£ = £10-15

• Voodoo Rooms (New Town)
• Here Internet Cafe (Bruntsfield)
• NangYang (Quartermile/The Meadows)
• Platform 5 (Haymarket)
• Milk Cafe (Haymarket)
• Vietnam House Cafe (Haymarket)
• Mum’s Comfort Food (Old Town)
• Wings (Old Town)
• The Fringe (Old Town / New Town)
• Roseleaf (Leith)
• The Finn and Bear (Leith)

££ = £15-20

• The Apothecary (Quartermile/The Meadows)
• Bertie’s Proper Fish and Chips (Grassmarket/Old Town)
• Bar Italia (Fountainbridge)
• First Coast (Haymarket)
• La Casa (Haymarket)
• La P’tite Folie (West End)
• Filling Station (Leith Walk)
• Frankie and Bennies (Leith)

£££ = £20+

• Brasserie Prince (New Town)
• The Witchery (Old Town)
• Timberyard (Grassmarket/Old Town)
• The Shore (Leith)

Voodoo Rooms £

Ascending the stairs from street level brings you out into a grand bar/restaurant very well decorated in what I have seen variously described as a gothic, baroque and neo-baroque style. Lots of gold and black what ever it is!

The menu promises adventurous combinations that I wouldn’t have expected and it somehow all works. We both went for the pork and finished by sharing the Kahlua ganache. Mains £11-16.

Voodoo Rooms
19a West Register Street
New Town
EH2 2AA

Brasserie Prince by Alain Roux £££

We had an afternoon to kill and a bunch of work to do after checking out of the Balmoral, so we hung out at the hotel’s brasserie using their internet. Periodically we would order a bite, getting through croque mesdames, fries, macarons and hot chocolates. Friendly staff. Mains £16.50-26.

Brasserie Prince
1 Princes Street
New Town EH2 2EQ

First Coast ££

Unpretentious dining in Haymarket. Loved the freshness of the salads. Mains £14-22.

First Coast
97-101 Dalry Rd
Haymarket EH11 2AB

Here Internet Cafe £

An internet cafe was exactly what we needed one day when the heavens opened – we weren’t expecting such good food – simple fare like nachos and a slice of cake with a hot cuppa. Just what the doctor ordered!

Here Internet
23 Leven St
Bruntsfield EH3 9LH

Nang Yang £

NangYang offers a welcome relief from the surrounding sterile glass skyscrapers and serves up delicious Malaysian and Chinese food. My favourite is the Malaysian street food flat noodles: Char Kway Teow, and gotta love banana fritters. Mains £9.50-16.

NangYang
6 – 7 Lister Square
Quartermile EH3 9GL

The Shore ££½

The Shore is a medium posh restaurant in the port of Leith overlooking the water. I decided to start with the fish and move on to the steak, much to our fellow diner’s mirth. Who goes to a fish restaurant and has steak? Mains £15-27.

The Shore
3 Shore
Leith EH6 6QW

Frankie and Benny’s £½

Frankie and Bennys is a chain restaurant; we grabbed a meal from the one in the OceanView terminal overlooking the Britannia, after not being able to served in the cafe onboard but that’s another story.

No such bad service at Frankie and Benny’s and we get our choice of seats and shoot the breeze with the waitress. I tried the ribs and followed up with a crushed meringue on a waffle, while Ange went healthy with a chicken salad followed by her favourite – New York cheesecake. Mains £10-20

Frankie and Bennys
Ocean Terminal Shopping Centre
Leith EH6 6JJ

Roseleaf Bar and Cafe £

We’d passed the Roseleaf a few times in Leith and were intrigued by its funky good vibes emanating from within. When we finally got time to go inside we weren’t disappointed. Local artists’ art featured on the wall, and the burger was a work of art, somehow adorned with a giant pickle.

Roseleaf
23-24 Sandport Place
Leith EH6 6EW

Apothecary ££

The Apothecary, like its neighbour NangYang, sits in modern Simpson Loan surrounded by a mix of old hospital buildings and brand new glass apartment blocks. We first went before a change of ownership and so enjoyed lunchtime pizzas on wooden server boards.

We went back after they had changed owners and had a lovely lunch, enjoying a starter of mussels before launching onto mussels (me) and salmon and mushroom salad (Ange), fish and chips (both) topped off with the sticky toffee pudding. Mains £12-28.

Apothecary
No.8 Lister Square,
Quartermile EH3 9GL

Platform 5 £

The Belhaven pubs are the Scottish answer to Wetherspoons: cheap food and drinks – frequented by students, the retired and groups of sports fans on the way to or from some sports event.

Platform 5 was next door to the Haymarket Hub so naturally we stopped in and tried the local fare. It was definitely what you’d expect – deep fried everything with anything green in short supply. Mains £7.80-14.30.

Platform 5
8 Clifton Terrace
Haymarket EH12 5DR

Milk Cafe £

Healthy breakfasts from £6-9: double poached eggs on sourdough with some greens on the side? don’t mind if I do!

Milk Cafe
232 Morrison Street
Haymarket EH3 8EA

Vietnam House Cafe £

Tucked away on the main stretch of Haymarket is an art gallery/cafe with awesome food. Ange couldn’t get through her pho (pronounced fa) while my prawn salad was fresh and light and the layers of textures from the prawn, the lettuce and the nuts contrasted delightfully.

Vietnam House Cafe
28 Haymarket Terrace
Haymarket EH12 5JZ

La P’tite Folie ££

We were on the hunt for dinner on a windy and cold evening and our hunt lead us to La P’tite Folie. They managed to squeeze us in and we enjoyed a delightful French meal.

I started with the mussels and followed with lamb so tender you could cut it with a fork. The mussels were big fat and tasty, just the way I like ’em. To tell you the truth I can’t remember what Ange had, I was so focused on mine, and the sticky toffee pudding was certainly not shared! Delicious all around. Mains £12-23.

La P’tite Folie
9 Randolph Place
West End EH2 1LH

Bertie’s Proper Fish and Chips £½

Bertie’s is an award winning fish and chip shop which is in such demand that bookings are required. I’m not used to booking a greasy spoon, so the first time we tried to go there we were turned away – it was a weekend during The Fringe after all! The next time we made sure to have a reservation, and so skipped the queue.

The fish and chips were… fish and chips. Nice, but… not sure what all the fuss was about. We availed ourselves of dessert – I finally tried a deep fried Mars bar (Scotland’s contribution to world cuisine, along with haggis and Irn Bru), although I swapped the Mars bar with a Snickers bar instead, having read that the Mars bar was excessively sweet and the different textures of the Snickers made it a more enjoyable experience. Decadence! Mains £12-13.

Bertie’s Proper Fish and Chips
9 Victoria Street
Grassmarket EH1 2HE

Fringe £-£££

Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival is supported by food stands of all sorts: not just hamburgers, hotdogs and chips! My favourite stand was on George Street near the more highbrow performances – amusing to me for its Parmesan and Truffle Oil Chips, it’s half and whole lobsters and the Soft Shell Crab Burger. Mains £7-27.

