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Hungary started out a little shaky. We got to the airport fine, but it took forever for our luggage to come out. Turns out, it had been circling on a different track for awhile. They posted it wrong. After an hour of waiting, some other people from our flight starting to search for their stuff, and that?s how we discovered where to get our?s from. We were a little worried about finding Lance after that, since it was so much later than expected. But we found him waiting just outside the entrance, and hopped in the car with all our stuff.
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When we pulled up to the house, waiting on the porch for us was a little welcoming/congratulations party! We were really surprised, since it was pretty late at night, but loved it. We dined on cheesecake and sandwiches, while sipping champagne and enjoying the beautiful night. It was really nice to socialize with people who knew about things back home, since for such a long time we?d been cut off. After we had finished up, Linda showed us where we would be staying for the week.
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Wow! We were expecting a guest bedroom or a pull out couch or something. Instead, we got an entire house to ourselves! Linda and Laszlo have three houses that they?ve built for their boys, but right now they rent two out, and save one for when family and friends visit. It was incredible! A huge living room with plush leather couches, a big bright kitchen fully stocked with food, and upstairs three bedrooms and a bathroom that was the size of one of the bedrooms! We were amazed, and fell asleep quickly in our comfy beds.
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The next day we slept in, enjoying the peace and quiet, and not feeling the need to go out and be tourists. Budapest was going to be the real ?vacation? part, as well as a cool place to see, and we were taking advantage of it. When we finally rolled out of bed we went over to the main house and grabbed some lunch before Lance took us out to see the sights for a little while. He brought us to the metro station so that we could get passes to use for the week on all the public transportation, and then helped us get money out at one of the banks. It was so wonderful to have the American dollar actually be worth something! Hungarian Forents aren?t worth much at all, so we lived like kings while we were there.
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Lance showed us the giant park in the city, which was beautiful. Budapest is a really green city, with lots of trees and nature spread out in it. Where Linda and Laszlo live actually feels more like the suburbs than part of the city. Within the park we saw where the zoo was, one of the baths, and a small castle. The castle was built to show the different styles of castle, so its made up of really random bits of architecture. Outside the castle we touched the pen of the statue of Anonymus, for good luck in school. After that we went over and saw a circle of statues of all of the kings of Hungary, complete with scenes underneath each one of something great they?d done. Lance told us all the history he knew, which was a lot!
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We headed back to the house and waited for Lee to take us out that night on some more sight-seeing adventures. We had a bit of an adventure on the metro on the way to the castle. Some random guy thought that Lee was dissing his football team, and he took it really personally. After chatting with him in Hungarian while Bill and I just looked on, Lee played the guy the team song on his cell phone, finally convincing him he was a fan. The guy left us alone after that. Football is crazy here. Don?t mess with someone?s team. Â Lee then brought us to the giant castle that overlooks the river and the city. It was beautiful looking out over the city at night. We tried to take pictures, but it just didn?t do it justice. We explored the castle, and Lee filled us in on some history there. After the castle we met up with Lance and his girlfriend, and they drove us over to the Citadel. It?s a huge hill with a fortress kind of area at the top, and, if I remember correctly, it was the original castle/fort that defended the city from the Turks. The hill surrounding the area is a park now, and we walked around for awhile, playing on some swing sets before heading home.
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The next day Bill and I went to the zoo and spent the afternoon checking out all the animals. It was funny to see what?s foreign to them, and on display. We got to see racoons and grey squirrels! Haha.
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We spent a lot of our time just relaxing at the house, rather than going out and doing things and it was really nice. Bill and I started playing chess against each other, and although he won every time, we had fun.Â
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That night Lance took us out with his friend, to go to a party at a local college. They played really fun music, all oldies and remixes of oldies. It reminded me a lot of the Bop party that Winchester hosts each week. We danced and fooled around with the silly music, having a blast! We got home late and went straight to bed.
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Our plan for the next day was to head to the baths and check that out. Linda was also going to show us a local market where we could get souvenirs and see local folk-lore stuff and food. We went into the city with her when she went to work. She works at a restaurant in the American embassy, so we got to see that from the outside, but we weren?t authorized to actually go in and check it out. She brought us on a tram that runs along the length of the river, with beautiful views of the castle, the city, and the surrounding hills. She pointed things out and filled us in on what exactly we were looking at.
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The market itself was really cool to see. It was inside a giant building that resembled a hollowed out train station. The entire first floor was filled with stalls selling whatever food you would need. Linda explained that this is where people actually do their shopping, its not just for tourists. Upstairs was the area that was devoted more to souvenir kinds of things. The stalls were filled with lace and embroidery work, hand carved chess sets, and other hand made wares. It was really cool to walk around and see all the traditional things. Before leaving us to head to work, Linda bought us traditional sausages to try. They were seasoned with tons of paprika, something that?s really big in Hungary. The sausages were covered in mustard, and served with a big slice of bread and a pickle. It was delicious! We even tried a bite of Linda?s which was made of liver. Surprisingly, we both liked it. (Although she didn?t tell us it was liver until after we had eaten it!)
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Bill and I walked around some more, looking for the perfect chess set to buy as a souvenir. We had been playing so much, we decided to splurge and buy ourselves a really nice wooden set. We ended up with one that is stained in a beautiful red color, which shines like a ruby in the sun. It?s really nice to play with a set that nice, rather than a cardboard board and plastic pieces.
