Hungary Hungary Hippos

Bish's Precis
- There's a hooker with a broken heart in Budapest.
- The Terror House was pretty good. The walking tour was great - I'm gonna try and do that in every city I go to.
- The food was fantastic - it gave Erica hiccups
- The thermal baths are awesome for recovery
- Boozing while watching the lights of Pest was great also
- Cruising the Danube was another highlight

There's a lady of the night in Budapest that has a broken heart thanks to me. On my first night there, following a delayed flight and soaking wet after getting caught in the rain, I was walking back to my hostel. I was almost back when I walked past a 24 hour deli. I noticed three girls sitting inside, out of the rain. One of them yelled out to me "hey, hey."

I kept walking. She stuck her head out the door. "Hey, come back here!"

I replied "I'm almost home - I'm staying right there, 100 metres away"

She said "Come here out of the rain"

I was absolutely soaking, so - reluctantly - I walked back.

She said to me "you want s*x?"

"No, no thank you."

"Whats the matter. You don't like?"

I was in a bad mood already. And given that I was looking at a broad-framed, fifty-something lady who, despite obviously extensive experience, couldn't draw her eyebrows on properly, I was sorely tempted to say "no I certainly f*cking don't."

But instead, I was moved to lie to avoid upsetting her.

"Sorry I have a girlfriend."

I walked off, happy to finish it, but she's been around. I knew she could see through my lie. How terribly embarassing for her. I wonder how she'll get over it.

--

That was my introduction to Budapest. Despite coming back from the Caribbean the preceding Monday, it was a long weekend over here so I had to make the most of it. Erica and one of her friends Kylie joined me for the weekend that seemed a good excuse to head to a cheapish city known for its good wine.

Saturday

On Saturday our planned morning walking tour was cancelled so we headed to the Terror House , which covers fascist and communist Hungary. It was a pretty good exhibit - its only a few years old - but one criticism i had was that there were only long information sheets handed out in english - nothing on the walls or labelling exhibits was in English. So if you wanted to understand the exhibits you had to stop what you were going and bury yourself in an information sheet. There were about 30 of these sheets, most of which were more than a page long, so its a lot to take in and probably puts a lot of people off.

Anyways, that afternoon we had our walking tour, where we headed to Heroes' Square, the City Park , the Szechenyi Bath, walked along the Danube Promenade, down the main shopping street, across the Chain Bridge, and up to Fisherman's Bastion (which reminds me a lot of Minas Tirith from Lord of the Rings). It was a good tour, and as usual a good way of figuring out what was worth following up for the rest of our stay. I'm gonna try and do one in every city I go to.

That night after much wandering around we found ourselves outside the tourist area and in a restaurant called the Blue Bird. Nothing else looked good but this place was fantastic - huge, huge servings and quite a bit of Bull Blood wine, a local favourite.

It was so filling that Erica got the hiccups. She tried drinking water backwards but to no avail. She decided she needed someone to scare her.

So I grabbed her arm and looked at her very seriously. She looked seriously back at me. I quietly said to her "Erica in ten years you'll probably have kids."

The hiccups stopped.

Sunday

Sunday started slowly, with breakfast on the Danube for me. We then headed to the Gellert thermal baths for the afternoon which was fantastic - just lying in the warm water, having a steam or a sauna, it was wonderful. And the building is quite ornate Art Nouveau, so when you're floating there its like swimming in a cathedral. It's a wonder it survived communism.

That night we decided on an early dinner. Our theme was to keep moving - not get stuck in one place too long. So we headed to the excellent Menza restaurant, on the main touristy street, and then made our way slowly back towards the middle of town. We stopped at a tiny underground bar which served its cheap wine (30p per Coke glass) from a plastic bottle. And for some reason there was a picture of Luke Van Zellar on the wall . We also stopped at a couple of cooler more contemporary spots well picked by Erica, and then took two bottles of wine up to Fisherman's Bastion (two was at least one too many) for some more drinking and to see the lights of Pest ( and remember to set the timer). And also to pretend to be a giant, crushing Minas Tirith.

The night ended back at a bar that closed an hour before we left at about 1.30am.

Monday

Brilliant sunshine met my hangover on Monday morning. The girls had an early flight. We had a walk down the main shopping street to the Great Market Hall (which was very clean, great for food, and same-old-same-old for touristy stuff). We just had time to look in St Stephen's Basilica (and his mummified hand) before they got their cab to the airport. Left behind, I had time for a great cruise on the Danube and around Margaret Island , which included an extravagant drink for free. I had time to get a late afternoon meal before getting my own plane home (which was also delayed).

It was a lovely weekend. Thanks to Kylie and Erica for coming along - I had a great time!

On the Home Front

So now back in London. I'm still working at Luton, paying off credit card debt mainly! The work is good - I'm getting some spiffy stuff like appeals and committee items, and my Aussie experience is starting to be valued by my employers. I've had agents trying to put me forward for Principal Planning Officer positions which is great, but I want to stay at Luton for a while yet. They've been good to me.

What's coming up? A heap of people are heading to London for summer, which is very exciting. Aidan and Janelle just left today, and Danica is in town now for about a week. It's great to see them! And then, in July, Nicole (and Joel), Danielle, and Katey Fitz will be around for a while also, which will be very exciting!

I might also be heading to Norway for another cheeky long weekend, money permitting.

For those of you in the UK, with "summer" coming, keep an eye out for a Sunday barbie at our place coming soon. We'll probably have more than one.

Save the Date!

And as previously mentioned, anyone in town on the 4th of August should set it aside. I'll be having my second 29th birthday party that night (the big day is actually the 2nd). Venue TBA.

Infact anyone with ideas for where to have it let me know. I'm thinking about having a pub crawl to road test possible venues.

OK, thats enough rambling from me for a while. So how are you doing?

Sorry, I should have asked that first. How rude of me.

Cheers, Rosco