Last Day -Szenchyi Baths, Great Market and Concert

Today I decided to just take it easy and not take on any more serious sight seeing!  I woke up and had my tea and breakfast in the apartment and then took the metro back to the Szenchenyi baths, where I went last Thursday.  I LOVE those baths!  Although in the daytime they were not as surreal as they were in the dark last week, they are still so quintessentially Hungarian and you know you are in a truly different place!  The building is large, ornate, mustard yellow colored and, due to Hungary’s difficult history, the building looks like it could use a good steam cleaning and some repair work, which adds to the charm!  I spent two hours soaking in the two warm pools, alternating between the quiet (and hotter) one and the slightly cooler one with the jets and the wave pool.  It was lovely and luxurious to soak away the late morning!

     I returned to the apartment to drop off wet things and then went down to the Great Market, which is just a few blocks down from the apartment.  I had a huge pretzel with cheese for lunch as I strolled through the market and did some last minute shopping including buying a cherry strudel for my evening before bed snack and some delicious chocolate lace cookies, a couple of which I had with a cup of tea when I went back to drop off my purchases and started to organize my stuff for packing.  Then I went back to my favorite For Sale pub (it reminds me, in spirit, of McBell’s!!) where I enjoyed another huge bowl of the best goulash in Budapest and a mug of Hungarian beer. 

Then I hopped the tram at the Liberty Bridge and went down to the Palace of Arts complex to the new symphony hall where I had tickets for a concert that was a celebration of Hungarian culture.  All the pieces were by Hungarian composers – Bela Bartok,  Borbely Mihaly, Kodaly and Liszt.  I was in the front row so I could practically touch the cellos and basses and I could see the conductor’s face and everything he was doing as he conducted the concert!  It was FABULOUS!! The last piece was Liszt and it was just spectacular.  The applause went on and on after the concert was over.  Someone came on stage at the beginning of each half of the concert to explain the music and the cultural significance of what they were playing, but alas it was all in Hungarian so I couldn’t understand a word! Same problem with the program! All I could decipher were the names of the composers of the pieces!  But it was absolutely wonderful music and I’ve read that this particular concert hall is reknowned for having the best acoustics of any concert hall in the world.  It’s a new facility so I can believe that. 

So now I’ve pretty much packed and must get to bed.  I have to be up at 4:45 to be ready for the van that will come to fetch me for the airport at 6:00 for my 8:25 flight.  The weather reports I’ve been hearing all week do not sound promising for my getting out of Munich on time.  Europe has been socked with huge snowfall and all the airports have been in crisis mode for the past few days.  When I go online to check Munich weather and United Airlines flight status everything looks fine, but that’s not what I’m hearing on the news, so I do wonder what I’ll find when I get to the airport tomorrow morning!  My guess is I may get out of Budapest without problem but when I get to Munich all bets may be off!! So I hope I’ll be back in Rochester sleeping with Sadie by my side tomorrow night, but who knows??  Pray for traveling mercies tomorrow!

Jewish Quarter, Opera House and Organ Concert

 

Today I walked from my apartment over to the Jewish Quarter where I visited the Dohany Street Synagogue, also known as the Great Synagogue.  It’s a magnificent structure, looking more like a church than a syngagogue!  It was built in 1859 by an Austrian, non-Jewish architect and intentionally made to look a lot like a church so as to appeal to Gentiles.  It is the second biggest synagogue in the world (second to Temple Beth El in NYC.)  The synagogue even sports an enormous organ, although Orthodox Jews don’t use it for worship because playing it is considered “work” and forbidden on the Sabbath.  I also visited the Jewish Museum, which is in the same complex. It’s a small museum but chock full of Judaica, some of which is truly unique and fascinating.   There is a drawing, depicting King David, Esther, Ruth and other figures from the Hebrew Scriptures. Jewish artists are not supposed to draw Biblical figures for religious art because to do so violates the commandment not to make graven images.  This particular painting is absolutely fascinating because the artist actually wrote, in teeny tiny, truly microscopic Hebrew letters the whole story from the Bible that he was illustrating, thus making it a transcription of the text and not a drawing.  When you look at the picture you don’t see the letters with the naked eye, but they have it displayed with a microscope and when you look through it you can see the Hebrew lettering.  It is truly mind boggling.  The entire drawing is actually a transcription in Hebrew of various chapters of the Bible! 

