As I write this it is now 1245 am in sweden. Technically day two. i've been writing for way longer than I thought I should have been... My tablet isn't working, which sucks, so I linked my bluetooth keyboard to my iphone (go apple). I still can't see much and I definitely don't have the time to review this, so same story if there are grammatical errors I'm sorry... It has felt so nice to relax, Sweden and Norway should be very relaxing for me... Very healthy... Back to normal, healthy lifestyle. Tomorrow I have the walking tour (something I learned about in buda/prague -and will do in San Fran when I get back.
These last two trips had some drinking involved. This wasn't the goal but when in rome, do as the romans do. Or in this case as the prague/budapest do. I kept responsibility foremost in my drinking and safely made it through without any problems, there should not be much drinking in the rest of my trip, maybe barcelona. Maybe some beer in Ireland or some wine in italy , but nothing like prague/budapest.
Budapest was quite an experience. I was not able to keep a daily journal but will do my best to recreate one.
Day one: As I mentioned in the last post from prague, I arrived by train. My first images of budapest were really quite what I expeected. It was a big train station with a lot of open area, not too clean not too dirty. There were not a lot of big businesses or commercialism concepts staring at me, instead I just saw a lot of tourists and little shops. A mass of people going about their way and journey.
I made my way to find some internet but did not come across any and gave up with only a half hearted attempt because I had the address to where I was staying already saved. I arrived by taxi and tried to check into the hostel "Grandio Party Hostel" which was recommended by other travelers to me. I didn't even have time to properly check in before I had made my first friends - everyone was headed out to a pub crawl, the first stop was at the #1 recommended ruin pub that almost everyone told me to visit: "Szimpla Kert" or something similar. This is the biggest benefit of hostels, they know the town and get you places with minimal effort and maximum safety - while introducing you to people from all over the world.
I went off on my own to find food and a specific drink Matt had recomended, and decided I would call it an early night. Even though it was friday night I justfelt really tired from Prague; I thought to myself, "it doesn't matter how fun this city is, I need sleep," and headed back. Along the way home I stopped in a few places alone to check out "Budapest." I don't think I've ever been somewhere that was so blatant about taking advantage of tourism, they tried confusing me and charging me for things I didn't want or ask for... No where did prague do this, and at one point I just said "This is ridiculous," and walked out, half afraid they would try to intimidate me (I was alone). I am too familiar with how bad situations can get and how fast they can get there - so I feel rather lucky that nothing happened (though I did nothing wrong, that doesn't always matter). I knew this existed and would make sure to be more careful in the future. I ent home an got a good nights sleep, the first in a long time.
Saturday morning I slept in a bit and did some laundry. I went to the gym I saw on the way into town and had a full workout, followed by a run through the city. Buda Pest is really two cities split by a river, that formed to make one city; but there is still a buda side and a pest side, I was staying in the Pest side and that is where I ran (along the river). It seemed full of people kissing, it was spring time, beautiful weather, and full of romance. There were pretty women everywhere! The average woman was moderately resembling a model type body/face. The views were quite comparable to Prague (which were amazing), I am spoiled by my choices of destinations, these places have truly been beautiful to visit and as Budapest didn't "astonish" me, it definitely did not disappoint me either.
After the laundry, lunch, gym, run/sitesee, shower, it was already approaching 7pm. Earlier I had signed up for a "Bath Party" with the hostel, which everyone told me I had to do in Budapest, and this started around 7 or 8. I got dressed and headed downstairs to meet with some friends I had met the night prior. On the way down one of the guys that worked there "Lex" had a stack of towels and just threw one at me, which I thought was rather nice seeing as I had been using t shirts for the last week.
We walked to the tram as a group of around 100+ people and got to know many more people. Of all the people perhaps only 10% seemed to be American; most of which were studying abroad and on spring break or some other form of break before finals. The other 90% were a mix of Europe, russia, South America, Canada, and lots of Australians. When we arrived to the Bath I found out it was not the main bath that I had read so much about, this was the 'winter' bath (as it was not yet summer in Budapest). This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it was one of the coolest events - I had made friends with two 'stag' parties at this point and a few american groups as well. I made friends with the most random people, for instance this girl who said 'I am a chicken fighting master, we will fight together all night and never lose." I forgot where she was from but she was really awesome and outgoing. When we finally got our stuff locked up and we got our keys (the keys were all watches, really strange but rather convenient. I had three watches, one for the hostel one for my time and one for the bath locker) we headed downstairs and I finally saw the bath (baths are famous in budapest, natural springs and warm, awesome for relaxing). It resembled spring break, and really did not disapoint... All kinds of shinanagns were going on between the bachelor parties and all the different cultures. The bachelor himself went nude the entire night, and I have this really hilarious memory of chicken fighting with my "master" temmate, and repeatedly knocking off the other person into the water, once, twice, three times, and each time she would come back up out of the water as if she didnt fall... on the fourth time when she fell into the water, the bachelor reappeared instead of her, and I was so confused... He just looked at me like he had no idea why he was on the guys shoulders (and keep in mind he was naked). It was a lot of innocent fun. No one was complaining no one was violating other peoples space, no one was fighting, everyone was just there to have fun, and it was such a great setting... The bath we were at was in a really old building that reminded me of vegas type pool, except not much space. It was in a fancy hotel type courtyard, but the pool or bath took up the entire courtyard.
