48 Hours in Budapest ... or szszvgdgyjtszsz

We just got back from a wonderful holiday in Budapest. Why Budapest, you might ask? Well, we wanted to go somewhere that we would probably never travel to from the states and somewhere that was relatively far away and really different.
We made the perfect choice. Budapest was a terrific break.
If you don't know a lot about Budapest, I'll give you a quick rundown. The city is actually two cities - Buda and Pest - separated by the Danube River. They joined together as one in 1867. Until the end of World War I, Hungary was Austria-Hungary. When World War II rolled around, Hungary aligned itself with Germany and Italy. Toward the end of the war, the country began to rethink that alliance and as a result, the Nazis occupied Hungary in 1944. Losses in Budapest were huge. Citizens were rounded up, jailed, persecuted and killed. As a parting shot at the end of the war, the Nazis blew up all the bridges across the Danube.
Hungary pretty much went from bad to worse, aligning itself with the Soviets after the war. They were under Soviet occupation until 1989.
You can see Communist influence around the city, especially in the architecture. Riding in from the airport, we saw mile after mile of big, boxy high-rise apartments built in the no-personality Russian style. In the past 20 years, Budapest has tried very hard to shake its past 70 years. The beautiful historic buildings are still there and there is much that's new and Western-culture glitzy.
We arrived from London on Malev, the Hungarian airline. They served lunch for free (take that, all you American carriers!) and once they served the meal, the flight attendants passed around a basket of warm rolls, which seemed funny to us. We stayed at a small place called the Hotel Sissi - small but very nice and just a few blocks from the Metro. Perfect location.
It was overcast as we began exploring the city. I must be part fish, because I'm always drawn to water. We got off the Metro and I spotted the mighty Danube and decided that even though it was cold and rainy, we just had to walk across the bridge. So we did, snapping photos every few steps. Beautiful views, but definitely gray. Once across, we strolled in a park and walked back. (There are lovely pedestrian walkways along the bridges, so we didn't have to dodge crazy Hungarian drivers.)
Now, we were under the impression that we were walking across the famous chain bridge. But once we found a warm and dry spot for tea after our walk across the water, we found out that we had actually walked across the Erszbet (Elizabeth) Bridge. So the chain bridge moved to the to-do list for Friday!
Dinner on Thursday night was at a nice little place called the Blue Tomato Pub. Keith, the Guide Book King, found this one in a book and made a reservation for us. We took the train out to the general area and were early, so we ducked into a mall that is adjacent to the metro. I thought it was just a few shops but it turned out to be about the biggest mall I've ever seen, the West End City Center. Budapest's monument to capitalism.
Now, I must share with you one of the strangest things about visiting Budapest. Hungarians speak a language called Magyar. It is unlike any language I've ever seen. It uses the same alphabet as English, but with 15 added letters consisting of accented letters. There are 14 vowels in the language.

When you're in France, Germany or Spain, you can figure out a lot of words because of Latin or Anglo-Saxon roots. In Hungary, nothing looks familiar. It has no Latin basis and the words are really long, with lots of "s" and "z." So we're strolling through the mall, and nothing - nothing! - looks even glancingly familiar. Except that halfway through the place, there was a TUPPERWARE kiosk. I am dead serious. We laughed so hard. Between C & A Aruhaz and Darvas Kepkeret, ladies were buying their air-tight plastic containers. Capitalism lives!

At Blue Tomato, we both ordered soup as a starter. Keith got goulash and I got a corn chowder. The soup arrived in the biggest bowls you've ever seen! They were serving bowls - they must have held three cups of soup, which was okay because it was the best soup I have ever tasted. Mine was creamy with the consistency of creamed corn, only it had nice chunks of smoked ham and slivered almonds in it. Keith's goulash was big chunks of beef, potatoes, carrot and spicy red pepper. I cannot tell how it tasted because I was so enamored of my corn soup that I did offer to let him taste mine and he was selfish too.

We sure wish someone had told us how big those bowls were because we also ordered an entree. Keith got weiner schnitzel and I ordered pounded steak. When the waiter brought the plates, we just cracked up because the portions were beyond enormous. Spa food, this was not!

Thank goodness we had some walking to do before we got back to our hotel!

Friday was a jam-packed day of sightseeing under less-than-favorable conditions. Our first stop was the Budapest Christmas Market, an outdoor festival with lots of food and homemade crafts. Keith got a mug of Gluhwein, a heated German wine that warmed our souls because it was starting to get cold and windy. Then the rain started, but we were determined. We had one full day to explore and we weren't going to spend it looking through a window at the rain. So we slogged on.

This time we found the chain bridge and walked across. When we reached Buda, we took the funicular (incline railway) up the steep mountain to Castle Hill. Tremendous views of the river and Pest. We tried to get a few shots in the pouring rain. It's a huge place there on top of the hill with winding cobblestone streets. We were already soaked so what the heck. Our umbrellas weren't much defense against the weather!

After exploring Castle Hill, we went down the mountain and back across the river on foot. From there, we sought warm refuge in the coffee shop at the Hotel Sofitel. Oh, that tea tasted good!

From there, we headed to a controversial place in Budapest, the Terror House. Located on Andrassy Ut, this building was Nazi headquarters during the war and Soviet Secret Police headquarters from there. It was turned into a museum to honor the victims of both oppressions. Apparently some people think it somehow honors the past, but I don't know how anyone could get that impression. We spent several sobering hours there.

When you get in the museum, you walk into a darkish, three-story atrium with huge panels of tiny black-and-white mug shots. These are the victims of Nazis and Soviets - thousands of them. We saw the actual cells and they were grim. It may seem a strange choice of a way to spend an afternoon but we wanted to see things that make Budapest the city it is and this is certainly one of them. We're both students of history and while it's not pleasant, this is part of our life.

Keith and I are baby boomers and we grew up on phrases like "Iron Curtain." This was our first peek behind that curtain, and it makes you think about freedom in a whole new way.