Today we finished off our week in Istanbul with a visit to the Ortaköy neighborhood to try Kumpir – the biggest stuffed potato you can imagine.  The bus ride had us scared for our lives,  but it was a worthwhile trip…

The hotel staff had told us to take bus 25E from the Kabataş distrct to Ortaköy, but when we got on the bus we realized that, unlike on the tram, you have to request your stop so you have to know where you’re going!  Luckily, the person sitting across from us spoke English and helped us out.  We also discovered that bus rides in Istanbul are nerve wracking because bus drivers here don’t find it necessary to obey traffic laws – our bus continuously ran red lights and cut other traffic off!  Making matters worse, the bus was so full that people were seriously squeezed together like sardines in a can.  And the bus didn’t stop at stops for very long so people had to hop on and squeeze themselves in as the bus slowly pulled away from the stop.  I would hate to be standing by the door because it often swings open before the bus reaches the stop and stays open as the bus merges back into traffic!

The Ortaköy neighborhood wasn’t anything spectacular, but Ortaköy pier square is situated right on the Bosphorus strait near the Bosphorus Bridge, so it looks quite pretty.  Walking to the pier, we immediately found the row of kumpir restaurants Ilyas had told us about.  We walked the entire row to check out what kind of toppings they offered, but every stall seemed to have the same thing so we went back to the first one we saw when walking in.  We decided to get one potato each from stall #1 and #2 so we could compare, but ended up picking different toppings so it wasn’t really a fair comparison.  Both potatoes were delicious, but I think my potato filled with everything (olives, pickles, cous cous, corn, cheese, sausage, and some other unknown items) from stall #2 was better than Paul’s which didn’t have any veggie toppings.  If you like stuffed potatoes, you must try a kumpir in Turkey!  But be forewarned, it’s huge – we were both full after half of our potatoes.  Despite how good it tasted, I seriously could not eat more.  I ended up walking around all of Ortaköy trying to find a stray cat to feed my leftover potato to, but the stupid cats ran away from me whenever I approached them!  But having the potato in my hand as we walked around was handy because it prevented restaurant owners from soliciting us as we walked

Our week in Istanbul has flown by, especially since Paul has been so busy with work.  The food has been great, the people have been nice (even the ones who swear we must be Japanese), and it’s been a relatively inexpensive week.  We’ve had to skip some stuff (like going into Topkapi Palace and the Archaeology Museum) because of Paul’s schedule, but we’ll definitely be coming back to Istanbul/Turkey at some point to explore more!

(please note that, for obvious reasons, we couldn’t take pics inside the bath so the above image is from the Internet)

Paul has been swamped with work these last few days so our sightseeing has been limited, but today is a holiday (Remembrance Day) in Canada so we had some free time for a change.  We spent it shopping and eating on Istiklal Street, and in the evening we experienced our first Turkish bath at the Süleymaniye Hamam.   More to come on that later, but first, a look at what we’ve been doing these past couple days…

For us, Istanbul has been all about new experiences that are a bit more foreign than what we’ve encountered so far. Eating wise, we’ve tried a lot of new things.  On Monday we ate at a place called Cennet near our hotel (actual address is Binbirdirek Mh. Divanyolu Cd. No: 31/A).  Here we tried gözleme, a hand made Turkish rolled pastry like a pancake or crepe that is filled with your choice of topping (we tried spinach and meat), and manti, a Turkish dumpling filled with minced meat (I would describe it as a wonton ravioli and I loved it).   They also gave us our first taste of chocolate baklava, which was really really good but a bit too sweet for me.

Yesterday, I made the mistake of trying a Turkish coffee without reading about it first so I drank it totally wrong.  First, I didn’t realize you’re supposed to tell them when you order if you want your coffee sweetened because sugar is added while the coffee is being cooked.  I ended up dropping in a sugar cube, which doesn’t taste right at all!  Also, because Turkish coffee is made so the coffee grounds float freely in the brew (that’s why it’s so strong), you’re supposed to agitate the cup continuously as you drink to re-mix the grounds with the water.  I just sipped from the top and left the inch of “mud” at the bottom, which apparently is where all the strength is!