We ended the night grabbing some food and heading back to the hostel. I had an entire room to myself (by complete luck) and really liked it, a nice change from the full rooms in prague. I didn't even use my sheets one night in budapest, it was always rather perfect (maybe on the warm side) weather and I just slept like a baby. Each morning when I woke up the hostel had food cooking, good music playing, and people already drinking... I consider these some of the best drinkers in the world... I would work out and site see alone during the day (mostly because they had been here for weeks or years and already did the siteseeing).
Day 3, I almost forgot what I did on this magical day. As I was heading out to go site seeing, the bachelor group from london invited me to the bath. This time it was the one I had read about, the famous one. I kind of just went with it and said sure, it's much easier when other people know what's going on. It ended up being quite a trip of missed stops and having to buy multiple tickets but in th end was worth it... We just relaxed in the natural springs - I have some pictures... It was just very nice and relaxing. I booked a massage for 320pm (earliest i could get it) and then hit the pools. There were I think 20 different pools, some natural some indoor some outdoor and all different temperatures. I enjoyed conversation with the londoners, as well as a group of women in line with us on a womans getaway from netherlands I think? I can't remember. When we were in the pool I heard some people speaking American English and immediately started asking them questions about a site I wanted to see nearby. They turned out to be studying at Georgetown, but abroad for the semester, and told us where we could find the site. Before I knew it - it was time for my massage and I had to go. On the way to the massage one of the bachelor party members that borrowed my shorts gave me an ice cream bar - I didn't even have time to eat my one allowance of ice cream... I had to decide between time in the massage or ice cream and it was really not easy throwing away that ice cream... The massagewasreally really nice, called a sports massage from an older lady, she was so nice. The bachelor came out and said that was a great massage but he got "Ivan," a big russian dude... He admitted it was awkward but only fitting for his bachelor weekend of crazy events. After the bath we strolled through the city park and found our way back to the hostel, the boys had a flight to catch. Each day in budapest a major group of friends would leave, it was really sad losing them one by one.
Day -4, I don't remember specifically what I did on these days. I remember having to go to the post office and deal with finding my debit card. (Alex's Grandma passed away and he could not make it which was very unfortunate and I told him I completely understand of course) but he had my debit card (mine was expiring). The debit card got lost in the mail and I was forced to stay in budapest a little bit longer (which I liked). I remember drinking water and sleeping in late in budapest. I was still recovering from prague. Budapest was much more laid back. Monday night I think we went out for a few beers at the other hostel and it was pretty low key, the people were the most interesting part and I had a really great conversation with a well educated person from Serbia. I called him arussian and he wouldn't have it, he properly educated me on Serbia, romania, etc. It was much like the conversation with the guys from iraq, iran, pakistan, as well as the french conversation, australian conversation, wow, too many conversations to remember, which is a good thing. Somewhere at the end of day 4 I met a girl from Hungary that was working with the hostel, she had spent some time in Iowa and spoke english... She had the cutest little accent and really just caught me off guard. I did not expect it. I really enjoyed talking to her and wish I had more time to talk but she had a boyfriend and was busy as well with school and work. There are so many people... Traveling is such a liberating and opening experience. I am doing my best to be open to most any thing that comes my way as long as it's legal of course (as i have passed on many drugs). When planning this trip I left a lot of time open to just "go with the flow" - of course traveling solo makes this really easy - and that has been very nice. Also, I had some key things I wanted to see in each city which has proven to be very smart - I've stuck by it and those key things have made each city much more historically important for me. The friends before me that have recommended things have been spot on, recommendations have been the best way to stay at hostels or choose what to see.
Day 5 I walked up to the Citadel and had a nice late lunch/early dinner overlooking the city (much like prague) except it was much more commercial and touristy. The atm was broke and everything took cash, so I was a little upset I couldn't go into the bunker. The walk up to the Citadel was really really sweaty - budapest must be more humid than Prague...
This is getting much loner than I had intended. I just have so much to say.
Day 6 I went for another workout and run combo this time through another part of the city. I think I'm getting my days mixed up, I don't know when I went for my workout / run. During my workout though, I spoke with a hungarian. He approached me and needed a spot - he spoke hungarian and I just looked at him in an obvious way like "I don't know what you're talking about." I like to see what they do, when I don't suggest that I'm american, or that I speak english. His next question was "English?" He spoke fluent english and said it was his third language, he went to university and studied latin as his fourth language. He was very smart and from a small part of Hungary. His sister went to germany after university and worked their for a while teaching english and now she lives with him in Pest, working for an american company. They would be moving to Buda, the more expensive side of town soon. While we were talking another guy walked by and had a georgia bulldogs shirt on, I asked him about the tshirt and he said he played basketball there and went on to play in belgium, but finally hurt his knee and came back home. The first hungarian said he has not met many Americans, and he had a lot of questions. He asked about my workouts and continually said this gym was not very nice. I said I worked out in a tent for a year in Iraq and he never mentioned the poor facility again. I told him it was an excellent gym. I think this set him at ease that I wasn't judging his country. The people have really been nice, but I have also been as understanding and humble as possible, I've gotten some really in depth conversations out of the most ordinary people, the people I really wanted to know. What is life like here? How do you view life, and in a roundabout question how do you view america? I would never ask it directly... But I have gotten the most humbling answers.
