The GCW Tour, Budapest: Random Thoughts from Budapest

A few things that occurred to me as we were wandering around the city today, in no particular order...

1. It's sort of annoying to be in a country that uses two currencies. The ATM machine spits out Hungarian forints, but anyone selling anything is marking prices predominantly in euros. Translating from euros to forints to dollars is more mental energy than I want to invest in a purchase.

2. The panhandlers here are more nicely dressed and polite than those I've seen elsewhere. Not sure how they make any money.

3. I think I've discovered the universal food: a salad of chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and onions, with or without feta. Hungary must be at least the fourth of fifth country I've been to that seems to claim this as their own.

4. Like Seatttle, Budapest seems to enjoy using the summer to tear up the streets. There are some seriously deep holes in the roads here, many of them dug intentionally.

5. Ok, it doesn't look like SeaTac, but Budapest does have a lot in common with Seattle. Grey sky, cedar trees, if the buildings weren't many centuries old, you could be forgiven thinking you were in the Northwest.

6. Budapest is a flat city. I'm not sure I've seen a building with more than ten stories, and most are four or five. Interesting to see a place that hasn't starting working in skyscrapers.

7. Oddly, and sadly, there are quite a few spots in Budapest that smell like urine. 

8. They have quite a few, and quite nice, dog parks in Budapest. I'm thinking Sib1 is regretting not bringing her dog with her. 

9. Given the view from the outside (see above), I expected more from the Museum of Applied Arts. I love those sorts of places, but the displays here were pretty limited. And sadly, there were enough docents running around that I couldn't get Dave into any of the pictures.

10. Sadly, Hungarian food and chemotherapy aren't getting along. It's all quite tasty, but they serve way too much of it, and it all seems designed to get you through a Russian winter rather than a stroll through the city. Even something light, like a caprese salad, comes with two grilled chicken breasts under it. 

11. If you're ever travling internationally and want to hear American English spoken, go to the nearest Starbucks. 

12. The chemo is slowing me down this time. Neither my sib nor my brother-in-law have complained just yet, but it's annoying the crap out of me. About six hours of activity is all I can take -- and by activity, I mean anything besides sleeping. Six hours of waking a life a day is not really the best way to see the world.

13. I'm disappointed. My guide book includes repeated warnings to male readers to watch out for konzumlany -- very pretty girls who fawn over male tourists and then escort them to bars where the tourist can be separated from his money. I haven't even seen such a person yet, much less been approached by one. What's up with that?