The complex also includes a memorial garden, where are buried many Jews who died in the garden during World War II when it was part of the Jewish Ghetto.  There are gruesome pictures showing the garden, which is now adorned with trees and headstones, with corpses piled on top of one another in 1944.  And there is a beautiful Holocaust memorial as well as memorials to the honorable Gentiles, like Raoul Wallenberg who worked to protect Jews during the Nazi era.  I also went into a Jewish History exhibit that had interesting artifacts of the life of Budapest’s Jews just before and during the early years of the Second World War.  They were showing some silent movies, made by a Jewish filmmaker in the early 40s that document life in the Jewish Quarter at that time. 

At that point I saw that I had just enough time to get to the Opera House for their 3:00 tour, so I walked through the Jewish Quarter (which was the ghetto during the Nazi Era) over to the Opera House.  The Opera House was built to look like the opera house in Vienna, equally beautiful but a bit smaller.  It is truly a wonderful, ornate, impressive opera house.  After that I took the metro over near to the basilica where I wanted to attend an organ concert at 5.  At that point I had missed lunch, but when I emerged from the subway I was right in front of a famous patisserie, which between the world wars was where wealthy Budapest ladies would stop for coffee while shopping on the fancy streets nearby.  Gerbeau café is still a fancy patisserie and quite elegant.  I had a delicious confection – very thin pancakes (thicker than crepe but thinner than a pancake!) filled with almond cream, dusted with confectioner’s sugar and coated at one end with hot chocolate sauce. It also came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Delicious!  Better than lunch!  I’ve included a picture so you can drool!

Then I walked up to the St. Istvan’s Basilica, where I attended an organ concert.  The concert was magnificent and the ambience inside the basilica was wonderful, although cold.  No heat in European cathedrals I’ve noticed, so I kept hat, gloves and coat on while I enjoyed the music.Then came home for a little rest and caught the tail end of the inauguration ceremonies before heading out for supper.  Another filling plate of hungarian paprika - chicken this time with noodles mixed with ewe cheese and bacon.  Delicious food and good thing I'm basically eating only one meal a day!!

Castle Hill, Labyrinth and Gellert Baths

It was a long and full day!  I had originally planned to do the Jewish Quarter today until I remembered that tomorrow the museums are all closed so decided I’d go to the Buda side of the river so I could do Castle Hill where the National Museum is located.  Castle Hill is a bustling place even on a grey, foggy January day!  I took the metro and bus to the foot of the castle and then walked up to the top of the hill.  The path is cobblestone and there are splendid views over the river to the Pest side of the city, although today one had to imagine the buildings on the other side as they were just shadows in the midst of the fog!  When I got to the top I had arrived in time to see the “changing of the guard” on Castle Hill, featuring soldiers with bayonets and drums goosestepping around the castle grounds as they changed posts.  I wandered all round the castle area and then moseyed into the town.  There are all kinds of cute eateries and shops and sites to see up there on the hill.  St. Matthias church is a major landmark there.  I wandered down the little cobblestoned streets and climbed up on the fisherman’s bastion, a long row of huge, stone lookout spires that poke up on the edge of the hill affording a great view out over the river and over to Pest.  I then went to Ruszwurm, the oldest café in Budapest.  It’s a charming, tiny little patisserie, furnished with Victorian style furniture and featuring an extensive menu of cakes, pastries, strudels, coffees, teas and hot mulled wine. So I had my lunch there, hot mulled wine and caramel cake!! 

