Getting thirsty in Hungary.

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Wow. It has been so long since I've been able to blog. Partly due to inebriation, partly due to lack of internet.
PARIS-MUNICH-PRAGUE-BUDAPEST.
I have decided that I much prefer train travel when in Europe. Rock up to the station 10 minutes before departure, chuck your bags on the rack and chill out. Albeit it's 3 times as long, but it's worth it for the journey. This was promtly decided after our shuttle came to pick us up at 3.30am for a 7am flight in Paris, it was painful and so unncessary, but unfortunately a train was just not an option for our little adventure to the land of the beer.
Now, I'd love to tell you how beautiful Munich is and how much I enjoyed the German sights but unfortunately all I can relay is how much I love the inside (and outside) of the beer halls of Oktoberfest and how I am now a VERY experienced beer drinker (I did NOT drink beer before I left Aus).
Oktoberfest was the most fun I think I have ever had. The atmosphere was amazing and the whole festival is one massive party spanning for the better part of three weeks. Not to mention the fact that given there would be somewhere close to 60 thousand people there everyday you would be lucky to see a fight or any sort of drama, the whole place is so well policed and secured that any miss-hap will see you thrown out (literally) by the burly security staff. But in no way does the heavy security take away from the carnage, it's just the Germans getting it right on every level.
The first night we arrived Ham and I went to the festival for a looksie, Ham had been before so he was uber excited to show me what I was in for. Unfortunately though, if you haven't got a table it's nearly impossible to be served, luckily for us we had a very nice beer wench (I hope that's not offensive) who gave our poor standing soles a stein each. Ahh my first real taste of beer and the first of many steins consumed in the course of 2 days. The very sunny 25 degree day soon turned to poo when it started belting down with rain, Ham and I, along with some nutty Germans took to the ground under a table and built a fort of chairs and tables around us to try and keep the rain out, unfortunately this did not save our butts from getting totally drenched, after which we decided to call it a night. In bed by 8pm after a massive day of travelling and knowing too well what we were in for when Alissa and Wayne arrived later that night.
Saturday and Sunday went something like this: "I'm Prosting, I'm Prosting" (German for Cheers basically), played by the German band in every beer hall at least twice every ten minutes, applauding people sculling, becoming best friends with the Aussies on surrounding tables and accumulating the odd Spaniard and Italian gay man, dancing on tables, chairs and anything slightly higher than floor level to German drinking songs that we, by some chance, happened to know all the words to and generally just running a muck. There were props involved, hats, wigs, crowns, jumpers, drindles and cameras snapping left right an centre and no matter how much I could ever try and reiterate the sheer awesomeness of Oktoberfest, I never really could, so just go there, ok?
And don't worry if you don't drink beer, a week ago I hated it, since Oktoberfest I've had at least one a day.
Oktoberfest, I salute you. That is all.
From Munich Alissa and I took our somewhat damaged selves on a four hour bus ride to Prague (we did pop in to Oktoberfest one more time for a beer and a snitzle for breakfast though).
Ham headed to Poland at some unGodly hour and Poomer headed back to London, leaving for the airport four hours early so he could fit in a nap, safe to say we were all feeling pretty sorry for ourselves by the time we reached our respective destinations.
Prague was beautiful. Alissa and I enjoyed seeing the castle up on the hill on day one and generally just chilling out in our deluxo hotel, we even had a spa in the afternoon- now that's how I should be travelling (did I mention it was her shout?).
We took a walking tour on the second day and learnt about the history of Prague and saw some more sights, we were there for 2.5 days and definitely enjoyed the down time after the carnage in Munich but we did both agree that Prague could be done in one day, as pretty as it was.
From Prague (where Ham joined us on the final morning) we took a 7 hour bus ride to Budapest which is absolutely gorgeous. The sights are amazing, it has the feeling of a bigger city with so much to see, but still small enough to walk around easily without the use of public transport. Budapest is definitely a party city with at least 4 festivals on just this weekend as well as Katy Perry playing right now! We tried to get tickets but gave up once we realised that we would be spending all afternoon in one of the 100+ hot baths in the city.
So far our time in Budapest has consisted of the hop-on-hop-off bus (may never grow tired of these) and lounging around in about 16 different pools with so many budgie smugglers it shouldn't even be legal. The pools ranged from about 24 degrees to 40 degrees, each having different elements for muscle and arthritis relief etc etc. We left the pools feeling relaxed and headed back to the hostel for a freshen up and a brooski before heading out to dinner.
After a very authentic Hungarian meal (pizza) Jambon was feeling under the weather so we sent him packing and Alissa and I headed to a wine bar we had spotted earlier, thinking we were getting amongst a liquer tasting we nestled in for a small tipple, apparently this was no liquer, it was pretty much little drinking shots of flavoured vodka at a slow pace- as not to look like an alco (this was a posh joint), we were well on our way to hammered town, or vom town?! before making the great escape back to the hostel.
So it's now 2am and I must hit the hey, tomorrow looks to be jam packed with a castle visit (yes dad, ABC- another bloody castle), a communist museum and a walking tour/pub crawl of Pest.
Interestingly enough we are staying across the street from one of the best Ruin Pub's in Budapest, apparently something that BP is quite famous for, naturally I had never heard of a Ruin Pub but it is basically an old house or warehouse designed to look like you've just walked in to an op-shop, everything is miss-matched, it's very grunge and I think they describe it as though you've walked in to a squatters house so I'll be interested to check that out tomorrow. I am definitely loving the vibe around where we are staying, very alternate, very eclectic and a little artsy with pubs and bars hidden behind graffiti covered doors.
Sooo many more wonders to be unveiled tomorrow on out last full day here, heading back to Paris on Sunday for a little R&R before starting our top deck tour on Tuesday (Prost!).
Am still loving the guts out of travelling and everyday something amazes me about Europe and the big wide world we live in.
If you get a chance, look outside the square, you might not know what you're missing..

With love from Buda and Pest XX

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