So many options! Also worth trying is the toasted sandwich place just off Bristo Square which had a number of gourmet offerings including cranberry and brie which went well with fries smothered in mayo and ketchup. Yum! Mains £7-10.

Mum’s Comfort Food £

Mum’s is an institution, built around the ethos of comforting wholesome food. They have specialty sausages of various flavours accompanied by a range of mashed potatoes and a trio of gravies. You’d have to keep going back to try every combination, and some of the sausages are even vegetarian.

They were very kind and even made my burger into a Kiwi burger (adding an egg, pineapple and beetroot) for a taste of home. Truly something for everyone. (The pie is from a different visit) Mains £10-13.

Mum’s Comfort Food
4A Forrest Rd,
Old Town EH1 2QN

Wings £

Guess what they sell at Wings? You guessed it! You order the wings in buckets of six with your choice of one of 79 different sauces. Add drinks and, if you want, convert the wings to chicken nuggets instead. Enjoy the funky surrounds sharing with the T-rex in mittens and if you feel particularly macho, try getting your name on the Wall of Flame by attempting the Suicide Sauce.

Wings
5 – 7 Old Fishmarket Close
Old Town, EH1 1RW

The Witchery £££

Apparently The Witchery is Edinburgh’s most famous restaurant. Situated in a 16th Century building adjacent to the castle, you can even stay in one of the rooms upstairs. Though if you thought the restaurant was expensive, expect to pay even more to stay the night!

We enjoyed an indulgent evening dining there, with oysters to start (me), soup (Ange), followed by the scallops (Ange) and steak (me). We then fought over the dessert, marvelling at the wide assortment of flavours and textures, before finishing up noticing that I looked a little like the bust of a devil behind me when I smiled. Mains £27-39.

The Witchery by the Castle
352 Castlehill
Old Town EH1 2NF

Timberyard £££

I was lucky enough to be invited to my former workplace’s Xmas party which was held at the Timberyard. We had the four course meal for £57 and while the waitstaff were noticeable for their professionalism, it must be said that the atmospheric lighting made for an intimate dining experience but made photographing the food difficult.

A pity because it was so delicious! I enjoyed their home made ginger beer while waiting for my party to arrive and it was suitably gingery. The ginger fire died down by the time the starter arrived, the quails egg not surviving long enough to be photographed! The scallop was the most photogenic of the courses and while the servings were small, they were all accompanied by bread and butter, so nobody went home hungry.

Timberyard
10 Lady Lawson Street
Grassmarket EH3 9DS

La Casa ££

La Casa is a tapas and mezze restaurant just down the road from Haymarket Station. I started with the mussels, followed with the lamb chops and finished with baklava. Good sized portions! Mains £11-18.

La Casa
103-105 Dalry Road
Haymarket EH11 2AB

Bar Italia ££

Perfectly located for a post movie dinner or a pre-theatre meal, Bar Italia is sandwiched between the Odeon cinema on one side and the Traverse Theatre and Usher Hall on the other. We inadvertently timed our arrival just as the theatre crowd were about to head off which was a bit disconcerting, as we had just gotten settled when most of the crowded restaurant decided to settle their bill and leave. Something we said?

I had the calzone and watched with amazement as they pulled something the size of my head and colour of a leopard out of the huge pizza oven behind Ange. It took a concerted effort to get through it all and dessert was not even a consideration. Mains £10-25.

Bar Italia
100 Lothian Road
Fountainbridge EH3 9BE

Filling Station ££

The Filling Station is a chain of restaurants and we headed to the one in the Omni Centre after watching a movie in the complex above. I must admit I was disappointed with my ribs but Ange loved her vegetarian pizza and the desserts made up for it. I had a bit of food envy: while my waffles were good, Ange chose really well with the banana pancakes. Yum! Mains £11-21.

Filling Station
Omni Centre,
28 Greenside Row
Leith Walk EH1 3AA

The Finn and Bear £

Lastly the Finn and Bear. We headed there one Sunday afternoon and were astonished by the value of the food. Their “buy three get one on us” worked really well for their tapas plates and for our £15 we got a vegetarian scotch egg, halloumi, guacamole and a half pint of scampi. Adding sweet potato fries meant we ate our fill for less than £20. Nice! Mains £9-13.

Finn and Bear
58 The Shore
Leith EH6 6RB

The post Eating Our Way Across Edinburgh appeared first on etrip.tips.

After we got off the train from New York (approximately a 3 hour journey) we walked the short distance to our hotel (Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill) and checked in. We’d heard about the circulator bus service that did a big loop around the mall and only cost $1, so we headed out to do just that – a very cost effective way of getting an overview of the National Mall.

The National Mall is a 3 km (1.9 mile) strip of land surrounded by (free) museums, capped at the east by the Capitol building housing Congress and the Senate, and in the West by the Lincoln Memorial. It includes memorials to the fallen of each of the wars and to great men in American history. It is where the audience for the Inauguration of American Presidents sit, and is the focal point of protests, marches and demonstrations. It’s where Forest Gump gives his speech in the movie of the same name.

We went most of the way around and then got off just before the Washington memorial and walked up the hill to the White House, took a few photos and then trekked back to the hotel.

Day 1

National Air and Space Museum

We got up relatively early and headed to the National Air and Space Museum, arriving pretty much when it opened and were surprised that there was still a line. All of the Smithsonian Museums on the Mall are free, meaning you can take your time and soak up the exhibits, or whizz through and know that you can come back later. The NASM is really well put together, with great exhibits including SkyLab (which you can go inside) and actual rockets to give you a sense of just how big things are.

It was a bit too much for us to fit everything in before we had to head off for our lunch with one of Ange’s friends, so we resolved to come back and check out the bits we missed later in our trip.

Teaism

We headed to Teaism for lunch and caught up with Susan, a friend of Ange’s who lived in the area. She offered to show us around and suggested we check out the African American Museum which had opened a little while ago. She’d never been and had heard good things, which was as good a recommendation as we needed, so after lunch we headed off.

African American Museum

The National Museum of African American History & Culture had opened in 2016 and was still enthusiastically attended. We walked up and an attendant enquired as to whether we had tickets. Upon being told that we didn’t, she told us how to get tickets, even being so kind to navigate their site on our phone, somehow managing, even with ludicrously long nails, to whizz through the process much quicker than I would have been able to. Thanking her, we headed in to security and on into the museum itself.

The exhibits started in the basement and continued upwards, arranged in chronological order, until you emerged blinking into the modern world back on the ground floor. The crowds were counted and allocated a huge lift which took us down in groups to try and alleviate crowding by batching entry.

The black guy operating the lift cheerfully asked the assembled crowd “Do y’all want to go to 1496?” (the starting point of the exhibits) at the chorus of “Yes’s”, he chortled and said “Not me!”

