Bored in Budapest???

Budapest, Hungary

I'll say it. I miss the Balkans, it was my favorite place in Europe. 4 days alone in Budapest is not killing me, but let's just say I have time to blog on a Friday night tonight before my 6am flight to see my brother in London.

I know, I am a spoiled brat, but on my own Budapest is just feeling like another big city with the usual parks, tourist traps, sights, etc. It's not that I haven't been doing things, I think I just like the smaller cities that aren't yet flooded with tourists. But it is cool to be in a place where "see ya" means hello.
Let's see, I've viewed the city from the Castle Hill complex on the Buda side; visited the former Jewish ghetto section on the Pest side - 2nd largest synogogue in the world and nice museum; bathed in the thermal baths; toured the Parliament and it's 40 kilos of gold trimmings; visited the Terror Museum (Nazi and post-war Soviet occupation history); toured the zoo with a Norweigan 17 year old (a girl I ran into that was in Sarajevo - man, it even sounds illegal to say you hung out with a 17 year old); wandered the tourist center streets and had some beers with crazy German and Swedish middle aged businessmen; turned down an offer to go bowling with some more Scandinavians; chilled out on Margit Island on the Danube to read War of the Worlds finally; visited Statue Park, where they've relocated gigantic Soviet era statues torn down from the city; etc. etc. etc. Man this sounds boring. Isn't visiting all the sights merely evidence that you haven't found better people and more unique activities to do...

I guess I just didn't met any cool people here to see things with. I had a plan to rendevouz with an old friend here for a few days but she couldn't make it work. But it isn't that depressing, I'll be fine. It was 4 days in a beautiful city, and I've had a lot of cheap ice cream to stay happy.

Food. My god, the stereoptypes about Eastern European food aren't just correct, they are understated. Every meal is meat and potatoes, usually some kind of stew with rice or goulash that also has noodles or dumplings AND comes with bread. Atkins nightmare. And you drink beer of course. So what did Judit, a nice Hungarian girl I met, say when I asked her how everyone doesn't get fat? "Well, we don't eat like that 3 times a day!" I took that to mean they do eat like that 2 times a day. But it is fantastic food, and cheap in the right neighborhoods. Paprika comes from Hungary, and is featured in most national dishes.

I made a fool of myself in front of some Angolan tourists yesterday. I actually tried to start speaking to these girls in French. How ignorant am I.

Women. I had heard that this was the place, but I do not concur exactly. This is no Bulgaria or Serbia. Here we're approaching normalcy again, we're off the runway; that is, normal people of all shapes and sizes exist. It's only that MOST of the girls are still amazing.

Hungarian Jewry. Man, the tribe, as my brother would say, is everywhere. I found evidence of this not just in the Synogogue area, but when the guy at the movie theatre spoke more Hebrew with me than English (Batman Begins is the best movie of the summer), and when the guy I passed in the subway tunnel was playing Klesmer and Hava Nagila on the violin. But the Jewish population is an even sadder story than most. The nearly 1 million pre-war population was decimated after the Hungarian government, who have always joined the wrong side in history's wars, actively helped deport it's Jewish citizens to the gas chanbers. It is said that Eichman only needed to send 200 German supervisors, the Hungarian military did all the work wiping out nearly 2/3 of the population. Budapest also had the last Jewish ghetto in Europe, set up even after some other countries had been liberated! but miraculously saved by an early Russian offensive that gave the Germans no time to destroy the ghetto as they retreated. A strong community of nearly 100,000 exits today.

One detail in Hungary's defense in WWII: the reason the government aligned firmly with Hitler was because he promised to restore to them the 2/3 of their country they lost after WWI in the Treaty of Triannon. Places like the Balkans and Transylvania and Moldova all used to be Hungarian territory, and it was a lingering wound in their national identity. When Hitler betrayed the country later in the war, it was too late to sue for neutrality or UN intervention.

Opression. I was also ignorant about the Soviet era after the war. I had thought that communism had somehow ushered in a peaceful era here, even if we were against it. But literally hundreds of thousands of people were relocated, imprisoned, tortured, and killed as enemies of the new leadership over the next decade and a half, whether for practicing their religions or facing trumped up charges of breaking new laws or engaging in sedition, etc. For years it was a police state that answered to the USSR, and the 1950's were the most debilitating years.

Sorry for so much history, it is just what I get into. But free elections have only truly existed since 1990! Amazing. This was in my lifetime, it is not just some high school history book bullshit.

That's all I got tonight. More from London. Wow, first flight in 2 months. Peace out.