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Published: January 28th 2014
Hello! We are about a month into our trip and have seen and experienced so many indescribably beautiful things. We finished our first trip in Prague after seeing the Vyšehrad Castle and it's cemetery, both of which are stunning. We spent our last few days eating and drinking mainly. We found a delicious vegetarian restaurant with a vast menu and cheap prices called Loving Hut along with other cave and dungeon like basement bars and restaurants. In a dungeon bar dripping with rock icons of both hair metal and classic rock, we tried a locally brewed absinthe for the first time. Large portraits of members from Kiss hanging on all surrounding walls watched as we got obliterated. We may not have seen the green fairy, but we had fun trying. The next day we had a lazy recovery in bed, only leaving once to get food so we could return to bed and watch Bob's Burgers like half dead zombies. We had to get to our rest, we were taking a train to Budapest in the morning.
The day train to Budapest was incredible. We played cards, ate in the restaurant, got coffee, and just hung out. It was really
nice actually, I wish I could only travel by train! We got to Budapest around 4:30pm and saw the differences from Prague almost immediately. We were greeted with a lot of taxi drivers preying on the unsuspecting tourists with promises of cheap travel to your hotel. After living in downtown LA for awhile, we've grown used to this kind of "salesmanship" and politely declined their offers. After walking around the train station for a bit looking for a bank ATM (other ATMs will charge you more), we accepted a taxi ride to our hotel from the man that approached us initially, and we were on our way. We're staying in city center and it is amazing. Not far from us is one of the famous ruin bars of Budapest called Instant. The inside is a labyrinth of elaborately decorated rooms to sit and drink. You have to google it, it's pretty impressive to see and not to mention, a lot of fun to experience. The exchange rate works in our favor so we have been taking advantage of the cheap beer and food. After our first night out, we went for a much needed relaxing trip to the Szenchenyi Baths.
Hungary is known for its many thermal baths, all of which contain medicinal value used by doctors, in addition to therapy, to treat various ailments. I, for one, have developed a skin allergy known as hand eczema. If I accidentally use a harsh soap or hand sanitizer, my hands will swell, become itchy, and just feel unbearably uncomfortable. During these spells, I cannot touch water or it will make the symptoms worse. I have to say that in addition to being VERY relaxing soaking in the warm thermal pools at the Szenchenyi Baths, my hands are seemingly cured! Who's to say if it will last, but it definitely made me a believer of the medicinal powers of these ancient pools. Feeling energized, we couldn't help but find another place to grab a couple drinks for a nightcap. That leaves us to today. We woke up this morning feeling adventurous so we visited the stalagmite and stalactite ridden Pálvölgyi Cave. I've always had an affinity to natural caves and was really excited to see one in Budapest. It was great! The tour guide needed some work but being in the cave made up for it. The tour guide was basically just
pointing out shapes that resembled animals and other things as if we were lying on your backs and he was showing us random formations in the clouds. Oh look, there's a bunny! Alas, nothing could really take away from the natural presence of such a deep, dense, and wondrous cave with it's crisp cold air and mysterious passageways. It was an excellent day, I hope yours back home has been as well. We love and miss all of you! We will catch up with everyone before we head out to Poland on Thursday!
Ciao!
Daryl for Jeryl
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
The joys of train travel
We love trains also. We took the Indian Pacific Railway from Sydney Australia to Perth and had a wonderful time. You'll have to do that sometime. Your trip from Prague to Budapest sounded wonderful. The medical powers of soaking in water cannot be measured. Wonderful photography.