We soon found out why. The history of African Americans starts with the slave trade, and the whole bottom floor is taken up with discussing this shameful period. The exhibits are matter of fact and never veer in tone towards anger or self pity, and if anything they suffer from being too good – there’s almost a bottleneck of visitors reading and taking it all in which makes for a crowded first section.

Being surrounded by African Americans learning about their history definitely made it more poignant, the occasional shaking of head or moment of quiet contemplation brought home that this was the family history of at least 10% of the population.

For me the most interesting piece was the realisation among the founding fathers that slavery was wrong, but avoiding tackling it when declaring independence, effectively kicking that conflict down the line for 100 years. When the nation finally addressed it, it kicked off the bloodiest war the US had seen and an estimated 2.5% of the nation’s population perished.

Another interesting point was as pressure built to rid the nation of slavery, an interim step was to stop any more slaves being brought into the country. Necessary first step, right? Unfortunately this only served to increase the importance of the domestic market for slaves.

After such a heavy subject we felt like something a bit lighter so headed up the hill to the White House’s south lawn.

White House

Renwick House

After a few quick pictures at the White House, we kept going up to the hill to the Renwick Gallery. This art gallery was featuring an augmented reality display with hand held iPads allowing visualising additional content, which was a nice novelty but which I didn’t think really pushed the technology or added much to the art.

Upstairs had some more interesting exhibits and a video telling the story behind the building was good too. We stayed until closing and then headed out for dinner.

Succotash

Susan recommended Succotash, an upmarket bistro which at one stage had been a bank, a nightclub, then a different nightclub and was now a restaurant. Susan as a local remembered when it was a nightclub, and because of the low lighting, not many of the photos I took of the food came out. A notable exception was the dessert which we split three ways. Yum!

Monuments at Night

Instead of going home, Susan suggested we see the monuments at night instead. I had never thought of that, and so we jumped in her car and headed out into the night.

I must admit the lights on the white stone in the dark night gave them an ethereal glow which was quite a different experience from seeing these same statues in the daylight.

The Lincoln Memorial was where Forest Gump gave his speech, and the Washington Monument in the middle of the Mall was so well lit you could use it as a navigation aid from wherever you were. Guidance ignored by current politicians in their decision making perhaps.

The Thomas Jefferson Memorial looked out over the water to the Washington Memorial and just to the left of it, the White House. Jefferson was an interesting character, author of the initial draft of the Declaration of Independence, third President of the US and strong proponent of individual liberty. Yet he also thought American society should revolve around white men, owned slaves and allegedly fathered children with them. A paradoxical hero.

According to MentalFloss:

Many believe that Jefferson is meant to be watching over the White House, but in reality, he’s looking just east of it, to the U.S. Treasury Building. In front of it stands a statue of Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury and one of Jefferson’s biggest rivals. Hamilton is looking in Jefferson’s direction as well, but that’s just luck—his bronze was installed in 1923, back when they were still thinking about honoring Teddy Roosevelt instead of Thomas Jefferson. But the direction of Jefferson’s gaze is certainly no accident, according to National Park Service Ranger Michael Kelly: “George Washington hated the idea of factions and of political parties, wanting everyone to recognize themselves as nothing other than Americans. Jefferson and Hamilton are those that are beginning to pull the administration apart and even pull the country apart into parties … Standing between [the Jefferson and Hamilton statues] is the monument to President Washington, who tried to bridge their differences, who tried to unify them in common purpose, but failed. It’s not a secret, but no one really connects it.”

Day 2

Queuin’

Susan has told us that the Washington Monument has reopened after repair work had fixed damage from an earthquake. On my two previous trips to Washington it had been closed, so my eyes lit up: here was my opportunity at last!

We’d called into the ticket booth to get tickets only to find out that, while free, the tickets were distributed from the ticket booth each morning, first come first served. The guy behind the counter suggested coming an hour before the ticket booth opened to make sure you got your first choice of time slots. The slots were every half hour between 9 and 4.

So I found myself getting up early and heading down to the office to arrive at 7:20am (it was supposed to be 7, but I misjudged how far it was from the hotel). I saw the queue following the horseshoe shaped wall and didn’t know where the ticket window was, so walked up to the person closest to me, knowing that they were at one end of the line.

They bristled when I approached but calmed down when I asked whether they were at the beginning or end of the queue. They pointed at the ticket window opposite and said they were at the start, so I followed the line of people to where it apparently ended and joined in. There were maybe 50 people there when I arrived, and by the time the window opened at 8:35am, the queue stretched down the road quite some distance. I estimated maybe 300 people long. It took another thirty minutes for me to reach the front of the line and I kept my ears open to see how the process worked.

The bored looking guy behind the counter asked how many tickets you wanted for which time slot and then repeated the person’s response very clearly. After confirming, he passed the tickets through the little drawer and the recipient picked them up and left.

The guy two in front of me asked for four tickets for two different sessions, which surprised me (I thought you’d just be able to get one session). I quickly figured it might be worth two trips. I knew Susan needed to leave at 1pm, but maybe Ange would like to return for the last slot, so I made the decision and asked for three at 11am, and then two at 4pm.

The guy repeated the order and slid the tickets through. I felt like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with my magic tickets and headed back past the crowds towards the hotel.

Washington Memorial

Susan met us at the seats at the base of the Monument and we went through yet more airport style security, ad then into a waiting foyer. With only one lift going up the middle, each time slot’s guests were carried up in batches. I guess this evened out the numbers at the top, similar to how the African American Museum operated.

When we got up the top we could look out eight little windows, two in each direction with magnificent views out across the city. The Mall stretched out to the Capitol, the museums arrayed on each side impressive with their size.

Out to the south the Jefferson Monument sat overlooking the lake, and just behind it stood Ronald Reagan Airport and we watched as planes came in to land.

To the west, the World War II Memorial gave way to the Reflecting Pool and in the distance the Mall finished at the Lincoln Memorial.

The uncontested height of the Monument made the perspective unparalleled and added a third view of the monuments on the Mall (daylight/night time). Just below the viewing level was a level with exhibits explaining the construction of the Monument and facets you wouldn’t notice from the ground like the lightning rods on the top of the obelisk and the different stone used in the different eras of construction.

They even had photographs from the top taken at different times, showing how the Mall had evolved over time and been used for different purposes.

Before long we were starting to get hungry and so descended the lift. Halfway down the opaque walls turned transparent and lights shone on the inside stone of the Monument. Each state had contributed to the construction of the Monument and had left a momento commemorating that contribution embedded in the walls. Sort of like an acknowledgement that George Washington had made the nation and each part of the nation had made the monument to honour the man. E pluribus unum indeed (‘out of many, one’ – the motto of the US).

Ebbitts

I’d tried chicken and waffles in a bar in Auckland which specialised in Southern American fare, but wanted to try the original. When I saw that The Old Ebbitt Grill was offering that, I was sold. The menu featured a few more fanciful dishes, a variety of “Walrus Platters” and the piece de resistance: An Orca Platter. The price put me off and if truth be told I’m not sure I would have been able to polish it all off by myself.

