Tourism does any economy a lot of good and we all know what the economic crisis did to the European Union. But for the past two days I have been not pleasently surprised by the many tourists in Budapest.

Last year when we visited in December it was cheaper and less crowded. Heroes Square was all but deserted … Not so much yesterday or today. Plus, the prices have skyrocketed almost everywhere. If you go by the all touristy Danube promenade area, there is someone selling a tour of some sort and / or souvenirs. Plus, everyone seemed to have learned English. Don’t get me wrong: it is great that you can use English, but not when their only intention is to get more money off of you. So speak Hungarian and get away with local’s prices…speak anything else and pay the tourist prices.

I was happy to find a coffeeshop in the center -Independence Square- where two coffees were 840 ft. And at the museum in a cafe a large sandwich was 350 ft while a tea was 300 ft. Those are amazing prices.

But on the other hand, Starbucks and Subway sprang up in too many places. I love them , but it is so not Budapest. I expect something else here. I come to Budapest for the laid-back feeling…but these past two days I didn’t feel it. Hopefully it will change. We still have two full days in the city…and half of a third.