Budapest

And just when you were hoping I'd finally gone away. Has anyone else experienced Navarre like speed on Blogger this week? I feel like a Netflix member being throttled. And just when I had graduated to comments spam?! Say it ain't so.

Anyway, we've got some catching up to do. Let's start with a week(end) in review, and then move on to a few miscellaneous updates.

As I mentioned last week, I spent Friday through Sunday in Budapest, Hungary with some friends from work. One of the great things about being in London for an extended period of time is the convenience of weekend side trips - particularly to Eastern European countries that are just too far away and expensive to get to from the states. I had been meaning to visit Budapest for a while (it has always been in my master travel plan, which, due to its scope, requires more funding than a botched Iraq rebuilding campaign), and was expecting something along the lines of Prague circa 2000. I couldn't have been more off base.

The city was beautiful, and actually the perfect size for a weekend trip. But unlike Prague (at least back when I visited), Hungary feels a lot like the rest of Europe. Although the country hasn't adopted the Euro currency, it seems to have adopted just about everything else (e.g. fast food restaurants, H&M, and a plethora of western themed bars). I imagine this is an inevitable result of its recent EU membership? Of course, as bright-eyed American tourists, we made the most of the situation.

Our first night kicked off with a traditional Hungarian meal. I started with a delicious Goulash soup/stew, and then had a main course of pork medallions served, according to the waiter, "Hungarian style". If I could pronounce the name of the place I would recommend it to you, as the food was well worth the 45 minute walk we subjected ourselves to by not confirming which street we were looking for. Foiled again! Given that Friday was St. Patrick's Day, we settled in for the rest of the night at Budapest's first ever Irish bar. I can confirm, once and for all, that no matter where you are in the world on St. Patty's day there are drunk Irish guys in kilts making fools of themselves.

We spent the rest of the weekend mixing sightseeing with hearty eating and drinking. Despite being a bit disappointed in the overall feel of the city, I was quite impressed with a few museums that outlined the country's history. In particular, I hadn't realized the full scale of Hungary's fascist and communist roots until visiting the House of Terror (I really do believe that something was lost in translation with that name). The museum is housed in a building that was first a Nazi, and then a Communist regime headquarters - the basement was actually used to torture local deviants. Outside of the sheer atrocity of the events that took place, everything resonated with me a bit more given how recently it all occurred. Many of the leaders of these oppressive regimes are still alive, and the last Russian soldier didn't actually leave Hungary until the 90's.

"Shifting gears" (Corporate speak! Lest you fear that CityHangover has decided to pursue some type of political agenda), I will also share a brief account of my ongoing travel woes before signing off. In summary:

Some "bloke" decided to commit suicide on the Gatwick Express train tracks (selfish, if you ask me) minutes prior to our train's departure to the airport Friday morning. As a result, our train was delayed, re-routed, and well, mad late. Fortunately, I became 2 for 2 in racing through the Gatwick airport and being one of the last people let on the plane (I've yet to walk through that place). If you're keeping score, that's 2 for 2 at Gatwick, and 0 for 1 at Stansted. Unfortunately, this time my luggage adopted its own batting average, and I spent yet another weekend trip searching for inexpensive underwear.

This post is already far too long, so I'll save my other updates for next time.