Susan had to head off but we thanked her profusely for being such a generous host – she was able to give us a local insight into the city and the recommendations on places to eat were spot on. The night time tour of the monuments really did give us a different perspective on the city.

American History Museum

While the other museums that we visited in DC were well formed and told their story well, the American History Museum seemed to have too wide a scope. It tried to cover everything and as a result didn’t do as a good job as the other museums.

An exception to that was the exhibit of the Star Spangled Banner – the story of how the American national anthem came into being. Let’s face it, as far as national anthems go, the American one is one of the best. In terms of both music and lyrical content, the wistful enquiry into the fate of a flag flying above a fort being bombarded manages to sum up the triumphant incredulity when discovering it remained. The exhibit features the flag in question, laid out in protective darkness. Very touching.

Jim Henson is my Elvis, so seeing the Swedish Chef had a special meaning to me – a reminder of a childhood brought up on Sesame Street and The Muppets.

The famous Route 66 also featured in an exhibit – the road running from Chicago all the way through to Los Angeles made famous in song, TV and movies. Funnily enough our next stop in our trip would be in Albuquerque after a connecting flight in Chicago, and we’d end up taking the train parallel to the highway between Albuquerque and Flagstaff.

Finally we managed to hunt down the elusive Julia Child’s kitchen which was hidden away beside a boarded up exhibit. So many frying pans!

After all that walking around we were exhausted, and I knew that we wouldn’t want to go back up the Washington Monument. I also knew that my ticket would go to waste, and potentially someone in the queue would have been turned away without a ticket and I would have been the cause of that. So we headed back to the ticket office with the goal of returning the ticket for reuse.

I was surprised that the same guy at the ticket counter so early in the morning was still working there when we rocked up. He smiled and explained that if we returned the ticket to him he would have to destroy it (policy), but that if we found someone to give it to then it wouldn’t go to waste.

A girl behind us in the queue said that she’d be glad to have it, so I gave her one of the two we had, much to her delight. I had wanted to find two people to take them off our hands in one go, but she seemed happy enough. I went up to a few people outside to check if they wanted to go up. It felt a weird going up to strangers and asking if they would like to go up the Monument. Almost like I was trying to sell drugs or something. Having only one ticket restricted who I could go up to as well. One guy having a hot dog by himself was already going up in that session, and in the end we gave the last ticket to the same girl who we’d given the first one and said we hoped she could make a new friend.

Last day

We had some time before our flight on the last day and so we headed back to the Air and Space Museum to check out the things we’d missed the first time around.

A substantial exhibit told the story of the first powered flight. The original Flyer takes pride of place, and because of an agreement between the Wright Brothers and the Smithsonian, none of the competing claims to the first powered flights are discussed.

In an inspired piece of curation, Neil Armstrong’s space suit that he wore on the moon is placed at the exit to the Wright Brother’s exhibit – showing how far we came as a species – 60 years from being Earth-bound to venturing into space.

Lastly there was an impressive exhibit on navigation – managing to explain the complexities of latitude and longitude and the historical difficulties of establishing with some sense of surety exactly where we are, geographically speaking. Interesting to me that the great leaps in technology were spurred by a large prize money offering.

And that was our weekend in Washington DC. We had a blast thanks to Susan’s expert guidance and even though we only scratched the surface I think we got a feel for some of the Smithsonian museums.

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It’s a Thursday night and I’m, as usual, in McDonald’s, my go-to restaurant before Chris arrives for the weekend. This one is on the Rue St Germain in Paris and I’ve finally given into temptation and tried the Blue Cheese and Bacon Burger, complimented with a caramel sundae (+ complimentary bag of chopped nuts).

As I chew on my burger I ruminate on the fact that our Summer 2017: UNESCO trip is coming to an end and over the last three months I have eaten quite a few times in McDonald’s. In fact it’s become a bit of a standing joke. The fad started in Krakow when it was snowing, I was cold, tired and hungry and it was just conveniently ‘there’. The computer ordering system that looked like huge mobile phones on sticks had me intrigued and so it began.

In my defence when you’re alone sometimes it’s just plain easier to go to McDonald’s than to deal with the whole ‘sitting there by yourself at a formal restaurant’ scenario. At McDonald’s no one cares if you’re alone or with a group of 20. It’s also a guarantee that a city will have a McDonald’s within a few 100 metres walking distance of your hotel or hostel. They’re ubiquitous but that’s also what makes them so darn convenient.

So, without further ado, here are the highs and lows of the 8 McDonald’s I’ve eaten at on our Europe trip (with perhaps some useful insights, who knows!).

1. Krakow – Floriańska

As mentioned above it was snowing and cold and Zulian Aparthotel where I was staying in Krakow didn’t have any nearby restaurants which prompted, somewhat against my inner gourmet, a venture inside MacDonald’s. It felt kind of wrong to be in one when Krakow seemed to have all kinds of yummy local food on offer. But the novelty of the computer ordering system took over and I was soon happily tapping away and printing out the ticket for my order, probably something like Filet-O-Fish, orange juice and fries.

I joined a likely looking queue at the counter and waited, and waited. After waiting a long time and not seeing my number show up I finally figured out that I needed to pay first in the pay queue and then wait in the collection queue. Once I had this down pat I was sorted for my next 7 McDonald’s, though the pay/collection system did vary slightly from country to country.

Another thing I noticed in Krakow was that the ‘order from the counter’ guy looked extremely bored and there was no one ordering from him. It seemed like a token counter for older people who didn’t like to use the new fangled machines. I sensed his redundancy looming.

2. Vienna – Mariahilfer Strasse

Since I’d figured out how to use the machine in Krakow I felt confident about ordering in Vienna, and it was just a 10 minute walk from my Thursday night check-in at 25hours Hotel MuseumsQuartier. This time I paid by card so I could join the collection queue straight away. 

The highlights of this MacDonald’s was the posh chandelier hanging from the ceiling and the delicious strawberry smoothie. I don’t know what they put in it but it was memorable. The walk to and from was also very pleasant with lots of nice shops to peer into.

3. Venice – Strada Nuova x 3

I didn’t think there would be a McDonald’s in Venice but there is one, and it was around a 15 minute walk from San Geremia, the hotel we were using as a base for two consecutive weeks. I went to it twice for the Thursday night rituals and again for Chris’ birthday lunch as I’d raved about the McAngus Wrap.

I’d branched out from the Filet-O-Fish on my second Venice meal, having had a sub-par experience on all previous experiences. They’re best when freshly made and oozing with lots of tartare sauce but the ones I’d had were a bit dry and chewy like they’d been sitting there a while.

I was surprised that the paying/collection service in Venice was very chaotic. Trays were backed up, the server was flustered and wrong items were being placed on trays. A guy actually made off with my wrap before he was called back and it was placed on my tray. It was meaty though I’ll give them that, hence my recommendation to Chris.

