A few months back a friend who is a longtime observer of the Budapest nightlife scene said he was convinced that the city’s better clubs and kerts had never been more bustling, especially during the week. He said he considered this slightly odd, given the poor state of the economy – until we pointed out that maybe the reason so many people are staying out until dawn on work nights is because they have no work to go to in the morning.
The above gaggle of noisy, post-dawn revelers we snapped in the act early last Friday seem to have been tourists, so they may not be part of the local “let’s drink to our unemployment!” trend. But we’ve been seeing (and hearing) enough scenes like this to make us wonder if there really is something going on. Though, of course, this is not to suggest that no one is gainfully employed in Budapest: You can tell the woman on the right is an officially-employed local office worker, since she’s heading in before 7:00 a.m., and dressed to leave for the beach by lunch.
government office no doubt