Budapest - day 1

Yesterday we took off for our tour of central European capitals - Budapest, Bratislava, and Prague.
It was good to get out of town. The weather was gray and windy and blah, and it had been a quiet weekend mostly because both Brian and I felt sort of blah also. A change of scene would do us good.

If you have to fly out of any airport, you could do a lot worse than Hannover's. It's small, unimpressive, uncrowded, lacks anywhere exciting to eat or shop, and the security lines are really short.We took a German Wings flight to Budapest. German Wings is like Lufthansa's little discounted brother.  Other than a really terrible, really overpriced meal during our Stuttgart layover, the trip went smoothly. Remember, if you are ever in the Stuttgart airport, avoid the pasta place. You can do better in the freezer aisle at your grocery store. I have to take the blame for making that choice. Something in my brain told me to give it a try when we should have just eaten sandwiches instead.

Even though Hungary is part of the European Union, their currency is the Forint. There are about 290 Forints to a Euro. That's a lot of zeros. We didn't have any Forints and set out this morning to #1 - get some of them, and #2 - get our train tickets to Bratislava for Friday. These things were more difficult than planned. The ATMs we tried wouldn't take our cards, meaning we had to go back to the hotel, call the bank in Germany, find out that the limit for international withdrawls was set at 0, fix that, and be on our way. We got pretty lost walking to the train station too. It was a happy, wandering sort of lost where we strolled past a tire store and some bakeries, watched people walking down the street and took in the sunshine. So when we had no idea where to walk anymore we found the metro and took on Budapest's public transportation system. In Hannover the subway trains are new and shiny and well upholstered. In Budapest the subway trains are squeaky, heavy, communist-era beasts and they have handles to hang on to for a reason. To get to them you ride way down underground on the fastest escalators I've ever seen. We got the train tickets for Friday and headed out to explore.

We saw St. Stephen's Basilica, wandered around an outdoor market, and then we did something that I am a little ashamed to tell you. Don't judge me as I make this confession ...

We had lunch at TGI Friday's.
Let me explain. In Budapest, as in much of Europe that I've seen, every other restaurant is Italian. After the gross airport pasta experience we were not interested. Also, when you've been outside the U.S. for a long time, the slightly kitschy, beautifully predictable chain restaurant is so much more appealing than it used to be. There is no Chili's, no Bennigans, no Friday's, no Olive Garden, and no Applebees anywhere in or around Hannover, so it seemed kind of exotic. We stared at the American license plates on the walls, the old album covers, the John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe cutouts. It was great. We got Coke with ice in it. I ate a salad with battered fried chicken and Brian had onion rings on top of his sandwich. It doesn't get much better. So now it's out of our systems and we promise not to do it again for a while. Though I hear there is a Dunkin Donuts in Prague...

We headed to Margaret Island, a big park in the middle of the Danube, to sit in the sun and watch the river flow by. From the park you can see the Parliament building on the Danube and look up to castle hill on the Buda side of the river (we are staying on the other side, in Pest). It was a beautiful day, maybe the best weather we'll have the whole trip. We rode the streetcar back to our hotel from there and now are relaxing and thinking about where to go tonight. Maybe we can try some Hungarian wine, or some goulash. I can rule out pasta places and American chain restaurants, but I'm up for anywhere else.