Budapest! We caught the bus late Thursday night. Turns out not that many people on the trip, so we each got our own row of seats! I actually slept a little which was a plus. We drove through austria so i got to say danke schon again. The hostel was nice, we had our own big room with comfy beds. it felt realllt homey. And the people working there were nice they gave us two really good restaurant suggestions. The Budapest accent is weird. It sounds like they are not pronouncing all of the words. or that they have a ball in their mouth. First thing we did after checking into our hostel was head to the central market (picture above). Its this huge hall with two stories of stands in it. On the bottom layer was food. Lots of meat, lard, strudel and paprika. On the top is souvenir stuff. Like Russian dolls, beaded things, fur hats, painted eggs. Turns out every store had all the same things, which got old quick. But i brought your super awesome present here. And a cool hat that i think you will like me in.
This is St. Stephen Basillica that was right by our hostel. It is one of the tallest and oldest church in Pest. Our guide said it was one of the biggest churches in Europe, but when I went inside it didnt seem that big. It is as tall as the famous Budapest Parliament Dome that is a couple of streets away. They made them the same height to send the message of equal power btwn church and state.
After the market, we went to the bath! This is a picture of the outdoor pool. There were like three pools outside and like 15 small one outside. It was kinda confusing what we were supposed to do cause all the signs were in hungarian. But this naked lady in the locker room saw that we were confused and helped us figure out how to open the locker and stuff. It was so cold outside in our bathing suit and we had to walk across the outdoor pool area to get to the indoor pools. SO we started with the indoor ones. It was relaxing, just sitting in the warm pool. There were a lot of people there though. We went in a suana for a while too. It was really hot and smelt minty and was hard to breath. Then we went to the outdoor pool, which was a lot cooler cause it was dark out and there were jets and a really fast lazy river! You can see it in the picture, that circle in the middle. After the bath we went to a hungarian restaurant. It was a small place and we had to wait a long time for a table. So long that people cheered for us when we got it. But it was worth the wait. I got pork medallions incrusted with a honey dijion sauce that was sooo good. You would have loved it. Also we shared aspargus covered with bacon in a cheese in sauce. We were pretty tired so went right to bed after that.
The next day we went on the walking tour. Which was a huge group of people but the guide was good, funny. Th is was this weird structure that looked like a turkish castle, and apparently inspired Walt Disney's designs. Budapest used to be two cities, Buda on one side of the Danube river (which runs through germany also), and Pest on the other. They were united when communist Russians took over after WWII. It was interesting seeing the effects a repressive communist rule had on the city, kinda like prague.
this is a view of the river. You can see the Chain link Bridge which is famous cause its pretty and is the only bridge that was rebuilt in its same location after WWII. After the walking tour we went to the oldest strudel place in Budapest. It was funny cause we werent sure where it was but then when we were on the walking tour we passed this really good smelling place and that turned out to be it! I got a apple strudel and a cheese strudel and they were both really good. We walked around some more, stopped at a market, and through a castle! and decided to go to a different bath and try to get massages. BUT once we had walked all the way over there, which was a far walk, they were closing early, so we couldnt get the messages. But that was ok, cause since we weren't doing that, we had time to go to the fine art museum, which is what i really wanted to do. That was on the other side of town though, and by the time we got there they weren't selling tickets anymore! poop. I was actually really upset about it but tried not to show it. The Museum is right by this famous memorial called heroes square, so we hung out and took pictures there. It looks really cool at night. Everyone was climbing all over it. Sarah and I did too. It was kinda high up though, which was scary, especially getting down from it. The statues were really scary too. The horses looked haunted (see picture). Some kids were climbing all the way to the top of them!
After all that we went back to the hostel and then we walked to the Parliment building, and to this thing called the shoe memorial. We had to cross this really busy street to get there. And I almost got run over. It was really scary. I was shaking afterwards and almost cried. Katie had just crossed, and I thought the next car coming was slowing down, but it must have sped up because next thing i know i hear car brakes squeaking and had to jump back. The car let me pass and then a car that was on the other side of the road waited for the car that almost ran me over to pass it and honked at it for like a minute. Katie gave me a hug though which made me feel better. The shoe memorial is in the picture on the bottom. It was to remember the Jews that were killed on that spot by Nazis when they invaded Budapest. They had them line up along the river, take their shoes off and then shot them and their bodies landed into the river. The memorial is all these life like bronze shoes and it was really sad. Because it made those people, and what happen so real, you know? When you think about it, shoes really show a person's personality and what they were like. Not that the bronzes are exact copies of the ones of those who died, but it still puts a face on the people.
We contiuned walking along the river and checked out the parliament, which is huge, one of the largest in the world. the after that we went to eat at this restaurant that was really classy and modern and delicious. We got Garlic soup with the fried bread called lagos (picture above). SO good but so filling. We had order paprika chicken too though, which is a hungarian specialty, we so full it actually hurt to eat it. but we did. Then we went to the jewish quarter and walked the synagogue there, which is also huge, i wish i had a chance to go inside it. Then we went to this bar called szimpla that neil recommended. it was cool, all underground and grungy. We got shots of palinka, which is a famous hungarian fruit brandy. You can get it in a million different flavors. We got Honey plum, which smelt like babies so i didnt really like it. We didn't stay there too long. We went and got some sleep, woke up and walked around a little. They were busy buying souvenirs but i didnt have any money left so i went inside that huge church and walked around a park, which was nice. Then 13 hr bus ride, lots of movies, and wanting to see you!
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