Buda...Buda...BudaPEST!

I'm currently mid-way through my trip (in Vienna!!) and figured I should do my blog about Budapest while everything is still fresh in my memory!!

We left from Maastricht on Monday around noon, excited and ready! But, as we were mid-train we heard about a big train crash that had happened that morning in Brussels! We didn't know all the details, but that it happened around 9 and there were quite a few people killed. Our train route wasn't going to be around the crash site, but the concern was about our families back home who may not know the details of our route. After phones weren't working to call home once over the Belgian border, we had to wait until we arrived at the hostel that night to email back home. Noted for the future...let the rents know the exact route of our trip (thank goodness I had done that!!). Our travel that day was hindered a bit...we ended up having to switch trains when our driver didn't show up, possibly due to issues with the crash so we took two trains instead of one. We still made our flight okay and even had time to relax a bit before. This flight didn't allow a purse AND a carry-on, so we had to shove everything into our backpacks. Haha...we looked a little ridiculous going through security, with our huge backpacks...but made it through successfully! Our flight was only about two hours and we all got a little nap in...once we arrived we took a short train ride into Budapest and had a short walk to the hostel.

Our hostel was really neat...we entered in this big iron gate...then walked up two floors where the hallways and stairs were actually outside facing a courtyard. Our hostel itself, inside, was really neat. We shared a room with five other people, and Carolyn and I had this SWEET loft all to ourselves (see upper left). We needed some grub so headed to this great little Hungarian fast food restaurant (which our hostel guy suggested ONLY because it was cheap) and we actually loved it! Rice with a beef stew on top...perfect as it was warm and filling. We headed to bed early, and were excited to explore on Tuesday!

Up around 8, we were out the door by 8:45...bought our train tickets for our train to Vienna (lesson learned from the Paris trip) and then were out exploring for the day. We walked down to the Danube, which separates the city into the "Buda" side and the "Pest" (our hostel was on the Pest side) and followed it down to Parliament. Took lots of pictures, but weren't allowed even into the parking lot. No big deal to us...after some pictures we headed down to the Chain Bridge and crossed over the the Buda side to visit the Castle District. We were quite surprised as Parliment looked more 'castle' like than the actual Castle, but both were beautiful buildings in their own right. We had to climb a fair amount of stairs to make it up TO the castle...so were in need of a place to sit and grab some lunch. We wandered down the little streets and found this cute little cafe tucked into a back alley. There was one little table and three little stools...but the food was great! Little pizzas and then some flaky pastries for dessert. Mine was poppyseed flavored, but didn't really taste like poppyseed at all and looked more like chocolate. It was interesting, and one of those things I'm not sure if I liked or didn't like...but it was a pastry. :)

We did a little souvenir shopping and then headed back down the stairs and back over the Chain Bridge. We walked over to St. Stephen's Basilica, which was beautiful inside! Much bigger and more ornate than Notre Dame inside...we took quite a lot of pictures. The moldings were so complex and there was gold everywhere. I was in awe. Caught myself with my mouth open a couple of times, haha. We wandered across the street afterwards to grab some coffee and regroup.

Next up was the Terror Museum, which is a museum dedicated to explaining how Hungary dealt with the Nazis and the Russian Communist movements. The museum is in the same building that these groups used as their headquarters, and we toured the rooms that were once their offices. The tour ends in the basement, where many innocent people were tortured and murdered for acting out against these regimes. It definitely gave me the hibbie jibbies but was really informative at the same time. We don't learn a lot at home about how countries REALLY dealt with the Nazis or Communism in Europe, other than the Holocaust. I had never really learned much about the Communist labor camps or any of the other activities that went on in Hungary. It gave me a great appreciation for my life, and for living in the times that we do. BUT we needed a pick-me-up, so headed up towards Northern Budapest for the baths!

After walking through Heroes' Square, and through the parks at the North end of Budapest, we made our way to the outdoor, hot-spring heated, Szechenyi Baths. It was the perfect way to end the day, especially seeing the steam in the twilight. We had gotten in when it was still light, but left after it was dark...just like at the Eiffel Tower, it made the experience so much cooler! The water wasn't hot-tub hot, but perfectly warm so you weren't chilled even if you stopped moving. The best part was this circular part of the pool, where everyone would swim/walk in a circle when the bubbles turned off (every 15 min or so) and it would become this suction vacuum! It was impossible to swim upstream, and even difficult to get out of the 'whirlpool' area. We had a lot of laughs attempting it ourselves, and as we all bumped into people and they bumped into us mid-whirlpool. We headed home that night, ate the leftovers from our fast food the night before as well as some groceries from a local supermarket.

Budapest Day Two had us sleeping in until 10 (YAY!!) and then just wandering around the city. We walked over to the Synagogue, which is one of the biggest in the world apparently. Took some pictures of the neat architecture and then walked over the this old train station (at least inside it looked like one) where a market is every day. There was fresh fruit, fresh cut meats, and souvenirs galore. We took a look through-out the whole market before grabbing some lunch. Theresia and I both got a pasta with cooked cabbage and split this wonderful smelling sausage while Carolyn had some fresh bread and Brie. (Yes Dad! I ate cooked cabbage voluntarily and liked it!! I was as surprised as you!). We walked back to the hostel to relax for an hour or two until we went caving.

Yup, that's right, caving! Remember the hot springs that heated the baths? They also created these wonderful caves below Budapest, and we took a tour of them, led by some expert 'cavers'. We all wore these really attractive jumpsuits, to protect our clothes...helmets and each had nice head lamp on them. Because I was short, I got one of the smallest (width wise too) suits...which proved to be really fun while trying to crawl and move about in the caves, haha. This was hands down the coolest thing we did...crawling on our stomachs, our backs, our sides through little tiny tunnels and passages. We went in a line (there were about 9 in our group) and our guide was out of my view, so I simply watched what Carolyn did in front of me and listened the instructions that were relayed back from the front of the line. We hit the hardest part at the end of our 2 hour tour, where you have to crawl through a particular way, with your chest and legs up towards the ceiling as you lean and pull forward with only your left hand, then turn a corner and crawl on your stomach to shimmy under and out. Confused? Yeah, try doing it! You end up stuck, forcing yourself to not panic, and then just heave your way through. The picture at the top is me at the end of that 'hard part'. Lots of sassy words being said, as you can imagine, as that picture was being taken. We had some sweet bruises and scratches to show for our adventure!!

We ate one last time at our fave Hungarian fast food with some new friends we had meet while caving from Switzerland. I was amazed at how many people travel alone, especially females, many of whom we met while caving. We relaxed that night...chatting with the other great people in our hostel, doing emails and even catching some Olympics.

We successfully caught the train this morning to Vienna...and THAT is where the next post shall pick up. My apologies that this is so long...but it felt like we did SO much in Budapest. Vienna has been great...so get excited for the next post! Cheers!