budapest, hungary

After another short flight, we arrived in Budapest, Hungary and caught the minibus shuttle directly to our hostel. I was glad when that shuttle ride was over because the driver was nuts! The traffic light cycle goes green, yellow, red, yellow again, then green. When waiting at a red light, as soon as it turns yellow, everyone starts to go. It's kinda cool in a way, like a warmup, but the drivers often go speeding so fast towards a red light (because they know its about to turn yellow and they can go) that it's really freaky!

Our hostel was alright; it was a bit dingy but it was good enough! We were staying right across the street from one of the main train stations, so it was a pretty central location which was good. Budapest is actually two cities, divided by the Danube River. Buda is on the west side, and Pest is on the east side (we stayed in Pest). In the morning we did a lot of walking around town - past the Parliament buildings, along the river, across the chain bridge into Buda, up to castle hill, over to Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion, back down the hill, along the river, across another bridge back into Pest and then back to our hostel. There are 9 different bridges in Budapest that cross the Danube river. I think it's funny how all these (relatively small) cities have sooo many bridges, yet Vancouver only has two main ones. LOL.

Mike went to a music festival called Sziget that evening, but I didn't go because I couldn't really afford it and I didn't feel like they were bands that I HAD to see. Sziget is a week long festival, and this year it featured Prodigy, Radiohead, Placebo, Franz Ferdinand, and a whole bunch of other bands as well. That night Guru and the Scissor Sisters were playing. There were a couple shows the day before that were actually cancelled because the bands were from the UK and couldn't make it out because of the latest terrorist plot that was uncovered and all the delays at UK airports. In the evening as the sun was setting I just went for a walk back to the chain bridge to take some pictures of that area. I also rearranged the songs on my ipod which I have been wanting to do forever but haven't had the time. If anyone cares, the new Nelly Furtado album is really good - check it out!

The next day we were leaving for Salzburg, but not until the afternoon. In the morning we did some more walking, this time in the other direction through Pest towards the big city park and the Baths. There are lots of different baths all throughout Budapest, and we went to the Szechenyi Baths. They were sooo cool! It was this huge, gorgeous building with all these mineral baths in the courtyard and inside the building as well. There are different temperature ones, and inside there are all sorts of spa services, jacuzzis, massage rooms, etc. It kind of reminded me of Harrison Hot Springs. We stayed there for a couple hours, then took the tram back towards our hostel to save some time instead of walking. On the way we stopped at this place for lunch that was amazing. There were hundreds of things to choose from on the menu, and the food was the most delicious I have eaten yet! I had this chicken breast with pineapple, cheese, and broccoli on top, and Mike had this chicken breast stuffed with apple cinnamon slices with a hazelnut crumbly topping. I can't wait to try and cook the same dishes up when I get home. The best part was that the meal was soooo cheap, only €13 total for both of us. It kind of made me angry in a way, because we had a train to catch and wouldn't get to eat there again. We savored the meal a little too much though, because we really had to haul ass back to our hostel if we wanted to catch our train in time. As I mentioned, we were staying right across from a train staion, but it wasn't the one our train was leaving from. We ended up having to take a taxi in order to get to the other one on time. We made it just in time, only to find out that the train was delayed 30 min anyways. Oh well. In each city, I've been trying to collect a different sticker, and with all that rushing around I wasn't able to get one from Budapest. I know that it will drive me crazy if it's the only one missing from my collection!

On the train from Budapest to Salzburg we met this guy who was our age named Ferdinand from Berlin. He was telling us about how he was in town for the Sziget music festival, and his tent got ripped off and all of his money was stolen. All he had was the money that was on him, so he only had a train ticket to some small little town in Hungary, which was as far as his money would take him. He was planning to hitchhike back home to Berlin, which was ridiculous because Germany was 3 countries away from Hungary. I had 25 Euros that I gave him, so he was able to buy an add-on ticket that would at least get him to a Vienna where he would have more options than some little middle of nowhere town. Mike also gave him his old Eurail pass which had one travel day left on it. It was only valid in Germany though, so he still had to figure out how to get from Vienna to the German border. The other thing was that the ticket had Mike's name on it and was only supposed to be used by him, but the conductors never ask for ID so it should have worked no problem. Mike and I had to change trains in Vienna on the way to Salzburg, and Vienna was as far as Ferdinand could go, so we all got off at the same stop.I felt so bad for him, because it was raining, and I was totally reminded of our situation at the Plitvice Lakes in Croatia when we were stranded. It was the most awful night of my life and I wouldn't want anyone to have to go through that type of thing If I could help it. Mike and I only had like 7 minutes to spare before our connection left, but we ran downstairs to the ticket machine and bought him a ticket to the border where his (Mike's!) German pass would then be valid and he could get back to Berlin. Thank goodness for the self service ticket machines. I had swiped my Visa and we were on our way in a matter of no time. He was so grateful, and offered us a place to stay in Spain when he goes there to study in the fall. The whole time we were stranded at Plitvice I kept thinking that it had to be happening for a reason. Maybe it was so I would be more understanding and compassionate to someone who was in need in a similar situation. Whatever the reason, I'm just glad we could help. The funny thing was that I didn't go to the Sziget music festival because I couldn't afford it, yet in the same day I spent 55 Euro (around 75 CDN and twice the price as Sziget) without even thinking about it.