Food, Food, Food

I decided to make the most of our very last day in Budapest and was up and ready to go by 8:30.  Taylor and I left sleeping David and went to check out the Central Market Hall again.  I felt as if I hadn't had my full share of such a wonderful place, and wanted to pick up some paprika while I was there.  We walked in and immediately passed a little cake stand so I picked up the most interesting, unrecognizable thing.   A pastry stuffed with some sort of cheese with shredded cheese packed around the outside.  Hmm...I didn't like it, not so much.  It might have been better hot, but the inside was a cross between like...swiss and cream cheese and while I like them both, not together in a cold pastry.  

Let the delicious food pics begin.  

Langos/"Pancakes"/a giant Cinnamon muffin

Sausage...and yes, that's just the way they cut it! 

Ginormous pretzel brioches

Paprekash/Stew and Noodles/Hungarian style pork medallions...a man's paradise.

I had not made it downstairs the previous day, but Taylor showed me the hot spots.  This is where all the fish were kept in tiny tanks, and to be honest it wasn't very appetizing.  We found the milk stand our hostel guy said we should try, and I bought some chocolate milk that beats Purity or Hershey's and milk right out of the ball park.  It was so fresh, thick, and actually creamy.  There's no telling how many calories it contained.  I don't want to know.  We also bought this orange cheese stuff that resembled pimiento cheese and decided to take it back and make lunch out of it.  Just around the corner was a Hungarian man selling black truffles for about 231,000 forint which equals roughly 750 euros.  As we were looking through his other mushroom selection he pulls out this hidden tupperware with 6 or 7 beautiful black truffles inside.  It smelled like HEAVEN.  The smell of fresh truffles filled your head and it was like being transported straight to the kitchen and I could imagine all the things I could do with one of those babies.  I had no idea what he was saying because he didn't speak English, but seeing as how there was no way I was going to buy one anyway, we quickly moved on.  

Next was all sorts of pickled items in huge vats.  Pickles, pickled cauliflower, pickled broccoli, peppers stuffed with pickled cabbage, pickled baby corn.  You name it, they pickled it.  Off to the side a burly Hungarian man was hacking open a bloody pig with a hand saw...just in case you were interested.  

Homemade pickles

Peppers stuffed with cabbage/pickles/marinated cauliflower

We bought a loaf of potato bread on our way out the door, and decided to make lunch out of it.  The "pimiento cheese" wasn't in fact pimiento cheese at all but a smooth, mild goat cheese with a bit of a oniony-jalapeno after kick.  

David was still sleeping so we left him a note with a meeting time and we headed off for a little fashion tour of Budapest.  Budapest has a unique style.  Very funky, asymmetrical, and kitschy.  I bought a pair of origami earrings that look like little birds.  The paper they are made out of allows you to create an origami bird or whatever you would like, then put the paper in the oven and it shrinks down to a small enough size to fit on an earring.  I'll definitely post a picture the first time I wear them!  

A rain jacket made of...yes, that's right.  Bubble wrap.  

We made our way to the other side of the city in a few minutes time to the House of Terror museum.  Sounds awful, doesn't it?  It was awful, but so very interesting.  The museum for one thing is very aesthetically pleasing to the eye.  Its very interactive and if you look closely has excellent attention to detail.  The building was the former headquarters of the secret police of both the Nazi and communist governments.  They executed hundreds in the basement of this building.  

A labyrinth of "fat" to remind old timers of the hard times when all there was to eat was bread and lard.  It took us forever to figure out what it was.  

The last part of the museum you get into a dark elevator with a tv screen in the back.  You descend very slowly to the prison basement while a video of a man (an ex-guard) explaining the execution process plays.  The whole time you are thinking where the h-e-double hockey sticks am I going?  What is going on?  A very creepy experience.  There were a dozen or so small prison cells, and the stench down there was horrible.  It gave me chills to even be walking those corridors, and was never so glad to leave such a place.  

Old war posters.    

The last corridor you walk down is a hall with pictures of victimizers, supporters of the Arrow Cross, many of them still living who were never brought to justice.  

Since that's not normally your idea of a typical, fun, sightseeing afternoon, we walked down to Parliament to get a closer look.  To tell you the truth, it looks more magnificent from afar.  Not to say it isn't glorious, but you really get the full effect from across the Danube.  We walked around to get tickets and they had already "sold out" of tickets for the day..so unfortunately we weren't able to go inside.  Devastation.  Oh well...I'll get it on the next go around ;) 

We continued on down the Danube, to stumble upon this memorial.  There are 60 pairs of iron shoes, in remembrance of the Jews who fell victims to the Arrow Cross militiamen in Budapest in WWII.  Many  people were randomly taken from their homes, lined up across the Danube and shot into the river.  Pretty powerful memorial.  

Needing a little pick-me-up, we stopped at this cute little bar to have an apéro and a drink.  Hungarian meat and cheese plate and an Edelweiss?  Sure, why not?  

Isn't this the cutest bar?  Its completely outside and these are the only tables.  It's right smack dab in the middle of a high-end fashion street so there's no missing it.   

Ever seen green cheese?  Pesto cheese...it was yummy!  

Told you I had great food pics today!!!!!  After a quick nap at the hostel we ventured out to find some nourishment for dinner (as if we really needed some more food...) at this point I still hadn't had any chicken paprikash, so we tried to find the best place for a variety of items.  

We chose Lugas Etterem, just behind the cathedral.  It was cozy and outdoorsy with windows looking out over the church plaza.  The menu was in German, English, and Hungarian and prices were fairly decent.  Our waitress didn't speak much English, so pointing and hand motions were the easiest route.  The menu sounded so good, and with those prices we decided to get a smorgasbord of things and try them all.  

For starters:  Pumpkin cream soup with buttered asparagus.  Fall in a cup.  

Goulash.  Not my favorite bowl since I've been here but still good.  

And the motherload of all chicken paprikash....

I had struck gold.  The chicken was cooked perfectly and the perfectly cooked egg noodles were much like its German counterpart, spatzle.  The paprika was sweet with a bit of hot, and although this dish looks incredible spicy, it wasn't.  My favorite meal of the entire trip and I was glad I saved it for the last night!  

Other random photos from our trip!

Breakfast on the go.  Apples and Cinnamon.

Workers on scaffolding setting up for their winter ice extravaganza.  

Castle near the baths.

Cardboard people on a balcony!  

The aged buses in Budapest.  Did I mention that there are also bus stops on the side of the interstate?!

A fall display! Halloween! Carved pumpkins!  Cornucopias!  

The duty-free shop in the newly renovated (just opened in April) airport in Budapest.  Aren't these bubbles cool?  

And guess what they sold?  I spent my last few forints on Juicy Fruit!! Haven't had Juicy Fruit in ages, they don't sell it in France!  

Flight home....very tired...do you like Taylor's new hat?  It's a Hungarian creation.  I have on my origami earrings but you can't see them because of mes cheveux.

Overall, Budapest was an excellent city for us to choose for October holidays.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect, and I loved learning about a random European city and country.  I learned so much about Hungary's involvement in the war, the Soviet occupation, and the incredible food culture there.  It was good for me to go to a country without a recognizable language, and makes me hunger to know more languages.  Or the more cliché thing to say, "broaden my horizons."  Of course, now, I am dying to go anywhere else and at any opportunity...so maybe it wasn't such a good thing?  ha, Thank you to Kaelah, Rozy and all the others who suggested Budapest...it certainly lived up to its expectations!