Hungary...Why Wait?

Around 5:30 this morning (local time) I awoke as the train I was on rolled into Hlavni Nadrazi in Prague. I had spent the weekend in Budapest, and as I awoke I realized that Prague is home. Budapest is a beautiful city, and so much of it is like a fairy tale. The castles especially are almost unreal. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Thursday night around 11pm we left Prague. I'll establish the cast now and then refer to them specifically when necessary. Stephanie and Elon, Tisch drama students and musical fanatics (read they sing all the time). Then theres Liz, a Buffalo native and University of Ontario student, Matt, a NYU transfer from UConn and a Connecticutian, and Nika, a Yalie from Chicago. I should note that,inspired by me, Matt and Nika have both made Prague Blogs. You should be proud to be reading the original.

On the train ride there we discussed both team names and Matt brought up the legal status of aliens and spirits in Iran, the country of his ancestry. Somehow we decided to call ourselves Jin Jihad, Middle Eastern Ghostbusters basically. As I type this I realize it doesn't make a great deal of sense but you should let it go, sleeper cars breed a bizarre humor. When we got there we soon found ourselves in the Mellow Mood hostel which was both clean and well situated in Pest (the most important factors). It also had a bar upstairs and was furnished entirely by IKEA.

We decided to head up to Castle Hill on our first day. We visited the St. Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion and were generally amazed by the beautiful neighborhood and terrific view on the mountainside in historic Buda. We also found an underground labryinth that had served as both a wine cellar and a bomb shelter and is now decorated with recreations of cave drawings and bizarre statues. We discovered that Nika and Stephanie are both easily freaked out in dark places like that, and of course had some fun with that. That night we ventured out to the Old Man's Pub. It was recommended by the hostel staff and we were told they had live music, which they did. However it was full of old people (I'm using the word "old" as a 20 year old, so we're talking people in their late 30s and 40s - no offense intended to anyone in that age group, especially you Mom) We later went to a karaoke bar to hear awesome Hungarian renditions of American classics, the guy who did "New York, New York" was particularly good.

The next day we split for a while and I spent a few hours in the Budapest Historical Museum. I could go into detail, but I'll spare you. I'll only say the Turkish conquest was fascinating and their influence is still seen in Hungary. When we met up we checked out Hero's Square, the Parliament buildiing, some churches, a lot of historic stuff. Saturday evening's highlight was definitely when we heard a lot of music in the woods. We ventured in to discover an outdoor Hungarian rap show. This was definitely the place to be for all the cool kids in Budapest, so we hung out for a bit. I actually wish I had stayed longer. Anyway, Sunday found us starting our day with a trip to Statue Park. Its a bit out of town, but so worthwhile. Many of the Communist statues that once filled the streets of Budapest have been relocated there. Not only that, they play Communist songs and have awesome USSR souveneirs. We spent the afternoon on Margit Island. They had beautiful gardens, live music, bikes and carts to rent, etc. It was here that Nika, Matt, and I had two GIANT cotton candies and perec, which was basically a giant soft pretzel.

This leads me to Hungarian food. Upon arriving early on Friday morning we just went to McDonalds and good news a Sausage and Egg McMuffin tastes the same. Actually Matt and I returned to McDonalds for their internet acess and I ended up having a Royal with Cheese as well. Anyway, Friday afternoon we found a relatively cheap local restaurant where I tried the creamed veal polok? (it definitely ended in a k and had os) It was awesome and came with great potatos. Nika's wild boar was also pretty delicous. My culinary highlight of Saturday was the, to quote the English menu "Favorite meal of the highwayman Sandor Rosza and potatos." I'm still not entirely sure which meat the cutlet was, but it was topped with extremely hot peppers, cabbage, and pieces of fried goose liver. Goose happens to very big there. I love adventorous eating and I was super thrilled by my gastronomic choices in Budapest. Especially the funnel cake at the train station when we were leaving Budapest. All in all it was an awesome trip, but now I'm back and I must do some reading.