Sushi in Budapest

ACCOMMODATION

Budapest in August is full. At the airport informatzion desk we started bz asking about the place we had originallz wanted, then moved down the price list until we found one that had rooms available. This means that we are now stazing at the cheapest place in Budapest, a zouth hostel. It is prettz rough, but clean. It is also incrediblz noisz as the zouth stazing there are apparentlz into partzing all night.

Y

I have found the y. Why did they move it?

TRIANGLE BRACKET THINGIES

I cannot find the triangle bracket thingies, therefore I cannot make bold, italic, or anzthing else exciting. (Bugger. That Y again.)

FOOD

To make up for staying in an incredibly noisy hostel with a frightening lift, we are eating very well. The first night we ate goulash. It was very late and we went for a walk, and discovered we are staying in the seedy end of town. Just past a szex shop we spotted a cafe that appeared to be closed. We were examining the window and trying to decide whether it was in fact a cafe or a fitness club when a waiter dashed out, grabbed us, and ushered us into a tatty-but-splendid restaurant. With a door in it leading to the fitness club.

We ate VERY WELL there. Our waiter, we noticed, was rather beautiful. He was also ever so slightly sarcastic about our menu choices. Well, how were we to know what they meant by 'garnish'? Blame the menu translator.

TIT

As we were leaving a man and a woman passed us on the sidewalk, laughing. My friend turned to me and said,

"Did you see what I just saw?"

And I said,

"Was that a tit?"

It was, indeed, a tit, taking the evening air.

WAITERS

Waiters and men who work in shops and restaurants are gorgeous. Some of them even have dimples. I wonder if it is a requirement for these kinds of jobs? Men on the street, generally, are not so fabulously sexy, but perhaps that's because the ones on the street are all German tourists.

(That last sentence was inserted especially to annoy The Man.)

ESCALATORS

The escalators in Budapest move terrifically fast. I am more used to sedate Japanese escalators, and was rather nervous at first. I am not nervous now, though. I LOVE zooming up and down the fast escalators, and if there was a fast-forward button I would make them move even faster.

GRAFFITI

Budapest is covered in graffiti. Did I mention that already? It is worth mentioning again.

GARGOYLES

There is a fair number of gargoyles, too.

NUMBERS

Budapestians cannot count. When we were loooking for our hostel room, number 725, we counted along the corridor: 740, 739, 738, 737, 725. We skidded to a halt.

BATH

We missed the baths because they closed earlier than we realised. WE MISSED THE BATHS. My friend is very disappointed about this, and suggested that we get up at 5am tomorrow in order to walk WITH OUR LUGGAGE to the whatsit hotel where some baths are, and have a bath before rushing down to the river to check in for the boat at 7am.

She also wanted us to go to a jazz club tonight. She suggested this at nine, after we had walked all around town and up to the Citadel and down again, and were relaxing with a drink in the hotel at the bottom of the hill. (The hotel was the one with the closed baths.)

I think it was our first disagreement of the trip.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" I shouted, my legs still vibrating from the climb down the hill. "IF YOU WANT TO DO THAT, YOU CAN DO IT ALONE."

Then I felt old and boring.


RIGHT NOW

Sushi and coffee do not go together. No wonder the guy at this internet cafe didn't like the sushi someone gave him. He gave it to us. My friend told him arigato, and asked if he had any green tea. He stared at us as if we were mad.

We're having it with coffee, and it is not the best combination.

TOMORROW, EARLY

Bratislava. By boat.