Our 4th day in Budapest was uneventful. We were taking it easy as the next day would be our last in the city and we had a big trip out to the baths planned along with more kert visiting.
As each day passed I fell more and more in love with the little Fuji X100. It had issues with focusing speed and battery life but it was a plucky little camera. Hugely capable. It was a joy to use.
It’s day 3 of our stay in Budapest. I’m happy I can eat food and we wander. It is another very hot day.
Our wander takes us around the city seeing new and interesting architecture. Budapest architecture has interesting pastel style colours to it. There’s a definite trend of yellow and green in the city.
I spot an interesting looking woman and stop to take her picture. I don’t speak Hungarian but I am able to gesture that I would like to take her photo and she is delighted. Being a photographer is an incredible thing some times. This little box around my neck helps me stay curious and allows me to connect with people I would never normally connect with.
We venture down to the River Danube. Europe’s second largest river. Incredibly we see a coach casually floating down it. A coach. A proper Megabus style coach. We thought maybe it had some how become stuck there? Turns out it’s a tourist trip on a modified coach. Looked worrying from our perspective. Unfortunately with only a fixed 35mm lens on my camera I did not get a good photo of that.
We stop for food in a cafe then head off to Margaret Island in the middle of the Danube. Home to a swimming pool designed by Budapest’s first female architect. It’s a shame we didn’t plan the trip to find her work. Next time. Always good to have reasons to revisit a place.
After sunset we stopped by the parliament building for a quick photo. Wonderful architecture. We didn’t stop long as every single light source was buzzing with giant insects. I have no idea what they were but they were everywhere.
Ben met us on the other side of the Danube and we went for another Kert crawl. This time we ended up on top of a Spar. An actual Spar. The Spar was at the bottom of a multi-storey car park and the Kert was on the top level. Very surreal having a beer next to a giant Spar sign.
Budapest was hot. I sticky kind of hot as if you were a melted plastic toy covered in cat fluff. Our British friend Ben took us for a walk around the city. Nowhere in specific. A general wander that took in a few sights with no real pressure to be anywhere. It was nice. Hot, but nice to wander.
This was the day when I first connected with beer. We had been walking for a few hours. Did I mention it was hot? There was a decent enough looking bar with outdoor seating allowing us to people watch so we stopped there. Ben went in to order and came back with a few pints in big chunky glasses with a nice handle on. A very satisfying glass to hold. We drank the beer. It was incredible. Refreshing. Cooling. It was the best thing I had ever drank. What was it? Tuborg. Absolutely nothing special if you spoke with a bearded beer boffin. In the years since I have had vastly superior and more complex drinks but I still hold a place in my heart for Tuborg. Oh sure I had had beer before now but for some reason it all clicked into place on this day.
The hour was late and we walked around the city at sunset. Beautiful. The architectural style of numerous buildings reminded me of home. I could have been in Manchester or Liverpool.
We met up with Ben’s wife and went for tea. I was apprehensive as I’m not great with food. Sensory issues relating to taste and texture. I had no knowledge of Hungarian food and assumed it was spicy for some reason. Ben ordered a mixed grill as it seemed like a good way to try things without any pressure. When it arrived they walked us through the huge plate.
Essentially there was round meat, flat meat and long meat with a side of abstract meat.
Huh? People enjoy food like I do? They enjoy the simple flavours not because they have sensory issues but because they enjoy the flavours. Europe was once again comforting me and telling me that all those times people in the UK laughed at me for being weird with food was simply because I had different tastes. Instead of exploring those differences I was an outcast. Yet in Europe I was welcomed and rewarded for my lifestyle.
stops for a minute to cry over Brexit Why are we closing ourselves off to difference? breathes
Anyway. We had a fantastic meal and a truly fantastic day. My anxiety from yesterday had subsided and I was relaxing in to the Hungarian lifestyle.
Our evening was spent exploring a few kerts of Budapest. Kerts are basically pop-up bars in ruined spaces filled with an assortment of garden furniture and a place to serve beer. They are there one day and possibly gone the next. Another will appear down the road so there’s no crying over spilt milkshake IPA. Back in 2012 the UK didn’t really have kerts. We have slowly developed them I think. Craft bars with that rustic wooden feel. The lack of polish is the polish. As we had had a big day we only visited a couple. We would have a big tour on another night.
