Budapest

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We waited for our freezing train which came ten minutes late. We had no idea what do do. All I know is when we got on and found an empty cabin. It was warm and I was more than happy with it. It was so warm, but it started feeling colder the longer we were there. I layered up in everything warm I had. We passed out...well CJ did. I of course, couldn't sleep, but it felt good to just lay down. An hour or so later the guy came to check our passports which of course was on the bottom of CJ's bag. Where else is something when you need it other than the most inconvenient places ever. CJ informed me that ther were Nazi army guys that came in with flashlights. I did not see them becuase I idn't feel like rolling out of my fetal position on the train, but CJ said they were "absolutely terrifying") I still couldn't sleep when the guy came back to check our tickets. It took him a while to let us know we were in first class with second class tickets. Damn language barrier. Getting kicked out of places was CJ and my specialty..

Just when I was starting to get excited about the trip and how cool it was where were sleeping..in our own litle cabin area...on our way to Budapest (we hoped at least). Actually that should have been an indication for us...the warmth and comfort...clearly we did not belong there. What were we expecting from our 919 koruns? Clearly it was the intense feeling walking to the second class car that we shouldn't be girls alone...in the pitch black...with two guys with their hoods up smoking in the walkway. But what I really was hoping for for my fifty dollars was a freezing cold cabin where the lights also didn't work with pleather seats and a window that leaked air all around the seams. Now this[/i} is where we beelonged. It was freezing in that car. I mean I think I slipped into hibernation because the less I moved the warmr I got. They came to check our tieckets and passports. Again, CJ's passport was only found after dmping her bag. The only thing that was good about being disturbed from my cold-coma-hibernation was that I knew we had to be in the right direction on the right train.

We had four hours left in this frozen hell...actually hell's warmth would have been welcome. Again, I did not sleep. It was so cold. The guy that came in the last time to check our passports wer really funny. They came in and said "Good Morning Sunshine!" We saw we were at the Budapest stop and until we got to the door we were pulling away again. I couldn't beliv it. All that and we miss the stop becuase the train only stopped for thirty seconds. The next stop was the 'right' budapest to get off at anyways. It was a lucky mistake. The station was so nice. My feet hurt to walk on because they were warm enough to get the feeling back that they were frozen. We got 3,000 ketszaz forint which is like 25 bucks. It's so weird. Especially being somewhere where the US Dollar is actually worth something.

We basically just roamed the city for hours. It was so beautiful out I didn't even wear a coat. Budapest is so cute and adorable. I thought it was going to be a run down city. After my experiences in Athens, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. But besides all the graffiti it was so cute. I bought a few gifts and some post cards. It's so hard to know how much money I've gone though because the exchange rate is so weird.

In our roaming we stumbled upon this huge church and climbed the 299 steps to the top. Why 299? That bothers me a little...what would one more have hurt?? It was the most breathtaking view. It was just like going to the top of St. Paul's in London. We walked along the River Duna and crossed the Szechenyi Lanchid bridge to get some dinner. I ate entirely too much again...I didn't miss the Turkey Day pounds after all. Ther was this cool shoe exhibition by the river. THey wre attacthed to the ground and were made out of what looked like cast iron. It was really different and walking up to them we thought they were real shoes.

To get to the river by the way we croseed half a highway to walk ontop of a wall and gaurdrail and crossed the other side of he highway. It was amazing; The city's hazy skyling infront of us.

We make our way back to the train station and my thighs are dying because my jeans are rubbing the wrong way. I think it was becaus eit was so cold. At the train station everything was closed and we were just like shit...what do we don now. PLUS the next train to Bratislava wasn't until 5:00 tomorrow morning. We were stuck. What do we do...Stay up until 5 without sleep for the second night in a row, or pay for a hostel for four hours? This sucked. There were trains within two hours to either Serbia or Romania. We had no idea, really where either country was or what it was like there. The woman at the counter was very friendly and also told us Servia was safe when we asked her. We bought the ticket for like 30 bucks or something. We went back to McCafe to spent the last of our money on the internet. I emailed Mom so she knew what part of the wrld I'm in. I emailed my friend Ivana to see if we could get together in Croatia and she was more than excited to meet up. I bought one last tiremiseu and pastry and we went back to the train station. Our train was delayed...big surprise...We were already freezing and I was trying to figure out why I never bought a blanket. There are never empty cabins on the train. We wanna be able to drop our stuff and sleep (or try to) and not worry about who we were sitting next to. There was an empty cabin with a guy standing ourside it smoking and he says to us "You can stay with me if you don't feel weird. I work in a hostel." Me and CJ were gonna sit there anywyays but it was cute how he welcomed us. We closed the open window and felt relieved that it wasn't as cold as the first night. We got comfortable and the guy showed us how to turn the seats into indicidual beds and me and CJ were ready to pass out. The guy's phone rang and he left to answer it and stood outside the cabin to talk so he wouldn't keep us awake and then turned the lights off so we could sleep. He said he'd hold our tickets for us so we could sleep throuh when they came around to check them. He was being so sweet and not creepy at all.

I was freezing. It was like you don't even know freezing. I couldn't sleep again which means I was going to enter day three slepless. Only me...I realized I shouldn't have had Tiramiseau. Ther is coffee in that..UGH im silly (I really should learn how to spell that, since I ate it all weekend and am now in love with it) But bad choice, becky.

With my earbuds in I could at least daydream if I couldn't sleep. A few hours later, maybe three in the morning, our cabin buddy complained about the cold and he said it shouldn't be that way. He was going to look for room somewhere else. He came back and said we were moving to a car that had head in it. We didn't object. This was my second sleepless night in the deathly cold. All I could think about was the one guy who stamped our passports with a very russian furry hat on. I wanted one of those. We moved into a room with thre other guys and it was so amazingly warm. We could even stretch out into the beds aain. Here, I was able to sleep. Oh it felt so nice. I woke up once or twice from the people coming and going in our cabin but ultimately I got almost three hours of sleep. A few times I drifted in and out of consciousness and saw fields at dawn covered in a dusting of snow. I swear I could smell the winter. It was so pretty and calm and it reminded me of home.

CJ tought the guy who helped us out was a drug dealer because when we moved we helped him carry his bags.. The one CJ had was open and was filled with little cials. She said either he was sick or a dealer. When we got off the train he gave us directions to the city center and whree to buy our next tickets and what map to get from the tourist info center.. He was so unbelievable helpful. He then said "it was lovely travlin with you and having the company. I have to get these *holds up the bags with the vials in them* back to my friend. This is all his stuff." We parted and when we was out of earshot CJ goes "yea, he's definitely a drug dealer."

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