Maija and me in front of the Parliament building
On Saturday morning we got up at ungodly o'clock to catch the train from Prague to Budapest. The map of Eastern Europe/Central Europe that I had in my head put Prague and Budapest much closer together than they are in real life. The journey actually takes about 7 hours, which means that the cities are actually closer to Salzburg than they are to each other. Funny, right? I never would have guessed, mostly because Salzburg feels like the farthest place from Eastern Europe (minus the Post, which as Unc put it is equivalent to that of a third world country).
Our train journey, aside from being early, was uneventful. Slovakia is the most boring country to cross via train, in case you were wondering. There is absolutely nothing to see and it goes on forever. Kind of like crossing America from Ohio through Missouri.
We arrived in Budapest in the early afternoon and waited for Ali (aka Scottish) to join us. While we were waiting we took in our surroundings. The language is in the same family as Turkish and Finnish, interestingly enough, though that does not make it any easier to understand. It is absolutely nothing like German or English. At one point Maija tried pronouncing some of the names of food items to a waiter, and he told her to try again after she'd had a few drinks because it might sound more accurate then. The language wasn't the only difference: where the people in the Czech Republic were more fair skinned and haired, those in Budapest had much darker coloring. The city itself was what shocked me the most, though. The entire city needs a powerwash. Buildings, sidewalks, monuments - everything. I saw more dog poop on the sidewalks than anywhere else I've ever been. Buildings that were once a stony gray looked almost black, though you could tell their original color from where insulting graffiti had been scrubbed off. Dorothy, we were not in Western Europe anymore.
From the train station we caught a taxi to our hostel. Thank god we did, because otherwise we would have walked right by it. The sign was smaller than a salad plate plate, and nowhere easily readable. The bell stated that the hostel was on the top floor only; people clearly lived in the rest of the building. And the surroundings were not lovely: a KFC, a Starbucks that was not yet open, and a million strip clubs and sex shops. The outside was less than appealing, but maybe it was lovely inside...if only someone would open the door to let us in.
We rang the bell. We rang again. We phoned. We rang. We waited. Finally a group of boys who were clearly leaving the hostel held the door open for us. From the entryway we could see stairs and small laminated signs that had nothing but the word 'Unity' (the name of our hostel) and an arrow pointing up. So up we went. The elevator held 3 people maximum and seemed overall untrustworthy, so most of us took the stairs. Not like it mattered that much; we weren't getting in when we got to the top anyway. Needless to say, we were starting to wonder if the hostel actually existed, or if it was just some big Eastern European scam. But the sign on the door read 'Unity' and we could see bunk beds when we peeked in.
Finally we decided to do something - we cracked open a few beers. It was the least we could do while we were waiting. Unfortunately, Ali and Fleur had to use the restroom pretty badly. We knew that Starbucks probably had a bathroom, and wireless internet too. So the three of us went: Fleur and Ali to pee, and me to try and re-read the email that included the booking confirmation. We walked into Starbucks where, to our surprise, we found that it was not yet open. They were to open in a few days - didn't we see the sign on the door? Well, no, we did not. The sign was in Hungarian. Illegible Hungarian. The people working there were incredibly nice, though. They let us sample some of their beverages, since they were training to make drinks, and sent us over to KFC. I sipped on my chai latte while Ali and Fleur tried to use the restroom, but to no avail. Apparently you had to buy an item to use the restroom. Meanwhile, Maija, Dave and Nick had gotten into the hostel and had phoned me to tell us to come back. Which I forgot to tell Ali and Fleur (who still had to pee). We made it back to the hostel in time, though - there were no accidents, and everything was good as soon as we actually got inside.
Our train journey, aside from being early, was uneventful. Slovakia is the most boring country to cross via train, in case you were wondering. There is absolutely nothing to see and it goes on forever. Kind of like crossing America from Ohio through Missouri.
