First weekend in Budapest!

We had a very nice first weekend in Budapest, despite my continued slow recovery from the flu. I lost my voice completely on Saturday and could only whisper to SB, who very patiently tried to read my lips and avoid asking my more questions.

Because I was still sick and because we are both not huge fans of long days in museums and castles ("seen one castle..."), we did a lot of just "being" in Budapest. We walked the gorgeous streets, ate a lot, attended all the protests by our hotel, and went to the baths.

On Saturday evening, I was noticed many people walking on the street below our hotel room with flags in their hands, marching towards the Hero's square. There, what seemed like a thousand people assembled, barricated by gates and a very high police presence. They waved white and red stripes (which I later found out was the old traditional flag of Hungary, and in large numbers, usually represents the nationalist and conservative party of Hungary). Sierra and I went down to the protest and watched for a while, rather fascinated that we had no idea what it was about. People in matching outfits marched into the square, the national anthem was sung, and many words were said, none of which I understood. I asked a nearby girl whether she spoke English and if she new what it was all about, and she said "I'm not sure, maybe the Nationalist party protesting again - all freaks if you ask me."

We ended that evening with a long walk through Budapest, followed by glasses of good red Hungarian wine, and a conversation that consisted of me writing my part on paper, as it was too loud to whisper.

The next day we spent at the amazing Széchenyi Baths , which are located in the park right by our house. For 2400 forint (about $14), one can spend an entire day at the hot baths, which are located outside and inside, and kept at different temperatures. Inside the gorgeous bathhouse, there are saunas, steamrooms, and for extra charge, pretty much everything else you would expect from a spa. We stayed only a bit less than 3 hours, turning to prunes and muscle jello in the 38C baths outside. It was a great experience (I'm pretty sure I'm going back), but both of us napped for over 2 hours after we got out. Who knew relaxation was that exhausting.

Sunday night, another protest group assembled on Hero's square. Again, we saw people walking past our window in groups, and this time, music was playing on large speakers set up around the square. It was a Free-Tibet demonstration, and by the time we made it outside, the demonstration was reaching it's climax. The last speech was by a Tibetan refugee, in Hungarian. Then, everyone in the square (several thousand people standing in circle shaped as a peace sign) lit the large torch (yes, torch) they were holding and the the dark square lit up with fire. A tibetan prayer was spoken, and then a moment of silence, and it was all rather beautiful. We wandered around the city for several hours after that, not ready to decide on a restaurant, and ended up in the little square we had started in, outside under heating lamps (and with blankets that came with each chair), sipping wine and enjoying some good Hungarian soup.

Today we are meeting with more psychiatrists, all of them really interesting, well established professors who we feel rather privilaged to be meeting with. I've never done research quite like this (by interviewing experts in a field), but it's really quite fascinating. It feels more like a dinner conversation than anything else, yet we are actually starting to build a picture of the state of Hungarian medicine and psychiatry. Maybe we'll write something interesting, after all.