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We arrived mid-afternoon, after a surprisingly short journey. We planned to stay two nights in Budapest, at 2 different hostels. We arrived at our first hostel, to find that we needed some Forints (308 Ft to the pound). We dropped our bags off at the reception of the hostel and went to find a cash machine. Selecting to withdraw a cheeky 45 grand, we read "processing your request". It gave back the card, but didn't deliver any money. s***. As the bank itself was shut, we didn't know what to do, so Fran rang HSBC. It turned out that she had a limit of 100 pounds withdrawing abroad, which was the issue. But still, for 5 minutes we genuinely thought the cash machine was out to get us. We finally got some cash and checked into our room. We bagged ourselves a bunkbed in our 8 bed dorm, and headed out.
We walked to the chain bridge, which was the oldest bridge linking the two sides: Buda and Pest. We sat enjoying the view of the city whilst we decided on a plan. We arranged to meet Fran's friend Ellie, Matilda and Natalie for another bar crawl. If I described Prague's crawl as "epic", then this one would definitely be described as messy. Before the bar crawl, we went in search of Goulash. We found a nice area with lots of restaurants near to the meeting point, and after being touted by what seemed like every single one, we settled for a reasonably priced one called Menza. We managed to satisfy our craving of Goulash accompanied by home made noodles that looked a bit like macaroni cheese. A beer and a bottle of wine later we went to meet the others.
We got a free round of shots at the first bar, and then after a beer/wine we were ushered to the next, being given free shots along the way. This was the point when I noticed Fran was getting a little drunk. The second bar I spent talking to a guy from Finland who told me not to go to Finland, and the next I saw of Fran was when she informed me she felt ill. Leaving behind an angry toilet attendant, we left for the next bar. It was only a few metres down the road when Fran told me that she needed to go home. But when she said home, she meant home. I then had to explain that she wouldn't be allowed on the plane, and that we had better just go to the hostel. We then walked back, which was made tricky in itself not just by her inability to walk in a straight line, but also by her telling me how unreasonable I was being for not flying her home.
The next morning we had to check out of our hostel by 10, and move to our second one. This we didn't enjoy, and Fran had to go back to sleep at the new hostel for an hour or so to fully recover. Finally we left the hostel as we thought we had better go and see more than just a few bars of budapest. We met Ellie and co. for lunch so we could give Matilda her phone back (Fran somehow had it). We then said our goodbyes, hopeful to see them in split in around a week if we overlapped. When Fran and I saw an opentop tour bus, we both thought the same thing. A few hours later of being driven around Budapest in three different buses, we had pretty much seen it all. The one thing which we didnt get chance to do was visit the Gellert baths, to which I was quite disappointed.
With a 6.30 train to Zagreb the next morning, we headed back for an early night.
Currently writing this en route to Zagreb. We have had to get off the train somewhere along the way and go on coaches for part of the journey. For what reason, we didn't know, but we both agreed we hate buses. Also for the first train we had to put up with two Spanish couples next to us displaying far too much PDA. We sat there with our awkward balloons. (mum, I will get Fran to send you the picture. We thought you would appreciate it!)
Bean x
- comments
Gem I prefer the awkward turtle.
Mum What is PDA?
Lewis Mrs. Lowe, a PDA is a 'public display of affection'. Fran, your wishing to be flown home has made my evening, thank you. x
Mrs T Something of a pattern emerging here - hope you are having a lovely time. Thank you Ben for looking after Fran. x