Hungarian BBQ

Sure enough, I woke up at 11 and I beat everybody else by a long shot. It's physically difficult for me to sleep in later than that, and even 11 is pretty challenging. I got up and tried to catch up on blogging (always a struggle).

Long story short, the morning wasted away and I got very little blogging done and we didn't end up leaving the house til almost 3 PM! :( And it was gorgeous out, so that was a little bit of a bummer. I'm all for sleeping in and relaxing but I really felt like we kind of wasted the morning. But, Laura and Bernhard were well rested and we still had a full afternoon/Saturday evening to play with.

We first went to a bike rental shop that was open. This was lucky for us, because here, May Day is a big holiday in general, made even bigger by the fact that Hungary got admitted into the EU on May 1st a few years back - so pretty much everything is closed. This also means that there was very little traffic and not many people outside on the streets, so it was a pleasant and easy ride. Bernhard steered us around the beautiful parliament building and then up to Margaret Island. This time we crossed over to the island on it's northern bridge (the southern bridge is the bridge we named the Island Bridge) from the Pest side.

As soon as we got to the island, Laura's seat started teetering but Bernhard and I kept riding for a few minutes. Eventually we realized we lost her and turned back. Like any good lost child (apparently she has a tendency for getting lost), she waited exactly where we accidentally left her. We thought we fixed her seat but it kept braking. Finally, Bernhard asked a stranger who operates some of the rental-bike-carriage-type-things for a tool and they were able to actually fix her seat for real. Phew! Laura is not a big biker because her balance is not that great due to an ear infection as a kid. So this was an important day for me, because I want to keep biking a lot as the weather gets nicer, which means Laura needs to like it enough to spend money on renting bikes!! Also, I will probably talk her into riding a tandem bike with me one of these days...!

Once the bike was fixed though it was smooth sailing...or riding I should say. It was neat to see the northern part of the island, and much quicker on bike then on foot. The island is so big, yet walkable, I just love it. Everybody being outside doing healthy things (+ eating huge gobs of cotton candy, or "sugar candy" as Bernhard calls it). We stopped at a fountain on the southern tip of the island where the fountain was dancing to music that was playing. Bernhard also got some sugar candy and shared it with us. After lounging at the fountain in the sun, we biked back up to the northern bridge and crossed over to the Buda side.

On the Buda side, Bernhard showed us some really great examples of communist architecture that still remains in Budapest. It is really interesting to see the remnants that are still here. Then we biked along the Danube River all the way down the Buda side until we got to the famous Chain Bridge. Somehow, we have crossed all the other bridges here except the famous one! So we biked over it, and now it can be checked off our list :) Then we biked through a square with the last standing Russian communist monument in the city, which is tall pillar with the communist star on top. I'm curious as to why they chose to leave any, and that one in particular.

Then it was time to return our nice little bikes and go to Dirk's flat again for...a Hungarian barbecue!!

It was the same group as last night plus Dirk's other roommate, her friend, and his CouchSurfer's friend. And one or two other random people. Since most stores were closed, we had to go the one place that was open and try to find meat. Their selection was terrible, and there was nothing worth barbecuing except some practically whole chickens. So we got those. Bernhard cut the meat of the chicken and as we cleaned out the fridge we decided to throw tuna, chopped onions, chopped celery, vegetable oil, salt, pepper, and paprika (paprika is like their national spice, they eat it on anything!) Needless to say, it was amazing. I am going to have to recreate that when I'm home. The chicken was also quite tasty, and Dirk's other roommate (forgot her name) made fresh hummus for us which was delicious and quickly gobbled up. So it was a successful barbecue. Then we sat around by the grill and inside in two different small groups with lots of mingling. In the kitchen at one point, Mark and Dirk and I began juggling a soccer flat, too-small soccer ball. Lots of fun - made me miss playing. Probably not a great idea in the kitchen though, luckily nothing got broken!

Michelle's (Dirk's CouchSurfer's) friend was only in Budapest for literally 24 hours so they wanted to go out and stay out all night. I was not feeling that...and neither was Laura. And nobody could agree on a bar. We went to a few places but they got rejected by somebody or another. Then we went to a place everybody seemed to like, but Bernhard, Laura and I couldn't get in because we had back packs. We went to another place, but there was a cover, so that didn't work out. After a couple of hours of wandering and not actually doing anything, Laura and I headed back to Bernhard's place and went to bed at a normal time.

Bernhard stayed out until 3 and later told us that it was completely not worth it and that we made a very good decision coming home. So, go us!


Quotes:
"I have an idea. Let's clean out the fridge by putting everything on the barbecue." - Dirk

"Oh, beer, good idea." - Dirk (said as passing a convenience store, where you can buy beers and then drink them on the streets)

Accomplishments:
Got Laura to ride a bike!

Travel Tip:
Know when to call it a night.