Today we unknowingly had a very adventurous meal – a kokoreç sandwich at Şampiyon, a restaurant Ilyas recommended.   Kokoreç is minced lamb or goat intestines which are seasoned with lemon, olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper.  The seasoning takes away the intestine taste and we didn’t realize it was intestine until we came home and looked it up!  Ilyas had actually forewarned us, but we had forgotten what kind of food was at each restaurant on the list he wrote for us.  If Paul knew it was intestines, I don’t think he would have been so willing to eat it!

Sights wise, we set foot into a mosque for the first time yesterday by going back to Sultan Ahmed Mosque when prayers weren’t happening.  It astonished me to see how big it was inside.  Outside there’s a list of rules for visitation and it says women should cover their head with a scarf so I used a cashmere Burberry scarf I had bought while outlet shopping in Italy (yes, I know, it’s a ridiculous luxury item to carry around when you’re backpacking).  Because the scarf isn’t very wide it didn’t work well for wrapping around my head, but I thought it was better than nothing which is what I saw some other female tourists do.  It seems a little disrespectful to me to just ignore the rules like that.

We also went to the Egyptian Bazaar (spice market) yesterday, which was our first time in a spice market.  Apart from spices, you can find all kinds of sweets, nuts, teas, and the most amazing smelling coffee here.  I desperately wanted to buy some coffee, but it comes already ground and therefore won’t stay fresh until we get home in a month.

On our way to the bath tonight, we almost experienced our first scam – the shoe shine brush drop.  What happens is a shoeshine guy walks by you, dropping his brush as he walks.  Not knowing any better, tourists usually pick up the brush and call out to the guy.  Thankfully, another Turkish man saw us about to do so and rushed over, pushed us out of the way, and told us to keep walking, saying something like “mafia.”  We were confused, but realized he had just saved us from some kind of scam and noticed shoeshine guy go back and pick up his own brush.  Now, after talking to a friend on Facebook,   I’ve learned that what they do is offer you a free shoe shine for helping them, but then insist you give them some money when they’re done.  We probably would have just declined the free shoeshine, but it’s better that we didn’t have to deal with it at all. Lesson learned, sometimes you have to deny your instinct to help people!

And now, in order to keep this blog entry a reasonable length, I’m splitting off our Turkish bath experience into another entry.  Click on the link below to continue reading!

http://www.monkeyandrooster.com/2009/11/11/our-turkish-bath-experience/

In an effort to be more “concise” with my blogging, I’m going to try writing shorter articles and be more brief when I talk about what we’ve been doing.  In the past, I’ve summarized several days into one blog, but this is a little different.  Right now we’re starting to research and plan our next leg – Southeast Asia – and I realize how useful people’s blogs can be when looking up information.  As a result, I’m making sure that I put any relevant and useful information into my blog entries while trying to be more concise.  Here goes attempt # 1….

Yesterday, we checked into Nena Hotel, which we found through TripAdvisor.  Compared to all the hotels we’ve stayed at so far, it’s not bad, but it’s not great.  They let us check in early, but they gave us a room with two separate beds even though we asked for one big bed.  This morning they pushed the two beds together and swapped the two blankets for one big blanket, but I have a feeling the beds will not stay together as we toss and turn and then one of us will fall through the middle!  On the plus side, there is a full buffet breakfast included. 

We went to the famous Grand Bazaar last night, but didn’t stay long.  Unless you’re serious about buying stuff, you can’t stop to look at anything because the shop keepers won’t leave you alone once you show some interest!  Even just walking straight people will come up to you and be like “want a nice carpet?” or “something to drink?”  The Grand Bazaar is a really cool market place, but stiff competition and lots of identical product makes it a really hard place to shop, unless you love to negotiate prices. 

And it’s not just the vendors at the Grand Bazaar that are aggressive – if you look like a tourist you will get harassed to “come try” every restaurant you pass.  From what we’ve seen, a lot of menus look the same so competition is again really stiff.  So far we’ve tried two restaurants that Ilyas recommended – Sultanahmet Köftecisi near our hotel and Konak Kebap on Istiklal street, Istanbul’s main shopping drag.  Sultanahmet Köftecisi specializes in Turkish meatballs and a Köftecisi sandwich with a yogurt drink is a good deal at 5 lira (they’re more like a short minced meat kebabs than meatballs).  There’s actually two restaurants named Sultanahmet Köftecisi on the main street by our hotel and we tried both (one last night and one tonight).  The one next to a restaurant called Pudding Shop was, in our opinion, better.  Konak Kebap was pretty good too, but service sucked. We’ve been getting charged a 10% service fee everywhere, which Ilyas tells me (via Facebook) shouldn’t be the case, but we’re not the type to argue, so I guess we’ll keep paying it and not leave a tip instead.

