Romkocsmák and Pálinka - and another event update since I don't have time for anything else!

1. Ruin Bars - "Romkocsmák"
Unique to Budapest - these are alternative bars in the courtyards and rooms of abandoned warehouses or residential buildings. They are "ad-hoc" places, often in condemned buildings waiting to be leveled.
ANYWAY after reading about them and hearing about them, this weekend I hit two up with friends. We celebrated Canada Day with Canadians in Bar Instant on Friday, and on Saturday we ended a trail of good times at Szimpla Kert (now pretty much my favorite place).  

Szimpla Kert is very eclectic and thrown-together... with seats including a cushioned half of a bathtub and a bench covered with an egg crate (also normal chairs around tables and some nice couches). Lamps, cars, old films playing in the outdoor courtyard... a friend told me the decorations change but I don't see how anyone could pick up on that. I met an AIESEC friend from UNC (Katie Leung!) here last night!


Bar Instant is unique... its themed as an "enchanted forest" and apparently the DJs base their song choices on alignment of stars and the emotions of the crowd.

2. Paprika - Still the best restaurant I've been to in Budapest
Bryan and I went here in December on a lark (or rather on a great guidebook hint); apparently everyone has heard of it and it's one of the top Hungarian restaurants (plus oh-so-charming with country village decor). We went on Saturday to take Antony's friend from home! I talked Kiwi (Antony) into sharing the 2-person house specialty "Paprika Plate"...
PAPRIKA PLATE:
Gypsy pork + Goose + Ewe cheese-stuffed turkey + Beef of some sort + A final meat I forgot
More meat than I've eaten over the span of two months. Yes I ate all of it! (Except the quarter-pound of food I gave away to some of the fourteen people at our table.) It was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My favorite surprisingly was the goose leg. I now love goose.

3. Pálinka - Traditional Hungarian fruit brandy - very, very strong
In the video a few posts ago, the girl takes a shot of clear liquid and winces a little as it goes down... that was pálinka. It comes in all different flavors: apricot (which I tried), sour cherry, grape, blackberry, elderberry, peach, sometimes with honey... anyway for a strong shot, it's nice. Way better than the strong and disgusting Unicum, a bitter Hungarian herbal liqueur, which I also (unfortunately) tried.

4. Szechenyi Baths

  It's the largest of the baths in Budapest - 15 pools including three large outdoor ones; also some of the hottest and deepest in Hungary, apparently. We were there for four hours - there was so much to see and we kept pool hopping (hot-cold-hot-lazy river pool-medicinal-small-large-hot).

Anyway it was fun and I was glad to see it! The weather was chilly and rainy which actually was perfect for lazily bathing in hot water pools all day. Oddly we ran into a New Yorker we had met in Szimpla the night before... so a very popular bath.

I can't believe I only have 2.5 weeks left! It's gone by so fast. We are going to Vienna this weekend (3hrs by bus - so close!), and then I will have 10 work days and 5 weekend days left in this amazing country. I'm aiming for a few good blog posts before leaving on Jul 24... we'll see.

Thanks for reading. Happy (belated) Independence Day everyone!
Puszi!
Em