Budapest, Vienna & Prague's Top Ten Fun Facts

Alrighty - so I wanted to save some of the funny tidbits for the Top Ten...hopefully you'll enjoy!

1) Changing currency is harder than you think. Not only are we now FINALLY used to thinking in euros (though we always convert back to the American dollar) but now we had to think in forints (Budapest) and in korunas (Prague...and yes, like the beer.) Forints are hard to calculate in your mind because 1 euro = 270 forints. When making large purchases you're handing over thousand forint bills. I was freaking out the first time, calculating and then recalculating...as I've never paid for dinner let alone ANYTHING with a thousand bill. We never got used to it and were very excited about Vienna, where we could again use our euros! But, in Prague we had korunas, which were a bit easier to work with - 4 euros was about equal to 100 korunas. Easier on the brain to calculate. BUT - in all, we were so excited whenever we could use our euros, not only was it easier, but cheaper as the money exchange places really didn't have the best rates. At all.

2) Lofts are the best way to go! As you read and saw in pictures - Budapest had the coolest loft ever. No idea why, but you feel like a little kid who won the bet for getting to sleep in the best spot at the top. There weren't any guard railings, so I was EXTRA careful as my bed was on the side of the railings. Thank goodness I'm not a roller. We would have had a problem. Carolyn is - so we made sure I was by the railing. Took one for the team! Vienna also had a cool loft - and was the coziest little nook I've ever slept in. We had little curtains to pull to hide us from below, and even the rest of the loft. Theresia and I shared one little part of the loft, and we both slept better than EVER! As did Carolyn over on her side. If Prague had a loft option - we would have taken it. Hands down. Lofts = a good time. Picture shows a view from my bed from the loft in Vienna.

3) Packing your bag for the way there should be focused on keeping it light. Not only if you have to put your purse inside your bag like we did, but because you may buy things that take up space on the way home. I actually was impressed with how light I packed - as my parents would tell you I love to bring along everything and the kitchen sink normally. BUT, not light enough. On the way home on the plane - I was wearing two tank tops, two shirts, my fleece, my biggest scarf and my pea coat...and leggings with jeans on top. I still barely had enough space and I was pretty uncomfortable and large looking on the plane. Haha - noted for next time, must bring EVEN less.

4)Helmets are extremely necessary when caving. The people in front of me and behind me could hear the loud CLANG of my helmet on the roof of the cave REPEATEDLY followed by some appropriate choice words from me. I would just start laughing eventually because I hit my head so much. And NO ONE ELSE DID! What the heck was my problem, I have no idea. But it was pretty entertaining to hear CLANGS every three minutes and me shouting at myself loudly afterward. Haha...providing humor to all.

5) Coffee is never served in a huge mug. Or even a normal sized mug for that matter. It's like each restaurant wants to compete to see who can have the smallest cup. I could have brought the cups from my old tea set at home and they would have fit right in. I must admit, the coffee is pretty potent, so it doesn't need a huge mug, but it still made me chuckle when I'd get my coffee. We also noticed, the more chocolate mixed with the coffee - the mug got bigger. (Fine by me!!) See picture, where we each got something different. Hot chocolate for me (the BIG one), a coffee and chocolate mix for Carolyn (the middle one) and a coffee for Theresia (the baby one).

6) Train conductors are not happy people. If they can yell at you for ANYTHING, they will. Do not anger them. At all! We discovered this on the way to Bratislava as we had our feet resting on the edges of the chairs in front of us. Where NO ONE was sitting. The train conductor came over and asked if we were sick and needed a doctor. Confused we of course said no. He then started yelling to sit up straight blah blah blah. I felt like I was being lectured for punching someone. We both were silent for a bit (sitting up straight as possible) before we started to giggle. To make matters worse, most people on the train heard him, and the majority of these people understand English. Not helping the 'stupid American' image with that one. Noted - shoes are not to be put on the seats. Not acceptable.

7) Food is just as cool if not cooler than walking around and seeing the sites of the city! But, I'm sure you already gathered that from my previous posts describing in detail my meals and pastries. I tried to take pictures of my meals as much as possible, and of course of as many pastries as possible. I feel like QUITE the expert on pastries at this point. If the pastry has chocolate, it'll be better. If it's frosted in something, it'll be better. If there is some sort of filling, it'll be better. If the filling is also chocolate then you're in for one heck of a pastry. And finally, powdered sugar on top does look nice, but doesn't add much to the taste, and just ends up all over your clothes. Below are some of the pastries/cakes from the trip!


8) Hershey doesn't exist in Europe. What does, is Milka. Milka bars come in a variety of delicious flavors and are a snack of choice when a pastry isn't possible. Our go-to flavor is chocolate and hazelnuts, and it's the perfect size to split btwn three people. We had more Milka bars on this trip than I dare admit, but since we all LIKE them, why not?!?! I may have to take a few for when I come back to see what you all think. You would like that right?? :)

9)Ear plugs ARE a good idea. We dealt with a fair share of snorers this trip as well as people who were banging around at 4 AM when they got back from a night out. Carolyn DID have ear plugs and rarely heard any of these noises. Theresia and I could describe them for you in DETAIL. My favorite was when someone dropped the lid to a metal trash can in our room in Budapest at approximately 4:18 AM. That was a lovely sound to jolt awake to. So fun. I had my iPod on blast a couple of time to block out the noise, but the iPod juice had to be rationed, as I don't have a wall plug-in to charge it. ANYWAY - ear plugs for next time will be a worthwhile investment.

10) You know when we are all infants, we cry when we're hungry and when we need to go the bathroom. Well, not much changes when you're old. No tears, but mood swings DEFINITELY. I am guilty of this, ha, as my fellow travelers will note. When one of us would start to be snippy, it meant they either need food or the bathroom 90% of the time. Mood swings through-out the day truly followed how often we ate, plus, as you eat you're usually sitting down - so it's a foot-resting time as well. Either way, found that to be hilarious, especially with myself. Cranky until fed. And I think I'm okay with that. I DO like to eat, remember?

Well friends, that's all the fun tid bits from our big trip. There are always things to learn - things to remember to pack next time or that you DON'T really need. Always things to remember about planes vs. trains vs. the metro. Always things to remember about hostels. And biggest thing learned from the trip, which is actually...

11) Always give your parental units a detailed schedule of your entire trip. Including train rides, plane rides etc. with exact times. That way, when there is a HUGE train crash, they will know you were not involved. Also - make sure your phone works internationally so when the above happens, you can contact them. I had one of those completed and one not...so for next time...must make sure both things are covered. Always good.

I will write either another later today or tmrw to catch up in total with a summery of the last week and this weekend for you all. Then I'm no longer behind. FINALLY!

Sending love from to Holland to everyone back home!

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!