      I then went to see St. Matthias Church, which is beautiful, but undergoing major renovation right now so you have to step around the scaffolding and there are some parts of the interior you simply can’t see.   I’ve posted two pics of the interior of the church and one of me outside with the church in the background.  After seeing the church, I wandered back towards the castle and the National Museum.  (I had to stop and buy batteries as I discovered that this new camera, which runs on 4 AA batteries, EATS them and within 90 minutes of leaving home this morning, the first batch were dead.  Fortunately, I had bought a spare set last night so changed them while up on the fisherman’s bastion, but I figured I’d better always have a spare set at the ready. ) As I was wandering back along the little lanes towards the castle I saw a sign for Castle Labyrinth.  I followed the sign and went down several flights of stairs to a subterranean labyrinth of caves.  Apparently, these are the caves that were constructed under the Buda Castle centuries ago and were used to store food and wine, and occasionally to imprison captured enemies!  There is a true labyrinth of passageways down under the castle area.  It’s very, very dark and damp down there.  They have turned it into a tourist venue, placing small colored lights along the passageways (which don’t do much for the pervading darkness I can tell you!!).  They’ve also put wax figures in costumes in the various “rooms” along the passageways, depicting scenes from various operas and music from the operas is playing as you pass the various rooms!  It’s really a scream down there!  There were very few folks there today and for much of my walk I was completely alone.  It was a tad creepy a few times.  So I was walking along listening to opera playing and then came to a crossroads in the cave pathways.  I went to the left and soon couldn’t hear the opera anymore and began to hear Gregorian Chant up ahead!  I then got to another little alcove where they had the chant playing.  This was truly a surreal experience.  I wandered all around down there, doubling back at least once and then found myself down the path that led to the tomb of Dracula (historical figure, not legendary character!!)  Of course the closer you get to Dracula’s tomb the more ominous is the music that is playing.  It’s like being in a movie!!  I’ve included a pic of the gargoyle that stands at the head of Dracula’s tombstone.  I finally foung my way to the “kijarot” (“Exit”) although I had my moments of wondering if I’d ever find the way out!  What a riot!

After that I headed back to the castle grounds and then went to the National Museum, which is Hungary’s biggest art museum.  It is a very large museum with floors and floors of art from renaissance and baroque, through 19^th century realism and up to the 20^th century and modern art.  I liked the “old” art best.  They have some truly stunning oil paintings from the 18^th and 19^th centuries in there.  My favorite room was where they have a collection of gothic winged altarpieces.  These altars were HUGE, made of wood, very ornate and filigreed and full of paintings.  Really impressive collection and simply a feast for the eyes.  You are not allowed to take photos in the museum unless you pay extra which I chose not to do so no pics to share of that stop. 

By then, I had been walking and sightseeing for a good five hours and was getting tired.  My back was aching and my feet were tired. I walked down from the Castle Hill to the banks of the Danube and got the tram down to the Gellert Baths.  Nothing better at the end of a long day of sightseeing than soaking in thermal baths.  The Gellert baths are right beside the Liberty Bridge.  They are somewhat more fancy looking than the baths I was at the other day.  The facility is enormous and has the feel of a Roman or Turkish bath.  High tiled ceilings, dim lighting, opulent pools and thermal baths.  Their outdoor bath was closed for the winter so everything was indoors.  I soaked in the hot baths for a little over an hour and took a few turns in the steam room too.  By the time I left I was no longer achy or sore as I had been when I went in.  This facility is a bit more touristy than the other one.  I actually liked the other one better, as it was outdoors and more frequented by locals.  But the warm waters felt good to my tired and aching body today so I wasn’t complaining!  I walked back across the Liberty Bridge (pic included) and went back to my For Sale pub for dinner.  I really enjoyed that place and you can’t beat the price.  I got a pork stew “paprika style”.  I’ve included a pic!  Honestly, their portions there are enough for at least 4 people!  Then I walked back to my apartment and was glad to be “home” after a long day out!  Now it’s time for G&T!

Slovakia, Estergom and Szentendre

Today I took a guided tour out to the country, away from Budapest.  I wanted to see villages outside the big city and that we did!  We drove north to Slovakia, and indeed crossed over into Slovakia and wandered around a small village right at the border.  Then we visited the Basilica of St. Stephen in Estergom, which is absolutely magnificent and apparently, one of the five largest Roman Catholic basilicas in the world.  I’ve included a coupld of pics of the interior, as it was truly beautiful, with absolutely stunning frescoes on the walls and ceiling. 

