Budapest (Pest side)
I just spent the last weekend in Budapest, which was really nice. I took a train there from Schwaigern on Friday, 10 hours of pure joy, and arrived around 9. I stayed there with an American friend that I met in Tokyo. She is working there as a financial analyst and has been there since May. I arrived, dropped off my stuff at her place, and then we hit the town. First we went over to one of her co-workers places and pre-partied a bit. Her co-workers/friends were all really nice. There were two Americans there, a co-worker who had been in Budapest for about 6 months and his girlfriend who was working in Budapest as a free-lance journalist, one French co-worker, and then three Hungarian co-workers. We just sat there and drank, conversed, chilled. It was nice. We discussed the merits or Neil Diamond, the philosophy of Ann Rand, Hungarian economy and history, and the color and versatility of Hungarian swear words. From there we all jumped into one of her co-worker's nine-seater vans, and whizzed down the streets jamming to the Rolling Stones. There is a German movie called Sonnenallee which deals with East Berlin youths in the 1970s who rebel against the DDR by listening to "dissident, Western" music, and in one scene the a 15 year old is overjoyed when he finally recieves a copy of "Exile on Main Street" (a joy that is shortlived as the album is destroyed by a Russian soldier in the following scene). The van was straight out of the seventies and on the streets there in Budapest there are a lot of old Soviet cars, I couldn't help but recall that movie as we raced down the streets listening to "Rocks Off." We parked and walked to a packed outdoor club. The club was rocking, rocking with really bad 70s, 80s and 90s pop/dance hits. Ok, that's unfair, the music wasn't bad, just really, really, played out. Someone explained to me "imagine that in 1989, after the fall of the Soviet Union, someone just gave Hungary a box with all of the music that they had missed out on for the last 40 years and said, 'here, have fun' " So now they're still reliving for the first time all of the music that they missed. I found the explanation both humorous and insightful. The atmosphere in the club was great though. At about two we left the club and walked to a themal bath that was next door. That was amazing. It was 2am and we left a club to go relax in mineral baths, ice baths, steam rooms, and saunas. The baths had been around since the 15th century. We stayed there until the place closed at four. Amazing.
The city of Budapest was formed in 1873 through the amalgamation of the three cities of Buda, Obuda, and Pest. The Buda side of the city lies on the West bank of the Danube river and Pest lies to the East.
On Saturday we walked around the Pest side of the city all day. We saw the Parliament, a towering Gothic structure modeled after the UK's and standing 96m tall, a number that symbolizes Hungary's millenial aniversary. We saw St. Stephen's basilica, the largest church in Budapest and the home of St. Stephen's mumified right hand. We also checked out the Great Synagogue, which is the largest synagogue in Europe and the second largest in the world. The entrance costs $8 though, so I just admired it from the outside.
Millenium Monument in Heroes' Square
That night we once again met up with her friends and we went out for an authentic Hungarian dinner topped off with shots of Palinka, Hungary's treasured 100 proof schnaps. It's basically a national drink, so culturally I was glad that I tried it, but physically.... Whew, it tasted like really, really cheap/bad vodka, and as it was the end of the meal and I had nothing to chase it down with, the taste lingered with me for about the next half hour. I guess there are many ypes of Palinka though. Ours was of the straight variety, but there are others flavored with honey or fruits which are supposedly much better.
Alongside the Danube, with the Buda Castle in the background.
After dinner we bought some beers from a convienience store and just walked alongside the Danube. The view from the river is beautiful at night. Everything is lit up: the castle, the Parliament, the many churches, and many impressive bridges. It's really spectacular.
One of the best parts of the night was when we were buying our drinks. The American guy in our group picked up a bottle, a jug actually, of $3 sangria, twist-off cap and all, and as he was checking out he asked the cashier, jokingly, if the bottle "was a good year?" The cashier just stared at him somewhat bewildered for a few awkward seconds, then explained to him "that's not wine." His girlfriend immediately told him to stop making jokes in English because no one ever gets them, but I really appreciated it. We drank the sangria warm, against the label's recommendation, and it was splendid, something like a really sugary Hi-C with a kick. The funniest part was that the next night we went out to a club that supposedly had great sangrias, and when we ordered them the bartender pulled out the same bottle. Hilarious. Although I must admit that served chilled and garneshed with fruit it was somewhat of a completely different drink.
Chain Bridge as viewed from the Castle District.
On Sunday I crossed over to the Buda side and explored the 800 yr. old Castle District, a World Heritage site, which contains the Buda Castle, three museums, the Matthias Church, the Fisherman's Bastion, and about three million other things. The district is situated on the Vorhegy Hill and offers an incredible panoramic of the city in its entirity.
Understandably, the city really reminded me of Vienna, with its majestic opera house, its plethora of cafes and churches, and similar stately boulevards and architecture. Although the capital may not be as clean or well-maintained as its Western counterpart, it is still quite impressive, and as it doesn't yet use the Euro and is still somewhat off Europe's beaten path, its both a bargain and relatively absent of the tourist droves.
As the heart of the country and home to about 2 million people, the city is bustling. There seemed to always be something going on. At four, when we left the Turkish bath my first night, the streets were still crowded. It can be peaceful though too. There are beautiful parks round the city, and earlier today I relaced in both the soothing waters of the Szechenyi thermal bath as well as amid the lush greens of the City Park.
Outside of the Szechenyi thermal baths.
Tonight I am going to be traveling to visit a German friend who was one of my classmates in Beijing. I haven't seen him since the beginning of April, so I'm excited about it...
No comments:
Post a Comment