Oops!

What is it called, asks Kitty, when should know better, but you still muss up? What to do today? Let’s go to the zoo. It’s a beautiful, unseasonably warm Saturday morning. Before we strike out, we make our way to our local market with an adjoining Spar store. I am eager to take photos of the market, but can only get off my first shot before I’m approached by a guard, who tells me photography is forbidden in the market. Oops! I apologize and he softens his demeanor. I find Kitty in the Spar selecting ingredients for our planned spinach salad supper.

We walk up the main boulevard and ride a bus for the remainder of the trip. It’s close to noon by the time we get there. The bus lets us off near the Heroes’ Square, an iconic sight I’d hoped to photograph. But today the light is harsh and there are tons of people. We vow to return on an early morning during the week to really experience it. Oops!

We head towards the zoo, wisely following families with small children who lead us right to the entrance. Once again, however, we find the crowds overwhelming. Oh yeah, it’s Saturday! A beautiful day! Oops! We resolve to return on a weekday morning. When did we get so crowd averse, I wonder.

We are working hard to summon the courage to face the public baths, Széchenyi Gyógyfürdő és Uszoda. We don’t like baths. We don’t really like hot tubs or swimming in pools or the sea. And then there’s the body shame. Not to mention crowds. We do, however, have very fond memories of tackling the public baths in Bad Harzburg in 1989. I remember Kitty laughing with the German ladies as they were swept along together in the currents, and trying out the endless mineral combinations of smaller baths. From everything we’ve heard and read, the thermal baths here are a “not miss,” so hopefully we can manage to make it back in the next few days. But clearly, this is not our day. We vow to return.

We had found a couple of recommended restaurants in the park, but they looked overpriced and didn’t appeal. Kitty is feeling like a gyro, so I search “gyro” and come up with a Greek restaurant that doesn’t sound too far away, Gyros Kerkyra Görög Ételbár. We just miss our bus, but enjoy our time waiting outside the Baths’ main entrance watching people with their flip flops and towels coming and going, trying to imagine us with our flip flops, coming and going.

It’s over lunch that our day takes a turn. The irony is that our gyro sandwich and platter actually feel like “healthy food” given our eating habits since we’ve arrived here. I relish the carrots, onion, cucumber (never mind the French fries, lamb, pita and tzatziki). It’s the perfect restaurant experience for us at this time. A soccer game is playing, though I seem to be the only one paying any attention (I think it’s a replay–Hungary vs. Croatia?). There’s a line, but the woman who takes our order treats us kindly, even patiently teaching us the word for “47” that will alert us it’s time to pick up our lunch (negyvenhét, for the curious).

We are pleased to find the restaurant is not far from our apartment, so we enjoy a leisured walk back. In the late afternoon we opt for rest hour. I sleep for two hours and Kitty reads. I think this afternoon nap may be a good idea given the volume of night life (and my lack of sleep) here in Party Central. As I write, it’s 10:00 PM, and the crowds are beginning to mass outside, but no live music so far. We wonder if we made a mistake with our B&B location. During the day it’s fabulous, but at night, it’s clearly not us. Not quite full “oops” status. Time will tell, I suppose.