well i’m on my way…

…at least the part flowing through Budapest isn’t! But I should start from the beginning.

When we arrived in Budapest we had no problem finding the Metro and locating the hostel. It was a bit hard getting in, though. The hostel is located in an old building, with shops on the bottom and residences on the upper floors. There was a keypad, and a sign telling us which the keycode was, but we couldnt figure out that we had to press the number, not ‘key’ number or the other way around. I went to a restaurant a few doors down for assistance and when I got back, Ryan was inside but couldn’t figure out how to let me in! A woman walked in and we followed her, we knew the hostel was on the first floor, but there were two main doors and then a balcony that went encircled a courtyard with many doors along that. A door opened, and I poked my head inside. The walls were painted a bright yellow, bikes were parked along the walls, and there were brochures hanging on the wall. This was definately the hostel. Phew. As we got checked in and got a tour of the place, I fell in love. The hostel is two flats combined into one, and it felt like I was visiting someone in their flat. I love hostels that make you feel like youre in a home. We were booked for three days, but because of the homeyness of the hostel, we extended our stay for a week.

The hostel is situated a few blocks from the Duna, or the Danube as the English speaking world calls it (hence the name Riverside Hostel), and there is a massive island in the middle of it. We headed over there and walked it top to bottom. Its a huge chill spot for locals and tourists alike, with lots of green spaces, fountains, bars, a pool and baths, and an athletic center. We sat and took in the scenery, loving life. We went back to the hostel where it was buzzing about some rave on another island further up the river. Ryan was keen on going, but I was soon to crash. I was the only one in the hostel when I went to bed at 10. After our sleepless night the day before, sleep felt good. Im not sure how Ryan did it.

Of course I woke up early, about two hours after Ryan came back, so I hung out, taking my time, enjoying the chillness of the hostel. When Ryan did wake up, we decided to go to the Hungarian Turkish Baths (since I didn’t partake in it when I was in Turkey). The baths were housed in a large ornate building with marble and statues everywhere. We took our towels outside and laid in the sun until we were too hot to think. We headed for the closest pool and stepped in-the water was 38 C, 100 F–not exactly refreshing, but it was nice. We went to the next pool, which was 26 C, 78 F, and that was a bit refreshing, but we preferred the warmer one. We people watched and soaked. I was a bit disappointed since all I heard speaking was English and German (I wanted a more authentic experience) and Ryan was disgusted by all the older men in Speedos. After alternating lying in the sun and soaking in the baths, Ryan was RED and we went inside to test out all the other baths. They all varied in temperatures from 20 C to 40 C. Ryan plunged in the 20 C while I watched. Only a few months ago I dove into 16 C water, and that hurt. 20 couldnt be much better. I dont think it was. We sat in the 40 C for a bit, but I wanted hotter.

As we were walking back from the baths, we saw a gathering of people listening to a man on a podium speak, sounding very passionate. People were cheering and holding Hungarian flags, and another flag we couldn’t identify. There were police cars crossing the street, heading towards the crowd, so we left. As we walked further down the street, there were vans of police, putting on riot gear. I was glad we left, but Ryan wanted to go back, but we didn’t.

The next day we took the free walking tour-not NewEurope, like the other cities hosted, but a generic tour. It was not as good as the other free tours we went on as the girl told us off the bat to ask questions because what she had to say was boring. The only thing I remember is that Hungarians invented the ballpoint pen and the Rubik’s cube. Good to know. After the tour Ryan and I took a walk and discovered a square full of people drinking. It wasn’t anything organized or a pub, just people hanging out in public. We found a supermarket, purchased a few beers each, and joined in with the locals, people watching. A man came up to us, spoke rather quickly in Hungarian, and when I said “English” he switched to “Please can we have a cigarette, and if you could spare some money, as we are homeless…” I told him that we were broke too, but here, you can have a cigarette. He asked for three, so I obliged, and he opened our beers for us and lit our cigarettes. We watched them ask everyone walking around for either cigarettes or change, or both. After feeling a bit sick on beers and too many cigarettes, we got Turkish food, the equivalent to Mexican drunk food at home. I ordered a cheese pizza-the cheese was just an egg batter! It wasn’t bad, but if I had wanted French toast, I would have ordered that…