We arrived in Budapest in the early afternoon and waited for Ali (aka Scottish) to join us. While we were waiting we took in our surroundings. The language is in the same family as Turkish and Finnish, interestingly enough, though that does not make it any easier to understand. It is absolutely nothing like German or English. At one point Maija tried pronouncing some of the names of food items to a waiter, and he told her to try again after she'd had a few drinks because it might sound more accurate then. The language wasn't the only difference: where the people in the Czech Republic were more fair skinned and haired, those in Budapest had much darker coloring. The city itself was what shocked me the most, though. The entire city needs a powerwash. Buildings, sidewalks, monuments - everything. I saw more dog poop on the sidewalks than anywhere else I've ever been. Buildings that were once a stony gray looked almost black, though you could tell their original color from where insulting graffiti had been scrubbed off. Dorothy, we were not in Western Europe anymore.
From the train station we caught a taxi to our hostel. Thank god we did, because otherwise we would have walked right by it. The sign was smaller than a salad plate plate, and nowhere easily readable. The bell stated that the hostel was on the top floor only; people clearly lived in the rest of the building. And the surroundings were not lovely: a KFC, a Starbucks that was not yet open, and a million strip clubs and sex shops. The outside was less than appealing, but maybe it was lovely inside...if only someone would open the door to let us in.
We rang the bell. We rang again. We phoned. We rang. We waited. Finally a group of boys who were clearly leaving the hostel held the door open for us. From the entryway we could see stairs and small laminated signs that had nothing but the word 'Unity' (the name of our hostel) and an arrow pointing up. So up we went. The elevator held 3 people maximum and seemed overall untrustworthy, so most of us took the stairs. Not like it mattered that much; we weren't getting in when we got to the top anyway. Needless to say, we were starting to wonder if the hostel actually existed, or if it was just some big Eastern European scam. But the sign on the door read 'Unity' and we could see bunk beds when we peeked in.
Finally we decided to do something - we cracked open a few beers. It was the least we could do while we were waiting. Unfortunately, Ali and Fleur had to use the restroom pretty badly. We knew that Starbucks probably had a bathroom, and wireless internet too. So the three of us went: Fleur and Ali to pee, and me to try and re-read the email that included the booking confirmation. We walked into Starbucks where, to our surprise, we found that it was not yet open. They were to open in a few days - didn't we see the sign on the door? Well, no, we did not. The sign was in Hungarian. Illegible Hungarian. The people working there were incredibly nice, though. They let us sample some of their beverages, since they were training to make drinks, and sent us over to KFC. I sipped on my chai latte while Ali and Fleur tried to use the restroom, but to no avail. Apparently you had to buy an item to use the restroom. Meanwhile, Maija, Dave and Nick had gotten into the hostel and had phoned me to tell us to come back. Which I forgot to tell Ali and Fleur (who still had to pee). We made it back to the hostel in time, though - there were no accidents, and everything was good as soon as we actually got inside.
In desperation, Maija tries looking in all of the windows of our building. No luck.
Our first impressions of the hostel. Below us is a bar, a bunch of apartments, and quite a lot of post-communist ruin.
An accurate picture of the situation. Behind me, Fleur and Ali have to use the bathroom desperately and are sitting around deliberating about whether to go find a bathroom elsewhere or just wait; Maija is trying to call/knock/ring the doorbell repeatedly; Dave is wandering around a little confused but fairly unfazed; Nick's like "at least we have beer" and I am documenting the entire situation.
Nick's attitude prevailed, and we all cracked open our beers
Cheers!
...more first impressions of the hotel. These handprints were on the wall in the stairwell. What were they, even? Blood? Chocolate? Poop? I'll keep telling myself it's chocolate.
That night we went out for Goulash, round two, at a nearby restaurant. We felt like high-rollers with our massive Hungarian bills. After dinner we went out for drinks and ended up at a crazy bar that turned out to be a ton of fun. Unfortunately we suffered from a lack of communication, and ended up following two Australian strangers to an unknown club where the dancing was supposed to be good, but where none of us actually had any desire to go to. This was followed by some dramatic arguing, some storming off in different directions, and finally some crawling into bed exhausted.
The next day we got up in time to do a little sightseeing, though none of us actually knew what sights we wanted to see. We ended up wandering (this time following a map, thank goodness) in order to see a few things such as the Parliament buildings and the Synagogue. We ended up finding some amazing burritos - the first delicious Mexican food that any of us had had since America. Again we had delicious Hungarian food for dinner and, again, we went out for a few drinks afterward. Thank goodness our evening was not punctuated by drama this time.
