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Budapest by Day

Budapest by Day

Published on 20 October 2025

After catching up on some sleep, it was time to properly discover Budapest: visit a museum, do some sightseeing, and finally eat something local!

First things first: breakfast and coffee at the London Coffee Society. The Hangover 2. 0—think breakfast burrito meets shakshuka—certainly was enough to get me started for the day! 

And that start involved some climbing, all the way up to the castle, to visit the Budapest History Museum. 

Coffee at the heavily goat themed Zërgë, and then some proper sightseeing, in daylight this time.

Then it was finally time to eat something typically Hungarian: lángos. I headed to the Hunyadi Square market hall, because there is supposed to be a food stand there serving pretty authentic lángos, according to some Hungarian vloggers, but when I got there, it was closed due to renovation works! Luckily—while having a coffee at Cube Coffee Bar—my new Budapest friend suggested an alternative, so thanks to her I was eventually able to tick off this particular box at Gozsdu Lángos Bizstro. 

With this greasy snack in my stomach, I was ready for some beer! Of course I drank (at) Onlygoodbeer, or Csak a Jó Sör as it’s called in Hungarian. 

Beer Point turned out to be a weird mix of craft and macro beer, so I didn’t stay for long. HOPAHOLIC on the other hand had a great selection, and as it turned out, I had stumbled upon a tap takeover by Metalhead, a Bulgarian brewery. 

Then I was ready to tick of another box on my Hungarian food bingo, but the restaurant I picked turned out to be a daytime affair, and had already closed at five! So instead, I had a quesadilla dinner—and beer of course—at Beer Brothers. 

The last stops of the evening were the Gravity Brewing brewery and taproom—an awesome space, with a great view on the shiny brewing installation—and MONYO Tap House. 

La Cabra, Kraftpaule, and the Kálmán Imre

La Cabra, Kraftpaule, and the Kálmán Imre

Published on 18 October 2025

It all started with a post-it note left at the 2024 BMPH3 Xmas Party: “Come to Transylvania OCT 25”. Well, it is October 2025 now, so I’m heading to Romania for a hashing event… It is quite a trek, though, so I’ll be making some stops along the way. First destination: Budapest!

Like most of my international trips, this one too started in Brussels Midi train station, to board my ICE 15 to Frankfurt am Main Hbf. It was one of the newer models: very comfortable, and everything seemed to work. Even ordering food to my seat, which I did for lunch: a Frikadellenbrötchen mit Senf and a bottle of Apfelschorle. It’s a German train, after all!

I had hoped to have plenty of time to enjoy a coffee, but with the ICE’s arrival ten minutes late—Deutsche Bahn, so not unexpected—I kind of had to drink my La Cabra espresso Italian style! Just my luck that the barista at eins zwei was a particular loquacious one—albeit very nice and informative—so I really had to leg it to get back to the station in time. I did catch my train—the ICE 117 this time—and continued to Stuttgart! 

In Stuttgart I definitely had enough time to sit down and properly enjoy my coffee at Jules Coffee Roastery.  I actually had enough time for beer and dinner! For that beer I went to Kraftpaule. You might remember them as the organisers of Craft Beer Festival Stuttgart, which I visited in 2024. 

For dinner I had the Halbes Hähnchen and potato salad at Biergarten im Schlossgarten. 

Since I wanted to enjoy some more beers on the train, I went to Die Bierothek to stock up. 

And then… The EuroNight 50237 Kálmán Imre to Budapest Keleti was perfectly on time, but the sleeper car was suspiciously dark, and the doors stayed closed. And indeed, the MÁV staff informed me it was out of service, and I would be spending the night in a (shared) couchette instead…Luckily the only other occupants were a quiet French couple, using the top berths, so I still kind of had the bottom part of the couchette to myself. Oh well, time for those train beers, and an attempt to get some sleep after that. Good night!

Paris Beer Festival: The BarsFive small stemmed glasses filled with beer on a bar, tap handles in the background.

Paris Beer Festival: The Bars

Published on 23 May 2025

I’m back in Paris! This time the reason for my visit is a beer festival—my first French one—and a run—also my first French one!

I didn’t try any of the newer—cheaper—train options available, but took the comfortably quick Eurostar again. After arrival, I whipped out my Navigo card—which surprisingly still had a lot of rides on it—to take the métropolitain to my hotel for the weekend, the ibis Paris la Villette, in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. After check-in, some coffee and banana bread at Kaffeebar 19, I was ready for an afternoon and evening of beer bars and breweries!

The slanted nose of a red Eurostar high speed train, waiting at the platform in Brussels Midi. The red lights give away this actually is the back of the train.
A busy platform in the station, red Eurostar trains on either side.
Paris Nord station in the background, an art nouveau style metro entrance in the foreground.
Double bed in a hotel room

With some places only opening at four or five, it was a bit of a puzzle. However, in the end I had a schedule that enabled me to visit all the bars and breweries I picked out for this trip! First up was Paname Brewing Company, near my hotel.

