Thursday, July 1, 2010

Beautiful Budapest trumps Brussels. Also I drank Tokaj wine


These are just two of the many pictures I took during my little Budapest interlude. I was fortunate enough to get out the drab Brussels and a new place. While I complain and moan about Brussels, I am the first to admit that it is so centrally located that within hours, I can find myself in a new country. The flight to Budapest was so short that I barely had time to freak out about turbulence or plane crashes. My baby and I met accompanied husband for a conference so we were fortunate enough to stay at a prime location. Our hotel was directly across from the famous Chain Bridge. Every time, I left the hotel, my eyes feasted on this majestic bridge.



Budapest, is one of those cities that is still being discovered by tourists. People flocked to Paris or London for decades but it is only in the past couple of years, people are discovering the countries that for so long lived under communism's dark veil. I believe Budapest is one of those cities. The city felt so regal and its buildings especially the bridges were befitting of a city that was once the capital of an empire. The bridges spanning across the Danube connecting Pest to Buda reminded me of Paris. Paris has many small bridges connecting the Left and Right banks. However, unlike Paris, Budapest's bridges were massive, with traffic flowing from one side to the other. All hours of the day, tourists and locals alike walk from one end to the other. What a lovely way to get around the city, especially when the sun is shining and a soft breeze is coming from the Danube.



While there is no more Austrian Hungarian Empire, Budapest proudly shows off its vestiges of an era ruled by kings and emperors. I mentioned in a previous blog that I sampled some Hungarian beer which was delicious. During this trip, I learned that Hungarian wine is also pretty damn good. Apparently, there is a rich and fertile wine region. Many people are not familiar with Hungarian wine but I think that will change in the near future as more and more visit the country and request their spirit shops to carry the wines. Tokaj is a famous wine region in Hungary. The wines are wonderful. I enjoyed a wonderful Tokaj sweet white wine. It was delicious. Highly recommend a nice glass of Tokaj.

As the French say, Chink chink.

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