Budapest: DayThree

HEROES' SQUARE


ICE SKATING RINK IN CITY PARK

We started the day off shopping at a little pottery shop near our hotel. It was listed in our guidebook as having the best prices on Hungarian Herend pottery. The potterz has a folksy feel to it with bright cheery handpainted designs. I found a pattern that I like but unfortunately they did not have many of the pieces I was interested in in stock. I ended up purchasing a large bowl and a small covered canister. The shopkeepers were very nice and friendly. We chatted with them for awhile. I asked them to recommend a good brand of Hungarian paprika. When we left the pottery shop we went straight to the Spar market to pick up the paprika, but they did not have the brand we were looking for and none of their paprika was sold in the colorful tins we had seen before, so we hope can find what we are looking for somewhere else. We picked up a few other items at the Spar, then dropped everything off at the hotel room.

We caught the metro out to Heroes Square again, in search of a flea market that is held in the nearby City Park. The park was large and well manicured but a bit desolate looking owing to the winter weather. On the way to the flea market we passed the huge hour glass that was erected last year. It is turned over at the end of the year and the sands take exactlz one zear to sift from the top to the bottom. The flea market was a mixed bag. Lots of junky stuff, but some interesting collectables as well. We browsed but did not buy anything. We hopped back on the metro and emerged at the Octogon station (named for an eight sided squsre, or plaza, cuz I guess you cannot call it a square). Near octogon is Franz Liszt Square, a pretty square lined with cafes. We had lunch at Cafe Vian. Delicious. Brad had Hungarian mushroom soup and a greek salad, while I had goulash soup and a mixed green salad. We were both bad and had dessert. I had cheesecake and Brad had the Hungarian spongecake. It was sooooo good. Much better than the one I had had at the duck restaurant. After lunch we strolled down Andrassy Ut, a broad tree lined boulevard with many grand buildings. We passed the Opera house and found out to our disappointment that the Moyart Opera we considered seeing is onlz shown tomorrow at 11 a.m., not convenient for our schedule. We continued down Andrassy ut and found our way to the Museum of Ethnography where we saw a fascinating exhibit on Hungarian peasant life with wonderful folk and handcrafted items on display. Dinner tonight was a small neighborhood tavern recommended by our hotel staff. It appeared to be a seafood restaurant, judging by the fishnets and other nautical motifs adorning the walls and ceiling, but Brads turkey dish was much better than my fried catfish. Everything else was very good, though and finally we were in a place patronized by locals, however there was a large table full of Brits who we figured were expats living over here.