This morning we tried to go to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (also called the Blue Mosque) but it was prayer time when we showed up so we couldn’t go in.  If you hear singing coming from speakers placed all around the area, it’s the Islamic call to prayer and the Mosque is closed to visitors during that time.  Instead, we went and took the public ferry to Harem, which is on the Asia side of Istanbul. Most people take the Bosphorous Cruise for 20 lira to see the castle ruins at Anadolu Kavağı, but this puts you there for at least 2 hours, and Paul wasn’t up for that.  Going to Harem is kind of pointless, but it only cost 1.50 lira on our Akbil and at least we can say we made it to the Asia side of Istanbul.  After this, we made the mistake of walking across the Galata Bridge on the lower pedestrian only level, which is full of restaurants trying to solicit your business.  Unless you’re looking for somewhere to eat, there’s no reason to walk across the bridge on the lower level.

So far, Istanbul kind of reminds me of Hong Kong – vibrant, crowded, hot even though it’s November, and questionable in terms of hygiene and cleanliness but food tastes good so who cares!  I could do without all the pushy sales pitches, but the people here are so nice you can’t help but smile as you say “no thanks!”

Apart from going to the museums, one of the things we really wanted to do while in Stuttgart was tour the Mercedes-Benz Sindelfingen Plant, where the S-Class, E-Class, C-Class, CL-Class, CLS-Class, and Maybach vehicles are made.  We had read that all you have to do is phone well in advance to make a reservation, but all of the numbers we tried went to automated messaging services that were in German!  Finally, on our first day in Stuttgart, Paul managed to find a phone number (+4970319070403) for the Mercedes-Benz European Delivery Center, which is at the Plant, and they were able to schedule us in for the English tour today, before our flight to Istanbul this evening.  We are so glad we had a late flight and could fit this tour in…

Since we had to check out of the hostel before heading to Sindelfingen, we stored our backpacks in a large locker at the main hauptbahnhof, where we caught the S-Bahn to Sindelfingen (you can rent lockers for €2 per hour €4 for 24 hours).  The train ride took about 30 minutes and then we hopped on a free shuttle to the Mercedes plant (a bus leaves from bus stop #9 or 10 next to the train station every half an hour).  When we arrived, we realized we could have brought our backpacks with us because they have luggage storage at the customer service center (which makes sense because most of the people that come here to take delivery of their new vehicle are from outside of Germany), but again, hindsight is always 20/20!

After checking in, we headed up to the customer lounge, where a number of people (most of them obviously waiting to pick up a new car) were enjoying the assortment of free drinks and snacks (things like crackers with smoked salmon, pastries, fruit, soup, etc.).  Since we had half an hour to kill, we grabbed a bit of food and a coke and sat down to watch people take delivery of their new car in the huge delivery bay below the lounge.  Paul was expecting the delivery area to be nicer than it was, but having worked at several dealerships, I was quite impressed – it’s the largest delivery bay I’ve ever seen (you could probably fit a hundred cars in total in the room) and as soon as one car went out, another one was moved in to take its place!  Later, on the tour, we learned that they deliver an average of 300-400 cars per day at Sindelfingen, which is astounding, compared to the 3-10 deliveries per day I used to deal with when I worked at Mercedes-Benz in Vancouver.

When it was time for the tour to begin, we were ushered into a room with six other people (all of whom were coincidentally here to pick up a new E-Class) for an audio-visual introduction, which told us a bit of history and some basic facts about the plant and which vehicles are produced where.  Our tour guide then gave us safety glasses and a headset so we could hear him once in the factory, and we hopped on a shuttle bus to get to the first building, where we saw robots weld and put together the body frame of the S-Class.  Seeing the robots move around and put things together with amazing speed and precision using laser sensors was probably the coolest part of the whole tour – I’d almost rather have one of the robots than one of the cars they’re putting together!  The safety glasses pressed against my eyeglasses was not a good sensation, but we were so close to the robots that we almost got hit by welding sparks a few times so I understand why they’re necessary

