Getting Clean and Dirty again in Budapest

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Alright, so technically I'm blogging from Vienna, as we got in here from Budapest, but for the sake of conversation we'll just all pretend I'm still in Budapest. And may I say that it's amazing *here*. I know I've said this about a number of cities so far but I definitely think that Budapest is my favourite so far.

Laura and I arrived on the 10th for a 4-night stay. We were totally sketched out by our hostel at first. A groggy-sounding Hungarian man buzzed us into a creepy, decrepit apartment building and we nearly turned around before we made it up the stairs. Then when we get there he informs us that we won't be staying there, but in an apartment 5 minutes down the street. We were a bit nervous but when we got there the place knocked our socks off. It was a lovely, bright 2-bedroom apartment (we had one of the bedrooms) complete with kitchen, washer, our own bathtub and shower, and a TV in the bedroom. Sweet.

Something that I loved about Budapest is that it's actually two cities: Buda and Pest. They're separated by the Danube which runs through them. We were staying in Pest, which is sort of where most of the stuff goes on. The tourist area of Buda mainly consists of a large tree-covered hill with a massive palace, Basillica, and other such things like the liberation monument, cave cathedral, and citadel.

Our last day in Budapest was sweet. It happened to fall on the first day of the Sziget festival, a massive music festival on an island in the middle of the Danube. I had never really been to a proper music festival, so I thought, why not? I was totally not prepared for the monstrosity of this thing. 40,000 people and dozens of stages, this was a full-on party. If we had more time I would have loved to stay the week and camp there, but we're on a bit of a tight schedule. Still, in our one day we took in (among others) Flogging Molly, Alanis Morissette, and the Kooks. Alanis was actually very impressive. I wasn't sure how she'd be but she put on a great show and sang all the classics. I wasn't all that familiar with the Kooks but they were fantastic and I'm definitely going to pick up their album (*cough* download it) when I get home.

Anyway, I was thrilled to have the flat because I actually got to have a real-life bubble bath. And not just one, but 5. That's right, I had more bubble baths than days I was in Budapest. The festival, however, was about the dirtiest place I had ever been, and no amount of soaking will get these feet clean. Seriously, does anyone have a trick for getting your feet clean, because mine are black even though they've soaked more in the past week than they have in the past year. I guess it comes with the territory when you're backpacking.

Alright, well that's all I'll write for now. I'm seriously hoping for a hostel computer that will let me upload photos because these blogs are probably quite dry without anything to look at. We'll see. It's pouring rain (FINALLY!) in Vienna right now so maybe I'll get the chance to upload some tonight if I'm too tired to do anything else.

Cheers everyone,

Carly xoxo

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Photos

Me at Heroes' Square
I took this photo and then when I looked back at it I couldn't figure out what was going on with my eyes. Then I realised that it's the tree-lined Andrassy street in across from me. I thought I was just mega-squinting.

Me on the Bridge Crossing the Danube
That's Buda in the background.

SZIGET!
Bridge across from the mainland to the island for the Sziget festival.

Alanis Morissette on stage
It's kinda blurry, but I thought I'd toss it up there anyway.