Budapest Recap
I’m finally back from Hungary. For those of you who do not know where Hungary is, it’s a landlocked country in Eastern Europe next to Austria and Romania. The capital city is Budapest, which is actually two cities, Buda & Pest (pronounced Pesht). I had no idea that Buda & Pest were separate. The city of Pest is the urban and flat land where Buda is the hilly countryside. The Danube River cuts through them and it’s an unbelievable sight.
I arrived in Budapest later than expected because my flight had to make an emergency landing 40 minutes after take-off back at JFK Airport. Apparently, the air conditioning system for the engines didn’t work correctly and they were afraid to fly the plane over the Atlantic Ocean. I knew there was a serious issue when I was a few thousand feet in the air and saw a helicopter escort bring us into JFK… and fire engines and emergency crews lined the runway. Needless to say, 5 hours later, we were back up in the air and on our way to Budapest.
I was meeting Sherri in Budapest who had already been there for almost a week on business. We stayed at the most beautiful hotel: the Four Seasons Gresham Palace. The staff and attention to detail was magnificent and every little amenity was provided. After arriving late on Friday evening, we decided to walk across the famous bridge (the first bridge you see in the picture) and view the city from afar. It was gorgeous! I decided that we must return to this bridge later on in the evening for something else…. Well, long story short, we did return the to the bridge a few hours later, darkness upon us, right before dinner, and I worked up the courage to propose to Sherri…. right then and there, we got engaged, ring in hand, ready and willing. It was one of the most unbelievable experiences ever and we both shared an amazing moment and proceeded back to the hotel to call our families.
We enjoyed a fantastic dinner at a restaurant called Mocca that evening. Very impressed. The next day (Saturday), I spent the morning with Andras Pfaff from Dream Interactive, one of the top Interactive design shops in Budapest. Andras and I talked about the Interactive community in Budapest compared to New York and found some common bonds (BMW Z4, T-Mobile, Apple, art, etc) and some significant differences. I have to say that I was incredibly impressed with Andras and look to work with him on upcoming projects. Afterwards, Sherri and I took a tour around Budapest with a private guide and saw many destinations including castles, outdoor baths, museums, Parliament, and other nooks and crannies.
We spent the rest of the trip at fantastic restaurants eating more goulash that you can imagine, viewing wondrous castles, the Jewish Synagogue & and delicate architecture, and fending off phone calls from family/friends about our engagement. While I have not downloaded all the pictures from my digital camera yet, I have posted the first 50 or so to my photoalbum on Flickr, so I invite you to check out some of the images. I would certainly go back to Budapest again – but would want to travel around the country or take a side trip to Vienna. It’s a gorgeous city that is in the midst of change and I highly recommend you go and check it out. It’s extremely rich with history (communism, World War I, World War II, 1956 Uprising).
Things I noticed:
- No Starbucks (yet)
- Burger King outnumbers McDonald’s around the city
- There is a TGI Fridays (though different look/feel compared to USA)
- There is a restaurant called Wall Street (go figure)
- The food isn’t as cheap as one would expect, but fairly on par with NYC restaurants (if you’re going to eat at a high caliber)
- A taxi ride anywhere will probably run ~$10 USD (within the city, excluding airports)
- The food is generally excellent. There was only one restaurant I didn’t fancy, but everyone else liked it.
- Most menus are in English & Hungarian
- Tip around 10%
- Fish is an extremely popular menu item
- The weather mirrored London or Seattle (grey skies)