Once we finished in this building, we dropped off our safety glasses (thank God) and the shuttle bus brought us to the next building, where we saw dashboards (that had been put together and configured elsewhere) get mounted by robots into almost complete S-Class body frames, before the doors are installed.  From here, we walked along and saw the cars move backwards and forwards through 12 continuous assembly lines as the electrical components were hand installed by master level workers.  Our guide then walked us to another building which was attached to the one we were in, and we saw where the engines get mounted into the almost complete vehicles.  Unfortunately, the elevator which brings in the almost complete body frame had just malfunctioned, bringing the entire assembly line to a halt, so we didn’t get to see much of what goes on in this area.  

The entire tour took a total of about 2 hours and afterwards we caught the free shuttle back to the S-Bahn station to get back to Stuttgart.  I think it’s one of the coolest things we saw on this trip, especially since it was all totally free!  We felt a little out of place since we were the only ones in our group not picking up a car, and the snobby American couple from Alabama didn’t help (the wife had the nerve to say “have you held one of those keys in your hand? They’re wonderful” when we got to the final assembly area and I wanted to respond “B*tch please, I’ve driven every car they make except the SLR” but I held my tongue).  But we owned two Mercedes before we left on this trip and it’s likely we’ll get another when we’re done travelling, except next time, I’m taking European delivery!  For now, we’re hoping to get into the Honda factory tour when we’re in Japan next year – it would be interesting to see how their factory compares to the Mercedes factory!

As you may know (either from knowing us personally or from reading the about section), this trip became reality partially because I was working in the car industry as a finance manager and got laid off. This career path began at Mercedes-Benz Canada, and although I’ve long since left the company, I remain loyal to the brand and still believe they make some of the best cars in the world. Today at the Mercedes-Benz Museum, I was reminded of all the reasons I believe that, and even felt a bit of remorse about leaving the company, but everything happens for a reason and if I hadn’t quit, I don’t think I’d be here visiting the museum now!

Compared to the Porsche museum (or any car museum for that matter!), the Mercedes-Benz Museum is massive, encompassing 16,500 square meters of exhibit space spread out over 8 floors. Although the building is a few years old, it’s still a very modern facility and the circular design makes it easy to follow – you simply take the elevator up to the 8th floor and work your way down in circles. Each floor has a specific theme, ranging from “The Invention of the Automobile” to “Races and Records,” and it more or less goes in chronological order.

The audio-guide is included with your 8 euro entrance fee, but unless you plan to spend at least fours hours at the museum, you probably won’t use it that much. We spent about 3 hours there and I ended up only using the audio guide to watch a few films, hear about certain vehicles I was interested in, and listen to the introduction to each floor, which plays automatically when you head down the ramp to the next floor (there’s a sensor). I think if you listened to everything on the audio guide, watched all the movies, and read all of the exhibits, you could be there from open to close!

Because of my employment with Mercedes-Benz Canada, I already knew quite a bit of history about the company, but the museum was a good memory refresher. Like most people, I tend to forget that Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler started two totally separate companies, and never even met each other in their lifetimes. It was to ensure survival during the war that the two companies (Benz & Cie. and Daimler-Motoren-Gesellscaft) pooled their interests together and created the Mercedes-Benz brand the whole world recognizes today. Nowadays, I don’t think anyone can imagine Mercedes without the Benz

Unlike the Porsche museum, on the “Times of Change” floor the Mercedes Museum acknowledges the company’s involvement with the Nationalist Socialist government, the ways in which they benefited from the “Fuehrer State” (such as government contracts which boosted sales), and the fact that they used forced laborers from concentration camps when they got into arms production during the war. While their apologies and financial retribution can never fully make up for their participation, I appreciate the fact that within a museum dedicated to all the great things they’ve accomplished, they still acknowledge this significant black mark on the company’s past. I, for one, didn’t know that they used forced laborers and I found a lot of info on this floor to be quite interesting.

