After a long sleep I was up bright and early and ready to head out. Grampa threw together a quick breakfast of tojas with paprika and szalonna (eggs scrambled with paprika pepper (not the spice but the actual pepper) and bacon. Once fed we got ready and headed out.

Grampa has been here since Monday night and has been out and about every day. He found a large mall called Mammut (Mammoth) that's comprised of 2 buildings about 5 or six stories each. From the outside it doesn't look that big but 2 of the levels are underground. We walked around for a bit with no real purpose and took in what constitutes as the retail world here in Hungary. In the 4 years since I've been here commercialism has only strengthened with more advertising and mainstream trends. I was surprised to find a KFC and TGIFridays in the mall. I was already accustomed to the Burger Kings and McDonald's. but Fridays threw me off. I also don't remember seeing any Starbucks locations in 2007 but now they're pretty common (and a good thing too since I can count on them for free wifi while I get my internet issues worked out).

The weather was still ugly so I figured it best if we found something to do under cover.  In my reading I had come across many mentions of a top tier pastry shop called Gerbeaud.  It has a long history and many articles sited it as a one of the top 2 pastry shops in Europe (the other being in Austria). Grampa was game so I fired up Google Maps while I had a wifi connection, got directions, and we headed out. A metro and bus ride later and we were there. At this point I realized it was 1pm and we hadn't eaten since about 8am so we decided to have lunch first and dessert after. Gerbeaud has expanded over the years to include a restaurant and pub in addition to the pastry/coffee shop. We decided to sit on the terrace and order from the pub. 

Grampa ordered a nice dark beer and I had a lemonade.  The drinks were huge and Grampa didn't even finish his beer.  He did say it was good though. We looked over the menu, which thankfully had english descriptions (a fact my grandfather didn't notice and was amazed at how my grasp of Hungarian had improved, I let him in on the secret after a couple minutes).

I decided on the Bélszín steak tejszínes rakott burgonyával,
grillezett zöldségekkel (beef steak with layered creamy potatos and grilled vegetables). Grampa went with the Borjúpörkölt (a Pork stew with sour cabbage and potato served with sour cream). My meal was very tasty and I enjoyed it.  The steak was cooked just the way I like it, nice and tender, and the potatoes were soft and creamy. Grampa of course was disappointed with his meal. That's the problem with ordering a meal you can make yourself, if it's not made the way you make it, then it isn't good.  He complained there wasn't enough cabbage. Understand, this is my grandfather when it comes to Hungarian food; if it's not done his way then it isn't right. You should hear him and Ilonka when it comes to cooking, there's no doubt they're related.

After we finished or meal we headed into Gerbeaud and found a table by the window. This place is old, dating back to 1858 it still maintains the classic decor of it's time. The place has been renovated a couple times but they always stuck with a fashionable older style.

Offering a wide selection pastries, sandwiches, salads, and coffee, they are also known for their cookies to take away. I took a look in the display case and had a terrible time deciding on any one item. The logical thing would have been to just order one of everything I considered. Sadly, I did the sensible thing and we ordered from the menu instead.

 From here we here we had to decide what to do next. We knew we had to work off our indulgent meal before heading back.