Day 20: Budapest

Highlights:

• Vasarely Gallery Museum
• Szechenyi Spa
• Led Zeppelin: Celebration Day

I was called over by Andrew and Gabo first thing to declare my plans for the day. I wanted to check out the Hungarian Contemporary Art Museum but Gabo was all "No, no, no. I show you on map better places. 'I show you on map' seems to be his catchphrase alongside 'what means *insert any word here*'. He showed me two museums dedicated to Hungarian artists; Kassak, and Victor Vasarely (to use his Western name). Gabo sensibly suggested I get the tram, as we were going completely off map with these museums, up North on Buda side, but I was determined to walk, if only to get some good photos in the sun. I headed for breakfast at Cafe Europa first, just round the corner on Andrew and my guidebook's recommendation. Standard croissant and good coffee.

I walked across Margit Hid (Margaret Bridge) and took some photos of the Parliament building, which even at 10am and only a few hundred metres away was still caught in a sort of haze, so looked purple. Beautiful.

I did get lost. Of course I got lost. I found myself walking through this maze of Budapestian Council Estates. Eventually I found the river again and was able to reach Fo Ter (which Gabo told me means 'Main Place') and the Vasarely Museum. You'd probably recognise Vasarely's work; After years of doing fine art and a few other styles, he stumbled across Kineticism. So quite simply, he focused on movement within art, and achieved this using geometric patterns and a knowledge of the eye to brain nerve system. This exhibition provided a really good level of information, pushing you to step back and look at the painting again, and actually see the vibrations caused by putting black and white shapes together. Vasarely had studied the Bauhaus approach to colour and some interactive activities at the gallery showed how if you look at one block colour for a while, then look at a blank space, your eye ends up creating a blur of the opposite colour on the spectrum for a while. Try looking at a square of red for a minute, and then at a white square of the same size. It's cool.

Vasarely made his fame in Paris so I think I'll visit his gallery there. I left the gallery and slowly wandered to the Szechenyi Spa in the park around Heroes Square. It was a hot day and a weekend so it was pretty busy, but I'd already bought my ten quids ticket from Andrew, so went in. I lounged in the heated outdoor swimming pool for a while, astounded by the variety of shapes and sizes that came and went. If you're ever feeling overwhelmed by the ridiculous media images of the 'normal' woman or man, I suggest going to an outdoor swimming pool. Really perks you up to see ACTUAL normal (and a fair few potential entries to Channel 4's Embarrassing Bodies). From here, I then used the various facilities, including some sort of murky indoor pool which smelt like rank meat. I could only last a few minutes. A great experience though, and nice to fully relax after a few weeks of hectic sight-seeing.

I went back to the secret Hungarian restaurant for dinner and had the same again. Why mess with a classic egg and gnocchi dish. I then went back to the hostel to get ready for the evening, and found Gabo holding fort on reception. I was in a bit of a rush, and he can talk a lot, but he's always got some interesting story to tell. He told me how he worked for Tele Uno for a while, and made me guess that Berlusconi was his boss. He also filled me in on Andrew's love life; separated from his wife, so he entertains himself with a few girlfriends (including the lady from the day before...). Gabo then offered to show me around Vienna or Hungary if I came back, and gave me his email address. Turns out his name is Dr Pesti Gabor, but he's always gone as Gabo. Very sweet.

So when I'd been booking my ballet tickets, down the side of the screen under the 'you might also like) heading was the screening of Led Zeppelin's newly released live dvd, Celebration Day. Led Zeppelin? Budapest? Their O2 show in full viewing? I snapped up the ticket. It was at the Urania National Film Theatre, and Gabo told me this was a lovely old building near Astoria.

The show was at 9.30 so I walked there slowly, passing the flats Gabo had said he used to live in until a grenade came through their window during the revolution. The lady told me I was early, and as I couldn't find a bar, ran across to Tesco Expressz for some refreshments (so in Hungarian, a plain 's' makes a 'sh' sound, hence the 'Budapesht' pronunciation. And an 'sz' sounds like an 's', hence Expressz and Szex shop). On the way out I saw two large chinese guys passed out on the street. I'm certain they hadn't been there before I went in. One had been sick. Two minutes later though an Ambulance pulled up. They HADN'T been there before, so that was the quickest ambulance arrival ever. A joyful Tesco experience, and then I headed back to wait in the theatre entrance hall.

I was admiring the arched, painted ceilings and grand stairways when I looked up and was sort of in a state of disbelief as one clergy man after another came out of the cinema. Like a Priest Day Trip. As I stood there with my Led Zeppelin crowd, all heavy metal hair and beer guts, these priests filtered through us. The most bizarre sight. Then I noticed the poster for 'Pope John Paul II: The Movie' (ok, that wasn't the actual title, but something similar. The poster also explained the big advertising presence of JP II in Krakow). I can't say for sure, but I'm pretty sure that poster explained the priest party.

So when Led Zeppelin started a count down on facebook, ending in a DVD release, I was gutted it wasn't a tour. I'd planned to watch it in Edinburgh with my mate Tom, but suddenly, in Budapest, I was about to see the best next thing to a live show, in this newly resurfaced mega-theatre called Urania National Film Theatre. It was all chandeliers and intricately painted ceilings. The lady reading tickets couldn't understand the English on my print-out so an English-speaking Hungarian behind stepped in. As I was sitting down, he beckoned me forward, saying he had the ticket for a spare seat next to him. Instant upgrade to top seats dead centre.

His name was Robert, and he owned a bar in the neighbourhood (as I discovered later). We had a brief chat about his Led Zeppelin prior viewings (he'd seen the Page/Plant '97 tour and then Plant with his then-band in 2007. Then at a Rock Festival they have in Budapest every year, he met Robert Plant and got a photo with him). He said that this was one of those fleeting moments in life, where two lives collide by pure coincidence, then separate again.

Then bam! With big Bonham drums, Led Zeppelin came on. And I was blown away. It was amazing. A perfect performance with some great versions of their tracks. Jason Bonham on drums joining on vocals occasionally. Plant and Page laughing around. Plant with his signature hand-twisting moves and Page with his closed eyes and pouted lips as he played his 12string. Amazing.

The show ended and Robert asked if I wanted to go for a drink. I was meeting the Aussies I'd met in Prague/Krakow, but figured I could go for one. Robert said his bar was just five minutes away. Then he pulled two motorbike helmets from his spacey looking case. Uh-oh.

I'm pretty sure it would have all been safe, and I was so tempted to say yes, but it occurred to me that this would be in the news article when the details of my kidnap and murder came to light. 'Woman, 25, willingly goes with kidnappers to death'. I made my excuses and left.

I found Instant: The Enchanted Forest, and waited for the guys to arrive. I got hit on a few times, with the guys not even having seen my face before doing so ("and a good thing at that too...LOLS" as my mate Paddy said). Harry, Sven and Adam turned up and we played a card game called 'F*** the dealer' and we joined by a huge group of Americans. We followed them to a bar called Simpla, when I lost the Aussies and was left stranded with all these ridiculous Americans ("oh my god, I love your accent"). I've got a few ace US friends, but most of these were awful. Adam arrived a bit later and I pounced on him in relief. He'd got stuck taking a girl to the toilet on route ("she was so f***ing stupid"), and then had got lost and had to get a rikshaw to the bar. The other guys arrived shortly after and we stayed out until around 5 when the bars shut. And then home to bed, in a pleasantly empty dorm.

End of day 20.