Baths – is there anything more wonderful than sit in a warm pool after a moment in the steam room?! Then, moving between spaces, cooling down and swimming in a classical style swimming pool. Just hours and hours of leisurely swimming and bathing. The wave machine in the Gellert outdoors pools was slightly scary, though. Especially, when one got in only after the machine had started. The stay in the Gellert Hotel gave a hint how it felt to visit Roman baths and relax in an aesthetically pleasant atmosphere.
The Sunday morning in the baths was followed by a visit to the Historical museum. We cut the visit short and decided to see only the archaeological exhibition. The presentations were compact but well designed and very educational. The truth is that it seemed to simplify the complex prehistory and early history but that is only natural when it seems that the ancient populations changed about every five hundred years or so. I was particularly impressed by the Roman room where the left hand side depicted how the Romanised life was in west of the Danube where as the right hand side showed how the natives lived in the east. There were plenty of reconstructions and even soundscape in the galleries. Although presentation was ultramodern, some of the interpretations and descriptions revealed a Marxist past. This was not bad since most of the explanations are similar to processual ones anyway.
On Sunday evening we had a very fancy meal in the hotel’s restaurant. I had a nice goulash soup followed by veal with goose liver and mushrooms. All was washed down by a deep Hungarian red wine. However, this meal was the first time in my life when wine tasting ritual turned out to be significant, not just an old relic. The first bottle was vinegary and was kindly and swiftly replaced by our very polite waiter.
Then we decided to go to the drinks bar. That was both a good choice and a bad mistake. The bar man was a true original, making drinks to our own specifications. We ended up chatting with other customers one of which turned out to be from the anthropology department at Edinburgh. How easy it is to down a significant number of G&T’s when your discussion is flowing from the university life to the Brown government! We did not dare to check the bill when Phil handed over his credit card the following day.
Monday morning was a bit slow. Phil had a second go in the steam rooms but I enjoyed our spacious room. At noon we left our luggage with a bell boy (c. fiftythree years of age!) and headed to the centre. We took a Duna sightseeing tour on a boat and enjoyed the beautiful riverscape.
After a late lunch in the Verne club (amazing decoration), we got a taxi from the Gellert hotel and headed for the train station. The taxi was somewhat cheaper than on arrival but that seem to be the reoccurring story...
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