Budapest

Every year Katja jets off to Europe for the Thanksgiving holiday. As a vegetarian, a feast built around a large stuffing-filled bird doesn’t hold much appeal, and neither does the fact that people often spend a good part of the day watching football. Christmas markets, on the other hand, hold a lot of appeal. And, since Thanksgiving generally falls the week of the first Sunday of Advent, they begin to appear around that time. Katja usually travels to Germany or Austria; she’s lived in both countries and has lots of fond memories of the markets there. Last year, however, she decided it was time to discover some new markets, and went to Budapest instead.

Katya stayed at the beautiful Art Nouveau Gresham Palace; not only was it festively decorated for the holidays, it even had its own Christmas market. Although she was tempted to laze away much of the day in the luxury of her hotel (she was on vacation, after all), Katja didn’t want to miss any of the festive markets scattered through the city. She picked up lots of gifts, being most impressed by the numerous stalls selling lovely handmade goods, something distinguishing Budapest’s markets from the increasingly machine-made merchandise-filled markets of many other cities.

Katja devoted much of her time in the city to eating and drinking (thankfully the hotel had a good gym as she didn't fancy returning home too big to fit into her leotards). She has a sweet tooth and many Hungarian desserts include at least one of three three things she really, really loves – poppy seed, marzipan and túró - making her a very happy girl. She wandered the markets in search of sweets containing these ingredients, discovering other tasty treats like kürtőskalács along the way, and keeping warm with mugs of mulled wine.

And, when she needed a rest from waddling around the markets, it was off to the lovely Gerbeaud for coffee and exquisite cakes. But a girl cannot live on desert alone (as tempting as it is), and Katja also enjoyed dinner at restaurants including Central Café and Mátyás Pince. She sampled local cuisine,

and lots of local wine (she was happy to discover many good reds) and pálinka (apricot is her favorite).

Although it was tempting to do nothing but eat and enjoy the Christmas market merriment, Katja always like to get in a bit of culture when she travels. In fact a trip is never complete without a visit to the local opera house, and in Budapest she took in a performance of Il Trovatore at the Hungarian State Opera. She also made her way to the Museum of Fine Arts and the House of Hungarian Art Nouveau, which she rather enjoyed for its cabinet of curiosities meets grandmother’s house kind of aesthetic.

As usual the trip went by much too quickly, but she returned to New York with lots of good memories, a suitcase filled with treats, and these words of wisdom:

Perhaps that’s why Katja often forgets to eat breakfast.