Hidden Treasures of Budapest

So if you ever travel to Budapest, you can google and find pretty much everything that you can do here. You'll probably find more things to do than I've done in my last 2 months. Despite this, I think there are some things that you're likely to miss out on. I'm writing this blog on 2 such places that I have visited (more by accident than by intention). If you're ever here and if you feel like doing something that most people coming here wouldn't consider doing, do check these places out.

The Invisible Museum

My friend, Romane took my to this place called the Invisible Museum. She had made bookings for 5 people and a few of her friends cancelled. So basically I was the back up option.

I'm really not that kind of a person who understands art much, or for that matter anything that cannot be explained via numbers. So when Romane mentioned it to me, I thought that it would be an exhibition for some kind of abstract or unconventional art form. The fact that she is French probably also added to the fact. On any other day, I would've bailed on it too but out of boredom and a feeling of guilt for not doing anything touristy in Budapest, I decided to go.

When I went there, all my thoughts about this place changed. The Invisible Museum gives you an experience of a day in life of a visually impaired person. You do everyday things like walking in a park or a road, moving around in a flat, going to a restaurant but without sight.

We didn't click a lot of pictures but I kept the tickets as a souvenir

Ironically, with closed eyes, the trip to the Invisible Museum turned out to be an eye opener. It gives you a whole new perspective on life. You just experience this for 1 hour and realise how difficult it is to do things. Then you think about how a visually challenged person lives the same life, day in and day out. My heart was filled with empathy.

As far as knowing about the place, making bookings etc. is concerned, you can look it up on their website. I'm assuming that you probably wouldn't know Hungarian. So, you would have to call and make a booking a day in advance for the program in English.

Celeritas Shooting Club

22 mm semi-automatic

Just like the Invisible Museum, I ended up in this place courtesy of another friend. This time it was my Dutch classmate, Ignaat. He told me that he found this place where we could go shooting. I was a bit hesitant initially but looking at how excited Ignaat was, given that he is a skinny guy who looks 12 instead of 22, I thought to myself "Well if he survives, I should be able to. I'll just let him go first in everything."

So the basic package (basically, the cheapest one) was for about €40. The place was a bit outside the city. It took us like an hour to get there but the place was very well organised. The staff spoke good english (unlike a lot of places here). Even their website, where we had to make an advance payment of €10 to book a slot was in English. The place was open from 10 am to about 4 pm, divided into 1 hour time slots.

We were made to try a 22mm Pistol and a 22 mm semi-automatic. Then the same sequence in 90 mm. After that they made us try the AK-47 and a shotgun. We shot about 50 bullets, unevenly divided between the 6 guns. Pistols and Shotgun had 6 each. 10 in AK-47 and the rest in the semi-automatics. The 90 mm guns were the most difficult to control for me. There was a huge recoil. I barely got 2 on the target board and even those missed the target by miles. The 22 mm guns were pretty easy to handle. With the rifles (AK-47 and shotgun), you had to be careful about your body posture. The first shot that Ignaat took from AK-47, he ended up being pushed a step back by the rifle's recoil.

Let me tell you straight up. There is NOTHING as cool as reloading a shotgun. NOTHING. In the movies and even in first person shooting games, I never had much love for that weapon but when you hold it in your hand, when you shoot from it and when you reload it, it's a feeling that no other weapon can give you. In the future, if I ever decide to get myself a gun, you can be sure it'll be a shotgun.

The 90 mm pistol was really difficult to control. It had too much recoil.

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All in all, these 2 places are some cool unconventional places that you're likely to miss out on your trip to Budapest. If you're ever here and you wish to do something not too mainstream, I would definitely recommend you to check these places out. I'll probably write about such places more if and when I explore them, in Budapest and beyond. Please feel free to write your views and ask questions, if any, in the comments section below.