I try to keep this blog relatively surface information but budapest was really really a deep conversation country. I had some really deep life thoughts here, about what happiness truly is. Budapest challenged some of my thoughts, and in the end it may not have changed me any, but it certainly taught me some things. On Tuesday night (which was day five) I made my way up to the Fishermans Bastion, and it really completed my budapest experience. I had one of my top 5 dinners (in price and in quality/location) and just sat alone taking in more of Budapest as the sun set. I could hear the roar of the city at 6pm as people were probably getting off work, far far below us, yet I could hear every noise made across the restaurant as well... so peaceful and serene. I checked into this restaurant on facebook so I would remember it , I already forgot.
My last full day I spent on a free walking tour of the city. The guide asked a lot of questions which I was able to answer quite a few. I waited for the other 30 people to answer and then kind of guessed, apparently I had learned a bit in my time in budapest. The hungarian had taught me a lot in the short time I talked to him. The walking tour normally encompassed both buda and pest but due to a holiday we could only do the pest side. The bridges and city streets were closed down for race cars. There were planes in the sky doing tricks for some kind of airshow as well. It was really a cool day for a walking tour and I didn't plan it one bit.
After the tour and the history explained about the different occupations of hungary and how their country was destroyed several times by wars they had lost we headed to the Island, one of the last things I had not seen. There we found the island to be a lot bigger than we had imagined, and finding our friends was impossible. We had fun playing some games the two dutch men told us about and had to head home for the pub crawl. The night was to end at a rooftop bar I had really wanted to go to. It was a good night, very low key (I had a plane to catch in the morning). We played some pinball, I challenged the best fuseball player, and then finally after some really neat bars we ended up at the rooftop, justas I had imagined it- one of my favorite places... My favorite place in Savannah was a rooftop bar over the bohemian hotel, and this was no different. Simple, and amazing. Everyone still in Budapest that I had met was there, and oddly enough one of the girls I talked to the most was from Berkelly only 45minutes away from me in Fremont. I met yet another Aussie that was military and he told me more about the Aussie army. Just good people, willing to share experiences and talk. A huge learning experience. Somewhere around 3am as we were sitting on an elevated platform overlooking budapest, I just got up and said "I have to go." It's very difficult to leave budapest, and that's why many people have been there so long... It's a common theme, there are a lot of factors to budapest that just make it almost easier to stay... But I had already missed Denmark due to my Debit card arriving late, and I was not about to miss sweden too... I took one last look at this magical city, said my goodbyes, gave some hugs, and left. I wasn't happy about it but knew it was time.
I headed back to the hostel, (found several drunk friends lost on the way, and took them back to the hostel with me) grabbed my stuff which was prepacked and hopped onto a taxi to see the last site I wanted to see, heros square. I had seen it before but I wanted to see it at night with no one around... As a send off. It was difficult to explain to sommeone who didn't speak english... But we made it there and he didn't charge me extra. I fell asleep several times on the way to the airport but didn't want to... I wanted to remember every second of leaving that city. Every experience was good in budapest, except the few people that tried to rip me off, and I was just so filled with happiness... It was like hockey, to me, the only sport where I could just go all out and never catch up to how fast the game was. Prague and Budapest, were awesome.
The flight out of buda was also awesome. It was super cheap, like rediculously cheap, and i booked a reserved seat. For a discount airline that meant I got the first seat on the plane and extra leg room, for around 10$extra... I landed in sweden hopped on a bus and woke up in stockholm. It seemed like I went from Budapest to Stockholm city center in only minutes. I followed my directions to the airbnb room I booked with a family and stopped by a grocery store on the way. I received excellent service and was given some free pulled pork. The pullled pork was awesome. My first meal in sweden was less than 8$ and I had a lot. I left a tip in hungarian and dubai currency and said I didn't have any local currency yet. He thanked me and said tips are not customary here but took them happily. I checked into the room and met an awesome lady- I explained to her I needed rest she laughed. I showered and passed out for 6 hours. We had made plans for dinner and as I woke up we talked about a lot of things while she cooked, another guest from russia came in and us three had a nice little candle light dinner. It was a Caesar salad by the way - everyone in my family knows how much I like salad... Oh and for the record, I've eaten so many tomatoes - REALLY GOOD tomatoes... I'm expanding my taste buds I guess... Mom you always said it would happen much to my disbelief. We'll see if it sticks, truthfully I think it's just because I'm so hungry I'd eat anything and I'm tired of choosing through foreign languages.
It's way too late and this blog is way too long. Good night from sweden1
No comments:
Post a Comment