Buda and Pest

    Getting to Budapest was a piece of cake, being only an hour train ride from Vienna.  We arrive at the main train station and look for an ATM. The choices for withdrawal: 10,000...15,000 ..and 25,000 Hungarian forints. This is a rang e from $45 to $110. Once again the eastern European currency was going to be strange to get used too.
   We get on the bus heading to our hostel but quickly realize we took it going in the wrong direction. The buses were very old: bald tires, rusting body, screeching brakes, and absolutely no shocks. We get off in a frightening looking residential area..not the best first impression of Budapest! After some re-navigating we finally find our hostel. Simply amazing! AND cheap! 4 nights for only $35! http://www.maverickhostel.com/eng/index.php
   We eat at the nearby Cafe Balin, super cheap and absolutely delicious! I had a salad with fried cheese (almost like a mozeralla block, except the batter was just a thin layer). Hungary is also a big wine producer. I had drank so much mulled wine over the past month in Berlin's Christmas markets that I could go without it for awhile. However we had a voucher for wine at this cafe so we tried it out.....OH MY GOD IT WAS THE BEST MULLED WINE I EVER HAD! We also tried white mulled wine..not the best but a good idea.
   We took a city tour the next morning and saw many of the historic sites such as Stephan's Cathedral (the first king of Hungary). Hungary was originally an Asian territory, then the Turkish invaded. Traces of the Turkish culture still linger such as the Turkish baths, which I will get too shortly. There are many Hungarian influences and inventions. Drew Barrymore and Marilyn Monroe were part Hungarian. Hungary invented the refrigerator, the television, and the rubix cube! Hungarian is the 5th hardest language in the world, and after hearing it and seeing some of the characters I would not doubt it. Budapest used to be split into 2 cities, Buda and Pest. There are several bridges that now connect the two, each having their own architectural originality.
  The city was enticing but it was incredibly cold. We were miserable walking around so we decided to warm up at the hostel. We meet many travelers, British, South African, Indian and Brazilian. One traveler, Shirin, was 60 years old but had more energy than us. She told us incredible stories about her travels and life. She was visiting Budapest for dental work, which I guess is where many Europeans go because it's cheaper there. She took us out to a wine bar and we laughed for hours on end. One night we went to a "ruin bar" (an old building renovated for a bar) with a South African couple and a Brazilian. We talked politics and the South Africans had very interesting view points regarding the problems of Africa, complaining about the gang violence but also stating how the villagers were too "uncivilized" to adapt to Western lifestyle. Although I disagreed with their view points, we enjoyed the Pálinka shots and mediocre beer (go to Hungary for the wine, not the beer). 

wine bar with Shirin

One of the highlights of our trip was when Paz and I hiked to the "Lady Liberty" on top of the highest hill in Budapest. The statue was built during Communistic rule but was too expensive to tear down once communism had fallen. The Hungarians covered the statue with a sheet and a week later "revealed" the lady to represent liberty of democracy. The view from the top was absolutely stunning and the statue was much larger up close. At the top of the hill there were also old Soviet cannons and a museum. Seeing the view made me fall in love with Budapest.

Budapest by night

Lady Liberty

Other sites we saw were the Jewish quarter, with a divine synagogue. We walked to the Parliament building, which was once the biggest but 2 other countries have beaten it. Of course the Opera house was lovely and much more aesthetically pleasing than Berlin's.  

  But now, it was time to spend an afternoon in the famous Turkish baths. We had been waiting for this since the beginning of our trip and the time had finally come. We went to the biggest one in Budapest, Szechenyi. There were almost 100 baths inside, ranging from big to small, hot to cold. The baths were mineral baths so it smelled unpleasant but felt really refreshing on the skin. There were also steam rooms and saunas. Everyone had to wear a bathing suit..thank god..since most of the crowd was over 50 and 100 pounds overweight. Paz and I even treated ourselves to a massage...not the best but it was an experience. More of a "back rub" than a massage I could have gotten from  one of my friends. Most of the baths were indoors, but there was a large heated pool outside in the courtyard. We decide to check it out right as it started to snow! We looked a little ridiculous running through the snow in our bikinis :)

  After the baths, we were high on life. We felt so refreshed, relaxed, and rejuvenated. This point of the trip really was the most sentimental for me. I reflected back during last semester and summer, and how hard I had worked to study abroad. Now that I was here I was so grateful to be taking advantage of these opportunities.     On our way back we walked by Vajdahunyad castle, which is a mixture of architectural styles. It was small, charming, and an ice skating rink now replaced the once-upon-a-time moat. 

castle

 We walked by the famous Hero's Square and did I mention we took the oldest underground subway? It was the first one ever built in Europe, with London not far behind. Once back we treated ourselves to delicious Hungarian pastries right from the bakery next door to our hostel. To top things off, our hostel was giving complimentary ADDITIONAL pastries and wine. Could life get any better?

ice skating!

The following day was not as relaxing. We realized the honey containers we bought from Chris's uncle in Austria were over 100ml (which you can't take on a plane). However Paz and I have become experts on beating the system. We went to a nearby pharmacy and bought small lotion containers. Can you predict what we did? I bet you can. We emptied the lotion, vigorously cleaned the containers, and transferred the honey into several smaller lotion containers. We kept the jars in tact, since the honey was gifts for family. (They better appreciate what we did for them by the way)! Side notes, transferring that back to the jar when I was back in Berlin was not easy. We had time to kill before our flight so walked to Magrite Island. Cute, but rather dead and probably more lively in the summer since we saw advertisements for beach bars everywhere. We did get a beautiful picture of the Parliament building though. 

  Anyways, back to the airport story. We successfully got through security with our transferred honey containers, however we each had gathered more "stuff" during our trip..souvenirs, food, ect. Europe is really strict with baggage. Carry on bags have to be within a certain dimension and under a certain weight. Check in bags range from 20-50 Euro. So Paz and I always arrived at the airport in multiple layers...we wore anything that made our carry-on bags lighter...jeans, leggings, scarfs, multiple socks, multiple shirts. A few times we felt like we were going to die of heat exhaustion..but then we realized you were allowed to carry on a jacket. So when we checked in we started holding our jackets...with stuff shoved under them! Our souvenirs and toiletries we wrapped up in our jackets and just shoved them back in once they weighed our bags and before we went through security. We are geniuses I tell you! The airport in Budapest was incredibly inefficient and do not recommend flying out. Try to avoid it! Specifically do not fly Wizz Air. They are disorganized and delayed our flight for absolutely no reason. The planes suck too. Anyways, next destination: Pisa.