It was the strangest feeling. Heading to downtown Budapest after months of blissful isolation in our town of Solymar, Alfonz and I were dressed and ready to hit a few different places on this beautiful Sunday morning between the predicted storms.
We left early, or so we thought; before 10:00 and I had somehow convinced my lovely husband to go to IKEA and Kika because I wanted to checkout some outdoor furniture. We bought ours in 2016 when we first bought this home, but we think it was some kind of manufacturers defect, but ours was destroyed; the resin particles are falling part, disintegrating into tiny plastic pieces. A terrible thing to buy something you think you will have for a very long time, made of the ever hated plastic, to find it in pieces! In Canada our resin or fake rattan furniture made out of plastic, lasted for a decade and when we gave it away it was still looking brand spanking new! Here we thought we bought the same product again, but sadly no.
You may know, Alfonz hates shopping a wee bit more than myself, however, if I play my cards just right, like asking to go on our anniversary, then I can persuade him to hit a shopping centre about twice a year! This was one of those small victories, which many people know after so many years of marriage, you have to be a keen negotiator!
I think everyone on the planet decided with some quarantine restrictions lifted over the last week to go to fricken IKEA! We went in and out within a few minutes and then headed to Kika. There, there was a larger variety and everything was on +30% off. We did manage to find a great set, but decided, after over an hour, we will make shift the broken one to last another year by putting plywood under our bums and the pillows on top of that. Next year, we will find something that we really like without the pressure of finding something in crowds of crotchety people escaping from quarantine by shopping. People seemed to be shopping as a sport and every single parking spot was full at 10:00am! WOW. We were masked and used sanitizer!
Next, when we realized it was past 13:00 and our tummies were a rumbling, we headed into downtown Budapest to find a bite to eat. Without traffic it took us minutes to find parking (which is free until July) and were sitting on the terrace at the Gerogian restaurant across from the Basillica named Hachapuri!
We shared a meal for two; and it came with a cold plate to eat with fresh pita bread, salad, cheese, eggplant and dips. Then a cheese pie came out, piping hot from the over that ticked all the cheese lover boxes! Our main dish arrived with a full rack of ribs, and grilled roasted veggies. My favourite part was the Georgian dumplings which came next, full of very unique flavours and satisfying on many different levels; it had a firm pasta dough, perfectly seasoned meat or veggies inside depending on your preference, super juicy and it was fun to share. Last came dessert; walnut layer cake and sour cherry filled noodles with hazelnut cream. Both Georgian and very tasty.
My cousins joined us for coffee afterwards, and we walked around a Budapest. I felt as though we time travelled to 1990, without loads of tourists, only locals mulling around, very little traffic, and echoes between buildings. Honestly it was a little spooky wondering around a big city without anyone, but such a treat to have an entire city to ourselves! I felt amazing. My cuz and her husband had to go to work, so Alfonz and I continued to walk around looking at monuments, enjoying the heat of 29° between storms; everything was so clean, the grass green, the sky blue. There were no planes streaking up the clear sky, no motorboats on the Danube River, no shouting drunk tourists, no horns honking…
We came home around 18:00 and I felt so rested. I went on vacation in the heart of our amazing city.
Happy anniversary to us Alfonz! We made it 17 years married, 19 years together and 31 years of knowing each other. I am more proud of our marriage than any other accomplishments we have done in our life as a couple. It know it takes constant care to build a healthy life together, to raise strong independant children, to remain happy, to allow each other to grow in many different directions and still stay together. However, the rewards are massive. LOVE!