We walked up the hill on the Buda side (the city is split into two by the river-Buda is the residential side to the west and Pest is the commercial side to the east) to the liberty statue (not the statue of liberty) to see panoramic views of the city the next afternoon once Ryan woke up. I noted that the city is very industrial by the massive amount of smokestacks. We found the Central Market thats housed in a huge building that was created for these markets. The bottom two floors are of fruit, veg, meats, bakeries, and fish. It did not smell good at all. The top floor housed souveniers and doilies-I doubt locals ever go up there, except maybe to smoke. Every stall worker was smoking, undoubtedly staining the beautiful linens. We bought a tomato for our dinner that night, so we headed back to the hostel so it wouldnt get smushed (can you tell where our priorities are?). En route we discovered a ‘traditional Hungarian dance’ in one of the tourist squares so we stopped to watch the Hungarian adolescents hold hands and dance in circles. Not long after they started dancing, I noticed a high pitch scream coming from the stage. Every minute or so another one emitted from the group. The girls were taking turns screaming! After a few minutes I was starting to get annoyed, so I said, “Stop screaming” mostly to Ryan. He took the tomato out of the bag and acted as if he was going to throw it. We started laughing so hard people we giving us mean looks so we left, still laughing, holding our sides and almost crying as we crossed the street. We chatted until late that night with our roomies-Fiona, Hong Kong born but raised in England; and very Northern Sweedish couple Jonathan and Malin.

When I woke up the next morning I realized it was my six month anniversary of traveling-Wow. I felt I should celebrate! Ryan and I went back to the island to sunbathe and found a nice patch of grass to lie on. Many other people had the same idea, most of them older men that Im guessing were retired, some other tourists, and lots of couples. Ryan has noticed that people are way into PDA more here than at home, and it was quite obvious by the couples along the tree line underneath blankets…After we were crispy and sick of getting run over by children kicking a ball around, we went in search of a quieter place in the shade. We joined more masses of people sitting by a massive fountain. There was classical music playing trying to be in tune with the fountain. Sometimes it worked, and other times it didn’t. We people watched there too, paying particular attention to fashion. Midriffs are very popular with the women here; what Ryan and I would call fannie packs (although we learned rather quickly it’s a pretty vulgar term in many parts of the world)-you know, the smallish pouch one puts around their waist either in front, on the hip, or as its done in Budapest, popularly sitting on their bum; g-string bikinis; 30 clips in a womans hair; dreadlocks are super popular (which Im loving on the men); long long hair on women; men in short shorts; men in capris; everyone in linen, men and women carrying purses I did over ten years ago…

We picked up some beers before we went back to the hostel. We had a few beers with our new friends, Jonathan, Malin, and Claudia-an Austrian, and some Canadian boys staying in our room. We went out to meet up with some guys Ryan went to the rave with and ended up in an arty bar called Instant. It was cool, with a fussball table and decent music, but I was a bit disappointed. All I could hear was English being spoken by native English speakers. Oh well, I probably would have only spoken to the people I came with, and the occasional Irish I always seem to harass once I pick up the accent. When I went to the toilet, I learned they were co-ed, as I had to pass a wall of urinals to get to the stalls. I had to try the local shot-Unicum, a licorice-y drink popular with Hungarians. The initial reaction of people is to make a nasty face, but after you recover and take that first deep breath, the taste comes to you again, so you make a worse face two minutes after you take the shot. Nasty. I went back to my beer, but a few hours later, we did another shot, which right after, I handed my beer to one of my new friends and beelined to the toilet. No more Unicum for me, but beer was still settling well with my stomach. We closed the bar and went for Turkish food and we closed there too. Ryan was sleeping at the table when they turned on the lights. When we walked outside the sun was rising, as it was 530 in the morning. Good night. Slept til 11 the next morning.

Ryan and I were extremely tired the next morning, so we took our time getting up. We went out in search of the Opera House (someone told me this is where Evita was filmed, the part where Madonna addressed the Argentines telling them not to cry-unfortunately it wasn’t, but it was still a beautiful building) and the Jewish Synagogue. Thanks to my Jewish travel partner in New Zealand, I have a new interest in Judiasm. The Synagogue was a spectacular building as well. We took lots of breaks in our walk and sat on a lot of benches, just people watching. At one point a man came up to us, probably asking for money after he leafed through a few garbage cans. We just said, “No” a couple times until he went away, but it wasn’t quick enough as he smelled like feces. Literally. We started packing our bags when we got back and watched Borat with the Swedes. Ive seen the film before but didnt remember much. I decided that I wasted 2 hours of my life watching that movie-twice.

I woke up the next morning (today) to find Ryan was already awake and had breakfast waiting for me. I usually wake up right away upon rising, but the confusion of Ryan being up and functioning before me threw me off guard. We had our last breakfast with our new Swedish and Austrian friends, as we’re leaving today for Poland, to a city Ive been to before, but still, I’m looking forward to it.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 19th, 2009 at 3:49 am and is filed under Europe. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.