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After the market we headed back towards the embassy, where we were going to catch a ride to the baths with Linda. We got to walk down the main street with shops and restaurants on it. It was really nice out, and the walk had a lot of good views of the city. We got back to the embassy and ate the lunches we had packed, while we waited for Linda to pick us up on her way out, and then drove to the baths.
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There are thermal baths all over the city, and we went to the ones that were in the park we had seen the first day. It?s a giant yellow building, and when you walk in you?re in a big tiled foyer with desks on the sides where you pay to go inside. We paid to rent a little cabin that we could change in and then leave our stuff in. We put on our suits and headed out to the pools. The building is really just walls surrounding a giant courtyard. Inside the courtyard are three different pools, each one a different temperature and a different depth. One is really deep, the others more average. All of them are nice and warm though! We spent most of our time in the one that had jets like a hot-tub that would randomly come on, and a whirlpool that would suck you up and just float you around.
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After the pools we ventured down into one of the sauna rooms, not sure what it was. There were only men in this one, and we weren?t sure if they were separated by gender, so we left. We went down into a different one that had a mix of genders. Before we realized what it was, we walked up to the small pool that was inside the cave-like room. I put my foot in, and quickly pulled it back out. We didn?t see the sign that said the water was freezing! I don?t remember the exact temperature, but it was cold! It turns out, you?re supposed to go into the sauna room, and swelter and die, then immerse yourself in this cold pool. You can also rub ice on yourself. It slides down a ramp in the wall into a big fountain thing. Bill sat in the sauna for a couple minutes, but I couldn?t stand it. I felt like my lungs were burning! We didn?t stay long in there, and moved on. We tried to explore and find the other smaller hot tubs that were supposed to be in the building, but weren?t sure if we would have to pay extra for them, so we moved on, changed, and headed back to the house.
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That night for dinner Linda and Laszlo took us to a traditional Hungarian restaurant. They ordered everything for us, in Hungarian, and we let them lead the way. I?m not sure what they ordered us, but it was delicious! We started with bread bowls filled with chicken soup with cheese on top. Then we each had a traditional main course. We each had homemade noodles, mine with (I think) goat?s cheese on them. Bill?s beef was smothered in paprika, and mine was pork in some other kind of sauce. Bill thinks his was really spicy, with all the paprika, but in a good way. We had both eaten our soup and the whole bread bowl, so we were pretty stuffed by the time the main meal came out, and didn?t eat much. But it was really good stuff, and I wish I had saved room for it! Linda?s meal was really cool too. She got a really hot stone thing, with a bunch of pieces of meat, and she got to grill her own meat on the stone! It was surrounded by sauces and stuff to eat with it, all in a specially made holder. A very cool idea.
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We went home, and rested up and relaxed while waiting for Lance to come home. He was going to bring us out to a huge club for the night. We ended up leaving the house around 11:45, and went downtown to the Buddha Beach club. I was a little mad that we were leaving so late, having sworn that I was going to bed at midnight if Lance wasn?t there by then. He made it just in time, and I had a lot of fun once we got to the club. It?s a really cool set-up for a nightclub. It?s a long thin building. One end has a club area decorated in a disco, funky style, with a dj playing matching music. The other end was decorated in an Indian style, with a dj playing a totally different style. In the middle was a bar area with tables and chairs and other music playing. It was such a long place though that none of the music interfered with each other. We spent most of our time in the Indian end, where they played a lot of techno. Lance and Lee are techno freaks, and they loved showing us all their music. We came home with a bunch on my mp3 player. We sipped cocktails in the bar part and headed home around 2:30 with Lee. Lance stayed with his friends, and partied the night away.
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Throughout our whole trip we got to see where Lance and Lee hang out, and their neighbourhood. Just down the hill from their house is a small ice cream place, with Hungarian ?gelato?. It was that same style of ice cream that Italy had. We went each day, experimenting with flavors. We tried cinnamon, green apple, kiwi, and Bill even tried poppy seed! We didn?t know what that was, and couldn?t figure out what the girls behind the counter were trying to explain to us about the flavour. We both kept licking it with really puzzled looks on our faces. They handed us a pastry and tried to motion that it was the same thing (only one girl there spoke English, and not very much). We just waited til we got back to the house and asked Linda what that flavour was. The ice cream flavors in Europe are way more creative than in America.
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We also got a full tour of Linda and Laszlo?s house. It has a really nice big kitchen and living room on the first floor. Upstairs is the master bedroom and Lee?s room. In the basement is Lance?s room, complete with a fog machine and a strobe light. There?s also a sauna room and a place where Linda can keep her catering stuff. It?s a huge place, and has really beautiful views from the loft in the master bedroom.
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Hungary was definitely one of our favourite places. We both wish we had had a little more time there, and Lance and Lee kept telling us we need to come back and stay for a month or longer. It would be a lot of fun!
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On our last day we got to do our laundry for free before packing it up, then enjoyed a delicious lunch of homemade pizza. Laszlo made everything from scratch, even the sauce! At this meal I got to meet Sandy, Bill?s other cousin, and Lance and Lee?s older brother. He has his own place now, but he stopped by for our last meal. Then Linda and Laszlo drove us to the airport, and we were off, heading back to London for a night before we would go back to Winchester.
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