I also noticed the rubbish situation was more messy here than anywhere else with the recycle rolling bin not working. Oh and the WiFi wasn’t easily accessible, you had to register for it but who can be bothered doing that? There was also a code for the toilet.

When we went for Chris’ birthday he ordered the wrap and got a McAngus Hamburger instead. I think there was something definitely up with the streamlining process at this one.

4/5. Barcelona – Avinguda Diagonal / Carrer Gran de Gràcia

McDonald’s was just a two minute walk from Rodamon Hostel my hostel in Barcelona so it was a no brainer, even though it wasn’t a Thursday night. It was hot and humid in Barcelona so what better time to try the healthy McDonald’s salads? I ordered a grilled chicken salad with a fruit smoothie and felt most smug. It came with cute little bottles of oil and vinegar, and croutons.

After switching to Monrooms on the Thursday I scouted out another McDonald’s, a 13 minute walk away and tried the other salad, the Mediterranean, with pasta and mozzarella. It was surprisingly tasty and you could eat pretty much all of it without having a big bunch of lettuce left in the bottom. I also ordered a little bag of cherry tomatoes and a fruity yoghurt drink thing which seemed healthy.

6. Nice – Avenue Jean Médecin

Ah the Cote d’Azure! So glamorous, so pricey! Since the Hotel du Midi was just a short hop to the McDonald’s at the top of the Avenue Jean Médecin it was easy just to head there. I was beginning to feel vindicated now I’d discovered the salads and that they made a decent meal. Here I pretty much ordered the same meal I had at Barcelona Carrer Gran de Gràcia. 

7. Reims – Rue de Talleyrand

On a two day sojourn before meeting up with Chris in Paris I stayed in the town of Reims, known mainly for its Champagne houses, Taittinger, Veuve Clicquot etc. I knew there was a McDonalds in town as I saw the sign for it, sure enough it was six minutes walk from the Hotel Kyriad.

I was feeling a bit nostalgic for a Filet-O-Fish by this time so I ordered one, plus a small salad, some cherry tomatoes and the yoghurty drink thing. When I fronted up to pay the serving girl she looked a bit embarrassed and explained that I could actually  have the same things for the price of a Happy Meal, plus a bottle of water, all for €2.50 less.

I didn’t care so agreed and then realised when I sat down that it was actually a child’s meal with a Minions toy. I chortled a bit and ate the food. The Filet-O-Fish was dry so I’m glad they didn’t actually give it to a child, it may have done them harm. A small boy was avidly watching me play with the Minions toy so I gave it to him, awww.

8. Paris – Boulevard Saint-Germain

The McDonald’s in Paris where I end my recurrent Thursday night’s is covered in scaffolding, so not the most ambient of addresses, it’s like a small Pompidou. It’s a 5 minute walk from where we are staying at the Hotel Marignan. The computers are taken up by millennials so I order my Bacon and Blue Cheese Burger the old fashioned way. He asks if I want ‘one or two meats’ I say ‘one’, but I’m given two anyway.

After waiting so long to eat this burger I’m actually a bit underwhelmed. It certainly doesn’t tingle my tastebuds, but the protein is always handy.

In conclusion, I have to say I was attracted to eating at McDonald’s because of its very premise, ‘fast and cheap’. But in actuality at times it wasn’t really that fast, in fact it was chaotic. True, the modern touch screen system was fast, but it was so fast the staff making the food out the back couldn’t keep up, like in Venice. Or it resulted in you getting food that had been sitting there a while, hence the chewy filet-o-fish I encountered in several places.

It wasn’t really any cheaper either. In Venice, again for example, I paid €8.50 and there were nearby restaurants serving a proper meal for €9 – €10.

I wouldn’t say I’d never eat at another McDonald’s on principal, because they do have healthier options now than they used to e.g. wraps and salads. Plus if you are travelling in a foreign country it’s late at night, you’re cold, tired and hungry and everything else is shut, spying the golden arches can be a welcome relief. If that makes me an unwitting participant in McDonalization, then I’m guilty as charged.

* This is not a sponsored post.

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We’d arranged our lunch at La Puntulina through the Istria Tourism Board and had scouted the restaurant location the night before on our way to our hotel – even in the evening light we could tell there was something special about the location, perched precariously on the rocks on a headland with unparalleled views across the harbour to Red Island. We’d seen pictures of tables and chairs literally inches from the water but, with the inclement weather, the outdoor eating area had been cleared. Ange was most disappointed, believing that if given half a chance I would end up in the water.

We deposit our umbrellas in a handy receptacle at the front of the restaurant and are shown to our table. We’ve got views straight out over the water and during our meal are treated to a view of various yachts, fishing boats and ferries plying the waters – which was surprising considering the bad weather.

To the meal! We start with an amuse-bouche of sardine and olive on bruschetta which sets the tone – from what I know about Croatian food, it’s going to heavily influenced by Italian cuisine.

The wine that accompanies the first course (the Kozlović Malvazija) is very much like a NZ Sauvignon Blanc to my palate – fruity and clean.

The starter is a variety of fish served different ways – salmon, pureed white fish, a delicate dollop of fried fish and shrimps accompanied with mini cherry tomatoes and rocket.

The Italian influence is proved by the pasta course – a handmade thick noodle called Pljukanci accompanying shrimps and scampi. We move on to the Radovan Malvazija Istarska – another local white, which is not quite as light on the palate, but a good match for the pasta.

The main comes and we see why La Puntulina has such a good reputation (4.8/5 reviews) – there are two different servings of battered fish. One is delicate and flaky, but the other has an olive crust and the saltiness of the olive matches the fish to perfection. Delicious! They’re accompanied by three different sauces – a sweet chilli, a pesto and a pink concoction which I’m not quite able to nail down.

But the dessert is where we are really wowed: I’m not sure what they call it, but it is a deconstructed mille feuille with a yellow custard creme and covered in berries. I try the “look at all that fruit – it must be healthy” line, but it is really decadence on a plate. Ange asks why the Italian/Croatian cuisine would have such an obviously French pastry. I tell her that the Croats served in Napolean’s army so maybe they spread it that way.

La Puntulina is not a cheap place to eat, and in the summer it becomes impossible to get into, but from our experience, it’s well worth the extra effort to get in and well worth the extra Euros for the quality. A brilliant dining experience that we both enjoy immensely.

Ange and I collect our umbrellas and head back outside. The rain has stopped and we make our way back home, avoiding puddles and taking care on the slick cobbles.

La Puntulina and the Istra Tourism Board supported our Summer 2017: UNESCO tour by providing lunch and wine. All opinions remain our own.

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Day Zero

Ange is good to me. She noticed that my flight into Budapest landed after the public transport stopped running, and suggested I book a taxi. A quick internet search later, I had pre-booked a cab with the promise that there would be a driver waiting with a sign with my name on it, and a private car into the city. Judging by the line of people waiting at the taxi stand, this was an inspired move!