View on the terrace and facade.
The bar at Paname Brewing Company.
A beer on the bar at Paname Brewing Company.
A brewer between his kettles and tanks at Paname Brewing Company.

After that I had to take the metro again to get to Le BaB OPERA. While they didn’t actually have a Paris Beer Festival event on Friday, they still had most beers from a Nuka Brewing tap takeover the day before.

Five small stemmed glasses filled with beer on a bar, tap handles in the background.
Facade of the bar.
a drawbridge, with a very high and steep pedestrian bridge right next to it.

There were no events at I.B.U Petites Écuries and BEER Paris either, but they had some nice beers on nevertheless.

Facade
Facade
A glass of beer on the bar, a cutting board with a dry sausage and bread next to it, the tap handles and the menu in the background
Blackboard with beers listed in the background
Fridges full of beer, customers queueing
Racks full of beer

At brewpub Les Cuves de Fauve they did have a Paris Beer Week event: a Sudden Death tap takeover and collab brew.

Last stop of the night was L’Atalante—back near my hotel again—where they had a Kauri Brewery and Wabi Brewing tap takeover.

I could easily have spent hours in each of those bars—which were all new to me—but it was nice to at least have visited them briefly!

A lovely glass of beer on the bar.
A bowl of Chicken strips with a tub of sauce.
A glass of beer on the bar

Dutch Work Party – Return & Reflection

Dutch Work Party – Return & Reflection

Published on 28 April 2024 
Reached this post by just scrolling through my blog? 
If you want to read about this trip from start to finish, instead of in reverse order, click here!

And then it was Sunday, and time to go home again… Bags packed, room cleaned, checked out, and it was time to walk into the village for the last time, to go to the station. Goodbye Kandersteg!

I had to take a regional train to Bern two hours earlier than I originally booked, which meant I had some time to walk into town for a coffee.

From Bern my EuroCity was supposed to go straight to Köln, but after standing still before and in Basel Bad for way to long, the train staff urged us to change onto one of the ICEs at other platforms. Just as well I took their advice, since the updated arrival time of the EC would have meant I would have missed my connection in Köln.

In Köln I arrived not much later than my EuroCity should have, so eventually the only train going as planned was my ICE 10 to Brussels…

Reflection

Even over ten years after the last time I was at KISC, it felt like home again straight away! The staff, my fellow members of the Dutch Work Party, the mountains… Seeing people of so many backgrounds and nationalities work together for a common goal, is truly inspiring, and it’s been a real pleasure and privilege to be part of that again.

It was also nice to wear my neckerchief again for a week, and actually do something hands-on for scouting again, and not just meetings and writing, even though that has its place as well.

So while I fully intend to help out with the 2027 World Jamboree in Poland in whatever capacity, I’ll definitely try to squeeze in another Dutch Work Party before then!

Dutch Work Party – Leisure Time!

Dutch Work Party – Leisure Time!

Published on 27 April 2024

Thursday at lunchtime, the Dutch Work Party usually puts down their tools, to then spend the rest of the week however they please! However, even though this time we picked up our tools again on Friday morning, before we decided to do that, we already did enjoy a very relaxing Thursday afternoon!

Thursday

We brought packed lunches, ready to eat on the car train, since our destination was on the other side of the mountain: Leukerbad Therme! Baths inside, outside, hot, cold, or warm, bubbles and massaging jets, slides, and all this combined with amazing mountain views!

In the evening we walked to Taverne Zur Gemmi, a little up the road from the scout centre. I was very surprised to find some Swiss craft beers here! I had both some Thunbier and Haarige Kuh beers. The landlady told me the latter were made by some Scottish brewers in Interlaken, which isn’t surprising if you see the hairy Highland coo on the label…

Friday

After our extra morning of work, we spent Friday afternoon in Interlaken. There is a little craft beer scene there—at least three craft breweries—which I couldn’t wait to discover!

Hüsi Bierhaus is kind of Barrel Brewing’s taproom, so I was able to drink and buy some of their beers there.

At Brasserie 17—not a brewery—I found some more beers from Haarige Kuh.

The last one I would never have entered if it wasn’t for the recommendation of a local beer geek who saw me searching for a brewery: Little Thai is really just a Thai restaurant, but it serves beers by Mountain Madness!

In the evening we had the traditional Swiss cheese fondue, albeit not in the main dining hall with staff and other guests this time, but just us in our private kitchen.

Saturday

Our last full day in Kandersteg the weather was perfect for a hike in the mountains! Unfortunately many trails were still closed after some avalanches and landslides, so like dozens of others, we walked up to the Oeschinensee, and then a little further up to see a waterfall.

Since we had already cleaned our kitchen and handed in the keys, we spent our last evening at Taverne Zur Gemmi again. Just as well, since they had one more Haarige Kuh beer I hadn’t tried yet!