Having had a recent three day weekend ruined by work, I decided to take a three day weekend trip to Hungary to make it up to myself.
Budapest is, of course, not one city but two. Buda, the old city, and Pest, the larger newer city across the river. My hotel for this trip was right in the middle of the walled area of Buda, and it was beautiful. Because it was off season, I had a huge room with really fancy furniture, art, and a nice bed. Probably one of the nicest hotel rooms I've ever had. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it.
One of the first things I learned was that I had the money all screwed up. At the ATM it gave the option of 1000, 5000, 10000, 20000, 50000. I thought the exchange rate was about 15 to 1, but that didn't make much sense given the values on the machine. To be safe, I took 10000 forints. I was feeling rich until I saw the price of gas while driving and realized I only had about 40eur.
The first day of the trip started in Buda, seeing the church and the old walls.
The views of Pest from there were really good. Although heavily touristed, the castle area of Buda is very quiet and pleasant to walk through.
From there, it was over to Pest for some more walking around. Pest reminds me a lot of Vienna, which makes sense as they aren't far away from each other. The are lots of 19th century buildings and statues, and it's relatively leafy.
While there, I also came across a protest. While leaving the metro station to see Parliament, I notice police, lots of police. And I noticed they had helmets and lots of protective padding. And, I noticed they were all carrying gas masks and fire extinguishers. So, of course, I had to try to figure out what was going on. I parked myself behind the riot police and tried to figure it out. There seemed to be a gathering about to start in front of a nearby building. I assumed this was the prime minister's office (correct). Then, lots of angry sounding guys carrying flags wearing hoodies showed up. I assumed these were right-wing nationalists (correct). More and more people showed up, some with signs that looked like they might have said Slovakia. So, I assumed they were upset with Slovakia (correct). Many people also had scarves like football supporters wear. So, I assumed this had something to do with football (correct). After talking to a Hungarian colleague when I got back to work, I learned that it was indeed a protest by right-wing nationalists and football supporters against the prime minister and Slovakia. Always exciting in Europe.
While nice during the daytime, I found Buda to be especially scenic at night.
A final interesting thing in Budapest (technically a few feet outside the city limits) was a park where they have relocated all the old communist-era statues. It really makes the past seem real, and the overcast sky and black & white pictures make it feel even more brooding.
Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to go to the baths while I was there. The public baths are supposed to be phenomenally attractive and are, apparently, the thing to do in Hungary. But, I think my northern european sensibilities have a little trouble with communal bathing.
