On Budapest

Why anyone elects to be here I do not know. Budapest is a great place to pass through---quickly.

All the white travellers I'd met spoke so ecstatically about it. Budapest is such a fantastic city and bladi-blah-blah. Then again they also spoke of marijuana and same-sex marriage in similar glowing terms. Hmmmm. The one other black American I met in Europe also did not like Budapest. Hmmmm.

Cold, wet, littered with drunkards and black market money changers, and a number system which seemed to start at 1000 maybe---maybe---this city is better in the summer. The Budapest-Keleti train station---drafty, smoky, scary---feels like a Cold War relic. With emphasis on cold...and relic.

Alls I know is that Eastern Europe reminds me of the movie Hostel; and if there was not a movie it would still make me think of scenes from Hostel.