Photo of the Week: Ice Skating!

This weekend I finally made it to the ice skating rink at Varosliget. I wanted to go last year, but didn’t get around to it. When it opened again this year, I made a mental note to go (and added it to my Budapest bucket list). With only 2 weekends left in this city this winter, I had to make it happen.

The weather wasn’t the best. It was very cold and very rainy. Temperatures had been hovering around 10 – 15 C until Friday of last week, when it completely plummeted. Now its around the 0 mark. To make matters worse, it was raining. Cold + rain = miserable. But somehow, being on the ice I didn’t notice it so much. I was concentrating more on skating and trying to not trip and fall flat on my face. Prior to this weekend, I don’t even remember the last time I was on skates.

I rented skates and that was such a shock. I was given 2 plastic boots with snaps to put on my feet. They look almost like ski boots, but not as sturdy and definitely not comfortable at all. They pinched in all the wrong places and had absolutely no padding and lacked support. Compared to rentals in Canada, those are such a luxury!

The ice itself was very bumpy and uneven. Zamboni? Couldn’t see one. I wonder if they ever smooth it out or just let it be from day to day. The rink was massive, so some patches were okay to skate on. Other parts, not so much. Despite the poor weather, there were still so many people going around. For a seasonal activity (apparently the indoor rinks don’t have public skates) most seem to be handling the ice and skating well. Because its outdoor, there is no railing or boards which made it especially difficult getting on and off the ice!

I had a blast whizzing from end to end and enjoying the crisp (and wet) air under the shadows of Hero’s Square and the Vajdahunyad Castle. The ice and skates could have been better, but it was still a lot of fun!