Buona notte!

My first night here was a pleasant one. I took a 15-20 minute walk to one of the main shopping areas of Pest, Vaci utca (utca means street), which is where the restaurant I'd chosen is. There are a lot of old buildings in the city center...and lo and behold, there are sex shops here too! They've followed me here from Amsterdam...only here they're called Szex Bolts. Anyway, it was a nice walk, right along the Danube. For those of you who don't know the layout of Budapest, the Danube river cuts the city in half, north to south. The side on the west is Buda, the side on the east is Pest (pronounced Pesht--S is pronounced Sh, and Sz is pronounced S). Buda is very hilly and contains some old, expensive neightborhoods, as well as Castle Hill and Gellert Hill, on which are several really old castles, citadels, etc. Pest is the business and shopping heart of the city and is very flat.

So about the restaurant...Fatal was wonderful. Don't worry, the word fatal means wooden plate in Magyar. I had stuffed cabbage, which had beef inside, and was baked in a savory mixture of tomatoes, onions, sour cream, and some other stuff I couldn't identify. It was great, and I'm not a cabbage lover. It came in an iron sauce pot, which was interesting. For dessert, I had Somloi Galuska, which is the Hungarian version of tiramisu. It was essentially cake soaked in rum, with walnuts and raisins, with ice cream and whipped cream on top. Tasty... The portions were huge...I couldn't eat it all. Fatal is rated by Lonely Planet as a "high end" restaurant, but it was only about $30 USD, including tip ($1 USD = 180 Hungarian florints). I think there will be many places way cheaper than that, but it was a nice splurge for my first night.

I sat next to two Italian men who were very nice. By next to, I mean close enought to bump elbows while eating. One made me try his dessert of chocolate crepes (don't worry, he offered it to me before he'd touched it--I'm not eating after strangers:). We were sitting in front of a huge stained glass piece...among other things it pictured was a sign, "Cherchez la femme fatale." A sign to me? Hmmm...

I meant to mention earlier, there were no chickens on my Malev flight into Hungary;<. It was a plain old 737-600...the only novelties were the announcements made in 3 languages and the snack and beverage cart had weird stuff:) Also, Budapest has two airports, Ferihegy 1 and Ferihegy 2. F1 is all domestic flights, and F2 is international flights.

I walked back from dinner along the Danube, and by then it was dark. I got some nice pictures of The Gellert Hotel and Baths and the Budapest Technical University, which sounds boring but is actually housed in what looks like an old palace or government building. And for you worriers, I am watching my back:).

I am making my plans for tomorrow, but one definite is hitting one of the baths. The city sits on over 200 mineral springs...people come from all over for the healing quality of the waters. Also because of this, the city sits on several cave networks. I'd like to check those out as well.

Goodnight!