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Published: July 26th 2013
Aliz and Tamas
World-class bartenders, but somewhat challenged in the "gossip" department. I love them both.This is so awesome.
If you have not read my previous blog entitled "Prague ... A Day With Friends ... And Thinking About Friends," then please go read that blog then come back here.
I am jumping ahead in the timeline a bit, but this blog is going to be so much fun I did not want to wait.
I believe you, my readers, understand that I am always traveling several days ahead of the blog.
Accordingly, I am currently writing as if I am in Prague, when I am, in fact, in Budapest. Everything that happened in the Prague blog really happened, it just happened several days ago (and for the record, there will be two more Prague blogs) ... but for the sake of getting this blog out, I am jumping ahead in the timeline.
When I arrived at the Budapest Central Train Station this afternoon, my taxi driver asked me if I was in town for the big Formula One Race. I did not know there was a big race, but within an hour of my arrival it became clear that the Formula One Race is the BIG NEWS in Budapest this weekend.
But ... I am getting ahead of myself ...
I was sitting in a bar in Budapest, peacefully writing my blog when I began to notice men walking by in garish suits. As I noted before, these suits were clearly not fashion. They were costumes of some sort. I just needed to figure out what the costumes were all about.
The bar was being ably managed by Aliz and Tamas, so I asked them if they knew what was going on with the dudes in the suits.
They were not sure, but because the bar was quite, they began to speculate with me.
Aliz and Tamas believed that the men in the suits were from the Netherlands and that they were in Budapest for the weekend for a bachelor party.
Ok, I thought, mystery solved.
With the new information, I drafted two paragraphs for my blog (1) the first paragraph would work if crazy suits at bachelor parties was a Netherlands's tradition, and (2) the second paragraph would work in case the suits were just the goofy idea of a bunch of Dutch friends.
Now I needed to figure out which was
true.
Imagine my delight when, a few minutes later, the entire group arrived in the bar, en masse.
I think its fair to say that I leapt out of my seat to engage these guys in conversation and, more importantly, to get a picture.
"So," I said "you guys are from the Netherlands?"
My question was answered with blank, uncomprehending stares.
It was my "So are you guys playing cards?" moment. (ninos ask your parents to explain the Animal House analogy)
After an awkward silence, one of the guys threw me a rope and answered, "No, we are from Norway."
"OK ...? ," I stuttered, already feeling like a dork, but trying to regain my composure, "from Norway ... ok, Norway is great ... but you are here for a bachelor party?"
BLANK STARE NUMBER 2.
"No, no bachelor party."
At this point I shot Tamas and Aliz a look, and it was not complimentary.
The reality of the situation was that, it was impossible for me to appear any more stupid, so I just jumped in and asked ... "why are you here in Budapest? ... and ...
why are wearing these goofy suits?"
It turns out there were good answers to both questions.
My Norwegian friends (or as Sarah Palin would say "my friends from Norwegia") are in Budapest for ... wait for it ... The Formula One Race.
Ok, in town for the the Formula One Race. I get that. But "why are you dressed like this?"
It turns out that one of my Norwegian friends started wearing garish suits when he went out at night because, he found, that people talked to him at bars or clubs because he was seen as "interesting." His friends jumped on the band wagon.
He used, as a very salient example, the fact that I was chasing them around the bar trying to figure out what was up with the suits. The valid point.
So, they are Norwegians in town for Formula One, and they were styling.
Mystery solved ... and ... they let me take photos.
Enjoy.
JJF
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Shannon
non-member comment
One minor flaw...
Jeff -- you should have been in the photo in your standard t-shirt and kacky shorts:) Prague is now officially on my travel list. Since I am always confused when you are actual birthday is, I will give you a shout out for a Happy Birthday across several time zones:). Please post a picture of you eating some dessert on your special day, which I think is July 29 ( no thanks to the confusion established many years ago by Burczyk and Matt). Keep posting and safe travels