Valentine's Day

I have been writing about other holidays we have celebrated here in Budapest, so I thought I would tell you about our dinner on February 13, which was to be our celebration for Valentine's Day. Merrill and I had discussed several places to dine, that we had been to before and liked, but as the library was closing, we were given more options. For one of the new options we had a flyer that had been lying on the desk in the library office for a couple of weeks. It was recommended to us by one of the patrons, who had taken his wife there to dinner and thought it was nice and better still was easy to find and not far from public transportation. At home, having accessible parking is important when chosing your dining spot. Here, having it close to public transportation is an asset. Besides, it was a cold, wet evening here in Budapest, not the kind that makes you want to stroll leisurely from the bus to the restaurant.

We arrived at the restaurant, Kulacs Etterem, and were seated at a table. The restaurant was very colorfully decorated and the flyer mentioned that there was live music. The table we were seated at was near the front of the restaurant, where the live music was located. We have seen several restaurants that advertise having Gypsy musicians that provide dinner music. This was the first restaurant that we had been to that had Gypsy musicians. The musical group consisted of 2 violinist, a base and another instrument, timborlo. The gentleman who played this instrument was seated and it looked a little like a grand piano without the covering. He played it with soft mallets, like a xylophone, but it was a stringed instrument and from time to time, I could see him tuning the strings. It has a very mellow sound similar to piano and harp, but different.

The musicians were playing near the front of the restaurant and they played a variety of music, some recognizable tunes, while others were not. Not long after we were seated the two violinists and the base player moved to a table across the room from us and the lead violinist played at the table, taking requests it seemed. The lead violinist was conversing with the couple at the table and they were all enjoying the music. This happened a couple more times, at particular tables throughout the restaurant. Merrill and I ordered and ate our dinner and were waiting to have coffee when the strolling musicians came to our table. The lead violinist wanted to know where we were from and if it was our first time in Budapest - his English was very good. Then they played for us and everything they played was music that we would recognize from the states, including "Tennesee Waltz" and "I Did It My Way". They played several more songs. It was very enjoyable, except that the lead musician stood very close to me and played right in my ear!
It was definitely an interesting experience. One that I'm sure I won't experience every Valentine's Day. I always have my camera with me and I did that evening, but for some reason, I didn't take any pictures. Sorry!