Chapter I Fly, train, bus, or taxi but don 't DRIVE to Budapest
On our last morning in Vienna, we headed to the Museum Quartier to the Leopold Museum to see some Austrian art. Vienna has a lot of art museums in the 'quartier', which I assumed was an area of the Museumplatz street where many could be found. Not true. The Museum Quartier, much like Europe's definition of palaces or castles, is a collection of buildings. You walk through an archway of what looks like a large non-descript building and you are in a giant courtyard, with museums on every side in every shape, material and style. 
The courtyard is designed for 'hanging out' and filled with funky large molded plastic furniture meant for lounging in the sun and cafes for drinking. It was already maybe 85F and too hot for sun or coffee and only 9am so too early for beer so we instead headed for the art. Yet again, we found Austrian masters, previously unheard of to us, who reminded me of the postman of Van Gogh,
and the portraits of Soutine,
We discovered Eger's work, displaying a more Communist ethic with a WPA feel.
Lastly, there was a haunting exhibit of large charcoal and pen drawings of children who took part in what those beloved Nazis referred to as their 'Child Euthanasia' program. These were large and intense and sad and had been created using photos from the detailed documents the Nazis kept. It is always exceptionally chilling, when you relive this era through the most innocent victims, the children. 
If this was intended as a small bit of preparation for visiting Auschwitz, then for sure I will take the advice of my friend Eva. She warned me that after visiting (no that is too mild a word) Auschwitz, don't plan anything, you will need to simply relax and decompress.
But now we needed to head out of Vienna. It was really one or two or even three days too soon to leave. This road trip is enlightening. We are realizing how utterly spoiled we have become as travelers. We had lulled ourselves into a false reality that traveling means staying in one place for a week or two or four with a chance to go slow and see it all. Now that we are back on a whirlwind pace, we are leaving each city before we are ready. We had no time for music or more museums or walking, walking walking all over. No time to try the pastry at Dremel or to see the outdoor opera movie in the park. We loved Vienna and it is on our must return list if at ever we find ourselves back in Central Europe.
Vienna to Budapest is two hours and thirty minutes according to every way you can Google it. I know that in a car with Steve, that is automatically almost doubled. First, there are the gas and bathroom stops but we all have that. Next there is the meal stop for which you may have to pull off the road at least twice, drive five or six kilometers to the closest town to find an OK place to eat. Next there are photo pit stops (luckily we did not get off the road in an out of the way place to try and get to the absolutely world's largest chair on the other side of the highway so Steve could add it to his photo collection). Sometimes there is a wrong road in an unexpected place. And then you usually get there in about double the Google directions.
None of this is a complaint. It is what makes a driving trip fun and why we don't call these commutes. You actually find a decent Caesar salad lunch in a less than one horse town in the Hungarian countryside where the waiter speaks a bit of English but somehow the Caesar salad, while fresh, comes with paprika chicken not listed on the menu and a honey mustard dressing. But with some mineralvasser and a couple of beers, you are ready to tackle the drive into Budapest.
Everyone we knew who had been to Budapest loves it. Every guidebook calls it the city to go to in Central Euro. No one mentions that in the summer, THE ENTIRE, no really THE ENTIRE city is under construction and every street on your directions is closed. You have no city map yet, only Rick Steve's not to scale / few street names cartoony page. It is rush hour so traffic is bad. You definitely got off the motorway coming in too soon and so all you knew for sure was that you came in from the west and definitely had to cross the Danube to the Pest side. You did that but in the crazy jumble of streets, you almost crossed back to Buda a couple of times. You think that was the Great Market and if so, you have to head north along the river. But the right streets go the wrong way, there are no left turns where you need them and oh crap, you are now definitely heading out of town.
We must have been even Steve's definition of lost as he let me stop in at the NH Hotel to get a map and ask directions. We were only maybe eight blocks from our hotel in a roundabout sort of way and in another five minutes we were there. Our personal driving time Vienna to Budapest - six hours and forty-five minutes.
Now to be fair, Steve is amazing at getting us into a new town and using some internal compass he has to head to the center or the river or wherever we need to be. He doesn't get mad, he can read a map while driving and still look for street signs, even though that means switching his glasses from distance to readers constantly. 
And most important, we always get there and once there, with the car parked, all is again right with the world and we are ready to conquer a new city.
