budapest and travelling with families

After the debacle of the train ride, I finally arrived in Budapest to meet up with my old house mate Binda (soul sister) her younger sister, Shaz, parents Judy and Izzy and the Big B, uncle Boris. Initial plans of meeting up with the girls and cruising around Prague without the parental escort were unavoidably changed due to my own prior commitments and so Budapest, and the whole family, it was. As it turns out, what was initially sold to the girls as a 2 week trip with the parents and then 2 weeks on their own was a sneaky parental way of saying they would be spending the entire time with the parents!! After coming to terms with the currency issue, I made my way towards the hotel and sat in a park to await their arrival. Usual airline efficiency meant that they were a couple of hours late, however nothing like that really bothers me as I’ve time to spare.
Budapest, made up of the main areas of Buda and Pest, is the capital of Hungary. It has a population of approximately 2 million people and was formerly part of Eastern Block Europe although now it is a member country of the European Union. They are planning to begin to use the Euro as the form of currency (and have been saying so for a couple of years!!) but currently use the Forint. (approximately 220Flo = €1). The city itself straddles the Danube which, by the way, is not and never has been blue.
After tortuously settling into the Marriott and my luxury accommodation,



it was downstairs to the lobby for a quick hello to the folks and a coffee. Coffee in Budapest is usually served with a small glass of soda water. This may seem controversial however it is actually a wonderful idea. The normal coffee grit on the teeth is no more as the bubbles clean them away after you finish. Any friends out there with restaurants/cafes might want to explore the feasibility of this practise. After the coffees it was off for dinner and importantly somewhere with vegetarian.
Vegetarian in Hungary is roughly translated to mean cheese. There is a variety of cheese: cheese with broccoli, broccoli cheese soup, fried cheese with salad, cheese with salad. The variety was endless!! After searching, we were able to find some places that served dishes other than cheese however it was a search.
Now the reason for such an extensive range of vegetarian cuisine is meat. With t-shirts saying “Save Plants, Eat Meat” in shop windows it came as no surprise to find that the average Hungarian is a carnivore. If it bleeds, eat it. Rabbit, venison, deer, boar, wild boar, chicken, duck, beef (have I forgotten anything) is all available on the menu. Of course there is also seafood but meat certainly forms the bulk of the menu. Due to the overwhelming kindness of Binda’s parents, we ate and drank very well over the time in Budapest, dining in many traditional restaurants with exquisite cuisine, including the renowned goulash.
The city itself still has many hallmarks of communist upkeep: poorly tended paths with weeds breaking through, public gardens hidden by unmown lawns and overgrown weeds and cracked facades with exposed brick on many buildings. However there is an obvious concerted effort to improve this with public works occurring everywhere and renovations happening on many public buildings. However the combination of rundown buildings and some amazing architecture give Budapest a unique charm not seen in some of the other places that I’ve travelled so far.
The days were spent as the three musketeers; Binda, Shaz and myself. The girls were clearly glad for the parental reprieve, and the option of spending the days with me rather than the parents had barely left Judy’s lips before Binda and Shaz stated, in no uncertain terms, that they were going to be exploring the city with me. Of the many experiences we had cruising the streets of Budapest, sitting in the doorway opposite a bottleshop as we shared a 50ml tester of “Unicum”, was one of the silliest. Sure that the parents were going to walk past, we huddled into this storefront and proceeded to try the drink which is an evil cousin to Jaegermeister. Clearly it is something that needs to be shared so good luck to all of those who get to try it when Binda returns.
Here are a few random photos for your viewing pleasure. bisous!!

saw him play and gave him some coin. he thought it was for his playing but.....



couldn't resist this one........me, if i were female, in 50 years??



could you please stop wearing socks and sandals!!!! obviously a special on apples that day.



favourite photo of binda and shaz. think they were just happy for some time away from the folks