Spring Break: Budapest

February 26

We didn't have a 6am flight like everybody else, hallelujah, so we slept in, ate some breakfast, then headed for the airport around noon. Our first flight was to Dusseldorf and it felt like forever, then we had a short layover there and onto Budapest we went. Both times I had the entire row of seats to myself, which was glorious. Our friends, Logan, Brielle, and Emily were flying out of Barcelona and straight into Budapest and we ended up flying in around the same time, so we met up at the airport in Budapest. We exchanged some currency, and then shared a cab to the hostel we were all staying at. We got in and settled to the hostel around 9 and we headed out for a quick dinner. The dinner was Hungarian food, buffet style. It was 5 euros for all you can eat, so we decided it was a steal. The food wasn't the best quality, but it gave us a chance to experience different types of Hungarian food, kind of like tapas.

Step count: 10,000

February 27

The plan was to start the morning, 6am, at the hot springs. Jacqueline, Emily, and Lia all brought their bathing suits...I didn't. I was going to wake up with them, and I did, but after a quick researching session, I realized I couldn't go into the Szechenyi Bathhouse with them, so I went back to sleep. They got back in around 9:45 and after our free breakfast (toast and jam) we went for a free walking tour around Budapest. It was a 3 hour walking tour and they gave us a little bit of history on Budapest. Buda and Pest are actually two different cities and Pest is pronounced "pesh," not "pest." After the tour we went to lunch and then we got Kürtőskalács, which I call "the twisty thing." Kürtőskalács are a dough rolled around a cylinder, baked and then rolled in cinnamon and sugar topping. We had one of these in Berlin during fall break, and once we realized they were well known throughout Hungary and the Czech Republic we were stoked. 

On our walk back to the hostel, in the afternoon, we came across a bookstore. Jacqueline has to get a book form every country we visit, so we went into a few and she came out with a book. We went back to the hostel so they could nap, or at least, rest, then we walked towards the Jewish Quarter for dinner. Dinner ended up being dessert with hot chocolate, which was fine for me, but after dessert we tried to find a club called Szimpla It is one of the best known clubs in Budapest, but for whatever reason we couldn't find it and we were exhausted so after an hour of searching we went back to the hostel.

Step count: 23,381

February 28

We finally found Szimpla, after we had a good nights rest. The night club also hosts a market on Sundays, so that's where we started our day. It's really large and has an upper and lower portion, as well as an outside patio. The place is covered in graffiti and very strange piece of artwork. Walking from the outside portion in smelled like the coleslaw truck from the festival. It was definitely nostalgic. We walked around and came across the largest synagogue in Europe. It was freezing, so we sat in for some coffee (hot chocolate) before exploring some more. 

Emily, Jacqueline, myself and Lia all climbed up to the top of Lady Liberty on the Pest side of Budapest. There were tons of stairs, and it felt like climbing to the top of Montmarte in Paris. The view was well worth the trek. We stopped for a quick lunch after the climb and then walked around a bit. We came across the Parliament building and we walked onto the island that sits between Buda and Pest. We took photos around the island and Jacqueline and Emily had a brilliant idea to climb a tree, although not a very large one, but this lead to some problems. The two of them got up easily, but then Lia wanted to join. Lia then goes and tries to jump up to them, while they try to grab her and she's laughing so hard and her bladder is so full that she pees herself. I got it on video and we have many photos. We won't ever let her live it down, and it wasn't just a little, it was a lot. Then we had to go back to the hostel so she could change and once she was finished we headed back out.

We walked to Hero's Gate and we watched people ice skating. This was the last day for the ice rink to be open, so there were hundrereds of people there. We happened to sit down and be on the side where the expereinced skaters were...after 10 minutes or so we realized they were playing sharks and minnows (basically tag) on skates. It was mind blowing. We walked around the castle, which was cool because it was dark and it was kind of eerie, then we went for some Hungarian dinner. I had to go all out on dinner because I had 5,000 of their currency left to spend. I got homemade strawberry lemonade (lemonade is a big thing over here, apparently), goulash soup, and chicken paprikash. It tasted like home.

Step count: 32,241

February 29

We "slept in" on Monday, but there were these sirens that went off 5 or 6 times before 8 am so I was wide awake by then. We ate breakfast around 9 and then started walking the 3 miles to the bus station. The station was on the outskirts, of the outskirts of the city, but we didn't want to have to pay for a taxi, so we just sucked it up. We had the station in our sights when it started to rain, so we really just missed it, which was great for us. Off to Austria we went.