by Jeriah Hildwine
Here are some more photographs from my recent adventure in Budapest. Highlights include some weird birds, some statues of guys on horses, a lot of cannons, and me eating black pudding for the very first time! One of the nice things about Budapest is that it's very affordable. The last time I traveled I suffered from two main drawbacks: I was a vegetarian, and I was a poor college student. Well, I'm no longer a vegetarian, and I'm now a poor college instructor! But, while I spent my last Europe trip eating cheap Chinese food, in Budapest even someone on a very tight budget can afford to eat out in nice restaurants.
Last post I reviewed Trofea, the all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant. That was great, and only ran about $27.50 including tip for all you can eat and drink. The awesome restaurant of this post is Fatal (classy name, eh?) which is priced pretty modestly and gives you epic portions. I tried some weird meats for the first time including black pudding, which wasn't nearly as gross as it sounds. In fact, if anything, it was just a little plain.
Up by Hero's Square were two of my favorite things about Budapest. Of course the thermal baths were amazing: for about fifteen bucks, you can roam about this complex of hot, warm, cool, and icy cold baths, plus saunas. My sister and I started out in the warm pools, then moved inside to some even hotter ones, then to a sauna which we stayed in for as long as we could stand before hopping in an ice-cold indoor pool. Really wakes you up!
I was on my own when I hit the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. I saw two exhibitions there, in addition to the permanent collection. The exhibition of drawings by Parmaggiano was neato; there's something about an old drawing that, more so than a painting, gives me a sense of connection with the artist. I can imagine so easily, six hundred years ago, the hand making that mark on the paper.
Botticelli to Titian: Masterpieces of Two Centuries of Italian Art was absolutely mind-blowing. There were great works by Titian, Paulo Ucello, Botticelli, Raphael, and Giorgio Vasari. But, far and away, the highlight of the exhibition was Leonardo da Vinci's Lady With An Ermine.
Cecilia's smile is a thousand times more mysterious than the Mona Lisa's. You can tell this girl's kind of naughty, and smart, with a great sense of humor. She's probably laughing at you, just a little, inside. I'd totally hit that.
Moreover, that hand has got to be one of the best painted hands, by anyone, ever. In reproduction, it's still a bad-ass image, but in person it absolutely takes your breath away. You've got until Valentine's Day to get yourself to Budapest and fall in love with this painting.
Titian to Botticelli is on display until Feb. 14th, 2010. The sandwiches in the downstairs cafe are as bland as museum cafe sandwiches always are, but they're about two dollars instead of the six or eight you'll pay at a museum cafe in the states.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Tags: Birds, Black Pudding, Budapest, Cannon, Goulash, Sausage, Snack Report, Travel
