Budapest

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Apologies for the long entry... But its been 5 days!

Greetings after a few days of darkness. And thanks to everyone who has been keeping up, I hope its as entertaining to read as I try to make it.

Well per usual, a simple train ride wasn't so simple. All was good on our train from Zagreb to Budapest - then we hit the Hungarian border, went through Customs and I hit the restroom. While I was in there, I felt a weird jolt and immediately I flashed back to last trip. Heather and I were enroute to Prague from Munich and noticed the train getting suspiciously empty. I popped my head outside to see the front of the train pulling away as we sat there. We ran with our packs and caught the train as it left the station. Back to now... Mike and I walked to the back of the car (where you go from one car to another) and we saw... The train pulling away and nothing but darkness. Not cool. I had told him the story, so we were both feeling a little uneasy. I mean, we weren't even in a station or town - they just stopped to do customs. I found some track workers outside and managed to figure out that the engine was coming back to reconnect. Finally I was at ease - but not before a minor heart attack.

We got into Budapest around 10 PM and started to navigate our way to the hostel via public transportation which is always sketchy. We got the #7 bus after some difficulties - a few wrong turns and we found the Loft Hostel. A random note, which goes across all the cities, not just Budapest - but Europe is STILL (like 2006) under construction. Seriously, every 3rd building - its ridiculous. Its no wonder so many of the countries are in financial difficulty. Sorry - I had to vent, but its quite annoying when some of the big sites have a picture of the building over scaffolding instead of the actual building.

But I digress - Budapest was surprisingly, because I did NOT know what to expect, very nice. It had tons of American fast food places, hoards of shady casinos including slots at the train station that were full, and tons of history. The place was beautiful - which I say about all the cities (or so I'm told) - but its true. Each is unique in their own way.

We were to the hostel at about 10:30, dropped off our packs, met a Brit named Dame and at the bar before 11. We asked about the hostel, and they said: "well it holds 18 people, but for whatever reason there are always way more than that". Well put.

We met the rest of the hostel at a club/bar which was PACKED on a Monday night. I mean you couldn't even move. And... It was karaoke night, which meant it was every American song from 85-00 that you wished never happened. Nonetheless, it was fun. By 3:30 AM we were home and met our new roommates - four 20 year old Aussie girls. We quickly learned the rest of the hostel hated them, but we found them to be quite pleasant. Ha.

Getting up for 'breaki' as the Aussies call it by 11 was a dream, so was 12. Finally we made it out to a hangover breakfast at 1. It was an awesome breakfast of Hungarian style eggs (which basically means tons of Paprika because they use it on everything) and a strawberry milkshake. It was a great start. Before we knew it, it was 3 PM and Mike and I decided to explore. We walked the river Danube, up Castle Hill where I slipped and fell down the steps of the museum into the glass door (awesome) and then to Parliment. It was actually a great idea because it was some of the clearest and best weather we had while in the city. It was in the 40's each day, but the last two days were short of drizzly and limited the pictures. So walking was a great idea.

Night 2 was quite different but fun in its own right. We watched SuperBad and played some drinking games. Then about 20 people packed our 6 person room to talk about their travels, homes, and just BS. Mike was a HUGE hit in the hostel when he brought back some bags of "Micro Pop" popcorn from the shady 24 hour (non-stop) corner store. We almost fought a physco who HATED Austrailians and finally got to bed by 2 AM. What a life?!?

Unfortunately the girls left at 7 AM the next day, and not very quietly. We got up and showered by 10, and we were off for day 2.

Another side note (sorry its hard to compile it all via blog) - but on our current train Mike has literally vacated the car because of the German couple across from us is snuggling, or both talking on their phones simaltaneously - ill update if he loses it and throws them off the train (as he just wrote he was going to do on a piece of paper). Standby...

Anyways... We were up and showered by 10 just in time to make the 10:30 AM free walking tour. Its a real nice change of pace to learn the histroy of some of the places you see since a lot of the time we read about it later. For instance, we saw (and knew we were seeing) the hill where the Hungarians killed their first king by rolling him down the hill in a barrel with spikes in it. I mean... You just can't read that stuff. We also saw St. Stephan's cathedral, town sqaure, blah blah blah - that spiked barrel couldn't be beat. Kidding, it was a great tour of a truely awesome city. At the end, we got some traditional Gulash with our new roommates and friends Annie and Nigel (Aussies! Can you believe it?). Another hour of walking before heading back for a midday break that was filles with watching Scrubs and playing mini-basketball.

We decided to hit up the infamous "thermal bathes" later in the day. See, much like Iceland, they have tons of thermal springs under the city (and caves to go along). The funnel that water into essential gigantic outdoor hot tubs which are some of the most relaxing in the world. We decided to give it a try and arrived at what looked more like an ornate palace than a bath house. It was literally like a 15th century palace with a huge spa and thermal bathes for 6 bucks! Needless to say, I stayed in for about 5x the recommended time and can say I was truely relaxed (even after walking like 6 hours that day).

We needed to take care of a few things upon getting back to the hostel. I... Was 2 days short on laundry and thus needed to do that. Mike, continuing with tradition (broken camera, lost blackberry, etc) locked his locker with the key inside. It ended up being a non-issue since the hostel guy had broken in "tons of other times" - but funny nonetheless.

A short trip to the grocery store (which are insanely crowded in Europe) and we were drinking and preparing the hostel a pasta dinner. Unfortunately, 2 of the 6 beers we got were non-alcoholic. I wanted them not to tell Mike, but we did. After dinner, about 15 of us decided to be "mobile" (that's MO-BIIIIILE) as the Euros call it. We headed out to a sweet underground bar. You literally walked down a dark alley, behind some dumpsters, through 3 doors and pop out in a huge underground 2-story warehouse bar with courtyard. It was nice to just walk with people, and around 2 AM Nigel and I left Mike with the group and found some kabobs (my favorite late night food now) before calling it a night. Night 3 - another success.

Another side note - the German couple is now sharing their Disc Man headphones. What is this? 1998? I might actually lose it now... Ha.

Again, I'm sorry. We had another great breakfast including by far the best hot chocolate I've ever had (which had the consistancy of chocolate syrup and tasted delightful), got our souveniers and headed out on our totally pimp train to Munich. Most of our trains are so shady, but this one is like brand new with computer GPS and actual helpful staff. Its a nice change.

Overall, Budapest was great. I can honestly say I thought it would be fun but didn't know what to expect from the city itself - but it was great. Beautiful architecture, stand Eastern Europe architecture, and a great nightlife. I could see this making my end of trip top 3 - but we have two more cities between now and then. Its off to Munich tonight, and Berlin (and Hannover) this weekend before heading to Dublin for a night and home.

As expected... The end of the trip is flying by. Ill be excited to be home, but just like last time - you start to realize what you have and never want it to end. Cheers for now, Ill check in on the train from Munich to Berlin.

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Photos

Hungarian Parliment
Its the most famous structure in the city (besides maybe Buda Castle) - hopefully my hands stayed steady enough for a good pic.