As you can tell from the pics, there has been a fair amount of snow in the past couple of days and today it was absolutely freezing! The temps were in the low 20s and it was quite bracing.  The drive up to Slovakia and Estrogom was beautiful however, as everything was blanketed in the new snowfall and it was really quite pretty.  The guide apologized for not taking us through the mountains but he was concerned that the roads would not have been plowed sufficiently for us to traverse them safely, so I was fine with main highways!  We drove over into Slovakia and then our guide let us walk back into Hungary over the bridge that spans the Danube at that border.  I’ve included a pic of me standing on the bridge with the Basilica of St. Stephen behind me.   We then toured the Basilica. After that we drove back down to Szentendre, a small artists colony just north of Budapest.  It reminds me of Provincetown, Hungarian style!  We had lunch in a lovely small restaurant where there are only 4 tables!  The other three were taken up with Russian tourists and one Hungarian family so I heard no English at all for some time today.  There was only one other person on the tour with me, a young Chinese student who was completely silent the entire day!!  (I’m guessing his command of spoken English is not as good as his comprehension, so he was able to understand what the guide said but did not want to struggle to converse with us. )  As I was frozen to the bone, I had two lattes in rapid succession just to warm up (don’t plan on sleeping tonight!!) and had a delicious veal stew with gnocci for lunch.  The stew had a delicious spicy gravy with sour cream.  It was completely perfect for lunch on a freezing cold day.  It filled me up so much I have no desire for dinner tonight.  I’ve got a cherry strudel from a local bakery that will do fine if and when I get peckish!

After lunch we had a couple of hours to wander through Szentendre, which was dangerous for me as there were lots of lovely shops.  I wound up doing most of my shopping for this trip there.  The stuff was beautiful and the prices were better than in the Great Market here in town.  I had one mishap, however.  As I was fumbling with my various belongings in one shop my camera fell off a counter to the floor.  Alas, that seems to have killed it.  I couldn’t get it going again and when I got back to the room I read the manual to see if I could troubleshoot the issue but no luck.  So I then had an unexpected journey out to a popular shopping mall to buy a new camera!  (I can hardly go through the rest of my stay here without one!) The metro map was confusing so I wound up getting off one stop too early, but eventually found the place.  It was like Eastview Mall magnified, and in Hungarian!!  I found a media store where I bought a new camera and then came back home to get it set up.  Not what I had planned for this evening, but oh well!  I certainly had an experience of mingling with the locals, because that mall was most definitely not a tourist venue!  I was surrounded by Hungarians and many American store chains where everyone was speaking Hungarian! 

So I’m having a quiet night in the apartment, staying warm and relaxing after the unexpected adventures of the early evening!  Tomorrow I plan to hit the Jewish Quarter in the first half of the day and possibly another of the thermal baths later in the day.  More anon….

SNOW and Goulash!

Today I really knew I was visiting Central Europe in winter!  It snowed all day long so walking was cold, damp and slippery!  I took the metro to the Andrassy ut, the Champs-Elysee of Budapest and walked up it for about a mile and a half.  I stopped into the Opera house but the tours only happen late in the day and I didn’t want to wait around for it.  After walking up and down Andrassy, I took the tram over to the New York Café on the Grand Blvd.  It is an old, very classy restaurant/café, originally built in 1894 and was, during the first half of the 20^th century the hang-out for writers, playwrights and musicians.  It is an absolutely gorgeous, neo-baroque and neo-Renaissance Hungarian interior.  Its also pretty pricey, so I just had a latte and bowl of butternut squash soup, which at least warmed me up.  But it was worth the price of admission, as they say, to see the grand interior and at least it was warm!

Then I took the tram and metro over to the Parliament area.  I had to wait outside in the snow to be let in to the ticket gate.  They only let folks in two or three at a time.  After I got my ticket I had about half an hour to kill and as the snow was coming down steadily and I was cold, I walked across the street to the Ministry of Agriculture building where, under the outside awnings, was a Friday outdoor market.  Farmers from local rural areas come into the city on Friday, year round to sell their goods.  There were all kinds of produce- meats, sausages, jams, jellies, pickles, baked goods, soaps, wines, cheeses.  Although it was cold in the open air it was at least sheltered from the relentless snowfall.  I was beginning to feel chilled so treated myself to a cup of hot mulled wine, which definitely took off the chill!  Then I went back across the street for the Parliament house tour.

The Parliament is truly gorgeous.  Gold gilt everywhere, plush carpets, ornate frescoes.  The building is enormous but only half of it is in use now.  It was built originally for a bicameral parliament – house of lords and house of commons.  Once the communists took over Hungary the house of lords was disbanded and even now, only one house exists, the house of commons.  The tours are given in the old house of lords which is a mirror image of the commons, apparently.  The guide said they use that part of the building now for conferences.  I wouldn’t mind attending a conference in that place! 