When we finished with the museum (and by finished I mean quickly looked at everything of interest), we went to return the audio guide and were happily surprised that we could keep the lanyard that was holding it as a souvenir! I think the lanyard alone is worth the 8 euro admission fee! Before heading back to the hostel, we had a look around the dealership attached to the museum, which is also impressively large, but only 3 floors, not 8. Although it’s quite a nice dealership, there didn’t appear to be that many people shopping there and we only saw a handful of sales people. I wonder how many cars they actually sell each month…

Part of the reason we are flying to Istanbul via Stuttgart (other than the fact that it saves us money) is because Paul actually wanted to go to Stuttgart because it’s where the automobile was invented and Mercedes-Benz, Maybach, and Porsche are all still produced in Stuttgart or nearby towns, and each has a museum you can visit.  Since we woke up late, we decided to just go to the Porsche museum today, and save the larger Mercedes-Benz Museum for tomorrow, when we will force ourselves to get up on time…

In addition to heading out the door late, we ran into some difficulty when trying to buy a public transit pass.  Paul had read online that there is a €13.90 three day tourist card, which allows you unlimited travel in all zones for three consecutive days, but we couldn’t find this ticket on the self-serve machines at the S-Bahn station.  We went to ask at the ticket office and had to wait 20 minutes for the only rep that spoke English to finish with the girl she was helping, only to find out that they don’t sell this type of ticket, you can only buy it at the tourist information office at the main train station or at the airport!  Since it was such a big savings (€13.90 for three days vs. €15 for one day), we walked to the tourist information office, which was about 1.5km away, and bought transit passes there before heading to the Porsche museum.

The current Porsche museum is a beautiful modern facility that was just opened in January of this year, at the Porsche headquarters in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen.  It was a bit smaller than I had expected (5600 square meters of exhibition space spread over 2 floors), but they’ve created a nice looking display and the info in the exhibits was interesting and well written.  My only complaint is that it was a bit confusing since the escalator takes you to the middle and you’re not sure whether you should go forwards, backwards, left, or right.  It took me a couple turns to get oriented, but I discovered that going forwards is best if you want to go through the exhibit in chronological order, starting with how Ferdinand Porsche began as an electrical engineer, became technical director at Austro-Daimler, and then founded his own design office and designed the Volkswagen Beetle, the first “German People’s Car.” 

The rest of the floor features about 80 “icon” cars (in chronological order going counter-clockwise), small exhibits related to the technical achievements of Ferdinand Porsche, and a bit about his son, Ferry Porsche.  Going up the ramp to the smaller second floor, you arrive at a larger exhibit dedicated to “100 years of Ferry Porsche”  and learn how Ferry Porsche transformed the company his father founded into the car manufacturer we know today.  As I put together information to write this blog, I find it interesting that, apart from a mention that Ferry Porsche assumed responsibility for the company when his father was taken into custody by the French in 1946, there is no acknowledgement of the ugly part of the company’s past – their involvement with the Nazis.  It was with the Nazi party’s help that the Volkswagen Beetle went into production, and Ferdinand Porsche’s arrest was actually for his involvment in war crimes, but there is no mention of this anywhere in the museum.  Although he was found not guilty, it would still be nice if they acknowledged the company’s involvement, because they definately were tied with the Nazi party in some way.

At the end of the day, my Porsche museum experience has enlightened me about the brand and the men behind its name.  Nothing they produce will ever be my dream car, but knowing the history of the company, I can see why they are some people’s dream car.  Racing legacy just isn’t my thing 

Yesterday, after wandering around on Budapest’s well known Andrássy Ave near the famous Hungarian State Opera House, we went to Gellert Hill, a 235 m high hill on the Buda side of the Danube.  We had planned to hike up and take in the spectacular views we had read about, but when we got there I realized I had forgotten to put the memory card back in the camera after offloading pictures the night before!  Since it didn’t make sense to climb up and not take pictures, we decided to come back today, camera and memory card in hand…

Instead of climbing Gellert hill yesterday, we rode various trams around the city to have a quick look around all of town.  Since it was Halloween, we expected to see festivities taking place, but only found two people wearing costumes the entire day! Our hopes of a wacky and fun Halloween in Europe were crushed and we headed back to the hotel at night, where I looked it up and learned that Halloween is not celebrated in Hungary, but All Saints Day, today, is.  Unfortunately, that didn’t mean there was anything special happening, just more places were closed!

