Feerozac

Its been a long time... So I have returned to blog land. Everything has changed.. Blogging is now so mainstream that I listened to an interview with non other then Ian 'quiet man' Duncan-Smith ranting about 'town crier democracy.. Now, as the jabberman points out, there is a whole plethora of blogesque methods out there.. But I'm not sure that I can keep up with all that.. I mean I'm just getting my head around putting images onto my blog.. So here is the first one..

This was taken on my second trip to Budapest. I visited originally in 1993. I had fond memories of the place. It felt like a warm, inviting city with high spirited people. However, perhaps that was more a reflection of how I felt, when escaping the drudgery of exams after my second year at university. One of my favourite spots, was the Castle District and old town.

This time round however my experiences were more mixed. I enjoyed as before the highly efficient metro system and a particular highlight for this trip was the National Opera building (I saw Puccini's Turrandot). However, the trips to restaurants and bars I can say were not like before. Myself and my travel companion noticed that prices for items on menus would often be listed at a rate of a 1/3 of the 'true' price. Other scams became apparent as we read more in our guide books, and consulted the US Embassy website (for some reason more informative than the UK one). We read about men that had been enticed to restaurants by local women. Once inside the meal would be hyper inflated in price, leaving the unsuspecting tourist with a huge bill and an even huger 'bouncer' cracking his knuckles in anticipation standing by his chair!

Anyway still a great place to visit, lots of beautiful architecture, and the odd trabant lying around. (more pictures coming soon).