Day 11: A Spicy Last Day in Budapest (Tuesday, November 22)

Though the girls didn't know that I was blogging this trip, I planned to give the blog to the girls as a Christmas present because we've all come to see what a gift it really is to have. Still, I love that Julia turned to me early on this day and said, "I know what today's blog would be called: A Spicy Day in Budapest." -- Here's why:

The only tickets we could find to tour Parliament was for 8:15 Tuesday morning. Though that felt super early to us, it worked great actually because Rachel hadn't toured yet and she doesn't have classes until the afternoon on Tuesdays. Also, it was our last day in town and we had a lot to do including making a pan of stacked enchiladas to leave for Rachel. Julia tried to convince me that wasn't necessary, but I really wanted to make it happen.I got up at 6:45 to make the homemade enchilada sauce to be ready to cook later in the day. I pulled out the extra hot chili powder I had finally found the night before, and started to add the 3T that it called for, one teaspoon (my only measuring spoon) at a time. By 6 teaspoons, I started coughing, and I couldn’t breathe. Julia and my eyes were watering. Jim woke coughing and opened the bedroom door wearing a KN95 mask. I opened the door to the balcony to air out the room, but that wasn't enough. I had to put the whole pot outside and leave all the windows in the apartment open to try to air it out while we were gone for the day despite the cold. Though there were several signs that I didn't need to make this dish for Rachel, this was the clearest one. I decided Julia was right and let go of the plan entirely. I had assumed the "extra hot" was just what they called chili powder, not that I had bought the hottest chili powder known to man.

We were all eager to leave the house asap so we stopped at a coffee shop for some hot drinks and pastries on the way to the 2N, took it one stop, and were there in plenty of time (hours earlier than we had even been out of the house all week). When were last in Budapest, Julia had taken the tour of Parliament in Spanish, so she was happy to learn some of the actual facts for the first time.

After the tour, we wanted to get to the baths with enough time for Rachel to enjoy them before class. We stopped for a quick bite and got checked in and changed. We started in the outdoor bath which felt great when you were submerged in the hot water and then went from bath to bath inside. Jim could have stayed all day but the girls' tolerance for hot tubs is like mine: we didn't need much more than an hour there. Rachel and Julia were even brave about going into the icy pool.

Because we (3 of the 4 of us at least) didn't need more time in the baths (which were lovely), we thought we could leave quickly and get down to the Great Synagogue before Rachel needed to go to class. But, by the time we got to that area of town, Rachel decided there really wasn't enough time to do it justice and she'd rather just get lunch with us. We sat outside in the cold at a food truck place and had a veggie burrito, chicken paprika (not great) and a burger, and soup from a soup restaurant (Borst) down the street.

Rachel got a car to drive to school instead of taking public transportation— we certainly spoiled her in that regard but the price is good and it saves her so much time that we enjoy having her for longer.

Jim, Julia, and I went to the Great Synagogue and suddenly it was freezing. Tours in English are included with admission and run every 30 minutes. This temple is apparently the

largest temple in Europe, the second largest in the world, though there is some debate about a new one in Jerusalem being larger. The guide made a joke about it being at least the largest in Hungary, or in Budapest which was funny because Rachel mentioned how she’ll see lots of things advertised this way (6th best in Budapest, etc.). The temple was interesting in that it really was built with many church-like elements because it was designed by a non-Jew. The guy who invented modern Zionism was born next door to the temple and they are very proud of him. There was a great sculpture of tree that is an upside-down menorah and other really cool stuff outdoors, but I was really cold, tired, and done. I wanted to go home and start packing.

Though I had decided I wasn't going to cook for Rachel, we still stopped and got her a loaf of bread at Aran and a big bunch of kale from my special spot.

We spent late afternoon showering, working, and packing. We got all Rachel’s stuff together to take back to her apartment and got a car to take it there, but headed straight to dinner at a cool, off-beat ramen shop called Enzo.

It started to rain so we kept the car and went to say our goodbyes (and initial hellos) to some of Rachel’s friends. We said goodbye to Jenny and Tiffany at Tiffany’s place and went to Shriya’s apt where we got to meet Sophie, Ben, and ? — all from Carleton. We dropped all of the stuff at Rachel’s and then went home to try to get to sleep, but we all ended up finishing the night in our bed looking through the week of photos, already enjoying reliving the memories from a fantastic week.