Today we began at the ferry docks, where we tried to catch the local ferry to Margaret Island as a cheap way to cruise up the Danube.  Unfortunately, Paul’s reluctance to wake up meant we got to the docks just in time to miss the ferry, which runs very infrequently now that it’s November and the tourist season is over.  In a desperate attempt to catch up to the ferry boat we had just seen pull away, we hopped on a tram that runs along the river bank and rode to the next ferry port, hoping to make it there before the boat did.   Amazingly enough, it worked, but when the boat we were chasing pulled up and unloaded its passengers, we realized it wasn’t a ferry boat, it was some kind of private charter!  Just to double check, we waited until everyone got off then asked the ship hand if they went to Margaret Island.  The guy said “sure, you can come with us” so we asked how much it was and he said “it’s free because we just need to go there to dock.”  We happily jumped on board and, although they didn’t actually dock at Margaret Island (they docked on the Pest side near it and gave us directions to walk to Margaret Island from there), we were super grateful to get a free boat ride up the Danube because we got great views of everything.  I wish all people could be that nice!

Instead of walking to the Island (which I had read doesn’t have much but is worth going to just to cruise the Danube), we hopped on a tram to go back to Gellert Hill.  The hike up the hill actually wasn’t too hard because it’s mostly a sloped path, not stairs, and the view from the top was definitely worth the 30 minute climb.  Apart from the view, there is a nice Szabadság Szobor or Liberty Statue at the top that was erected in 1947 in remembrance of the Soviet liberation of Hungary from the Nazi forces during World War II.  At the time, the success of the Soviet army was considered liberation, but over the years of communist rule public sentiment towards the “Russian heroes” would become bitter and the monument was actually damaged during the revolution in 1956.  Today, the monument is considered a remembrance to “all who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom, and success of Hungary.”

We finished our day by walking across the Erzsébet Bridge, the second newest bridge in Budapest, and riding the tram along the river bank on the Pest side to take some night shots of the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, which looks stunning when its lights come on after it gets dark.  Unfortunately today was colder than the past few days we’ve been here, so we headed back to our hotel early, not wanting to walk around in the cold anymore.  I can’t say I’m a fan of the winter weather, but at least there’s no snow!

The Danube is the second longest river in Europe, flowing through or forming part of the border of 10 countries.  It flows right through the middle of Budapest, separating the west bank of Buda and Obuda from the east bank of Pest, three cities that were unified in 1873 to form the city of Budapest.  We saw a bit of the Danube during our self-guided walking tour of Bratislava, but hadn’t really walked along its banks so we set out to do so today, starting at the Budapest Parliament building, which is located on the Pest side of the river bank…

The Budapest Parliament is one of the most impressive looking Parliament buildings we have seen on our trip (comparable to the Houses of Parliament in London) and being right on the banks of the Danube makes it look idyllic.  Unlike Westminster, the Hungarian Parliament can be toured year round at certain times for 2520 HUF (about $15 CAD).  Unfortunately we had just missed the 12 o’clock English tour and neither of us felt like waiting until 2 o’clock for the next one, so we carried on with our walking after having a look at the outside of the Parliament building.

We walked south along the river bank, admiring the view from here of the Buda side, until we got past the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, a famous landmark of Budapest because it was the first permanent bridge across the Danube between Buda and Pest.  Since we hadn’t eaten lunch yet and there seemed to be no restaurants along the river bank, we decided to walk back into town, towards St. Stephen’s Basilica, Budapest’s most well known basilica.  Oddly enough, the entire way there we couldn’t find any restaurants either, just a bunch of coffee shops! 

Frustrated and hungry, we decided to eat at one of the restaurants right beside St. Stephen’s (called Bazilika Café & Restaurant), which turned out to be the worst idea we’ve had since the Golema restaurant in Prague.  I tried the “Gypsy style roast pork,” which wasn’t roast pork at all but two tiny pork chops drenched in a ridiculously salty cumin flavored sauce (it was like someone went to shake salt into the sauce and then the lid accidentally fell off).  The rice it came with was dry and stiff, like microwaved Uncle Ben’s, but I had to eat it to counter the saltiness of the meat!  Paul ordered the “Hungarian style goulash soup baked with bread” and it was a bowl of Chef Boyardee style soup with little bits of beef and barley in it and a lump of cold bread on top (there’s no way they baked it with the bread!).  His main dish, paprika chicken, was ok in flavor, but the chicken was really really dry and overcooked and there was no sauce to help with the dryness! 