After the tour, I went across the street to the Museum of Ethnography. They’ve got a great collection of artifacts from Hungarian folk culture dating as early as the 14^th century.  I spent a couple of hours going through the exhibits, which were fascinating.  Then I returned to my apartment via metro to rest a bit and grab a cup of tea before going to the dock for my evening Danube cruise.

At 6:30 I took a cruise on the Danube in an enclosed, heated boat.  The walk up there from my apartment was a little hair-raising!  I had to walk along a multi-lane boulevard with traffic whizzing by as I maneuvered a very narrow, very dark, and tonight, very slippery walkway down to the pier.  The boat ride was lovely.  All the buildings along the river are lit up at night, as well as all the bridges and as we passed the various buildings we learned their history.  We also got a drink for the journey so I enjoyed seeing the evening lights on the river accompanied by a glass of champagne!

After the boat ride I walked down to a pub my landlord had told me has the best goulash in Budapest.  It’s a short walk from the apartment and given the cold, snowy weather I didn’t feel like walking far.  He’s not kidding about the goulash!  The pub is called the “For Sale Pub.”  It’s dark, with raw wooden beams on the floor, which is strewn with straw and peanut shells.  The walls and ceiling are cork and people have stuck all kinds of drawings, notes, and notices all over the walls and ceilings.  I went up to the second floor for dinner.  All the tables have candles.  The goulash was listed as an “appetizer” but when I ordered and was going to then order an entrée, the waiter warned me that the goulash was generous and I might not want another dish.  He was right about that !!  Honestly, the portion they serve for one person could feed a family of six!!  It comes in a huge casserole dish.  And Tomas is not kidding when he says it’s the best.  It was absolutely delicious.  Goulash is not a stew, which is what we tend to think of in the US.  It’s actually a soup – a spicy veal or beef broth with lots of vegetables, potatoes, noodles etc.  It was the perfect dinner for this cold, damp, snowy day.  In fact, I can’t imagine eating the goulash in the summer so I’m glad I’m doing this trip in winter!  I had a glass of white Hungarian wine with the goulash, and a hefty portion of bread to soak up the broth and still left at least half of what they served me.  Wish I could have taken the rest home.  It would have fed me for the rest of the trip!!  And that delicious, filling meal was a whopping $11.00.  You can eat well and cheaply in this city. 

So now, sipping my G&T, I’m getting ready for bed.  Walking around in the cold, snowy air all day has me good and tired!  I’ve included pictures of the New York Café, the Parliament, inside and from the boat and my bowl of goulash!  More tomorrow!!

History and Hot Thermal Baths

What a day!!  I woke up reluctantly at 8 and got up about 8:30.  Had to pack to check out of the hotel room so left there about 9:45.  I had a light breakfast in a little bakery nearby and then went to the Hungarian National Museum where I thought I’d spend a couple of hours before going on to another museum.  Well, let’s just say I got engrossed and didn’t emerge until 2:30!  That museum is a wonderful introduction to Hungary.  It’s all about Hungary’s history – mostly political, economic and religious, starting in the year 1000 when Hungary became its own country and converted to Catholicism right up to the 1989 break with Communism.  It’s had a stormy history to say the least.  The exhibits were really well done and I had an audio guide and just got completely immersed in the story of Hungary with its many wars, revolutions, changes in government, imperial rule by others (Austria, the Ottomon Empire, Germany, Soviet Union among others!).  The highlight of the visit for me was the room where they have Beethoven’s home piano.  It is the piano he loved and that was in his home for all of his adult life and on which he composed much of his music.  After his death, it went to Franz Liszt who also used it to compose much of his piano music. Liszt left it to the museum (or the museum’s predecessors.)  The piano is still very much play-able and in the room where it is displayed you can listen to Beethoven and Liszt piano music on headphones that are recordings of pieces by each composer played on that piano.  By the time I got there I was a little tired anyway so I sat on the bench and listened to piano music while I gazed at the instrument that both of them had played and composed music on.  It was simply amazing to be looking at the very instrument that Beethoven played. 

