Today: Cabbage and Tokaji

Quick post today!

 

We actually set alarms for the morning, not wanting to miss any of this awesome, awesome city.  We got out pretty early (for us at least) and headed back to the Synagogue near our restaurant (Walhalla Cafe) from last night.  This is the largest Synagogue in Europe, and it managed to survive World War II and Hungarian Communism mostly in tact.  It's a gorgeous building inside, arranged like a church so it fit in more with the surrounding neighborhood.  Outside, there's a small memorial garden with monuments honoring those who died in the Holocaust and those who helped prevent people from dying.  It was definitely a neat change, visiting a synagogue for once instead of a church.  There were a lot of structural similarities, but the culture surrounding it was different- for example, men had to cover their heads and women had to cover their shoulders.  It was an interesting glimpse into a side of European culture that I don't often think about.

     

Following that, we headed to a large enclosed market for lunch.  On the way, we passed a used book sale on the street.  I poked around it for a while, trying to see if there was anything interesting.  I managed to find a English-Russian/French-Russian/German-Russian pocket dictionary from 1951 in the lot for 100 Forints (about $0.50 US).  I couldn't resist buying it.  Just past the books, we entered the market.  What a place!  It sells everything from fresh meats and vegetables to clothing and souvenirs.  I had a delicious glumpki (stuffed cabbage), accompanied by some paprika-spiced cabbage and a vegetable rice ball, washed down with a Coke.  It was an inexpensive, delicious step into local culture again.  After lunch, I tried a glass of Tokaji (pronounced toe-KAI, with the second syllable rhyming with "guy") wine- a fairly sweet golden wine from Hungary that I first heard about in the book The Golden Compass.  It was a nice change from all the meaty red wines we'd sampled in France and Italy.  Then I shopped around a bit, buying my first official souvenir of the trip: Hungarian-made Russian-style nesting dolls.  Only these dolls weren't the usual eggishly-shaped females, they were Russian leaders: Lenin births Stalin births Gorbachev births Putin births a tiny red wooden pill with a yellow star on it.  Very fun for the Russian history buff that I am.

     

Next stop: Thai massages for Marc and Michael.  I didn't see the point to spending my money on something I could easily find in the US, even if it was considerably cheaper here.  I sat outside for a while writing post cards, a journal entry, and looking through my new pocket dictionary before taking a nap.  Marc and Michael eventually emerged, shiny from massage oil and smelling quite floral, and we departed to a grocery store for dinner.  We picked up our usual pasta, sausage, and sauce and headed back toward the hostel.  On the way we made a brief fouray into the Budapest castle before taking the Metro back to the hostel.  The ticket inspectors are crazy in the Metro!  They'll demand your ticket at every turn, sometimes multiple people will ask for it in the same station!  Apparently the penalties for not having your valid ticket on you at all times are somewhat severe, but we all had legal tickets every time we were asked to produce them.

Tomorrow we may split up a bit.  We're planning to go back to the Castle District, the oldest part of Budapest, together.  We then plan on a picnic on Margaret Island in the Danube River.  Following, we're thinking of splitting up briefly- Marc and Michael intend to go to one of Budapest's thermal spring powered baths to be lazy and have a Turkish-inspired Hungarian massage, while I want to go to the Monument Park, where all the Communist statuary has been placed after the fall of Communism.  If I finish that with time to spare, I may get a massage also.

Then, far too soon it seems, we're off to Krakow, Poland by (hopefully uneventful) night train!