Again, pictures will come; I'm still at the hostel and have no access to uploads.
Today was a long day, but a good one touring the Hungarian capital city. I got an early start and was drinking espresso and eating pogacsa by 8:45. From there I strolled (literally) along Vaci Utca (VAH-chee OOHT-cha), the primary shopping district of Budapest, site of the first McDonalds behind the Iron Curtain. Vaci Utca ends at the Great Market Square, a massive building housing fresh produce, meats, handmade goods and prepared food. After walking around a bit, I had lunch there: chicken in a paprika cream sauce over pasta, along with a large Dreher (my new found favorite Hungarian beer).
After this I took the tram to the Hungarian National Museum where I was able to see many artifacts relating to the past 1000 years of Hungarian history (I've read so much about it, it was satisfying to see some of the details!). I then took the subway to the Terror Museum, a complete exposition of the past 70 years of Hungarian history including the reign of the Nazis followed by communism. The tour culminated with in the building's basement: the actual site of the communist execution of Hungarian nationalist like Nagy Imre (EEM-ray NAYDG).
From there I headed to St. Stephen's Basilica to watch the Easter procession, and then went north to the Houses of Parliament where I discovered the 6PM daily tour is only mon-fri :-(
So, I headed back to the hostel, changed, and went to dinner at what I thought would be Harom Dob Vendiglo. Instead, when I got the location, I found the restaurant had changed names, now called Koleves. The prices on the menu were still right, so I went in. I ended up having a wonderful meal: Veal in a red wine and blueberry sauce with potato dumplings. The sauce was exquisite, and the dumplings were perfectly crispy on the outside yet fluffy inside. Wonderful! Szep! (SAYP: Beautiful!) And it only cost 1400 ft ($6.50)
Finally, on the way home I stopped by borfesztival (Winefest), taking place in a small part in downtown Budapest. I had a class of Cabernet Sauvignon and listened to some live Hungarian music with St. Stephen's Basilica illuminated in the distance - what a scene!
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3 comments:
Wow - what a day! The fear of goulash 24/7 went by the wayside. And $6.50 for a nice dinner?! Food and clothing seem to be fairly cheap - are the local wages also lower?
How's hostel life? Any interesting anecdotes?
Michael,
You seem to be doing the tourist thing most of the time. Very envious. Glad you are checking everything out. You can be my tour guide when I get there. Get the recipe for dumplings. Are you actually teaching or is this just one big vacation.
I must commend you on the quality of your writing. You must have taken creative writing somewhere along the line or as Nat said "he must have been a journalist in his previous life".
Anyway it is about 9:30 PM your time. Where is today's blog entry?
Did you get to mass?
Dad
Don't worry dad, you'll see all of this when you get here in June! Oh, bring good walking shoes...my dogs are barking already!
I am doing some teaching, but we are on Easter (or Spring) break right now (Thursday -Tuesday) so I'm taking full advantage of the time to travel.
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