When I left the museum I had very little time before I was to meet the landlord to go to the apartment so I grabbed a quick diet coke and then stopped in the local supermarket to get milk and breakfast items for tomorrow.  I went back to the hotel and Tomas was waiting for me.  We walked to the apartment, which is only a few blocks away.  This apartment is really wonderful! I feel like I’ve stepped into a 19^th century novel!!  The building is OLD and very ornate, though, like many buildings in Budapest, somewhat blackened by years of exposure to the elements.  The door from the street is a huge, painted black iron door.  You walk into a large, somewhat dingy foyer, lined with mailboxes and then into a rather dark hallway to find the elevator.  There are stairs too, big winding stone steps but I learned the hard way that they don’t have any lights, so once its dark and no natural light is seeping in anywhere they are non-navigable without a flashlight!  The elevator is like something out of a movie.  Big, black iron door, that you pull open and then push two wooden folding doors back to step in.  It creaks and groans its way up.  The hallways are dark and you have to hit light switches on the walls that stay on for a couple of minutes while you get inside.  The apartment is lovely.  Big open living room with sleeping area facing the street with a balcony.  A small middle room off of which is the bathroom and then a small eat in kitchen.  The door lock has no fewer than 4, enormous deadbolts.  The key, which looks like some medieval prison key, has to be turned four times to lock all the bolts both when you enter and when you leave.  The ceilings in this place have to be at least 20’.  It’s like sitting in a cathedral!  And the heat is really efficient.  So much so that when I got back this evening I had to open the balcony door to cool it off in here!  Once I got settled in I had my first cup of tea since I left home and then headed out to go to the Szechenyi baths.

I made my first foray into the Budapest metro.  I’d say its somewhere between London/Paris and New York in terms of navigability.  There are only three lines, but there are a dearth of maps. Unlike London and Paris where the metro maps are very readable, the maps in the Budapest metro show the whole city and you have to really hunt to see the metro lines on the map and figure out what is the end-point of each line so you know which train to take!  And the escalators seem to go downwards forever –very long and steep and FAST!  I managed to get myself to the baths without mishap however.  The best of the day was yet to come.

I’ve posted a few photos of the baths but they hardly do justice.  The facility is ornate and ENORMOUS. At night it is all lit up and really looks magical.  When you enter it is a veritable labyrinth of hallways and passageways to get to where you need to be.  Down a flight of stairs and then along a long hallway to the locker room. They issue you a wristband that locks and unlocks the locker.  You change into swimsuit and then go back upstairs to the outdoor hot pools.  Even though the temperature today was in the low 30s, everyone just walks on out to the pools in bathing suit and bare feet with nothing but a towel!  The water is lovely and hot.  Since it’s winter, the heat from the water, and the cold air create a constant fog that makes the whole place look ethereal and mysterious and magical. Its all lit up and all the other people are just silhouettes in the darkness.  While I was there I heard many languages being spoken in the darkness – I picked out French, Spanish, Italian, Australian and British English in addition to a few Americans, and then a whole lot of Hungarian which is a completely incomprehensible language!  There are three enormous pools at the outside section of the baths.  One is hot, with some jets but mostly for just soaking and enjoying the warmth.  In the middle is a lap pool which is for serious swimming and the water is much cooler.  (I didn’t go in that one.)  Then at the other end is another warm pool, cooler than the first, but still plenty warm enough that you don’t feel cold even in the winter evening.  That pool is lit up by colored underwater lights that constantly change – green, blue, purple, red…  And there are jets all over the place so folks move to them and let them massage various muscles.  There is also a circular wave pool where you have to fight a current to join the swimmers parade, but when you get into it the current literally pushes you along at quite a clip round and round in the circle.  It was great fun!  The real challenge is not to crash into other bathers as you are swept along!  In the hottest pool I saw the Hungarian men congregating around the floating chess boards engrossed in their chess matches.  I was there for over two hours and the men playing chess were there when I arrived and still at it when I left.  I soaked in both the warm pools for about 2 ½ hours.  It was just so completely gorgeous and like stepping into some wonderland.  It feels luxurious and is totally relaxing.  I kept thinking how glad I am that I did it in winter.  It would be a very different experience in summer, when it was still light outside and the air is hot.   What was so wonderful was the contrast between the cold winter air and the hot springs.  And I just loved the fog that kept moving and changing and that made the whole place look otherworldly.  Bonnie and Karen – you MUST put a visit to Budapest and her baths on your “to travel to” list!! 

