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Published: February 17th 2006
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Last weekend I went to Budapest which was awesome. I went with 6 other girls, which was fun except to big when we had to a taxi. About half the people from my program went to Budapest (like 50 people). So when we were waiting at the train station on the way there because the train was delayed there were at least a group of 30 CIEE kids. (some people took different trains). Then on the train ride back when we were kicked out of the train and out of the station because of the bomb threat there were about 50 CIEE people standing around. Thought it was so cold so we a lot of us ended up going to a near by Mc Donald’s. There was only one person who ended up missing the train. We took a night train going back, which was about 8 hours long. It was really difficult to sleep on it but it was fun (except that the train was really old and we spent about an hour trying to find a bathroom that would open).
Here are some of the highlights:
The Market Place:
They had this awesome market place were
Heroes Square
the Neo Nazis are the group of people wearing black around the square they sold food (meat and fruit and bread) downstairs and had small shops and cooked food upstairs. We got a yummy breakfast/ lunch for $3 of traditional Hungarian food. In the meat section downstairs we were harassed by the butchers. They sell pigs heads and tails and other animal's body parts. We were freaking out so some of the butchers would take out the meat and shake it at us. Like one of them took out the pigs tail and put it in some place we wont mention.
Heroes Square/Neo Nazi:
At Heroes Square there was a neo Nazi demonstration (skin head). It was freaky. They were all walking around in packs of about 10. Most of them were tall guys wearing black with their heads shaved. There was a huge clump in the center there must have been at least 200 of them. They through a snowball at an Asian tourist. We were all really hungry so we went to a restaurant we found by Heroes Square. When we first got into the restaurant there were a few neo Nazis sitting and eating. (I know this sounds weird but I could feel their hatred from across the
Random cool building we walked by
Parliament Building is in the background room). More of them enter the room and I asked the girls if we could leave (and told them I was at least going to). They all agreed with me and we left. We ended up walking around for a long time and not finding a restaurant. In Budapest you really need to know where you are going you can’t just walk around and find a restaurant (we got lost a lot but even if we walked in circles we found our destination.)
Seven (the Club):
The club was fun. Most of the CIEE people (people on my program) were there, but everyone else seemed like local Hungarians (though there were some old men). We danced for awhile, however as the night got later the music got worse (more techno). There was one waitress who walked around and danced topless (just wearing underwear and tights), which was rather funny b/c everyone else was very clothed and it didn’t seem like that type of club. Though she seemed really comfortable and brought me my drinks. After the club we stopped at a gyros place and I had a falafel.
Synagogue/ Food/ Finding our way around:
When we
Outside the synagogue
Each leaf of the tree has a name of a Jew killed during the holocaust and since they have no graves there are roman numerals at the end of each branch. went to the synagogue we ended up walking for at least a half an hour trying to find food on the way to the synagogue. We ended up eating falafels at a gyros place for breakfast (what we had eaten about 5 hours before). After walking many blocks we pasted our hostel (where we started) and a block from there was the synagogue. The food overall was good but Prague is cheaper.
The Baths:
They were great and a good cultural experience! There were a lot of old naked Hungarian women, which helped make me be less self-conscious. I got a message and went into the baths plus the saunas for $25. It was very relaxing and warmed me up. The massages were nice and interesting, well culturally interesting. We had to get butt naked and they focus on the ass. Three of us were in the room and the whole time the Hungarians speak to each other. It was good warming up because it was a cold day.
The Castle:
From the baths we ventured to the castle, which was beautiful. I could see the whole city from it. The sun had recently set and
the lights around the city had just turned on when we arrived. Three of us climbed up a latter meant for the construction people then climbed up part of the wall so we could get a great view. We could walk around part of the castle form here and walked up a dark curvy staircase to get to the top of a tower. What a view. It was breathtaking. I took some pictures but its nothing like being there. (it was especially difficult with the pictures b/c I had to turn the flash off). After we walked around the inside of the castle and down to the river. All the views were breath taking and I am a sucker for a great view. It was an awesome way to end my time in Budapest. And of course we had to wait again for the train going back which just added to the adventure.
Coming home:
We arrived back in Prague at about 7am. Although it was an awesome trip we were all happy to be home and it defiantly made us appreciate Prague (Praha).
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