Buda and the Pest

Kristen went to her internship in London and Callie, Jayda and I took the train from Vienna to Budapest and got in on Monday evening. That night we had our first of many eastern European signature meals. Chicken stuffed with bacon and apples. They LOVE to stuff their meat with meat. The next morning we met friends from Wisconsin in our hostel and had a sightseeing day. We went to St. Stephen’s Basilica, climbed to the top and had a beautiful view of the city. I didn’t know this until we got there but the Danube River divides it into the cities of Buda and Pest. The girls and I continued onto the House of Terror Museum at 60 Andrassy St. It is the old headquarters for both the Nazi and Soviet regimes when they controlled Budapest and is now a museum detailing those periods. It was so interesting to see how seamlessly the two regimes switched power and how Hungarians had been living in fear for a good part of the century. Then we walked down to Heroes Square—a huge plaza with grand statues of important figures in Hungarian history. We took a stroll through their gorgeous City Park and through the Castle before heading back to our hostel.
That night we went out with the Wisconsin guys and some other Quebecois friends we made (I loved talking to them in French!) This bar was really cool too. So unassuming from the outside but inside was a huge patio with graffitied walls and large picnic tables.
Wednesday we checked out the Turkish Baths at Gellert Hotel. Soo beautiful—tiled walls and huge hot tubs and pools heated by the earth. I went into the steam bath. Oh my gosh the hottest thing of my life. You walk in and cannot even see because of the thick steam. You instantly start sweating and can’t breathe. I lasted about 5-7 minutes before I rushed out and dipped in the freezing pool outside. It was awesome. Outside was a hot tub and a wave pool that went off every hour. Nice day—the kids from the hostel met us there too.
That night was the best night ever. We went to the Gödör Klub near our hostel. Everyone sits out on the grass and drinks beer while listening to live music. There’s a fountain and underneath it is the actual dance club with a glass ceiling. That night a traditional Hungarian gypsy band played under the fountain and we danced the night away to songs we didn’t understand but apparently everyone knew the words. Our friend Kyle went up on stage and danced for a free cd…
We had our traditional Hungarian dinner on Thursday—goulash (beef stew) and some sort of meat stuffed meat (I think pork stuffed chicken or vice versa). I really loved the goulash and am getting used to all the meat. They also have good beer.
On Friday the girls and I toured the parliament building. So beautiful! You have to get tickets in advance and have a tour guide. It is huge—there wasn’t a budget when it was built. Our tour guide had a very dry sense of humor that really made the tour enjoyable. We picnicked and napped on Marguerite Island on the Danube that afternoon. That was cool-there were a ton of kids playing and people running.
That evening we did a wine tour. We paid 4400 HUF (like 20 euros?) and they handed us each a wine glass and directed us down to the cellar. There were over 50 wines to taste and they told us to just let them know if one was empty and they’d open a new one. KIDS IN A CANDYSTORE. Unfortunately, Callie left from Budapest and Jayda and I continued on to Croatia.