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Published: February 11th 2008
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What an interesting trip this has been! Since I've been here I have had Turkish food (delish!), goulash (delish!), and some form of Hungarian food (delish!). So...the gist is that Hungarian food is amazing but everything else is just plain interestin'. Yesterday we slept in a bit and then went on to the Synagogue. Budapest is home to the worlds largest synagogue supposedly. While inside I sat down where everyone else was for a bit and looked around. All of a sudden some woman said we were very rude for sitting in on her tour when other people paid for it. I kind of knew that she was giving a tour but wasn't really paying attention. It was so pretty in there. It was like any other church, but it was bright. There was peachy and aqua colors everywhere and stars of David.. Anyway there was also this awesome memorial. It was a metallic willow tree, intricately detailed with metal plates overlapping to form bark. On some of the leaves were the names of those who died in the Holocaust. It was beautiful. The days here ahve been gray and rainy though which has kind of been a bummer but o
well. After that we were going to go to the thermal baths but Liza and I wanted to do more sightseeing so we did. We crossed the Chain Bridge and went to Buda. We went to the Buda Palace. There were 2 really cool fountains I saw. The copper on both had turned green. There was one of three boys wrestling witha big fish in a net. The other was a hunting scene. It had hound dogs and a man blowing a horn and another man holding a bow and arrow standing over a dead stag. It's tongue was hanging out and the green from the copper ran down the rock like blood. Close to it was a lady kind of holding a fawn. It was awesome. Then we went to see the Buda Labyrinth. Some Americans from Tennessee came out and said it wasn't worth it so we didn't go in. It apparently wasn't like a real cave 😞 Then we passed by St. Matthias' Church. The outside was very pretty except for the scaffolding. It's so annoying and everywhere! We went in some shops of course. We went to one Antique store and asked about the thermal baths.
The guy told us of some in Buda, so we went to one called Rudas. We passed the monument to Szzt. Gellert and the Liberation monument on the way. Rudas was only for men that day, so we continued on to Gellert Thermal Bath. That was an experience in itself! At the baths Liza and I decided to go balls to the wall. We got a massage and the baths! lol. We wanted pedicures but ddin't think we had enough tme because we told the rest of the group we'd meet them at 6.30. For the massage we went upstairs into a little room. I had no idea what to do then because I've never gotten a massage, but this loittle old lady (who by the way spoke no English) motioned for me to take off my swimsuit. I was a little confused but took off my top. I asked if that was all and she motioned for me to remove my bottoms. I felt really awkward then because I was standing in front of this strange woman who I didn't know from Adam butt naked. I layed down tummy first on the massage table thinking I would be covered
by a towel or something but no, everything was just hangin' out! She massaged my legs and feet first, which felt amazing because they hurt like no other! Then she went on to massage my bottom and back. It was really awkward because...well it was just awkward. The only word in common this lady and I had was "krissinim" (sp?) which translates into "Thank you." Liza and I got out and were just in shock. lol. It was definitely an experience. Then we went and rinsed off and went and got in the baths. It was co-ed. The bath was 38˚C which was warm but not hot. There was this waterfall thing that was really hot though and felt amazing. There were some really fat guys in speedos...icky. We then went into the steam room for a little bit and then back to the baths before taking a shower. omg It was amazing! The shower at the hostel didn't work so I hadn't showered in a few days, gross I know but deal with it. Then we took a taxi home. Fabulous! After that at the hostel we found out that we were stuck in Budapest because there was no trains (strike) and all the buses were booked. We were going to be there till Friday. That was fine with me because I was having a good time and there was a lot left to see like Hero's Square and Parliament. We bought two bottles of wine to split because everyone was freaking out kind of except me and Liza. So we drank wine and got ready for dinner. We ate at some place called Unicorn and then went to this place called Club School. When we got there no one was there but it got really crowded later. I had my first shot of absinthe there. Bad idea because I didn't feel too well after that. Liza and Natalie sang kareoke. They did Shania Twain's "Man I feel like a Woman." By the end they had a crowd. This morning we woke up and got ready, packed and went to the train station to find out bus times because apparently they added more. At the train station they told us we had to go to the bus station for more information so we took a taxi. I felt really weak because I had gotten sick the night before and hadn't eaten yet and was carrying a huge backpack around. I ate something at the bus station though and felt much better. We were able to get a bus back to Vienna so we did and we are currently on a train to Prague. We left from that South-something station so again we had to take Tram 18, the right way this time. When we got off we saw Allie and Michelle and Brittany and them. It was weird. They had just gotten to Vienna. At the train station we met an American who worked for the UN. He said Prague was beautiful. I can't wait. There was also some Swedes who were jerks and wanted to talk politics. I get so annoyed with that. They try to pick fights over politics all the time! I really think he wanted to make us look like stupid Americans. He talked about how when he thought of American girls he always thought of fat girls and we all took great offense to this of course but he said "O not you! You look nice!" That was some b.s. he just pulled out of his a** right there. He wanted a picture with us as well which was weird and wanted us all to say "America, fuck yeah" like from Team America but we were all just like umm...sketch. O well...Prague is going to be so much fun. I can feel it. Things are starting to look up 😊 END.
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