Same, Same... But Different

Budapest reminds me of home in a lot of ways. Namely, the weather. Our time here has reached pretty intense extremes.

Once while in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, at one of my family's favorite post Dune walking restaurants, a local and I had a bit of a discussion. "Wisconsin weathers da best" "Hmmm, and why is that?" "Cause if ya don't like it, ya wait five minutes!"... This was then followed with 5 minutes of intense laughter from none other than the joke master himself.

I find Budapest to be governed on those same meteorological principles. When we got here there wasn't a flake of snow in slight. FINALLY. YES! It seemed we had exited winter's door, and I couldn't be happier. We no longer were participants in Europe's 'special snowy season'. Thank goodness.

Ohh, but wait. Five minutes passed (okay, the next morning), and the snow was in full effect. Yup, the wet boots, long underwear, 'I can't go out in this' weather.

So, in a lot of ways it's same same.. only it's different. Here people do go out. Cafes, walks, baths, caves.. you name it, it's all weather independent.

Erik and I were determined not to let the weather dictate our stay. We would still attempt to tredge through the snow and be the best site see'ers' our cold and discouraged bodies could muster.

We asked the owners of our small home like hostel for inside adventures. They provided us with 'The Chocolate Bar'.

HALLELUJAH.

Of course, we went. We found the neatly tucked bar a few blocks away. It was a cozy, half basement, half cafe gathering spot for all chocoholics alike. There was deserts, drinks, liquors, fondu, and any kind of chocolate you could think of.

Ohh..and HOT CHOCOLATES. YES PLEASE. Every flavor you could think of. I settled on 'dark chocolate mint' and Erik had a plain white chocolate. We patiently waited in our cozy booth, enjoying the Billie Holiday and Nat King Cole.

When our 'hot chocolates' arrived, they were literally just that. Two bowls, complete with spoons and dipping lady fingers, of hot chocolate. No mug of milk and a certain flavoring.. this was full blown dark chocolate and ground mint. Erik's was melted white chocolate, pipping hot and ready to spoon?

Apparently the word hot chocolate isn't quite uniform across cultures.. a little same, same, but different.

Don't get me wrong. We pounded (if you can pound liquid chocolate) those bowls of chocolate. They were unbelievable. We played some chess, and stuffed our faces to sugar heavens.

And as if the story doesn't get any better.... the sun was out on our walk home.