Budapest

[squirmelia]

I have returned to the UK after a holiday in Budapest, with a gas mask and some unicum as souvenirs. So much to catch up on.

Comments

[nickmurdoch.livejournal.com]

Misread that as 'unicorn'... an interesting combination with gas mask! Hope you had a good time :)

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Someone else did also! Am now imagining unicorns wearing gas masks.

[strawberryfrog.livejournal.com]

I misread it as ... something from a unicorn.

[nickmurdoch.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure whether that would be more precious or not!

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Heh, oh dear.

I wonder if that would appear somewhere in a list in the "Mountain Man Dance Moves: The McSweeney's Book of Lists"? That seemed to have lots of strange unicorn related lists, like "Signs your unicorn is cheating on you" (by Christopher Monks):

"Seems emotionally distant and uninterested
Wears fancier tail ribbons
Starts working out at the gym
Quickly closes its laptop when you walk into its enchanted den
Credit card bill full of charges to area elf lodges
The "three C's": confrontation, criticism, and complaints
Every time you say the word "magic" it sighs forlornly
Is making a movie with Angelina Jolie"

[strawberryfrog.livejournal.com]

The "three Cs" aren't signs of cheating specifically, but of dissatisfaction, which I suppose, can lead to cheating if not resolved.

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

I've never met a unicorn, let alone a confrontational/critical/complaining unicorn, so I am no expert on the matters of unicorns. I am not sure I have even met a narwhal actually. I hope unicum is not made from unicorns though, or narwhals.

[toadflax234.livejournal.com]

Google is my friend... it's a drink, right?

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

It is! It is herbal and perhaps medicinal. I have yet to try it though, as when in Budapest, I drank tastier sounding things, such as chocolate cherry liqueur.

[toadflax234.livejournal.com]

Sounds interesting.

When I went to Poland, I got rather a taste for vishnovka - a cherry vodka. The family I stayed with made it themselves, from home-grown cherries and very strong alcohol! It was thick, like syrup. Very warming!

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Sounds great!

[strawberryfrog.livejournal.com]

There are drinks like that in Slovenia. The Blueberry one is excellent.

[toadflax234.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that sounds lovely.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

You will never need more than one bottle of Unicum. I brought a 1l bottle back from Hungary in 2003 (WWW conference), and even though I am a great fan of herbal bitters in general (and Underberg and Elixir Vegetal in particular), I still have three quarters of the bottle left.

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Is it that awful? I suppose I should just try it and stop wondering about it.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Put it this way:

The drink was supposedly given its name by the Austro-Hungarian Emperor at an international exhibition; after tasting an offered sample, he proclaimed that it was "unique".