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Published: September 27th 2010
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In Budapest I met up with Adrienne, my lovely Canadian friend I met in Bern and saw again in Vienna. She met me at the station and we went to her hostel where I met Beck, an Australian girl travelling around Europe and working in London for two years. The three of us went out into the town, walked around a bit, went to the huge indoor market where Adrienne ate a Langos, kind of thick pancake with cream cheese on it, and we went to Gellert baths. Beck had been in Budapest for ages because she left a bag in Prague and was waiting for it to be delivered, but the hostel in Prague were being very useless! So she knew the city inside out and could take us to the best baths. And they were amazing!!! There was an outdoor pool we sat in for ages, along with Alvin, a guy from Singapore they also knew from the hostel. It was afternoon and the light was gorgeous, it was so relaxing sat in the warm pool. Then we went inside to another heated pool, and then went in the women's section where there was two other pools of different
temperatures, a plunge pool, sauna and steam room. We felt so relaxed after all that! Then we went back out into the outdoor pool until closing and we got told to leave!
We walked back into town over the green bridge with great views of the river separating Buda and Pest. We stopped for some chinese food and got some wine for drinking at the hostel. I couchsurfed in Budapest with a French guy called Guillaume, but he wasn't arriving until midnight so we arranged to meet him for a drink. When he arrived I put my stuff in his place and we went out to a few bars. We walked around the city quite a bit before finding somewhere to go, but we found two bars that were pretty alternative and good places to sit, relax and chat, we had a good night.
Adrienne left in the morning but I met up with Beck to go sightseeing around the city. Guillaume said she could stay with him for the rest of the time she was stuck in Budapest waiting for the bag, so that was good! We went back to the indoor market for a langos, then
walked up to the citadel that overlooks the town. There was such an amazing view from up there it's a beautiful town! We stayed there for quite a while sitting, staring at the view, and chatting. Then we walked to the castle on the hill opposite, to see more great views. We walked back into Buda over the white bridge and found a cafe that Guillaume had recommended us. In the evening we went to a club with Guillaume and his friend and danced the night away!
Beck and I got up late and wanted to go on the walking tour but we missed it, we couldn't find where it started from! So we walked around the town a bit and headed over to see the parliament building. There is an island near there in the river so we went for a walk around there but it started raining a bit so we headed to where we really wanted to go.. Trofea Grill, all you can eat and drink!!! There is a time limit on staying there, 3 hours, but after some banter with the waiters we ended up staying for 6 hours! It was such good food and
we tried pretty much all of it, and drank a lot of wine!
Next day we got up late again and walked with Guillaume to Heroes Square and the museums. Guillaume likes photography so we walked through all the back streets and saw lots of interesting buildings and things, like buildings with bullet holes still in the walls from the wars. We met up with Guillaumes friend again and as it was a sunny day, went for a walk in the park. There was an exhibition in one museum about communism, it was kind of modern art, very well done and interesting. On the way back me and Beck stopped in a Mexican restaurant for some fahitas and then spent the evening relaxing in Guillaumes flat, we watched California Dreamin' a film about Romania during communist times and the Americans arriving in a little village.
I wanted to go on the Communist walking tour the next day, it was so great. It lasted three hours and the guy who took it is about 40 so he grew up towards the end of the communist period in Hungary. He had some great stories to tell and really went into
detail about life then and now. Many things haven't changed, such as they still get free health care in Hungary, but if you go to see a doctor, you must take money with you as a bribe or they won't see you! Some people think it was better under communism because travel was really cheap then and now it's expensive. And the guide said he liked living in Hungary as a kid because they had MTV and coca cola and loads of countries around didn't have that!
Beck's parcel still hadn't arrived by the following day, we even went to the post office to try and track it down but no luck, so she decided to give up and come with me on the night train to Brasov that evening. So we pretty much spent the day preparing ourselves with food, wine, and TV shows to watch on Beck's laptop. It was the first time I went on a night train and it was OK, didn't get much sleep but prefectly safe, don't believe everything you hear about night trains in eastern Europe! But what we didn't realise was that there is a time difference between Hungary and Romania,
so we arrived at what we thought was 6.30 and the train people were shouting at us to get off the train! I was still in bed and Beck had loads of stuff to pack so it was a mad rush, and when we got off the train Beck was convinced she had left her passport on the train as it pulled away.. panic! But then she found it so it was fine... a great welcome to Romania!
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