Budapest, the Minneapolis - St. Paul of Europe

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For the first time in my life I'm spending Thanksgiving in a country where they don't have that holiday, and I haven't seen a turkey in thousands of miles. We made the journey in style, in the Skoda, crossing the border from the Czech Republic into Slovakia and then from Slovakia into Hungary. Traveling over road from Prague to Budapest allows the opportunity to see life in central Europe outside of the capital cities.

On the road we did not see the BMW's and Porsche's that seemed somewhat common in Prague. Everything along the road, in fact, seemed a lot more grey. There were clear remnants of the communist past in this part of Europe with the landscape dotted with utilitarian apartment buildings that seemed quite dreary. Without the history and achitecture of the capital cities life here seems hard.

Just as it is getting dark we are approaching the suburbs of Budapest. Now, seemingly within minutes of our destination traffic grinds to a halt, and tensions rise in the Skoda. It is now that I call our hotel and ask for driving directions. Soon it is painfully clear that no matter how slowly and deliberately the hotel receptionist pronounces Hungarian street names I stand no chance whatsoever at being able to read them off of (frequently absent) street signs. So, fast forward an hour or so and we finally arrive at our hotel.

Apparently a few weeks before we visited Budapest there had been demonstrations against the government. Apparently their elected officials admitted to lying to the public in order to secure re-election. Luckily for us the tension had mostly died down by the time we arrived, save for a few small groups sort of standing around in the street.

Anyway, while we were in Budapest we saw the typical sites of the city and took the typical photos. The highlight for me came at the Budapest Terror Museum. I recommend it wholly. The building itself is very historic and the whole experience tells the history of Hungary through two world wars, the cold war, etc. I actually found myself reading all the informational materials in the museum, which for me rarely happens.

We finished the trip off with traditional Hungarian Goulash in place of the tradtional American Turkey for our Thanksgiving dinner... and I drank some Unicum, which is terrible.

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