I had exactly four seconds to make the decision. Standing chest-deep in the steaming outdoor pool at Széchenyi Baths, the January fog curling off the 38°C water into the frozen Budapest air, I watched an elderly Hungarian man arrange his chess pieces on the floating board between us with the calm of someone who had … Read more
There is a moment, somewhere between your first sip of a Wiener Melange and the third time a waiter glides past your marble table without once suggesting you order something else, when you understand that Vienna has figured out something the rest of the world has not. Sitting in a Viennese coffee house is not … Read more
Let me tell you about the exact moment I lost all self-control in Poland. I was standing in the middle of Mały Rynek — Kraków’s Small Market Square — surrounded by steaming pots, the smell of butter-fried dough hanging in the warm August air, a paper plate in each hand, and absolutely no regrets. That … Read more
