New York Cafe

The very elegant New York Cafe was around the corner from my hotel––an easy walk. It had rained heavily all morning, but when it let up some, I walked to the cafe to have lunch.

New York Cafe

Inside the New York Cafe. It was named the New York Cafe by the New York Life Insurance Company which constructed the building that housed the cafe and their  local office. Both the cafe and building opened on October 23, 1894, and closed in 2001 to convert the building into a luxury hotel. The cafe and building reopened on May 5, 2006. During the communist era, the building was nationalized.

The New York Cafe is considered by many as the most beautiful coffee house on the continent and also by many as the most beautiful coffee house in the world. It is definitely elegant and you feel as if you are dining in a palace.

New York Cafe

Inside the New York Cafe.

New York Cafe

Inside the New York Cafe. The frescoes are by Gusztav Mnnheimer and Ferenc Eisenhut and date from the mid–19th century.

New York Cafe

Inside the New York Cafe.

New York Cafe

Inside the New York Cafe.

New York Cafe

Inside the New York Cafe.

New York Cafe

Inside the New York Cafe.

New York Cafe

The chandeliers are Venetian.

New York Cafe

Another dining room at the New York Cafe.

New York Cafe

Closer–up.

New York Cafe

You can also eat on the balcony seen on the right.

New York Cafe

A view from the balcony. You can just go into the New York Cafe to take photos or sit down to have coffee or a meal. A very good hamburger was on the menu at a reasonable price, which went well with limonade eperrel es pezsgovel (lemonade with strawberries and champagne) at 2,990 Hungarian forints (that’s $13.30 for the lemonade alone––much cheaper without champagne in it––but completely worth it just to sit here).

Boscolo Budapest Hotel

The New York Cafe is now part of the Boscolo Budapest Hotel, a luxury hotel.

Budapest Subway

Today, I decided that I knew Budapest at least well enough not to get lost if I took the subway from near my hotel to Deak Square, where I was to meet my guide to go on a walking tour. There are four subway lines, M1–M4, three of them meeting at Deak Square, so it is easy to go from one to another except for the M4. I bought an all–day ticket for 1650 forints ($7.38). To get to the M2, the line I was going on, you went down a very steep and long escalator that went VERY, VERY FAST––hold on tightly. You also had to hold on tightly going back up the escalator at Deak Square. Tickets were checked by transit officials before you went down the escalator.

Budapest Subway

Waiting for the train––not a long wait.

Deak Square

It started to rain again.

Deak Square

Budapest in the rain.

Deak Square

I was to meet my tour guide for the Small–Group Art & Culture Walking Tour  at the steps of the church. I found them, and since I was early, I went to have coffee. I had two choices outside the station: Subway or Starbucks. I chose Starbucks.

My Tour Group

It had stopped raining and we would be taking our walking tour without umbrellas. My tour guide is on the left of the photo and my tourmates were the three young women on the right.

My Tourmates

They were delightful and they may have one of the best jobs in the world. They all work for Contiki, which is a tour company for ages 18–35. They have just started working in Vienna and already are on holiday to Budapest. One is from England, one from Australia, and one from South Africa. They will work in Vienna for about six months and then will be reassigned to a new post.

The Art & Culture Tour

This tour was advertised as an underground art and alternative culture tour, taking you to districts rarely visited by tourists. I was not quite sure what to expect. Some of the art was a bit too alternative for my taste but two works that we saw made the entire tour worthwhile. This photo shows one of them. I had seen a photo of these cutout figures on display in Budapest or it could have been a very similar work in another city. There is a great feeling when you are looking at something that had impressed you but you didn’t know that you would be actually seeing it.

The Art & Culture Tour

The second artwork needs some background. I believe this is the photo I had seen when that little red figure on the right appeared in Los Angeles. This is work by an anonymous French urban artist who calls himself the Invader.  He has put his creations, drawn from video game characters, in over 60 cities in 30 countries. He has published books and maps of the location of all his street mosaics.

The Art & Culture Tour

You wouldn’t see this work of the Invader unless you knew where it was as our tour guide did. On one of the cobblestones on the street. So now I can say that I have seen one of the Invader’s creations, something I didn’t expect to see here in Budapest.

I have put my photos of the Art & Culture Tour on a slideshow. Go directly to

http://www.peggysphotos.com/budapest–art–culture–tour/

(Slide Shows, Central Europe, Hungary, “Budapest Art & Culture Tour”).

Langos for Dinner

The tour ended within easy walking distance from my hotel. I saw an interesting menu on my way back there.

Langos for Dinner

I ordered a sonkas langos: fried dough with ham.

Langos for Dinner

Langos ready for deep frying.

Langos for Dinner

My langos being taken out of the fryer.

Langos for Dinner

Sour cream, ham, and cheese added. I wanted to eat it back at my hotel, so it was folded over and wrapped up. It was a bit sloppy to eat but good. The bread part tasted just like the Indian fry bread that Native Americans make in Arizona and New Mexico, which I very much like.

Walking Back to My Hotel

This evening, I met my Cosmos tour group and manager, with whom I would travel to Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania. There were only 23 on the tour and, surprisingly, there were 13 of us traveling on our own (an unusual occurrence for a tour)––5 men and 8 women.  We had 8 Americans, 3 from the UK, and 12 from Australia.

The tour would be sightseeing in Budapest tomorrow but I didn’t join them as the itinerary was almost the same one as on another Cosmos tour I took of Central Europe when we visited Budapest. So I had one more day on my own.