And on the sixteenth day, they ate.

Melissa and I promised each other no more than three "I'm hungry in Hungary" wise cracks, but on Monday, Hungary gave us a waddle for our money. I know we talk about food a lot, but this day was particularly epic. Every decision and turn guided us towards more food. Not even a snowstorm that covered the roads and sidewalks in half a foot of snow could slow us down.

We started the day at a cafe named Nostro Gastronomy. We were eager to try the muesli, quiche, and brioche, but the storm kept the bakers out of the kitchen early in the morning. Don't worry, the omelettes and muesli were still great, and a unanimous decision was made to move up the gelato in our day since we didn't get that sweet cinnamon/cocoa brioche for breakfast.

With Gelarto Rosa in mind, we were ready to tackle the Hungarian underground system. We figured out that we had to get off at the very last stop on the red line. We found ourselves in a very non-touristy small town, but couldn't find this #1 ranked gelato shop for the life of us! It was reminiscent of our dessert hunt in Turkey where we ended up finding the shop under a bridge. This time, we discovered through the help of a most kind shop owner that there are two streets in Hungary with the exact same name. Neither Map Girl 1 nor 2 stood a chance on this one. This extra adventure turned out to be serendipitous. After two weeks of searching, I finally found a winter hat! It just seemed right to buy it from this woman who was so willing to help us. Melissa is convinced it's the only hat I'll ever wear.

New hat... it's a happy day!

Even in our much too short 40 hours in Budapest, there is a genuine friendliness and good-heartedness from Hungarians that must be mentioned. I'm sure a lot of the was right place, right time (as we have not been disappointed by any other cities), but the people here were extraordinarily generous. On our route back to the city center, we were struggling with the no-English subway ticket machine. A young woman close to us in age, approached us and started speaking Hungarian. Thinking she was a beggar, we both turned a cold shoulder and whipped out our Philly faces. This young woman was persistent and managed to come up with the English word, "free." It turns out that officials decided to make public transportation free for the day to encourage people to stay off the wintery roads. Melissa and I spent the rest of the train ride figuring out how many languages we know how to say "free" in. Her simple act of kindness was truly appreciated, and also left some extra money in our pockets for more food!

As we wandered towards the Great Market Hall to find lunch, we saw a group of young people standing outside, laughing, and holding steaming white cups. Melissa and I have often talked on this trip about how much we like that laughter (and math) is the same in all countries. Curiosity got the best of us and we discovered it was a great little shop that only makes soup-to-go. We tried the pumpkin cream soup with pumpkin seeds and a cauliflower soup with croutons. Both were delicious. To top things off, we discovered our new favorite business /life motto: "Eat, or we both starve!" 

Cauliflower soup on the left, pumpkin on the right

Love this.

Soup turned into our appetizer once we entered Great Market Hall. I can tell you that the building for this vast, indoor market is built in a Neo-Gothic style and it's the closest thing we got to a church all day. This is our Mecca. It's the European version of Reading Terminal Market without the sensory overload on a Saturday morning. We discovered a new food called "langos" which is like the dough of an elephant ear with sour cream spread lightly on top with a mountain of vegetables. Another great find!

Langdos. Yum.

Great Market Hall

We finally decided it was time to do something that wasn't going to put food directly in our stomachs, so we headed in the direction of the gelato shop while a following the "Responsible Design and Fashion Tour" that Lonely Planet recommends. There were shops that make their own shoes to order, cute boutiques, and some hidden gems that remain elusive. We rewarded ourselves with the gelato we had been craving since breakfast. Gelarto Rosa gets its name because the gelato is scooped into a cone in the shape of a rose! Clever presentation and amazing taste. Dinner followed shortly in our classic Alysa-Melissa shared dish style. We found ourselves full of food and happiness as we headed towards the train station to make out way to Salzburg.

The girl got her rose.  Castle is on the way.

Presentation is everything.

Noodles on dumplings on noodles

Cheese on salad

At the end of this most satisfying day, we comforted ourselves not by counting calories, but realizing all the food was necessary to lower our center of balance. We didn't slip once on the way back!

Chow,

Alysa and Melissa