A Taste of Eastern Block Communism

There comes a point in time in a man's life when he realizes that he has finally gotten too old to do the same things he did when he was younger. I had that realization this week, after a weekend trip to Budapest. I returned home a broken man: my feet, knees, and back hurt. I barely had enough energy to walk. Completely sleep deprived, and a sharp headache. It took me two days after my vacation just to recover back to normal. Lesson learned - I will no longer stay in a party hostel ever again.

A long weekend in Budapest was the kickoff to my travel season. Having never ventured east of Prague, I was quite excited to see what Hungary was like. A city of many histories, there were a few reminders of the Ottamans (I bathed in a Turkish bathhouse originally built in 1566), some of that typical gothic European architecture, bombed out reminders of WWII, and many reminders that this used to be a poor communist state. The fact that the secret police tortured and killed its own citizens until 1959 is pretty sobering. Overall, though, Budapest is a wonderful city. Very walkable, relatively cheap.

I realize that I don't possess many pictures of myself. Well, here's one! One of the many beautiful views of Pest, from Buda. Here, on Gellert Hill - one of the big touristy hills in Buda. We were too tired to walk up, so we took a taxi. We did walk down, though, if that's of any credit.

A cheap, old-school Hungarian car. Apparently, so cheap that the owner just randomly abandoned it half on the road/half on the bike path. Budapest happens to be an amazing city for pedestrians. Outside of being a compact city, at crosswalks cars actually stop for pedestrians to allow them to pass - not the other way around!

Parliament, viewed from Castle Hill across the Danube River. It's the largest Parliament in Europe, and by far the most impressive to look at.

Parliament, again. Up close.

Another amazing view of Pest, from Gellert Hill

St. Stephen's Basilica. It holds the mummified right hand of St. Stephen.

Castle Hill at night. This is the church.

The other end of Castle Hill, at night. That's the Palace, and the Chain Bridge.

Budapest was not the place to be from the 30's to the 1959. The Terror Museum, at the very same building the Nazi's and Communists imprisoned, tortured, and killed political prisoners. It didn't take much to be a political enemy of the state. Some of the prisoners were kids.

This was a restaurant that was literally inside a bubble. Art? Cheap building construction? I thought it was cool, either way.

While I was in town, The Arabian Amazing Race was in town. Here is one of the competitions, where they had to chip through a block of ice to reach some clue in the center.

Going out in Budapest is interesting. Cheap drinks, pretty wild, but also bruiser of egos. Since moving to Europe, I've tried to be more outgoing than my normal self, forcing myself to be more proactive in approaching and meeting people. In Budapest, the women have an interesting way in shutting (foreign) men down. The instant they see you coming, they turn their head away sharply, and walk away. Sometimes, they wait until you get one or two words out before doing so. I don't speak Hungarian, but I translate that as "I want nothing to do with you".

On my last night, I went to a party held in a bomb shelter. What a location!

In San Francisco, we had the Tamale Lady going around bars, selling...tamales. In Budapest, women walk around bars selling carrots.

Beer is super cheap in Budapest. $1.50 for 0.5 liter. Buy in bulk, even cheaper. We got two flights, here, for only a few dollars per person. There are so many beers, it did not fit in the picture frame.