Visit to Budapest

bm

It seems the Art Noveau style was particularly popular in the final days of the Hapsburg (Austro-Hungarian) Empire.

There is a signficant amount of such work here in Prague, too.

KP

We spent a week in Budapest eight or nine years ago. The only problem was we went the last week in November, and the weather was just miserable. It reminded me exactly of Chicago that time of year - windy, damp, dreary and cold. I would love to go back again in the summer.

That aside, it is a breathtakingly beautiful city. It has an excellent metro system, so getting around is no problem at all. The people were friendly, and between their smattering of English, my wife's smattering of German, and my smattering of French we were able to get by with hardly any problems.

I was there in 1996, shortly after the Russians had gone. I was the only male who was part of a school exchange and we had fifteen English girls with us (16 year olds) who were partnered with fifteen Hungarian girls.

So there I was, five teachers (all female) thirty giggling girls and me, trying to get a word in edgeways. There is nothing like the collective energy of thirty teenage girls, I can tell you. I was knackered after day one!!

We saw most of the city in that week, and went to the newly refurbished opera house for the opening of Swan Lake - absolutely brilliant decor inside, all gold leaf and restored wotnots. It cost about 50p per ticket!!

The castle district was my favourite, where the unrestored buildings still showed clear damage marks, caused by bullets, bombs and grenades that were hurled at one another during WW2.

My most scary moment was at the Gellert baths - a phenominal place - all art nouveau splendour, with natural hot springs feeding both the indoor and outdoor pools. True decadence!

I sat there in a shallow pool for about an hour, directly underneath a golden dragon's head, which pumped a continuous column of very warm water over my head - marvellous!

The girls had all gone for a Turkish massage in the back of the building - and me being the only male, didn't fancy going into the men's massage room on my own, so stayed in the pool for a while.
When I got fed up with that, I had a walk round, in my little speedos, and climbed the ornate stairs to the open cafe that overlooked the pools.
I suddenly noticed that there were no women up there, and was seriously chatted up twice by slim, well groomed men, before hurriedly making my way back down to the pools again.
I didn't know, but that cafe was one of the main gay pickup places in Budapest at the time.

Bloody scary, I can tell 'ee!

The girls, on one shopping spree, descended on the "Levi" shop (jeans were £3 a pair, jackets a fiver!) and almost cleared the place out.

Would I go again - IGEN!

Would I walk through that cafe wearing speedos again - definitely NEM!

One of the Brit girls, by the way, was Fern Cotton. It won't mean much to the Americans, but the Brits will probably know her. She was a lovely girl, who kept nicking my chewing gum. I lent her £5 to buy a Levi jacket, and she made her Dad drive over to our place to pay me back as soon as we were home in the UK.

Still owes me about three packs of wrigleys, though.

When we went in 1980s we stayed at the amazing and newly opened Hilton which incorporates the restored remains of a 13th century Dominican churchyard and cloisters. It now costs £120 a night but then was less than that a week for a family of 5 travelling in a very basic fashion. I did see some Art Nouveau buildings but little was made of them. The town was a bit shabby but attractive and dirt cheap. Now it's immensely sophisticated and getting pricier by the minute. However, I know two people who've invested in property in Budapest and love it there - they only go for half the year.

ahhhh the Art Nouveau connection

that'd make me swoon

Budapest is a very beautiful and romantic city. I liked it a lot.