of fab Hungarian wine, and New Orleans blues sung in a strong Eastern European accent, even if the décor was a bit Disney. A bit surreal, but really really fun.
More pictures from our trip on our Flickr site.
We've decided to not go to Brussels next weekend and stay in London to do some more exploring and pray for sunshine like the rest of the country. We do go to Germany for the World Cup with W and Y in less than a month, and High Sierra is looming (more on that later).
I promise to be better about posting, as long as it's sunny and I don't fall down any more stairs.
