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Published: January 22nd 2013
Today is the Buda Side, Budapest Hungary - Day 39 in Europe - Jan 20th 2013:
Yesterday was exploring the Pest side of the city, Today is the exploration of the Buda side.
First off, the money here is really cool, like in huge denominations. When I thought Czech money was large, Hungarian money is even more so! 10 US Dollars in Czech is around 200, but in Hungarian it is 2,000Ft! At the bank I took out 15,000Ft but it was only about 50 Dollars. And no, I did not mean 15,000 Feet, lol. Ft is what the money is abriviated as, so it's funny to see signs about stores that say, 2 "550Ft", cuz it looks like it says the store is 550Ft away, lol. After staying in the Czech Republic for as long as I did, It was strange to see that when I was Converting from Hungarian money to a Currency I could understand easier, I actually converted to the Czeck Koruna's instead of US Dollars, and it was actually easier for me to do so! Lol.
Today started with a walking tour with one of my Favorite Tour guides of my Trip. She
was super cool and intergetic and gave us a lot of good info, like how to say cetain words in Hungarian, and unique historical facts that were past down to here by her great grandma. We ventured around the Jewish Getto, and talked about WWII and how the Nazi's occupied the town. We then walked accross the Epic Chain Bridge, and up to the Castle. It was really cool. After that the tour was over and I decided to do my usual Adventure of Walking around until I find something cool. Well I did. There was a Huge Mountain that had huge Epic steps with a path up the mountain completely covered in snow. Naturally I definitely needed to climb it and see where it led to!
As I got higher and higher, I was completely by myself and loved the scenery, with some really great views of the Pest side. I then got to what I thought was the highest after about a 15 minute climb to a huge Statue of some dude holding a Gold Cross overlooking Pest. I thought it was a cool Point-of-Interest so I took a picture with it. I thought the climb was
over until when I started to head back down, I saw a more trecherous path that lead up even higher, so I had to do it! So I climbed and climbed and climbed up an Awesome Scenery filled with snow, bare branches, nice views and no people. After about 45 minutes of hiking up, I thought it was a never ending path until I saw where it lead to: I actually climbed all the way up to the Liberty Statue!!! Now this is the statue that you can see from the ground as a super super tiny Statue because it was up so high at the very top of the mountain. But now it was increadable Huge and it was a great surprise to not know that that was the destination of the Adventure. The only thing that was more increadable then reaching the statue was the View!!! Holy Cow! I have been getting kinda tired of seeing Amazing arial views since I've seen so many of them in so many countries, but this one was one of the best. You could literally see the Entire city part of Buda, and the Entire city Part of Pest, giving you an
extrodinary Complete 360 View of Budapest in its entirity. It was definitely something of Increadible Awesomeness!
By this time I realize it is around 3:30pm, and I forgot to extend my Hostel stay another night as I only booked one night. I was supposed to do this by 11am and totally forgot about it, so I make the 1 hour and a half minute journey back to the Hostel, down the mountain, across the Chain Bridge and into the Pest side of the city. On the way I grab a cheap snack at one of the local grocery stories that was the worst combination of things ever: Lemon Cookies, a giant Multi-Vitamen Juice, Bread and a stack of meat that tasted like Dog Food.
I then hungout at the Hostel for a couple of Hours and talked to a few people I met from the Pub Crawl the night before and I looked on the Internet to see what I could do for the night. I found out I would be able to make a Premier of an Opera titled, "Der Fliegende Hollander", which translates to The Flying Douchman. It was an Absolute Increadible experiance to say the
very least. Now this was my first and probably my very last visit to an Opera, but it was something That I absolutely had to do at the Budapest Opera House. This is because this specific Opera House was ranked as the building with either the 3rd Greatest Acoustics in all of Europe, or even the World. The show was sold out, but I was able to score some sweet Nose Bleed tickets for only the equivalent of 2US Dollars. My seats were so high, that when I showed the guy at the entrance my ticket, he seriously asked if I wanted to rent a pair of binoculors, lol! Everyone there was dressed extrodinarily nice, so I was glad I wore my nices sweater I brought. It looked like I was in the Titanic Movie where all the rich people dressed up in their Finest clothes to go out for the Evening Dinner.
After I made the million step hike to the top, I was absolutely blown away by the Beauty of the enterior, with Gold everywhere, hundreds of people dressed to impress drinking expensive wine, and it was cool. When the Orchestra started playing, I was absolutely blown
away by the quality of the sound. It was thee most loudest and clearest experiance of music I have ever heard in my entire life that did not include speakers. It was Amazing that there were no speakers. It was the most remarkable quality in Sound I had ever heard. Then after about 10 minutes of playing the Opera started with the singers, and I understood nothing since it was all in Hungarian, but based on the Props, their Body Language and what was going on, I had some idea to what was going on, but I was just there for the sound anyway. I was up high in the corner so I could only see one side of the stage, but there was a TV next to me showing the whole stage. It had something to do with Sailing to Holand and a Love Triangle or Something. After 2 and a half hours of straight music with no intermissions, the show ended and the Applause lasted for almost 10 mintues. Just hearing the applause in a place with the 3rd best Acoustics in all of Europe, and maybe even the world was something to behold.
After the show,
I headed back to an empty hostel once again, with no one at the bar and I had a 14 Person Room completely to myself, I have never seen that before and wondered if anyone was actually stay there! So since it was my last night I decided to find a local Pub and venture to it. After waling half a block, I found one and went in. It was my second Favorite Pub I've went to in Budapest, and maybe my second or third favorte Pub I've every been to in the world. Budapest has really outdone themselves with creating in my opinion, thee greatest Pubs in the World, or at least the greatest in the 13 countries I've been to in my lifetime thus far. This is why I can never go back into a California Bar ever again. California = 1/2 Large Rooms, 1/2 Bars. Budapest = 2/3 Stories, 20 Plus Rooms, 6 Plus Bars, Courtyards and Dance Floors!!! Now this is absolutely no exageration, they had a flyier I found promoting there 3 Storie Pub, that boasted 2 Courtards, one of which is outside, 23 different rooms in nooks and crannies with 6 Bars throught. I
walked around and there were definitely that many rooms. The bar was absolutely increadable. I love having hidden places and sectret rooms to drink in, instead of 1 big room with too many people and only 1 Bar, and this is why I will never be able to go to a Bar in California ever ever again unless I can find one Worthy.
After a couple drinks I headed back to the Hostel to prepare for my Last Day in Budapest for tomorrow. I ran into two Awesome Australians and made plans to hit up the Natural Hot Baths the next morning.
Tomorrow is going to Rock!
-Chris
Highlights of the Day:
Walking Tour in Buda, through Chain Bridge and Castle,
Hiking Up Mountain to the Librity Statue,
Seeing a Premiere of an Opera in the Famous Budapest Opera House,
Going to kick-ass multi floor/roomed Pub
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