After spending a couple days at the horse show, I set out to see some other sights in Budapest. (Here's some information if you want to sound "in the know" about Budapest: it's two cities, Buda and Pest, separated by the Danube, and in Hungarian, "Pest" is pronounced "Pesht" - say it that way to avoid sounding like a rube.) I went to Rudas Thermal Baths for a day, which was an incredibly relaxing day. For about 4000 forints, or just under $20, I got a full days admission to the baths, along with a scheduled half hour massage. (In case you are, at this very moment, planning a budget for a trip to Budapest, please note that I went on half off day, so my admission was reduced but the massage was full price.)
The Rudas baths were men-only until 2006, so I was happy to be able to go for their once-a-week women's day on Tuesday. It's absolutely lovely - the locker rooms are incredibly modern. When you pay your admission, you are assigned a plastic wristwatch style mechanism. You then go into a locker room and scan it, and it assigns a changing cubicle for you. The cubicles are what you would expect from an upscale spa - dark wood, small bench inside, hooks for your street clothes - and you use your wristwatch to lock it while you bathe so you don't have to worry about your possessions.
The baths themselves are much less modern - the main room had a large octagonal pool under a dome with light filtering in from outside, and the four corners were occupied by smaller pools of varying heat. The main pool was around 33 degrees C, and the other pools ranged from 28 to 42 degrees C. I wandered among the pools for a while and finally decided that the 36 degree pool was the most comfortable - the 42 degree one was too hot to stay in for long!
Soon it was time for my massage, which mostly felt good but the small Hungarian woman who administered it had superhuman strength and really decided to work out some of the kinks in my back so there were some not-so-relaxing moments. After my massage, I went back and wandered between the pools, and also spent some time in the sauna and steam room. The last room was my favorite - the "rest room". These were rooms filled with reclined lounge chairs where you just rested as long as you felt necessary before rejoining the rest of the world. I left the baths feeling relaxed and refreshed - not that my life is all that stressful these days.
Something else I've really enjoyed in Budapest has been the food! Here are some of the great things I have eaten:
This is polenta and cottage cheese - it might look sweet in the picture (I realize the picture mostly looks like cake) but it's actually a very interesting combination of flavors. I got this as a snack at an outdoor market, and it was tangy to the point of being almost sour. I quite liked it though!
Ahh, delicious paprika chicken. I have mentally instructed myself to find a good chicken with paprika sauce recipe when I arrive home because it really is incredibly delicious. I think it tastes even better eaten outdoors because it's a nice hot contrast to the chilly air.
Fun story: at this same market, they were also selling fried potato pancakes (latkes). At first, I thought they were funnel cakes because they were bubbling along on top of a huge vat of oil, but I looked a little closer and realized it was a large mixture of shredded potato and a little dough. While I was inspecting this, an older gentleman tapped me and asked if I could take he and his wife's picture. (It's my aura - "I will not steal your camera. Please, ask me.") Actually, when I say he "asked me", I mean he tapped my arm then held the camera towards me and gestured towards him and his wife, then said, "You... take picture?" I replied, "Oh, sure thing!!" and they got really excited that I spoke English. Turns out, they are from Texas and are on a river cruise up the Danube which stops at Christmas markets. The trip was their 60th wedding anniversary celebration. They insisted that I join them in eating their giant latke, so we all dug into the hot, greasy, delicious potato. (I saw that some of the other people had sour cream on theirs and was a little jealous but hey, beggars can't be choosers... right?)
Okay. Next up is my absolute FAVORITE food that I have eaten here. In fact, it is so good that I went back and got it AGAIN today:
It might not look like much, but that is a bowl of cream of garlic soup, along with traditional Hungarian fried bread called langos, topped with sour cream and cheese. I cannot even describe how rich and delicious this dish is. The soup is very thick and creamy, and VERY garlicky. The langos was fresh and hot - crispy outside and soft inside - like a savory doughnut. Add in the sour cream and cheese, and things just couldn't get much better. This deliciousness, along with a Diet Coke, ran me about $6 and was a perfect lunch.
Apart from just eating and sitting in hot tubs, I have seen a few other things in Hungary. I went on the free walking tour but my memory card for my camera was left inside the computer so OOPS no pictures.
There is a museum here called the Terror House which chronicles the many aspects of the Nazi and Communist regimes in Hungary, and is also a memorial. Pictures aren't allowed inside the museum, but outside they have a huge chunk of the Berlin Wall, and this "Iron Curtain":
(If you think it's odd that it's in English, they have the same inscription in Hungarian on the other side.)
On a slightly happier note, I came across something really interesting - around a tree in a small park is a small fence covered in love locks. I asked a few people about it at the hostel and they said that Hungary was the first place that the "love lock" trend started - which that Wikipedia article confirms.
Here are some of the locks on the fence:
It was cool to look through and see all the different names and inscriptions. Very sweet.
Tomorrow will be my last day here - I'll be quite sad to leave as I've really enjoyed my time here and felt very at home. Still, onward to somewhere new!!
I used to make chicken paprika for the family.
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