Sziget Festival in Budapest

After I wrote that last piece, I went out on a walk by myself to see some more of the city. I didn't really see too much... just the nearby church of St Stephen's Basilica. This is actually a story I know. The Magyar (what Hungarians call themselves) were a fierce warrior tribe from central Russia (Ural Mountains) that terrorized much of Europe with raids that led as far as Spain. They were defeated at a significant battle in 955, converted to Christianity, and apparently decided to settle down afterward. In the year 1000, on Christmas Day, Stephen was crowned the first king of Hungary and the nation was founded. My last post had a pic of a statue of Stephen on a horse. Anyways, the basilica that shares his name was surely not built in his time, but I can't say what the story of it is. Later that night I met Sofie for dinner.

The next day the hostel kicked me out because all of the rooms were reserved for people going to the Sziget festival and I refused to make reservations. No worries. I moved my stuff back to Sofie's place and cooked lunch. I've been doing a lot of cooking here and I've gotten to learn a few new dishes. Sofie taught me how to make curry soup, one of my new favorites.

To make that one you soak 1.5 cups red lentils in water while you prepare. Chop fine half a head of cauliflower, a couple small potatoes, garlic, and ginger. Sauté 1tb each cumin and coriander seeds in butter, add all the veggies and a couple cups of water. Toss in a curry powder blend (2tbs) and let it simmer for an hour or so. Add a big pinch of nutmeg and pepper for good measure. It comes out pretty thick and tastes better and better as leftovers. I'm really just writing this down so that I'll remember it in the future.

Another one she taught me, a Hungarian classic she claims, is a kind of veggie casserole. Chop up a head of cauliflower, boil it till soft, and lay it down in a casserole dish. Cover it in minced garlic, sour cream, diced ham, and cheese. Bake until browned. Simple huh? I'd add in some black pepper and nutmeg if I did it again. I showed her how I make sautéed veggies in soy sauce, rice vinegar, and white wine. One of my favs.

Later that night the two of us went out to the other side of town to meet up with her friends at a bar. Well, I guess that we met up at a train station, had a couple beers on the steps, and then walked to the bar but whatever. There was a popular Hungarian band playing that night that had a couple beat boxers, and sort of did mainstream tunes with traditional lyrics in a rap style. Even if I didn't get the humor of it all, they were great performers and well worth the $3 cover.

The next day was a big one. Finally the day of the Sziget (Island) festival had arrived. Sofie and I walked over to my friend Ben's apartment in the center of town to get ready. He had been attending the festival every day with his girlfriend and brother but was still energetic about the final day of the festival that we would attend together. Despite the fact that he had so many friends and loved ones at the festival, he spent most of the whole day with us. What a guy. I talked about Ben and his friend Peter in one of my posts about Macedonia, but Ben is a student studying international relations at a college here in Budapest. A lot of that has to do with history lessons and he answered a good number of my questions about some local history. I tried not to talk about that all the time with Sofie around though, it would be too boring.

We took a couple buses and trains out to the festival grounds, on a small island up the river. The festival was huge... I hear that almost 400k people attended over the 5 days and a lot of them camped there too. There were many stages all very far apart and lots of food vendors, free art classes, yoga, games, night clubs, seating areas, clothing shops, and everything else under the sun... all for very reasonable prices. A pint of beer was $2.50. The first show we caught was Danko Jones. I liked their last album but wasn't too impressed by the show.

The next performer on the main stage was Billy Talent. They were simply amazing and not only played very well but also had good a good report with the crowd. All the other bands weren't as personable. I know their songs very well so I had to separate from my group and get into the middle of the crowd for maximum rocking. I took some good blows in a few mosh pits and finally make my way to a meter from the front and center. I didn't really intend to go there... I was just pushed. It seems that there is a sorting method to the crowd according to height and the front was not only suffocating with heat, sweat, and pressure, but also was populated by massively tall people. It was awesome nonetheless.

Sofie, Ben, and I filled up on some langosh and saw some of the Kasabian performance. They were good of course, but didn't wow me in the same way. We actually walked away for most of the show and explored the festival grounds while drinking a lot of cheap beers. We also did the responsible thing and had a lot of water as well. This is the fourth or fifth Sziget festival that Ben's gone too and he knows the grounds pretty well. They had stages of different sizes for every type of music... ska, classical, karaoke, and lots more rock. It really had something for everyone though I suspect that a lot of people were there just for the festival atmosphere and camping.

Of course we had to attend the final act and highlight of the festival, Muse. I first heard of them on a college radio station in 2000 with a song called 'Time is Running Out' and I was very pleased that they fit it into the act. Of course it was great to see them play their songs and they used plenty of exotic instruments, lasers, and florescent sunglasses but the didn't really say anything between songs and that always annoys me. Perform for me, monkeys!

After the show we had some more drinks with Ben and his GF as well as his younger brother Andrew. He had a hip flask filled with a local favorite, Unicum, which is a lot like Jagermeister but more bitter. We also made it out to a small acoustic show in a tent. Ben felt the wind pick up, claimed that it would rain and that we should duck into that tent, and a couple minutes later it was pouring. Being from California, I can't read thew weather because we don't have so much of it. It cleared up before we walked home and passed out at Ben's place.

In the morning Ben prepared a traditional Hungarian breakfast of bread, cheese, and a lot of different preserved meats. Pretty awesome. I felt quite beat up and Sofie and I spent most of the afternoon loafing about her place and cooking veggies. It was a fine day and in the evening we went for a scenic walk across one of the bridges to see some of Buda. Not so much to say about the day, but I have even less for the next day, today.

Today Sofie went to Margrit Island to lead a yoga class for a couple of her friends. She's been taking a yoga instructor course every day for a month and really knows what she's doing. My ankle's been hurting for a few days and I just wanted to write so I went off to a cafe to write this post instead. I also got in touch with Peter and tomorrow we're going to hit the zoo where his friend can get us in for free and then I dunno what we'll do, but I'm sure that I'll like it.

A couple of notes. First off, sorry for not having more pictures with people in this post. I'll fix that next time. Also, Ben read my blog and informed me that it is illegal to drink in public here in Budapest... it's just that the law is almost never enforced and nobody acts like it exists. Hungary is certainly a respectable country and not some kind of wino's paradise, or so I've been told. Also, I've noticed that some of my post text is being hidden behind pictures in some browsers, like Chrome and Firefox. It looks like it's not an issue on IE, but I'll look into it some more.