The greeter had a couple of names on the erasable white board and I was instantly suspicious that they’d try to load more passengers into my cab (it was late, I was tired and grumpy). But no, I arrived and said which name was mine, and the greeter called someone on her phone and then told me the driver would be five minutes.

Three minutes later my driver came in, I picked up my bag and we headed to the Budapest boutique hotel we were staying at, the Milford Suites in the shadow of the castle on the Buda side. The transfer only cost €26 from airporttransfersbudapest.com.

Day One

After a relaxing night’s stay at Milford Suites, Ange & I headed across the river to Pest by metro and checked into Budapest’s Kempinski – Kempinski is Europe’s oldest luxury 5 star hotel group.

The problem with arriving late somewhere is that the following day you are exhausted before you even start, so we’d planned to take it easy and just do a Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour with City Sightseeing.

It was confusing which one to choose, with the number of routes, companies, tickets and add-ons making the complexity a bit overwhelming. One came with a couple of boat tours, a night tour and a discount booklet, so we decided that we would go with their 48hour pass, allowing us a bit of flexibility on when we went on the tours.

Budapest Restaurant – Boom n Brass

Decision made, we headed into the main square to have lunch and Ange saw a bargain out of the corner of her eye: three courses for €10 at the Boom n Brass. The restaurant is super touristy – right on the main square, but the food is good and we’re exposed to the Hungarian practise of adding paprika to everything.

The Esterházy torte for dessert is a particularly welcome revelation, with interesting layers of what we originally thin is bread but what I later find out are almond meringue dough.

Budapest Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour

After lunch we find one of the ticket sellers for the City Sightseeing company we had selected for the Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour and went to the office with her to get the tickets, and then followed her directions to the nearest bus stop. We stay on the bus for a full circuit – the funniest part is the stop at the Citadel: there’s some sort of traffic jam at the top so our driver reverses down from the carpark to the road at an eyebrow raising speed!

Budapest Synagogue

After the tour we go past Ange’s previous hotel – Arcadia Hotel Budapest – and head towards the Synagogue.

I frown at the time – it’s 5pm on a Friday and I think that means it will be closed for the Sabbath. Ange looks online and says that its open ’til 8pm each day so we carry on towards it. When we arrive the ticket booths are closed but there are signs up saying you can buy tickets online. I frown again because the entrance looks totally closed up.

We wander along the front as Ange reads further and confirms that it closes at 4pm on Fridays. Ah well. We grab a snack and head back towards the hotel instead, gelato for Ange and a pizza-style pastry for me.

Budapest Restaurant – Vapiano

We look online for somewhere to eat and find that the Italian place where we had turned up at closing time in Vienna had a branch just around the corner from our hotel here in Budapest. Ange loves Italian! So we head over there and the confusion starts.

First of all we go to the ladies at the counter at the entrance, as you would at any restaurant and ask for a table for two. They ask if we’d been here before and we, of course, say no. She says they’re a self serve restaurant and to select what you want from the menu, find a queue and order. Then she hands me and Ange a credit card sized card each, and then turns back to her coworker and continues her conversation with her.

Ange and I look at each other. It’s not often that I am just as clueless after receiving instructions as before, but we figure we’ll give it a go and see what happens.

We had been pointed to the only English language menu which was stuck on the wall, and so head over and select what we want to eat – carbonara for Ange, bolognese for me.

Then we watch other people at the queues. Above the cooking stations are signs saying what kind of things they cook: pasta or pizza. At the head of the queue are stations with a tray, napkins, cutlery etc. So you grab that stuff and tell the cook what you would like and then they make it there and then in front of you and get you your drink as well.

Then you swipe your card at a machine and that loads the bill onto it. after eating as you leave you pay the ladies at the cashier. I imagine that there’s some sort of security in place – I suspect if they opened where i was brought up, people would just eat and then “lose” the card and walk out. Before too long Ange gets to the front of the queue and orders her carbonara and even gets to select her pasta.

There’s a handy sign with pictures of the different pastas and they come in single size packets which the cook empties into what looks like a french fry basket and then dunks into a vat of boiling water. He then proceeds to add all the components to a wok and cook the meal right in front of us. So fresh!

A couple of days later we happen to be walking by and in the window I see someone making the pasta and then filling the single serve bags, ready for that evenings meals. It’s a different kind of set up – almost adding fast food ordering to Italian cuisine. I’m not sure what the purists would think!

On the way back to the hotel we stop off at a supermarket and get food for breakfast. I just can’t see how any breakfast could justify the €32 that the hotel is charging!

Day Two

The next day promises to be a bit busier and we have breakfast, check out of the Kempinski and store our luggage there. We’re in two minds of how to get to the Széchenyi Thermal Baths and in the end elect to take the metro instead of utilising the Hop-On Hop-Off bus. The M1 is the Millennium line – the oldest metro on the continent apparently, and the carriages themselves are quaintly old fashioned.

Budapest Baths Széchenyi

We eventually figure out how things work with the Széchenyi Baths – you get a plastic watch upon entry, plus a super-coat-hanger and enter the complex by holding the watch to a sensor on the turnstiles. Then you’re confronted by a line of doors – like priest’s confessional booths. These are the changing booths and it’s all unisex.

The booths have doors on both sides and little coloured wheels at knee height which tell you if the booth is occupied or not. Once you get into the booth and close the doors you see that the bench at knee height has a hinge and an additional piece which folds out. By folding it out you lock both doors (they open inwards) and at the same time on the outside the little wheels turn to show that the booth is occupied. Clever!

After changing you go through to the lockers, which are opened with your watch. There you store all your clothes on the super coat hanger which nicely fits into the locker. Then close the locker, hold the watch to the sensor and when the light flashes green you have a second to flick the little switch to lock the locker. Opening it is the same – hold the watch to the sensor and you have an instant to flick the switch to open it.

Then it’s around the corner to the towel hire place, where you can also rent robes, bathing caps and slippers. Finally ready to get wet, you head into a labyrinth of 18 pools – 15 inside, 3 outside, of various temperatures. Theres also a sauna and steam room. Some of the pools are the cold plunge pools and some are barely heated and are marked for swimming and you have to wear swimming caps.

The three outdoor pools are huge. The biggest is marked as being for swimming and a lifeguard stands watch, periodically blowing their whistle and motioning to people that because they aren’t wearing a swimming cap that they should leave. They love blowing that whistle!!

The outside pools have water features which pour water out into the pool, allowing you to stand with the water thudding onto your shoulders giving a lovely massage. One of the pools has water coming up through the floor so you can stand on the jets and allow your self to be massaged by the water. And one of the pools has concentric walls and a flow of water making a whirlpool effect. So there’s plenty of variation.

After we explore outside, we head through the inside pools. Whenever there are too many people, we just leave to find a more sparsely populated one. Our fingers are soon wrinkly and eventually we decide that we should head off. I think we managed to get to 11 of the pools.

