A Few of My Favorite Things...

Here's a shot of our final hours in the city. I definitely felt a connection to this place, and leaving was strangely sad for me that morning - our friends and my family had left the city either days or hours before, and were were left to settle up the apartment, mail our postcards, and say our final goodbyes to the neighborhood. So, we inevitably returned to a street we'd walked down nearly every day that week - the corridor of the St. Stephen's Basilica - pictured here - just blocks from our rental apartment. We sat in a street cafe, nibbled on a couple of must-have gyros and scrawled a few memories on postcards for our families. The perfect ending to a completely wonderful adventure. I hope I come back here again someday.

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The rain-soaked banks of the Danube, from the Elizabeth Bridge - crossing back over to the Pest side. As we stood on the bridge, enormous bolts of lightning were shooting down all around us. I tried, in vain to get a picture of the lightning - something I've only ever managed to do once before. But it was dramatic and memorable, nonetheless.

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After six days of non-stop gorgeous weather, we had our first burst of rain... and it came with a vengeance! Jason and I were trekking through the lower part of Buda in search of a beigli (Hungarian pastry specialty) bakery called Makos Guba when the dramatic skies started setting in overhead and water very suddenly came pouring from the sky. We ducked into this convenient cafe to wait out the storm, and we sat under an umbrella with a couple of other patrons and the wait staff who were enjoying their afternoon break. But the rain got so heavy that the tablecloths were soon soaked despite the umbrellas, and this waiter quickly undressed the tables and raced inside.

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Budapest veteran Helen, a friend of my good friend Jocelyn, helped us out with some great recommendations before departing for Hungary. Among her recommendations of amazing laid-back night spots was a push to try some of the great street food Budapest has to offer, including the "mind-blowing" gyros, and palinkak (Hungarian crepes). We tried both of these, and it inspired us to try another common specialty - these chocolate pudding-filled waffles, found at a confectionary called Jeg Buffe. This served as my entire lunch one day and was wholly satisfying.

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Our best views of the Hungarian countryside came from the window of the train during our brief stint out to Eger, a wine-producing town about a hundred miles or so from the city. Eger is most famous for a seige in 1552 where the town's Hungarian population of 2,000 held off an attach by 80,000 invading Turks. We tried to get into the castle, but were too late - and fortunately so, because had we gotten into the castle we would have likely missed the last train out (which we sprinted for after realizing we were lost on the way back)!

Unfortunately for us (or maybe for Eger's tourism profits), we only got to explore a small percentage of what it had to offer... we must have accidentally gotten on the slow train because we made so many stops it took almost three hours all in all to get to the town and the same time to get back!  

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One common theme of our trip was sampling the local "swill" of Hungary. With the 85 degree heat, we stuck mostly to cold Drehers or Borsodis or local lemonades. But we couldn't leave without purchasing a vial of Unicum, an herbal drink native to Hungary that is somewhat akin to Jägermeister. It's highly concentrated, and somewhat bitter, but promoted to assist with the digestion. Jason brought a few back for family - I think the cute little globe-shaped bottles are probably the coolest thing about this gift!

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Luckily, we didn't have any vegetarians with us in Hungary. There's not a lot on the menu for folks who don't eat fish stew or heavy salted meats, but I did notice one common specialty available for the herbivores, called rántott sajt (fried cheese). When this plate was put in front of my brother, I thought it was some kind of pancake, but it was instead a slab of cooked cheese. If this tells you anything about our vacation, it should be that we'll spend the next three weeks working off the food we ate there!

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I was inspired to take this picture because it's a view of Buda from Buda, different from the standard "view of Pest" snapshots you can take from the lookouts of the National Gallery. Also, my favorite type of rooftop is the red tiled rooftop. You often see them in California, copies of Spanish and Italian villas, but this view afforded a glimpse of many a red and orange roof against the complementary blue of the river. Straight ahead, you can see the fluffy green tree-tops of Margaret Island, which is sandwiched between the two shores of Budapest (Buda and Pest) and right beside the Margaret Bridge. Lots of small old churches dot this hilly neighborhood, and there appears to be a whole different style of life on this side of the river; more sedate and placid than the bustling Pest with it's bars, "kerts" (courtyard pub gardens), and shopping (Vaci Street, most famously).

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And so we came to the oldest bakery in Budapest, after a long day of hiking up and around the streets of Buda, the side of the river famous for the royal palace, the castle district, and, of course, its beautiful view of "Pest." The cafe, Ruszwurm, has a colorful history - once the sole provider of baked goods to the queen and later famed for its Linzer cookie after its proprieter was inspired to try the recipe by his cellmate Linzer after the War of Independence in the mid-1800s. The cookie was delicious, as were the coffees we stopped for on yet another 85 degree day. A welcome treat at the top of the hill. The doile in the backdrop gives you some sense of the ornate decoration of the tea-room styled cafe.

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Like other European cities, Budapest features many of the great, winding streets with pastel walls and rooftops that all seem to melt together in a logical way and make the world look like a beautiful labyrinth. Many of the walls in Pest are more ragged and in disrepair than some of the cities I've seen in Eastern Europe, but the overall effect of this neglect is that it really suits these old buildings, lending character and tradition to the impression. It's amazing to me to see full streets and neighborhoods within the depths of a city without a familiar commercial brand or neon sign in sight!

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Both my brothers are graduating this year, and therefore we all got dressed up and rallied around to see them "pass on" in various commencement ceremonies. Pete wore a standard issue navy blue gown and cap with a tassle designating his business specialization. He knew we were frantically looking to spot him in the sea of similar looking, ant-sized caps below, so when my sister texted him to find out where he was sitting, he sent this helpful reply.

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