Along with the general attitude of people I experienced in these latest travels to short trips in Western Europe, I noticed a difference in other aspects of life as well.
In both cities, I arrived expecting to be robbed by the Euro and by the standard of living--but it wasn't terribly expensive to live and travel. There was a marked difference in economic existence; but I simply realized that this contrast was because more people there lived more richly. It wasn't overly posh or dripping with gold--but there were fewer dilapidated buildings, stalled construction projects, out-of-date facilities, less grime.
I didn't think it was necessarily so much better--I enjoyed the trips but still prefer Budapest to both Amsterdam and Vienna. But there was no goliath footprint of communist suppression, no looming communist bloc houses assaulting centuries-old architectural works and monuments. The cities seemed to have progressed "normally" through the past decades without significant interruption of social, economic, and political life. They were just allowed to "be."
Honestly, I think Budapest's Parliament building and Opera house outshine any of the buildings I saw in Western Europe; but it takes a little bit of exploring, a bit of shaving of the outer shell to really find all the beauty in Budapest. The culture is just as rich and even more so here--even if the population is economically poorer.
Budapest is an eastern jewel. She is just largely undiscovered and undervalued.
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