Budapest

I came to Budapest the first time as a little boy together with my parents. As far as I remember it was a day trip from the Balaton, where we stayed longer. What I can remember from that time is the castle walk on top of the walls, with the marvellous white huts. It's a fairy tale architecture that children do better understand than adults.

The second time I came for four days in winter. It was actually warmer than expected, about +7 degree celsius. So we walked around quite a bit. There were many things we wondered. Why are so few people in the streets? Hey, this is the CAPITAL of Hungary, there are supposed to be hundreds or thousands of people around. Maybe because it was winter.
We stayed in an apartment very close to the city centre. We hardly needed bus or tram or the underground. Major sights were within 30 minutes walking distance.
Another thing that bothered us, maybe also due to very few people around, far too many houses, old ones with historic facades were neglected. The economy of Budapest and Hungary as a whole seems too weak to support all that bold history and bring it to life today. Only the major spots were beautifully renovated. Tourists on an organized tour may not see it, but when strolling through the streets it becomes obvious.
Nevertheless it is a beautiful city. Or with all that bold history that can be felt virtually everywhere, it's more like a sleeping beauty, a bit withered dreaming of the grand old days so it seems.

If you are in Budapest, this is one spot not to be missed!!
If you wonder what the people of Budapest are doing in the winter season, you have to come to one of the hot baths, called Györgifürdö in an almost unpronounceable manner. In case you have mastered the pronunciation, you are a step closer to the enjoyment it is, to dip yourself into the hot water on a cold winter evening. Beside the enjoyment of taking a hot bath people come here for chatting with their closest friends.
Here at the Szechenyi Baths are three outdoor pools. The two at the ends are for floating in the hot water with 36 and 38 degrees, the famous chess players can be found in the hotter bath. The central one is for swimming, although the people do it with a slow and calm attitude. Obviously it is for relaxation and not for breaking world records.

Hungarians seem to like chess a lot.

The picture of the chess players in the Szechenyi Bath is famous and they really do it there, maybe every day some people meet and play. You can see chess playing Hungarians in other places as well. This picture was taken in the main street Váci u.

The style of the restaurant could be described as bold understatement. Neither the simple entrance nor the rough interior compare in any way with the food refined in taste they serve. It's mainly traditional Hungarian so if you want to know what this means, come to this place. In the area are a lot of higher and highly priced restaurants, but stay focused and find your way to the "ugly duckling".
The best choice is the menu, but to give you an indication of what to expect.
The goulash soup indeed is served as a starter, but don't worry if you get four slices of white bread to accompany it, for 950 HUF (about 4 €).
A very tasty alternative might be the onion soup served in a small bread, for 650 HUF (about 2.60 €), or the fish soup, or...
A good main dish is the boiled chicken in a red pepper sauce, together with small dumplings (as on one of the pictures for this article), for 1450 HUF (about 6 €).
Or something sweet for main course? Try the chicken stuffed with cheese and fruit sauce.
Espresso is 300 HUF (abou 1.20 €). It's the Austrian Julius Meinl brand.

"Contemporary Hungarian, international, and fusion cooking, also featuring sushi prepared by Japanese chef Hokama Yusei," is what the restaurant guide did tell us.
Well, because we love Sushi we ordered the Sashimi deluxe platter as a starter and were surprised two times. First time when ordering a Japanese Sake as an accompanying drink, it wasn't available! This should never happen if a restaurant and a pricy like Tom-George offers Sashimi, raw fish. So we had to order Hungarian beer and Hungarian Riesling. Second surprise was the accompanying rice. If a Japanese sushi chef would have prepared it, not such hard and plain tasting rice would have been used. The sashimi itself was delicious and I do not complain about the very thin slices, as it must be difficult to get raw fish in a continental country like Hungary.

Maybe somebody has an idea what this "traffic sign" is for?
At least it has the shape and colours of a normal sized traffic sign.

I'd assume it points out a wireless hotspot, but didn't check whether this is true.
Any other guesses?

If you are starting to get fed up with historic buildings or you are a statistician anyway, then why not start counting old East European cars? They are historic as well, at least manufactured before the Eastern revolution in 1989, so about 20 years at least. They look old as well, but what surprised me was the shear amount of them in the streets of Budapest. Eastern manufacturing technology was simple, but the cars continue to run and run and run ...