Toli finds his roots in Budapest.
What a nice town! I was in Budapest in '87, in the communist years, and it was truly amazing seeing the difference...
* You can get money from the ATM or exchange desks and not get ripped off. Sounds normal, but in the old days, ATMs were nowhere, and exchange desks offered only the official exchange rate, which was a total ripoff. Instead, you changed money in the hotel elevator, where the porter gave you a better rate away from prodding eyes; or on the street (at the risk of getting mugged). Either way, it was illegal, but you got 3-4 times the cash. Ah, the good old days for tourists, I say, since Budapest's cost of living is rising very fast (still cheaper than all other European cities though). Nowadays, there are malls (we stayed near a huge one, in fact), luxury boutiques, ATMs...
* We saw the sun! The Danube was gorgeous in the sunlight, and the sky had a fantastic deep blue color on the first evening there. I realized that I must photosynthesize fairly frequently to maintain an equally sunny mood.
* The temperature was quite good too. First day without a scarf!
* And so, we ventured to the public baths... not knowing the language, and not knowing what to do, we were a bit of a circus act the two of us in our swimming suits, but we managed. Some help from the staff, some signs in English, plenty of exploration ("Ouch that's hot!! Oh, it's in degrees Calcius..."). The baths were dominated by overweight, elderly Hungarians (what do you expect on a weekday... well, besides Susan Dell) who stared at us the way Europeans often do --- Christine was mighty uncomfortable, but I didn't mind; the stares were of curiosity (and admiration of Christine), not disapproval. Anyway, we became prunes after soaking for over 2 wonderful hours in pools of various temperatures, a current pool, steam room, sauna, etc. for $7 per person. The Turks (and the Romans before them) sure knew a good thing when they saw it...
* On the way in the baths, we saw a pretty sad sight: a homeless man lying next to one of the steam vents for warmth. Many more homeless people than I recall from '87. Maybe the rising cost of living and westernization... or maybe there were just as many back then, but the police rounded them up and kept them out of sight. Dunno...
* We concluded the day at St. Jupat's restaurant, where for $25 we ate like kings. In fact, we ate half our food (we ordered many dishes to sample the cuisine). And this meal, along with the baths, is how I concluded that St. Jupat is the patron saint of overweight Hungarians.
* People in Budapest are very pet friendly. Though they have big dogs (German shepherds and the like). I can just imagine Hungary invading France, and the shepherds gobling up all the yappy sissy rag-carpet Parisian dogs.
* In general, people are fairly friendly; in '87 they all seemed grumpy to me. Well, of course, tourists mean money... Anyway, when it came to public transportation, though, and congestion, people pushed each other, and were pretty disorderly. Maybe they've had enough of the communist bread lines. It was funny (and sad) to see that the most effective pushers were the hunched over old ladies... man, can they pack a punch.
Posted by Toli at January 16, 2004 11:30 AM