Around the World with Hardy(T)Around the World with Hardy(T)Budapest is famous for its thermal baths - they're all over town - and this was Jeannie's excuse for standing me up at the movies. Blue in the Face was very good, but I wish I could remember the Hungarian subtitles' translation of "F*ck You", which Harvey Keitel utters with great regularity. I forgive Jeannie, because she is so pleased with her afternoon at the baths, and particularly with the "Brain Pills" she's bought at the nearby health shop!
Later that night I sample Budapest nightlife for the first time. It's a night of contrast. Firstly we head up to Buda and visit the very exclusive Hully-Gully nightclub. It's a total rip-off! 3400 Ft return taxi fare, 600 Ft to get in and 500 Ft for a 33cl beer! Hungary has obviously embraced western ideals quite readily. Mark, Ernie and I escape and go to the Bahnhof, which is much more to our liking: 300 Ft entry, 160 Ft for beers and an excellent alternative dance floor. And, to cap off a fine evening, there's a stall outside selling deep fried cauliflowers at 4am!
I wake up on Sunday
morning feeling very delicate and in dire need of a very good feed. Lonely Planet's recommendations
are usually pretty good, so I check out a place called the Vegetarium, just
off the main Ferenciak tere. I have an excellent meal of stuffed peppers
and potatoes - very Hungarian - then head out to Deli station to check out
the train times to Zagreb. While I'm there, I notice the platform for trains
out to Szentendre, so I'm soon heading out towards the Danube bend. It's
a real trip back in time as I'm wandering through the cobbled streets marvelling
at all the craft shops. Szentendre is known for being a Serbian enclave
within Hungary, so it's interesting to see the Serbian Orthodox churches
in the town. The town is also famous for its marzipan (!) and there's an
excellent marzipan museum (!!!) complete with a marzipan sculpture of the
Flinstones. Another culinary treat is the number of delicatessen which line
the cobbled streets. Each and every one of them is decorated with string
upon string of chilies, drying in the sun on the roofs and walls of the
shops.
I return to Budapest by a ferry along the Danube. 
It's
a very relaxing way to spend the afternoon, although it seems to take forever
to get back. There seems to be a bit of jazz festival happening when I get
back. There seems nothing for it but to go and get drunk again with Jeannie,
Leah and Neil...
The next day I have another slap-up meal at the excellent Vegetarium - an even more Hungarian feast of soya goulash followed by corn hash and pea soup! - and roam the streets in search of an internet cafe. To cut a long story short, and to save the reader a lot of trouble, it's sandwiched between two porn shops near the intersection of József körút and Baross utca - and it closes at 6pm, as I discovered to my chagrin at about 6:05pm. Still, at least I'd seen a lot of Budapest whilst trying to find it!
Back at the Party Hostel,
I'm determined to avoid 'doing a Prague' and I pack my bags before
hitting the bar, in a determined effort to meet the check-out time in the
morning and get my train to Zagreb. I have a
great night with Jeannie, Leah and Neil. Neil has bought about two dozen
'hand crafted' chess sets from a wizened old man on the street, which he
plans to sell at a 'huge' profit back in England. We also discover the quaint
Hungarian tradition of drinking very cheap and nasty brandy out of a scooped
out chili pepper! You do this all night and at the end of the night you
eat the pepper... wow! I finally stagger out of the bar at 3:30am in a frenzy
of hugs, kisses and handshakes with all these lovely people who I'm never
going to see again...
...I come down to the lobby at 8:30am and there are Jeannie, Leah and Neil, drinks in hand. Of course, they haven't left the bar at all, but they have acquired a guitar, and Jeannie serenades me as I put on my pack and head off to catch my train into Croatia...