Arriving in Budapest in late August and it was hot. Really really hot. We met my wife’s friend there and he lead us to our apartment for the week. It was my first time staying somewhere that wasn’t a hotel and I was a bit nervous. Where does food come from in the morning? (Spoiler: I didn’t die).
Walking through the streets of Budapest and I was anxious. I think it was general anxiety for being in a new place. There was a language barrier that was more complicated than normal. The words seemed unpronounceable in comparison to French or Spanish. Admittedly I studied French and Spanish in school so I had a basic understanding to fall back on. Hungarian was completely foreign to me. I was anxious. Plus it was late and getting dark.
We spent the evening at Ben’s apartment learning about the city and what it was like to live there. Across the road there was a little shop that sold foreign food including industry standard Walkers shortbread. I felt a little less anxious.
A full day to wander around Paris before leaving for the sleeper train to Budapest. This was my first real test of the new Fuji X100 and it was a joy to use. I felt like a proper street photographer using a Leica. It’s easy to be energised by a new camera and a city to explore so I needed to properly test the camera to move past that initial excitement and decide whether it was a good camera or not.
Our first stop was at Montparnasse Tower. This is the best view you can get of Paris because it includes everything you want to look at. You can see the Eiffel Tower, Sacre-Coeur and Notre Dame. I didn’t take a big camera on this trip. Only the X100 so I could really test it out. I didn’t want to fall back on a big camera so I had to take some photos through the tourist telescope device.
We grabbed some eclairs, choc for me and coffee for my wife, and wandered to the Arc de Triomphe to get a close up view of it. Not something we’ve done in the past. I never knew you could get up close and wander around it. I thought it was an arch on a roundabout but there’s a lot to take in.
We ended the day with a late lunch at Amelie’s cafe before heading to the train station. The cafe is great because it could be an overpriced tourist trap but its not. It’s a decent little cafe that is never too busy. I genuinely enjoy every visit. It’s become a tradition for my wife and I just as our evening meal is usually at Refuges des Fondu.
It was a busy but relaxed day. I was in love with the camera.
2010 was my first trip to Paris where I fell in love with the architecture and simple food I enjoyed. 2011 was a flying visit on the way back from Valencia. In 2012 we took another flying visit on the start of a 3 week European tour as happy Europeans with our European passport that let us freely move around European. Le sigh.
(more…)After spending a few days in Madrid and Valencia it was time to come home. Our hotel had been great. The rooftop sun lounge area gave views over the port and out towards the City of Arts and Sciences.
My legs were doing ok post marathon and we had discovered a new drink called ‘Frozen hot chocolate’ which was incredible. All good things must come to an end and so we headed for home on a sleeper train.
While waiting for the train we sat next to an official looking person in the cafe. After a quick search it turned out to be the Queen Letizia of Spain. An actual Queen just sat over there! Amazing.
One bad nights sleep later and we were in Paris. I don’t sleep well on sleeper trains as I’m too tall for the beds. I do enjoy that method of travel though. It is roomier than flying and you get to see the world go by over breakfast. I miss it. We had time to kill in Paris so we went to Amelie’s cafe for lunch. I really enjoy not rushing to make a train connection. If you can I highly recommend having a meal between connections. In 2018 we had lunch in Venice on our way to Croatia. Such a simple little thing but how great is it to casually have lunch in Venice? It is great.
Lunch, a beer and a wander in Paris with a trip to a camera store and some eclairs from a boulangerie for the trip home. I passionately miss these trips.
In Valencia our hotel was situated right next to the port. Being from the Liverpool City Region we love a good port. It was interesting seeing familiar ships visiting. Our main reason for being here was not to look at the port though. It was to sit on the beach and rest after running the Liverpool 2011 Marathon. That said, you can’t keep an architectural photographer from wanting to explore and we didn’t have to go far to find an interesting building.
Vales e Vents aka the America’s Cup Building was built in 2007 for the International Yacht Race. I enjoyed playing with the clean lines in the early morning sun. It feels like it was designed by Sir Johnny Ive.
Our post marathon Spain recovery trip included a few days at a beach in Valencia. Back then I wasn’t much of a beach person but my legs welcomed it so I let them rest. That said, we did 1 bit of exploring which was to go see The City of Arts and Sciences or a Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias.
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