Finters, Paprika, Baths and Terror

Budapest, Hungary

Hello all from a very warm Budapest. The sweat is dripping as we are seeing the end of the last vestiges of assorted colds that have been a minor nuisance, but certainly not interferred with our adventures. I have not found a quick way to link pictures into the blog but will work on posting some of Vienna as well as more recent photos of Budapest. The scenery, architecture and people are breathtaking. In the meantime here some explanations of the subject line, which are not necessarily linked, but all intriguing.

Finters, Finters. Currency is certaionly one of the more intriguing aspects of travel. Even though the Czech Republic and Hungary have been admitted to the EU, they will not shift to Euros for a couple of years. So it was crowns or Korona in the Czech Republic + 23 to the dollar. Now in Hungary is is finter which rhymes with splinter except words in Hungarian are rarely pronounced as an English speaking person would try. Finters (can you believe) are + 200 to the dollar. So you learn to drop the last two digits and divide by 2 and you get dollars. For example if dinner costs 5,000 finters dropping the digits gets you to 50 and dividing by 2 gives you 25 dollars. Trouble is, they sometimes interpret that for you in Euros, so that is another story. Now you can also play name the faces on the bills. Hah!

Paprika. Spicy Hungarian dishes are the classic food and they are generally delicious, at least ones that are not deep fried. And paprika seems to be the spice of choice. Goulash comes in veal, beef and chicken, though veal seems preferred for dinner, with dumplings. Sometimes you are surprised by what you thought you ordered, even that which seemed simple. We ordered a sorbet for dinner which we thought would be sherbert. What came to us was a lemon ice mixed with champagne. But it was fine desert, at least I thought so, but a surprise.

Baths. There are 26 mineral baths from hot springs located around Budapest. Presumably they will cure whatever ails. We have tried the Gellert Hotel and its world famous baths twice, in part suggested by Fay Cook who loved the baths and the massage at the Gellert when she stayed there a while ago. Well, we are not staying at the hotel but you can pay to get in to the baths and enter the most complex confusing system explained to you in brusk Hungarian. If you ask twice at this place you get a shrug, or worse, and the end of conversation. It is both riotous and frustrating to see the people find their way down to the Soviet style mentality that seems to guide the women in the locker room. They look at a slip of paper though you have been given a plastic card. They lead you to a cabin to change - a family shares + you get a tag with a number which does not correspond to the cabin number which you are supposed to memorize. The tag is written on the inside of the cabin so they can check if you are really on the up and up. It goes on. I also had a wonderful massage from a frighteningly large Hungarian. Janet had a less pleasing one.

Terror. One of the most moving museums here is the Museum of Terror which chronicles the Nazi and Soviet occupations. It is incredibly emotional and instructive. It is important to note that the museum is in the actual building that served as headquarters first for the Nazis then the Soviets. You go from room to room, aided sometimes by film. The rooms move through the history of those eras. Some rooms replicate real places, such as the office of the Soviet official who occupied the room or a replica of a real court room with all of the walls, floors and tables papered with sheets representing the trumped up charges against various prisoners. Shéets of paper explain each area in English or Hungarian. Music like "Jaws" beats in the background. One image I will not forget was the transtion from Nazi to Soviet occupation, where two uniforms were in the middle of the room back to back and rotating. One was a Nazi and one a Soviet uniform. I know of the red scares and McCarthyism as the overreaction in the United States. But it was enlightening to see what the Hungarians experienced, the insidious dismantling of culture and institutions, the spying, the executions, the jailings, the sending to gulags. All of this only ended in 1989. The museum tour ends in the jail cells located in the cellar where people were tortured. You could also see the gallows contained in small, windowless cells. And there we were in the country that rebelled in 1956 and was crushed by Ru ssian tanks. It was vivid and very real and very very recent.

There is, of course, much more. But this is long enough for now.

Mel (in a cooler than outside internet cafe).

P.S. from Janet. We have found the people in Budapest and Prague to be less friendly than Vienna. They always cite their history of 200 years of Turkish occupation, 300 years of Austrain occupation, the Nazi invasion and occupation then 50 years of Soviet occupation as the reason. Apparently, at least in Prague, they really feel that America should not have divided up Eastern Europe and "given" it to the Soviet Union. One interesting difference, however, among all three is that the Jewish "section" in Budapest almot made it through the Nazi years intact. Towards the end of the war, when Hitler was losing, he sent Eichmann to Budapest to begin destroying the Jewish community. Fortunately, he lost soon after.