I took the metro back and stopped in the apartment to drop off wet things and then went out to get dinner.  I’d had no lunch so was fairly hungry and decided I’d better wait for my G&T until I had some food in me!!  The neighborhood is fairly residential and quiet right around the apartment.  I walked a few blocks and it was dark and not much activity and the few open restaurants had no one in them, which didn’t appeal to me, and then I saw the lights for a restaurant that I just couldn’t resist.  In large, bright orange/red letters it said “BONNIE”.  The name of the place is BonnieRestro and it looked nice and there were a fair number of people in it (always a good sign) so I went in for dinner.  It’s modern fusion cuisine and was really tasty with wonderful presentation. (I had left the camera back at the apartment so no pics of the meal.) I will go back tomorrow to get a picture of the neon “BONNIE” sign however, just because I must have that!   I had a dish that was quite surprisingly delicious – turkey breast wrapped in bacon, stuffed with cheese and prunes, over rice with currents.  It was beautifully presented and quite delicious.  For dessert I had a coconut cheesecake with citron cream frosting and mint and raspberry glaze.  That too was beautifully presented with the raspberry glaze in the form of a G clef!  I had a glass of Hungarian wine with the meal, leaving my G&T for when I got home.  One thing I’ve come to accept in Budapest is that ice in my G&T is simply not going to happen!  There’s no freezer in the apartment fridge so it will be British style G&T for the next week! 

So after that long and thoroughly enjoyable day I now have to figure out what I’m doing tomorrow during the day and how to get there and then get to sleep!  So far, Budapest is proving to be a really wonderful city.  Until tomorrow….

Arrived!!

Pretty uneventful trip over.  The first two flights were on time.  About a 40 minute delay in Munich because it was snowing lightly and the flights were queued up for de-icing.  One can certainly get the aerobic workout walking the Munich airport!  It’s a lovely place but really big and I had to walk miles from where I de-planed to the gate for the connecting flight.  On the labyrinthine journey to my next gate I was delighted to pass a duty free shop where I picked up my Tanqueray for the week!  I went through passport control in Munich where no questions are asked and the passport is stamped and on you go. When I arrived in Budapest there was no passport control at all.  Hungary is now part of the European Union and the borders are fluid between EU countries.  It was odd to me to being going so freely between countries with no scrutiny!  Border patrol between the US and Canada is more rigorous than what I experienced today.  I was very glad my flight from Newark was on time because latecomers wouldn’t have a chance!  When they “boarded” the flight they loaded us all on a bus and we went what seemed like miles to the outer edges of the airport to board our plane.  If anyone arrived at the gate at the last minute they’d be toast with that system!!

My driver was awaiting me when I got to Budapest and we got into the city and my temporary hotel quickly and easily.  I checked into my room and then ventured out while it was still daylight to get cash, purchased my weekly metro card and then walked the neighborhood.  I wandered towards the river and caught the Liberty Bridge/Franz Joseph Bridge at sunset.  It was lovely.  And right on the banks of the river I stumbled into the Great Market Hall, which is fabulous.  An entire floor of foodstuffs – produce stalls, bakeries, patisseries, spices, butchers, delicatessans and all manner of food.  I indulged in an apple strudel – my first for this trip but by no means the last I’m sure!  Really delicious.  And sorry , Bonnie, no pictures!  I ate it too fast!  Truly the bakery stalls were mouth watering.  The second floor of the market has hundreds of vendors with Hungarian folk goods like embroidered clothing and linens, nesting dolls, painted eggs, icons, leather, jewelry, beautiful porcelain etc.  It took great restraint to buy nothing.  I kept up the mantra – “this is the first day, just LOOK!”  Once I get settled into my apartment I’ll be back to that market however.  I’ll stock my fridge from there if nothing else.  It was dark by the time the market was closing up, and having had very little sleep last night  I was ready to head back to the hotel to rest.  I’m going to go out to a local place for a light supper and go to bed early tonight.  Tomorrow I want to get out early to do some sight-seeing before my 3:00 rendez-vous with the landlord of my apartment who will escort me to the upgraded digs for the rest of the week!