Making matters worse, when we got the bill a 15% service charge had been added, and it wasn’t specified anywhere beforehand that a service charge would be added.  Because the food was so bad and we know the standard tipping policy in Hungary is 10%, we questioned our server about this service charge, saying it should be stated in the menu if they are going to charge so much (our service charge was 1000 HUF!).  He simply shrugged and said “that’s what all the restaurants around here charge.”  If we had the proper amount of cash on us we might have just paid the total plus 10% and left, but we had to use our credit card so we had no choice but to pay what they wanted.  Lesson learned: don’t eat right next to a tourist attraction and ask what they charge for service in Hungary cuz it seems they don’t have to specify in the menu if they are going to charge you!

Our three hour train ride to Budapest from Bratislava yesterday got us to our hotel (another Ibis) just in time for Paul to start working so we didn’t do much apart from check out the area we’re in and buy stuff at the grocery store to make sandwiches for dinner so we wouldn’t have to eat fast food, which is the only type of food near the hotel.  Today we began our sightseeing at the Holocaust Memorial Center, which was sad but very informative…

On our way to the Memorial Center, we decided to eat lunch at a small self-serve restaurant which we noticed while walking along Üllői Avenue to get from the tram stop to the Memorial Center.  We picked it because it was busy and looked like a local eatery (there wasn’t even a sign outside with it’s name!) and it turned out to be a truly authentic Hungarian fast food place.  Problem was, the menu (posted on a blackboard behind the cashier where you order, pay for and pick up your food) was only in Hungarian, and the girl working there didn’t really speak English.  Paul asked her to pick two dishes for us, and she described something with spinach, bean, and egg and we nodded and said sure!  Then we noticed chicken legs in a buffet-style case near the cash register and asked her to add an order of that as well.  The chicken turned out to be a very good idea because she ordered us two dishes of really thick creamed spinach and bean soup with a fried egg on top which I thought tasted ok, but Paul took one bite and left the rest to me!  Next time, I think we’re better off just blindly pointing at two different menu items

After eating, we found the nearby Holocaust Memorial Center on Páva St.  After a quick security check (just a metal detector), we headed down a set of stairs in the courtyard and paid an entrance fee (1300 HUF – about $7.50 CAD – or 100 HUF for students) before beginning our visit in a room which depicted the lives of Jews and Hungarian Roma in Hungary before the Holocaust.  Being a much faster reader than me, Paul ditched me after about 10 minutes and left me to go through the exhibit at my own pace while he went ahead, which was fine by me because I hate being rushed!

A long corridor full of pictures and the ominous sound of soldiers marching led me to the rest of the exhibit, which is divided into sections relating to different phases of persecution: deprivation of civil rights, property, freedom, human dignity, and existence.  Personally, I liked this better than a chronological presentation because it shows you how it got to the point where Jews were murdered in mass numbers instead of focusing on the period of time when the Nazis killed over a million people just because of their race.  I, for one, did not know that Hungary had its own government party that began taking away the rights of Jews before the Nazi occupation in 1944 and reading about this in the first section helped me understand how they were able to get to the next step, taking property away from Jews and Roma and deporting them to camps.  When you realize how long discriminatory practices went on for before progressing to the mass murders, you really have to wonder why the rest of world didn’t put an end to it sooner…

The exhibit took me over 2 hours to complete, and I had to skip some of the reading because we were running out of time and Paul had finished long before me and was getting tired of waiting.  I probably could have spent the whole day here if I read everything thoroughly!  Before heading back to the hotel, we had a quick look around at the nearby Central Market Hall, which is one of the biggest indoor markets we’ve seen on this trip.  Upstairs you can buy all kinds of souvenirs and trinkets, and downstairs there is an incredible selection of meat, produce, and fruit.  I power shopped through all the fruit stands, picking up pears, plums, oranges, and bananas.  The stuff we got was ripe and fresh, but I’m still not used to the way fruit stands work here and got scolded by one lady for trying to pick my own fruit (here you tell them how much you want and they just grab it at random for you).  It made me buy a lot less than I would have if I was picking my own, but at least it wasn’t like the markets in Italy where we were deliberately sold the bad fruit by vendors because we were tourists!