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Brie & Trent's Travels
We spent the entire day exploring Budapest today which was awesome. It is such a beautiful city, and I think it is so cool that Buda and Pest are different parts separated by the Danube. Our hostel is right next to the river which makes an easy journey to both Buda and Pest... plus it gives us such a wonderful view. All of the buildings surrounding the river are soo cool.. ornate and beautiful. I love how some rooftops have bright tiles covering them. The cathedral had a roof like that and it is so odd to think that it was built such a long time ago but the colors are still so vibrant.
Well lets recap on yesterday... we arrived in Budapest and found our hostel luckily, because there is no sign on the outside of the building and it looks nothing like a hostel. We asked a lady that was leaving the building and she didnt know either but pointed us to this random door in the corner of the hallway that we would have never seen that had a paper on it that said Buda Base... great!
So we followed Gregor's directions to one of his favorite hungarian restaurants that has 1e stews... not quite 1e but it was cheap. They had a daily specials board and it was interesting trying to look through the phrase book to figure out what each dish was. This was the first time we have had trouble reading a menu, which was a new experience. I was just trying to make sure I didnt order a big plate of beef. Trent did though and loved it. I ordered their paprika chicken and rice... so much paprika and so yummy. it cost me less than 3 us dollars. Then we ordered some pancakes, which are actually crepes, and i got cocoa which meant it literally had hot cocoa powder in it... sooo gritty.. and Trent got one with cottage chesse. We got our bill and there was 4 different taxes listed at the bottom which seemed a little suspicious but it was cheap so we paid and headed back for a siesta... they do siestas everywhere right??
We asked Gregor what those taxes were ane he had no idea and tried to call them... hes so nice. They were closed though.
When we checked in Gregor told us his friends were playing a concert if we wanted to go, so we woke up from our siesta and headed to the concert which was located in the middle of Pest at this new multicultural center. Before heading to the concert we stopped to get a beer at a local spot which we entered through this no named doorway of a building, walked through a room that had two old chairs and a 1950s tv, and passed into this outdoor picnic table looking bar thing. It was awesome... and there is no way we would have ever found a place like that by ourselves... no way. We were hungry so we bought a typical hungarian snack at the bar which consisted of a piece of sourdough bread with a goosefat spread, red onions, and goose liver. i ate it all and it wasnt bad... i do think that that makes up for eating at mcdonalds. it must.... goose liver? haha..
We headed to the concert which was sooo awesome... we loved the band and bought a CD. Trent got it signed by the band members... we rocked out.. goodtimes. Plus the beer was so cheap... we were hanging out with another american, an english couple, and gregor. Its so not typical for the hostel owner to take you out.. it was fun funtimes. After the concert we headed to this bar/disco on a boat... party on!
So back to today... the sun rises at about 430 so we felt like we were sleeping in.. we got out on the road around 10. We hiked up to this place called Castle Hill which gave us great views of the city... it was worth the stairs. Then we headed across the huge bridge to the city center and saw the St. Stephens Cathedral. We decided to head towards a hungarian lunch place and trent ordered goulash and i got a spinach soup with a side of potatoes. it was literally a bowl of spinach and boiled potatoes... which i think my stomach loved because it was so bland and predictable. unfortunately we both got full after about 3 bites. our stomachs have shrunk. we knew we should eat it all but there was no way... so so full.
we then walked around the city center and then took the Metro to the baths. So crazy, we felt like we were in a time warp... all of these men in speedos and all of these indoor and outdoor baths... and the whole thing is in this big beautiful building... it was great. Each bath, which basically ranges from the size of a pool to the size of a spa, was labeled with the temperature of the water. We got in some that we 38C, which is around a 100, and one that was 18c, which was like 50. Great to have variety, plus the warm water was so soothing even though it was hot outside. So in the middle of one of the pools there was this circular thing that pushed you around in circles with a pretty strong current. I felt like a little kid getting pushed around.. it was great.
We headed on the Metro to head back to home to get some food, and I guess we bought the wrong ticket and the lady stopped us when we were trying to leave and made us pay a fine. How interesting that the ticket machine which was in english said Metro ticket and thats what we bought and it was the wrong one. We payed 5000ft which is like 25 dollars. our ticket was 50ft less than it should have been i guess... that is about 25 cents. i wouldnt have been as mad if the lady was at least nice and explained everything to us but she was not cool at all and it really pissed me off.. its not like we didnt buy a ticket..
oh well i guess if thats the worst thing that happened than were doing alright.
So here we are back at the hostel.. i think we are going to take it easy tonight considering all of the places we saw today.
We fly to Berlin tomorrow and I cant wait!!! Germany here we come!
Love u and miss u
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