Budapest - Marxim Pizzeria

Marxim
Originally uploaded by amyehawthorne.

Tucked in a little corner, just steps away from Moszkva Ter and the towering Mammut mall complex, is this crazy little pizzeria called Marxim. I was fortunate enough to discover it as a student in 1999. I could swear that, at that time, much of the graffiti was authentic. However, I've seen it re-painted and re-marked up at least twice since then and there are now signs urging patrons not to write on the walls. Maybe that's why it's no longer a haunt for Buda's young punk kids, or maybe the ever-increasing number of tourists just pushed them out. Fortunately, the place was always pretty campy, so the increase in tourists hasn't changed much outside the clientele.


Monkey at Marxim
Originally uploaded by amyehawthorne.

All the pizzas have great names - most are jokes or puns relating to Communist leaders - and great, strange (to Americans) ingredients. My favorite is called "Sado-Masochism" in Hungarian and "Pussy Pussy Monica & Bill" in English and is covered in hot peppers, onions, and salami. The interesting thing is that your pizza doesn't arrive with red sauce on it. Instead, you get a little vial to add as little or as much as you like on top, on the side, wherever. And that sauce is GOOD. It had been two years since I'd had the Marxim pizza and the only reason I didn't yell out "God god, This is the best freakin pizza on Earth" after my first bite was that I was still chewing.

I love Marxim for the pizza, but it's also the site of one of my more typical Hungarian stories. A group of us were sitting in a table on the right hand side (the picture above shows the whole seating area - it's just two rows of booths with no solid barriers). We noticed that we didn't have an ashtray, so we asked the waiter. He responded that we were sitting in the no-smoking section. We were understandably bummed, and a little bit shocked. A few minutes went by and then the same waiter returned with an ashtray and even lit my friend's cigarette for her.
Now, this story illustrates one of two things - I'm still not sure which. It's possible that the waiter was lying the first time, which illustrates the very Hungarian trait of surly service. Or, and I tend to believe this one, Marxim really was supposed to enforce a no-smoking section but our kind waiter took pity on us. That is totally Hungarian for so many reasons. Either way, I love Marxim.


Monkey on Marxim Window
Originally uploaded by amyehawthorne.

Budapest - Kutyaszar Campaign

I had heard the new that Budapest was cracking down on dog poop, but I didn't believe it. You see, everyone in Budapest has a dog and everyone believes their little kutya has the right to poop anywhere and they can't be bothered to pick up after him or her. And there have been campaigns in the past that did about as much as a No Smoking sign. The first two signs of the campaign I saw didn't give me much more hope...

Kutyszar Campaign Poster Originally uploaded by amyehawthorne	Kutyaszar Campaign mini Poster Originally uploaded by amyehawthorne

Though they were everywhere - these two were on a giant street pole thing and a parking meter - I had seen it all before. In 1999, they trotted out pretty much the same images - funny, cute dogs with visual puns or other humor about going to the bathroom properly.

Then I saw this GIANT poster at Nyugati Ter:

Kutyaszar Campaign Shoes Text Originally uploaded by amyehawthorne

Kutyaszar Campaign Shoes Poster Originally uploaded by amyehawthorne

The text shows the staggering statistic that 40 tons of dog poop ends up in the street daily. And the shoes remind you exactly where it REALLY ends up. So, this was clearly a bigger campaign than the last.

But what makes me believe this might actually work is this:


Kutyaszar Campaign Bags
Originally uploaded by amyehawthorne.

Budapest - Borfalu

Borfalu-Monkey Rachel Meghan
Originally uploaded by amyehawthorne.

Rachel, Monkey, and Meghan at Borfalu

Budapest - Borfalu

Borfalu-MonkeyWine
Originally uploaded by amyehawthorne.

Monkey's first stop on his second visit to Budapest was Borfalu (wine village), where he spent the afternoon enjoying Hungarian folk music and food, along with hand crafted wines from all over the country.

Monkey was particularly struck by how well behaved all the attendees were, and than many brought their whole families. There were no rowdy, annoying drunken antics - just fun, drunken antics :-)

Newport RI - Cheeky Monkey

Monkey just could not resist visiting a restaurant and bar called The Cheeky Monkey. The food and drinks were quite excellent and the decor quite offbeat.

Newport RI CliffWalk

Monkey decided to hop on the ferry to Newport one sunny Saturday. After he got there, he had a little rest & a drink on the commons, then geared up for the CliffWalk.

Technorati Tag: Newport

The Beauty of Las Vegas

Las Vegas can be intimidating, dazzling, disorienting, and surreal. Neither Monkey nor I really enjoyed it the first trip there so we figured we'd never end up going back. Well, by a coincidence of fate, my job required me to attend a convention in Las Vegas this spring. I took a few extra days to chill out by myself and I found that Vegas can actually be quite pleasant. In particular, seeing the natural beauty of the surrounding desert and then looking down at the craziness of the Strip, literally cut down to size and put in its place, it just seemed a whole lot better.

Monkey and I thought the best place to do this would be at the Stratosphere Tower.


The Stratosphere Tower 

The Stratosphere Hotel and Casino is just about as far north as you can go on the Strip and it seems to have a lot more in common with the downtown casinos that the gaudy Disney-fied palaces on Las Vegas Blvd. Walking around on the casino floor, you might get the feeling that it was small potatoes or behind the times, but I liked that throwback aura. Plus, the folks gambling looked like serious old-time gamblers mixed with hopeful younger folks who were probably gambling with next month's rent money. It's nice to see there's still a place for people like that.

Monkey and I bought our tickets and got in line to go to the top of the tower. This is the view we were rewarded with:

Monkey at the Stratosphere 


View from the Tower - The Strip 


View from the Tower - Panorama 1 


View from the Tower - Panorama 2 


View from the Tower - Panorama 3 

More from the Statue Park

Workers Movement Monument 


Statue from Moszkva Ter 


Soviet Heroic Memorial 

Szobor Park - Communist Statue Park

To Arms 


Osztapenko 

The Hungarians are an exceptionally smart people. While under the thumb of a puppet Soviet regime, the people saw how the government would periodically purge itself. They would rewrite history and cast those out of favor as villains, completely obscuring the truth of history. So when Hungary was finally free, they didn't want to make the same mistake. Instead, they hauled a number of the state-commissioned propaganda statues just outside of town and created a memorial park.

The View from Erzsebet Hid

Varhegy - Castle Hill 


Kettes Villamos - 2 Tram 


Lanchid - Chain Bridge 

Jenny Monkey in Budapest

Jenny Monkey 

Monkey has never been across the pond, but his good friend Jenny Monkey has. So he (yes, Jenny Monkey is a he, is there a problem?) wanted to share these pictures to get Monkey excited for his upcoming trip.

Hertz NeverLost