Buda Belly

The remainder of Fall Break Rachel, Sunny, Anna, and I decided to go back to Budapest since we agreed that the 24 hours we spent during our 5-day trip just wouldn’t cut it. Our first stop? The Szechenyi Baths for a girls' day!

Over the course of the trip I came to the realization that I will always choose food over museums. Not to say I don’t enjoy seeing original works of art, or old bones, rocks, books, clothes, and rooms where old important people who are now dead once sat. Honestly, history is one of my favorite subjects, but when you’re short on time and money I’m going to choose the option that will allow me to experience the culture in the most satisfying way possible: FOOD. I hope the following pictures won’t make you too…Hungary (had to). 

For our Halloween meal we went to Marxim: a pizza place with a communist theme. All the pizzas had very entertaining names like “Snow White and the Seven Small Proletariats” or the one I got: “Pussy Pussy Bill & Monica” which was covered in hot peppers, salami, paprika, mushrooms, cheese, onions, and for the sauce they bring you a little gravy boat to put it on yourself. Sunny and I decided to go halfsies so we could indulge in two different pizzas.

Thursday we only left the hostel once. This was due to the rainy weather and the fact that everything was closed for All Saints' Day. Since we didn't have any graves to visit we decided to venture to the fanciest cafe in Budapest, which was luckily open: Café Gerbeaud for some pricy but delicious chocolate and caramel ice cream. The café had a very Titanic vibe due to the 19th century decor, gorgeous fireplaces, and chandeliers. It is also home to a piano that was supposed to board the ship with Jack and Rose but it failed to make it on...that piano will never know it was a blessing in disguise.

So what else did we do in Budapest outside the world of food? We walked. A lot. Rachel and I visited the House of Terror, which is a museum now, but the building was the actual headquarters of the Hungarian Nazis where they would torture their victims. It was very eery walking into the actual cells people were tortured in, but it was the one museum Jan suggested we go to and I understand why. 

Margaret Island

Afterwards, we walked over to the beautiful park of Margaret Island but since it was getting cold and we still had a couple more hours until we had to meet up with Sunny and Anna to go to Granny's Pancake house, we decided to detour at Szeraj - Rachel's sister's recommendation for the best gyro. Even though the menu was all in Hungarian so I'm not sure what I even ate it was delicious and that's all that matters. 

Next stop: Nagyi Palacsintazoja! (Granny's Pancake House): Best Pancakes in Hungary!

Crépe #1: Ham, mushroom, cheese

Crépe #2: Nutella and cream

Crépe #3: Cinnamon

Sunny decided to go for the "salty layered" (meaning savory) and pictured in the bottom right. We don't even know what it consisted of or how many crépes made up that slice of happiness but we've all agreed everything should be served in crépe form from now on. Afterwards we once again admired the beauty of Budapest by night. 

Our last day we went to the Central Market where I know Dad would easily spend hours in and if my suitcase and airport security allowed it I would definitely bring back the salami that was as tall as me. Floors of Hungarian meats, cheeses, breads, whosits and whatsits galore! I decided to go for the chocolate croissant the size of my head. 

Photo credit: Sunny Wilson

Overall, I’ve come to the conclusion that I will always choose food over museums because you can see pictures of exhibits but you can’t taste my cinnamon crepe through the computer screen OR the 3 gyros I would consume within 24 hours. Hmm...maybe it was a bad idea blogging about all the food I ate. Oh well, NO REGRETS.  And after indulging in that much culture you have to work it off somehow. My suggestion is dancing: that is if you got the moves like MacDaddy:

A thing or 2 about hostels:

• “Free Breakfast”: This not only means free breakfast, it also means making a sandwich for lunch. That’s a 2-in-1 deal!
• Games: From personal experience I can proudly say I won Halloween Trivia, the winning question being name 2 actresses from Hocus Pocus and the prize being a free beer.
• Skyping: I prefer people to Skype in anything but English or else my eavesdropping gets in the way of my Facebooking.
• I now have more motivation to get a job so one day I can stay in hotels instead. I honestly don't know how you did this, Lyndsey.

Budapest round 2 was awesome: Buda is budaful and Pest is the best, but it is such a comfort to know Prague really has turned into my home away from home. I never appreciated my bed in apartment K17 more than when I got back after that 7 hour bus ride on Saturday. Prague really is something special and even though I haven’t traveled to too many other European cities I can’t imagine any of them topping Prague.