I arrived in Budapest (Hungary is “Magyarország” in Hungarian, for the curious) on Wednesday. No more Poland, no more Slovakia. I’m still on the Danube, though. Colleen and I visited on a short day trip from Vienna with some friends back in 1998. I don’t remember much about Budapest from that trip, other than the view from Castle Hill and the big cheap dinner we ate. And some boys kicking through windows in a derelict area of town.
This city feels much larger than the others I’ve visited on this trip, and it’s louder, grittier, and quite busy. It feels more like Rome than Prague or Krakow, at least so far. I haven’t yet learned a word of Hungarian, but I’ll have to remedy that.
Budapest is so large that in just a few hours I took the metro three separate times – luckily they offer a 7-day pass! The metro system here was the first on the European continent, and the original line, the M1, is just below street level, with small, short cars.
The currency here is the Hungarian Forint, and the exchange rate against the US dollar has gone crazy in the past several months. One dollar used to buy around 300 forints earlier this year, but now it’s almost 450! Almost 50% off! The prices look intimidating – each food item costs thousands! And the bills are accordingly multi-digited.
Today’s limerick:
Buda and Pest, each once its own city
Came together, so not itty-bitty
The city then grew and grew
Now ninth largest in EU
Spanning the Danube, it's rather pretty.
Today’s dad joke: What is soy-based “cheese” called in France?
“Faux-mage”
Hmm…that doesn’t make me feel Hungary!
Today’s travel quote:
Time flies. It’s up to you to be the navigator.
Robert Orben
Major Meander 
Two balloons! I wonder if you’ll encounter “Original GPS” again while you’re there. What indeed 😂
If Faux-mage isn’t yet a brand of dairy-alternative products, it absolutely should be!
Good point! I looked it up now and found this South African company: https://fauxmage.co.za/