Budapest bath labyrinth (Becky)

More than anything else on this day, we reveled in the joy of stores being open on Sundays. Some groceries were even open 24 hours. It was amazing, especially after our previous Sunday in France with absolutely nothing to do.

We spent most of the day at one of Budapest’s famous baths. These spas get their water from hot springs under the city, and have hot baths at up to 40 degrees Celsius (about body temperature). The spa itself was a confusing labyrinth, with rooms and rooms of different temperature baths, lockers, changing rooms, showers, saunas, and an outdoor pool. After changing in our individual boy / girl bathrooms, Jeremy and I had an agreement to meet “wherever we come out.” It turned out, though, that the girls had to retrace their steps into the biggest locker room, and it wasn't clear where the boys went. I paced around there for a while, with no idea how to get through to the actual baths. Finally, I started to worry and get lost, so I got advice in broken English to go out a certain door. This door opened into a bunch of small hot baths, with Jeremy nowhere to be found. Thinking that he may have gone out through another door to the outdoor section (which was our planned first location), I started wandering and looking for a door to the outside. Instead, I found room after room after room of pools and half-naked Hungarians. I did this for what felt like an eternity in a terrible anxiety dream, and finally I went back out to the locker room to find Jeremy patiently waiting there.

Anyway, I was too panicky to enjoy myself at first, but Jeremy relaxed in one of the 38 degree pools. In the outdoor area, there were three small swimming pools, each a different temperature, and this was the hottest. It was a comfortable temperature, but didn’t really curb my anxiety – it only made me tired and lethargic. After a while in there, we transitioned to the cooler 26 degree pool, which was a lot more fun. Instead of people just sitting around staring blankly like in the warmest pool, this one had a few things to do. There were water jets shooting out under our feet, and a great section where the jets pushed people around and around in a circular area. Much more my style. We also tried out a sauna, but it was crowded and uncomfortable so we didn’t last long. We were shocked to see that other saunas went up as high as 80 degrees Celsius, so hot that there were health warnings posted all around them.

After the bath, we tried to go to a nearby amusement park, but the admission price was too high. We instead treated ourselves to a Hungarian snack called Langos, which is essentially deep-fried dough with toppings (we got a delicious cheese and garlic one). In the evening, we tried again to go to the Chain Bridge Festival. This time, it was open and lively. We had been promised traditional Hungarian folk music, but instead were treated to a swing band singing mostly American songs. A group of people near us turned out to be a club of swing dancers, so we enjoyed watching them do the Lindy Hop and the Charleston and probably tons of other dances that I didn’t recognize.