Budapest House of Terror

We head back to the metro and two stops away we pop up into the brilliant sunshine and head towards the House of Terror Museum which housed the Arrow Cross Party during World War 2 and the Secret Police during the communist era.

Breakfast was a long time ago so we grab a snack at the cafe before heading into the museum. The museum itself is brilliant – well laid out and engaging exhibits. Its definitely worth getting the audio guide as the alternative is a lot of reading. The subject matter is rather dark and the fact that the museum occupies the same building where a lot of the atrocities took place gives it additional poignancy. Photography is not allowed inside.

It’s a bit of a relief to leave the museum and re-emerge into the sunshine – a relief which turns to wonder as a cavalcade of motorcycles rumbles up the street towards Heroes Square. There must be over a hundred motorcycles, accompanied by police and tooting their horns and revving their engines. We never do find out exactly what that was about…

Anyway, we head back into town and pickup our luggage and then check in to our  the St George Residence All Suite Hotel Deluxe Budapest.

It’s a bit of a hike from the bottom of the hill in Buda to the hotel which is right at the top. It’s a relief when we discover one of the elevators that allows us to avoid a section of steps. We only have time for the briefest of rests before heading back out, this time to catch the tour boat (part of the Budapest Hop On Hop Off Bus & Riverboat pass deal) at Jetty 10 in time for the 5pm sailing.

The City Sightseeing boat trip is supposed to take an hour, giving us two hours before the night bus tour to grab something to eat. We do manage to get some photos on the way, but it’s very much a mad rush across to the jetty.

Budapest City Sightseeing Riverboat Tour

We’ve almost left it too late and we arrive at the jetty after power walking across the Széchenyi Chain Bridge and along the river side.

With a sigh of relief we go to board the boat when the staff member checking tickets tells us that there is a regatta on the river so we may be delayed getting away – the last two tours have been delayed by 15 and 30 minutes respectively. Typical!

Even if we’re 30mins delayed getting away, we figure we’ll be ok with 90minutes to have dinner and get to the starting point of the night tour. We get on board and grab a seat on the lower deck. We avoid the upper deck because though it has unrestricted views in all directions, the sun has come out and is beating down quite ferociously.

I settle in while Ange gets up to go and get ice creams from the vendor on the jetty when the boat staff pull up the gangway and we set off, a mere five minutes after our scheduled departure time. Talk about mixed emotions: I’m happy to be underway, but… no ice cream!

The boat tour heads up the river, past the Hungarian Parliament building, around Margaret Island and then back to the jetty. We’ve made the turn and are heading down the Buda side of Margaret Island when we notice that the boat is driving erratically. The bow turns towards the island and the engine cuts out. Then it comes back on and the boat passes under a bridge and then starts circling.

We finally figure out that we’re in a holding pattern due to the regatta, but there’s no announcement or communication.

We sit back and enjoy the view, the sun and the calm. A whole bunch of other tourist boats are in the same predicament and I joke if any more turn up we’ll be able to walk to the shore by jumping from boat to boat. Half an hour goes by and then with a rush, the all clear is given and a different race develops as all the tourist boats head off at the same time.

Budapest Restaurant – Misto Bistro

We’re dropped off at about 6:45 and we figure we need 10-15 minutes to get to the starting point of the night bus tour and so head off to find the pick up point and then hunt down some food nearby. Ten minutes later we find the pick up point with not too much trouble, it’s on the far side of the Basilica of St Stephen.

A large open square is in front of the church, surrounded by restaurants, but we had passed a little bistro on the way and so after establishing exactly where the pickup point is, we return to the Misto Bistro and try their Tourist Menu.

Budapest Hop-On Hop-Off Night Bus Tour

And so on to the Night Bus Tour (again part of the Budapest Hop-On Hop-Off ticket)! We confirm with the ticket checker that we can get off on the Buda side, because the second to last stop is at the Citadel and we want to get off as close to our hotel as possible. We’re assured that even though it’s at night, its still a Hop-On Hop-Off bus so that won’t be a problem.

The bus is the same sort as we took for our day time tour and as it sets off we notice that the commentary is the same, and the route is the same. Sure, some of the sights are prettier in the night time, but we very quickly come to the conclusion that it’s just not worth it. If we hadn’t been using the tour as a trip to our hotel, we would have gotten off much earlier!

It also doesn’t help that the iPhones we use aren’t the best in low light, so it’s not like we can capture those few sights that are enhanced from the night time lighting.

Once we arrive at the Citadel I go down and ask if we will be stopping anywhere closer to the castle and am told that they’re will be an unscheduled stop right beside the Széchenyi Chain Bridge. I’m very happy to hear that as the funicular is there, which will save us climbing all those stairs to reach the castle level! Bonus!

Budapest Funicular

The funicular consists of two single carriage trains which go up the tracks on an angle. It’s a bit pricey, but I figure we’re tired and the last thing we need is a thousand steps right now. The views are quite spectacular also!

You get a choice of three seating areas and we decide that the first one provides the best views, so settle in and enjoy the ride up.

At the top of the hill we take a few photos and then head towards the hotel. We stop off at Fisherman’s Bastion for a few photos – at that time the ticket booths aren’t manned allowing us full access for free!

Day Three

Hospital in the Rock

Budapest is built on hot springs which manifest themselves in the many baths dotted around the city. But the water also carves out caves in the hills of Buda, making natural labyrinths which were turned into a hospital for World War II and then into a Nuclear Bunker in the Communist era. Unfortunately the hospital got a lot of use in the Siege of Budapest and then again in the Hungarian Revolution in 1956.

Unfortunately they don’t allow photography inside, but I guess the exhibits would lose their impact if you could see them online before going. It’s a great tour which takes an hour and takes you through both the hospital part as well as the nuclear bunker part. Our guide was nursing a sore throat, sipping honeyed tea as we went through, but it didn’t have any effect on her volume – no problems hearing her!

After we finished the tour we headed back to our hotel and checked out. We then grabbed a bus across to Pest to our next night’s accommodation, City Hotel Pilvax Budapest – one of the cheap hotels in Budapest that we’d booked because of its central location.  

After settling in we headed out to find something to eat – I had spied a burger place on the way in and so we retraced our steps.

Budapest Restaurant – Kajahu

We walk into Kajahu and again (see Vapiano above) aren’t greeted immediately and shown to a table. Instead eventually one of the wait staff spy us looking lost and pretty much tell us to find any vacant table. As we start to sit down I notice that the table has a screen under glass and a touch pad below it. I start to get an inkling how things work here. A silly grin sets in as I’m proved right.

 So you can order what you like from the monitor at your table and then the wait staff bring it to you. So far, so straightforward. The fun stuff comes with the additional things you can do. There are animated stories and videos for the kids, and you can do a grocery shop for you to collect at the end of your meal.

But my favourite is that you can chat with other people. You can type messages for broadcast to all, or you can use a seating map to figure out who you want to chat with and chat directly with them. The only negative is that the interface for typing messages is very clunky which would make conversing stilted.

