Budalicious

I've been fortunate enough, in my life, to work in some very pretty places. My high school was about as attractive as high schools get; my residential college and law school are both super-hot; I've already shown you pictures of the Constitutional Court; and while my work building in New York was nothing special, the Flatiron District is pretty nice in general. But if I really wanted to work somewhere beautiful, I'd do my darndest to get elected to the Hungarian Parliament.

They actually meet there! It has to be the most unbelievably gorgeous place in the world, and they work in it. If they're underperforming, this has to be why.

I spent most of today in Buda, the greener, wealthier side of the city. But I started the morning off right with a chocolate croissant and cappucino from Művész Kávéház. It was (appropriately) probably the first croissant I've ever had that could rival those at the Hungarian Pastry Shop in New York.

I climbed up to the Citadel, which has views of the whole city, and some of the most outrageous tourist merchandise I've seen. ("Budapest Triathlon: Drinking, Eating, Fucking" said one shirt, with stick figure drawings of each event. Can't we at least be polite and say "schtupping?" I guess it's still better than "I think he's gay.") The one thing I find especially bothersome about tourist merchandise is that it's nigh impossible to find a shirt or hat with the name of the country...IN THE LANGUAGE OF THE COUNTRY. There are "Croatia" and "Hungary" shirts galore, but when you go to the country, wouldn't you rather have a "Hrvatska" or "Magyarorszag" shirt? I know I would. I think I've found a niche for a new business.

After walking down from the hill, I grabbed a delicious, if expensive, lunch of raspberry lemonade, goulash, and baked pasta with bacon and sour cream. I continued to an old church (under construction) and eventually to a wine tasting.

I had a rose (fine), a glass of egri bikaver (delish!), and a little Tokaji (unusual, but good).

By this point I was also chugging down water by the liter. I have a love-hate relationship with the sun, you see. I love it. My skin hates it. Click here, if you dare, to see a (somewhat unfocused) picture of my hand after walking around today. That's what a UVB allergy will do to you. In high school I got tested for this allergy. The test involved a doctor shining varying intensities of two wavelengths of light on my butt. Because I reacted to the UVB, I had red squares on one butt cheek for the next year and a half. This had absolutely no consequence, except that every so often I'd be about to step into the shower, and I'd get a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and I'd think "WTF...I can't believe I still have red squares on my butt." I need to be better about wearing sunscreen.

After the wining was a walk over the Chain Link Bridge to Parliament, then to coffee, and then back to my hostel. For dinner tonight I had two phenomenal dishes: Raspberry cream soup with honey, almonds, and cottage cheese balls, and cold goose liver with vegetables. Every time I eat liver, I just want to go to the Red Cross and tell them they can have as much blood as they want, because I have all the iron in the world running through my veins. We'll see if they even take my blood after all of this time in Europe.

OK, it's bed time for me. YLSers...let me know what classes you think you're taking! Oh, and I may not have internet access in Prague, but I'll do my best to update.