72 Hours in Budapest

Hunting down a personal network connection I had from St. Louis Park, I arrived in Budapest last weekend to find this individual and interview him. Having lived in the city for the last 18 months, he was also eager to show someone from back home around his favorite city.

And indeed, what an amazing city. I had heard from some that Hungary was still cheap, as is the rest of Eastern Europe, especially since the Hungarian currency, the Forint, is trading with the dollar at a ratio of 200:1. Nope, Budapest is expensive, it's the rest of the country that's cheap. The cost of a beer was holding steady, however, at about 500 Forint ($2.50).

The city was alive. It had a discernible rhythm to it. The Hungarians have been protesting for the last two months now, in reaction to their Prime Minister basically caught on tape gloating about his campaign promises being unattainable, if not just untrue. The Hungarians, suffering tear-gas, rubber-bullets, etc. continue to protest in the city, demanding the resignation of their Prime Minister.

And like a typical Eastern European politician stuck in the Soviet-era way of thinking, he refuses.

This comes at a appropriate time as Hungary, mainly Budapest, is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian uprising against the Soviets, which lead to the deaths of 25,000 Hungarians, but secured a lighter version of communism for their future, similar to Poland in that respect.

I took this picture in front of Parliament on the Danube river. I thought it quite telling:

The city was beautiful, though. Overrun with British folks though. Likely a testament to the city's Eastern-European-style-but-without-the-Eastern-European-feel sentiment. This is one city I will definitely rank high on my list of favorite places I went to. My only complaint: it rained everyday I was there. But hey, that's life.