The following day, Maija, Dave and Nick headed back to Salzburg on an early train. Fleur, Ali and I decided that there were a few things left that we wanted to do. Ali hopped on a double-decker bus tour, and Fleur and I made our way towards the Baths. I'm so glad we stayed, because I think I would have felt like we hadn't really seen Budapest otherwise. Although I didn't take any pictures of it (camera + water = bad idea), Fleur and I did actually get in the steaming baths. We also got in the saunas and the ice baths, and almost had a few heart attacks when we saw some of the awful speedo-clad men wandering around. All in all it was an enjoyable time - something that I highly recommend doing in Budapest. By early afternoon we'd had enough and were ready to grab some burritos for the road and catch the train. We actually almost didn't catch the train, due to the fact that it was a holiday, so the normal train offices were closed. We had to go alllllll the way around the station, grab a number, wait in line while the assistants called off every number EXCEPT ours (isn't that always how it works?) and finally have our tickets hand written before we ran to our train seconds before it pulled away from the platform.
The next day we got up in time to do a little sightseeing, though none of us actually knew what sights we wanted to see. We ended up wandering (this time following a map, thank goodness) in order to see a few things such as the Parliament buildings and the Synagogue. We ended up finding some amazing burritos - the first delicious Mexican food that any of us had had since America. Again we had delicious Hungarian food for dinner and, again, we went out for a few drinks afterward. Thank goodness our evening was not punctuated by drama this time.
The following day, Maija, Dave and Nick headed back to Salzburg on an early train. Fleur, Ali and I decided that there were a few things left that we wanted to do. Ali hopped on a double-decker bus tour, and Fleur and I made our way towards the Baths. I'm so glad we stayed, because I think I would have felt like we hadn't really seen Budapest otherwise. Although I didn't take any pictures of it (camera + water = bad idea), Fleur and I did actually get in the steaming baths. We also got in the saunas and the ice baths, and almost had a few heart attacks when we saw some of the awful speedo-clad men wandering around. All in all it was an enjoyable time - something that I highly recommend doing in Budapest. By early afternoon we'd had enough and were ready to grab some burritos for the road and catch the train. We actually almost didn't catch the train, due to the fact that it was a holiday, so the normal train offices were closed. We had to go alllllll the way around the station, grab a number, wait in line while the assistants called off every number EXCEPT ours (isn't that always how it works?) and finally have our tickets hand written before we ran to our train seconds before it pulled away from the platform.
The ladies out at dinner: Fleur, Maija, Ali (aka "Scottish") and me
We thought we were rolling in dough in Prague, and then we got to Budapest and were suddenly millionaires
Surrounding our hostel were more 'Szex' shops and strip clubs than any city needs
Maija in burrito heaven, with a taco halo and everything.
"Thank God for creating the taco!"
The group, wandering through Budapest
Denksteins all are over Europe, even in Budapest
Cathedral
Budapest is divided by the river. This photo was taken from the Pest side; on the other side is Buda.
From left: Dave, Ali, me, Fleur, Nick. Photo taken by Maija
The bridge
Fleur and Maija checking the map discreetly
The girls
Maija and the boys
Parliament building (I think)
Sunset over Budapest
Sunset over Buda
The boys, having a moment on the bridge
The largest Synagogue in Europe, and second largest in the world
Something grand...
Outside of the baths
Engrish, spotted in Budapest
The baths
Shortly before I jumped into the baths
Fleur with our sticky swirly-wirly thing. It was tasty!
Grand statues
Spotted: an Indians fan in Budapest
House of Terror
Memorials at the House of Terror
The street next to our hostel was actually quite lovely
Liszt was apparently from Budapest, and hung out with Kodaly (also from Budapest) - the guy for whom the Kodaly method was named, which sponsored all of the national choirs that I attended in middle and high school
Would you have been able to see the sign?! I didn't think so.
The door to our hostel could have been the door to anything, really.
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