In Budapest last weekend, I loved the collision of architectural styles: onion-domed churches from the east; classical palaces from Italy; the vast, swelling dome over the Rudas Baths, built by the Ottomans in 1550.
There was also a touch of surliness around; not least in the magnificently grumpy waiter at Budapest airport, who refused to take my order because he wasn’t my assigned server.
For a moment, I liked to think this was an intriguing hangover from four decades of communism. But, actually, my waiter’s attitude was reminiscent of British grumpiness, particularly when it comes to waiters.