Special mention must be made of the dessert – a cheesecake in a jar. The topping and base are as you would expect, but the filling is a party in our mouths – delicious!!

We head back to the hotel to do some work – only venturing out later that evening for dinner. Ange mentions she’s keen on some Asian food as we pass a cheap and cheerful place, but we go past until we are in the touristy area and are bombarded with touts encouraging us to try their bistro.

None of them have Asian food on the menu so we do the sensible thing and head back away from the touristy area and back to the original restaurant we had passed.

Budapest Restaurant – Aroy-Thai

There are lots of places for cheap eats in Budapest, as we’ve been discovering, and for our last meal in in the city we choose Aroy-Thai just around the corner from our hotel. I have the Pad Thai with pork and Ange has the Yellow Chicken Curry. Delicious, quick and reasonably priced, we really couldn’t fault it. So tasty!

Day Four

Budapest Baths Gellert

We had some time before I had to go to the airport for my flight back to London and we wanted to go to the famous Gellert Baths – primarily to contrast with our experience with the Széchenyi Baths. Both are served by public transport, but whereas Széchenyi is on the Millennial line, with what must be one of the oldest undergrounds still running, Gellert is served by a brand new station.

The changing rooms themselves operate on the pretty much the same system as Széchenyi with the exception that the locks have a knob on them that you push with the wristband/watch and so lock or unlock accordingly.

While the buildings are more impressive and the wave pool enticing at Gellert, I actually preferred the sheer number of pools at Széchenyi: I think there were more people at Széchenyi when we went and being able to spread them out meant that it didn’t feel quite so crowded.

I asked Ange what she thought given that she had been to three baths, and she agreed that Széchenyi took first spot for the same reasons I gave and then she put Gellert above Rudas because there were more options for pools – though she went on a women’s only day so was only allowed to go in the main pool.

It’s worth mentioning that we used the discount booklet that we got with the Hop-On Hop-Off bus ticket to get 500 HUF off each of the tickets to Széchenyi and Gellert, which we thought was good value.

 Before leaving we paused at the onsite cafe to replenish our strength, and then it was back across the river yet again for me to collect my luggage and for Ange to check into her next accommodation Colors Budapest Hostel.

I splurged on a cab for the airport which cost me £25. I was surprised that the driver didn’t speak much English, but we muddled through and he was impressed when I said kosomon (thank you) to him at the end of the trip. It was the only word of Hungarian that I managed to learn in my entire stay.

Would I Go Back?

I keep going back to Budapest – this was my third trip. It’s freezing in winter and boiling in summer. It’s got a lengthy disturbing history and an…interesting…approach to customer service! The prices are cheap and there are a million Budapest tourist attractions to do, so yes, I can see myself returning at some point in the future!

The post Visiting Budapest: Hotels, Restaurants, Tourist Attractions & Baths appeared first on etrip.tips.

I recently had a 15 hour transit in Kuala Lumpur while I waited for a connecting flight to Frankfurt via Vietnam. It was a fiddly time period because the flight from Auckland arrived at 5am and the flight to Frankfurt left at 8pm. So basically I had a whole day to kill, and because I was exiting customs I also had baggage, plus I needed a place to sleep for a chunk of hours.

The transit hotels right inside the airport were a no-go as I would be landside upon exiting customs. Initially I looked at a capsule hotel made of containers, but they seemed to be open ended with just a mattress so that put me off. Even if it was a designated women’s area, I knew I wouldn’t get a wink of sleep if it wasn’t a secure environment.

The hotel that fitted my purposes perfectly was the Tune Hotel which offered day rooms for six hour slots, at RM129 (NZD$40/GBP£20). It also had a 24 hour front desk and a luggage room for RM5 (NZD$1.50/GBP£1 ). I figured I’d drop my bag off there and head into town and go up the Petronas Towers, the tallest twin towers in the world.

As I’m a bit OCD when it comes to being prepared on how to get to hotels I diligently watched the online video on the Tune Hotel website which shows exactly how to get there.

Of course at 5am, jet lagged, and generally not on top of things, this planning completely goes out the window and I end up wandering around the bottom level of the airport trying to get a visual of the hotel out the glass windows.

Eventually I spot it, and head outside into the dark fug of warm morning air that must constitute at least 80% humidity. It’s just a 5 minute walk but already I’m getting uncomfortably hot, luckily the hotel lobby is somewhat air conditioned. I drop off my bag and think about doing some work but seriously all I do is sit in a chair and change my sneakers for jandals.

The sun is starting to come up so I grab my backpack and head for the exit and the overbridge that leads back into the airport (I’d missed that bit in the video I guess). The KLIA Express will take me into KL Sentral, and from there I’ll grab a taxi to Petronas Towers.

Petronas Towers

This all goes according to plan and before long I’m queuing up for the 9am slot to go up the towers. We take the lift up 170 metres above street level to the 41st floor. Here a guide gives a brief run down on the sky bridge connecting the two towers. He speaks so fast though it comes out a running stream of words. We take photos.

Then it’s up to the 83rd floor, then a transfer to another lift to the 86th floor which is 370 metres above street level. Here there is an observation room with some interactive videos and a model of the city. But the main star of the show is the view.

When I finish at the towers I need to get a taxi back to the station but when I make enquiries of the group of taxis near the entrance it’s apparently RM40. I may be jet lagged but I’m not stupid, the one I came in on was RM26, and it was a blue premium meter one. Anyway I try and flag one down a bit further away but don’t have much luck. I wander back to entrance and manage to grab one for a RM25 fixed fee. Apparently you’re not allowed to haggle.

This is a pity as I’ve realised I had RM23 spare for the taxi and agreeing to RM25 has made me RM2 short for the KLIA Express. I’m sitting there pondering how I’m going to get around this when the taxi driver pipes up out of the blue with the helpful information that there’s a bus from KL Sentral to KLIA2 and it only costs RM12. Problem solved!

The bus takes an hour to get back to the airport but it’s air conditioned and I’m just grateful to be getting there with extra cash in my pocket (which funnily enough I need later anyway).

Room

Back at Tune Hotel it’s 11.30am and time to check in. The staff are friendly and helpful and the process goes smoothly. As transit hotels go the room (251) is pretty nice, clean and contemporary. You get free towels, free toiletries and a free meal at the restaurant downstairs so there’s a lot to like.

Food

It’s been a while since I ate anything so before I take a nap I head down to The Glasshouse for my free meal and drink.

When I get there you have a choice out of five options.

I go for the fried rice with fried egg which is tasty.

Afterwards I head back to the room, take a shower, check my messages on the fast WiFi and then settle down for a nap. I sleep for around four hours then groggily get dressed and head down to check out. It would be good if they let you extend hour by hour for a price but I guess there’s only so many rooms and it also serves as a proper overnight hotel as well.

Pros & Cons

Would I go back?

Overall I had a good experience at Tune Hotel and would definitely stay there again if I found myself landside with a good chunk of time in transit in KL.

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