Budapest Day 4

Last night upon leaving the Internet café, I returned to the hotel to discover the door had been locked. From the bar across the street Josh and James called out to me: They had been locked out too. We tried banging on the door, ringing the bell, shouting for our fellow Dorotniks at the top of our lungs, but to no avail. So we went around the corner to call Josh’s wife in Jerusalem so that she could call Gabi in the hotel to come and open the door for us. As Josh was on the phone with his wife, James introduced himself to some kids in the park across the street who told us about a party up the block. So after we returned to the hotel and were allowed in by Gabi (who has demanded 70,000 bars of chocolate in return for waking her in the midst of the night) we stole the door key (which was in the lock on the inside of the door), and took off to the party. There we met a collective of “circus” performers: Really, a group of international fire jugglers, acrobats and unicyclists, who travel all around Europe and Asia performing. They were great — just a bunch of dreadlocked rainbow kids like so many of my friends from New Paltz. One girl, Anna, had been to Jerusalem recently, and so we chatted about her travels there and about her plans to return to Tel Aviv in May with her boyfriend to perform there.

Went back to the hotel around 3:30 and passed out. In the morning we went to the Rabbinical Seminary and met some of the staff and discussed the history of the school and of the Jewish community in Hungary. Then we spent the rest of the day doing our own thing. Went to the thermal baths and then strolling through the shopping district. I am utterly disappointed in the Budapest fashion scene, because, frankly, there isn’t one. It’s pretty lame really. I expected more. I’ve seen like, four people who I considered to be well dressed since I’ve gotten here. Guess it’s not the right country for it. (Yes, I’m a fashionista. It is my only material weakness.) Walked a couple bridges, ate at a couple cafés. It’s been a nice but exhausting day. So I will, again, have to save the rest for later.

Just uploaded 110 new photos. Check ‘em out.