Chapter II Budapest in a better light
Another five star hotel treat for us in Budapest, probably only because it is summer and hot and many people head out of town, not in, so the rates fit our loosely defined budget. The whole hotel has AC, is beautiful and the service is exceptional. Our room is glamorous with a view of the park. We need to decompress a bit from the last hour in the car, so it must be laundry time. Yes, every few days, we whip out our biodegradable camping laundry liquid, hang our rubber clothesline and turn our bathroom into a laundry room, because really, how many pair of underwear can you have in your one 24" suitcase? About five (M) or eight (F).
A pre-dinner stroll for a few blocks in our little 'hood was an upscale, pleasant welcoming sight in comparison to our earlier, grittier driving tour of the city. A light tapas dinner in our own hotel, outdoors at the lounge, looking at the park and fountain with a nice bottle of our first Hungarian white was the perfect ending.
Chapter III Day One of Two
Another 100 degree day in store. We decided to take it easy and walk across the Chain Bridge to Buda and take the Funicular up to Castle Hill for what is described as maybe and only a couple of hours of worthy sightseeing. They were right, we did it and we were done with Buda. Back to the hotel to change and pack and ready ourselves for the adventure treat of the day.......the Baths, a traditional ritual in this city.
There are all different baths. The most famous is Gellert. The most upscale is Gellert. And it is in the Gellert Hotel in Buda. It is for tourists so of course, it is not for us.
We chose instead the Szechenyi Baths in City Park, where all the regular folks go. A quick ride on the first Metro built on the Continent. 
Only twenty meters below ground, these tiny, tidy old fashioned stations zip you along in three car mini trains to you destination. From the exit to the baths is maybe fifty steps. Once through the doors, it is unlike anything we ever saw.
First you pay 4200 Florint to enter and you get a plastic wristwatch, no locker number on it this time. You press your band to the turnstile to get in and find yourself in a long room of wooden doors that are changing rooms. Open the door and walk into something the size of a smallish closet with another door opposite to exit. This is where you put on your bathing suit so you close both doors but there are no locks at all. HMMMM. Aha, the front of the small bench running the length of the cabin from front door to back has a hinged part that flips down and locks both doors at once. Simple and ingenious, though it stumped Steve.
Out the back of the closet to the lockers to stow your gear and they too work off the little wristwatch. Now to the towel rental, scan your band again. Now buy a swimming cap, required for one of the pools. Now head in to the SEVENTEEN pools of thermal mineral waters where you can bathe with a sea of humanity in waters ranging from 38C to 28C and every combination in between. 
The indoor pools are small to medium size set in high domed ceiling, marble columned rooms.
The outdoor pools are gargantuan surrounded by massive buildings housing thai massage rooms, facial rooms, saunas, and a lousy cafeteria. Outdoors there are virtually no chaises, a few benches and some people laying on towels on the hot concrete. But there are hundreds of people in the waters.
The people come is ALL shapes but especially the larger shapes. The people come in all ages but mostly two categories. There are what look like the old locals coming today as they have done for years and years, ritually soaking and playing chess in the water. 
And then there are the young, mostly a spillover from the Burning Man like festival taking place this week on Marguarite Island, on the Danube, in the heart of the city, where included in the price of your festival ticket is a free entry to the baths. And it is hot at the festival and everyone is cashing in on their free baths.
This is even better people watching than riding the Paris Metro. One thing that is apparent immediately, and confirmed by reading, is that no matter your age or shape, you wear the smallest, tightest swimsuit sold. So if you are an 80 year old man, with a big, big beer belly, then put on your Speedo. If you are a 20 or 70 year old woman, big boobs or small, big butt or small, big belly or small, put on your bikini.
And don't even consider if the top and bottom match.
And don't worry, no one is going to steal you leg while you take a dip.
And if you get a bit tired of just sitting, head into the mini,but speedy, lazy river circle in the middle of the third pool. Insert yourself into the fray in just the same way you hop into the hora circle or the congo line at a wedding. Then just let the water push you around and around, staying to the outside to go faster.
And when you are totally waterlogged, and have tried every pool at least twice, reverse your entry routine to exit-locker, changing room, towel return, wristwatch in the turnstile, metro home, shower, more laundry, dress and head to an little outdoor bistro with artfully presented food, and a bottle of rose for a still warm night sitting under misting fans. Yeah, finally at last! Budapesters know it is hot, don't like to be hot and try to keep cool, even in the middle of the square in front of St. Stephens Cathedral.
Comments
Post a Comment