HUNGRY IN HUNGARY, BUDAPEST - DAY 17
We took the all night train from Switzerland to Budapest. This was certainly an experience... I’ve never attempted anything like this. Honestly, it was like sleeping on a plane for 11hrs., however, the toilet seemed to have stopped working, and there was only the one for our section of passengers in our cart- We weren't allowed in the first class carriage. I’ve been to remote areas in China and Vietnam before, and I have to admit, their “hole in the ground for a restroom”, was much nicer than this broken toilet filled with urine and...Other things. The water wasn't running either. It was quite a sight trying to have me hover over to use the facilities, use my little bottle of hand sanitizer, use my bottle of water to wet my toothbrush, and then squeegee out a bit of toothpaste, switch back to my bottle of water to rinse, while juggling all of these amenities in between my legs, armpits, and pockets in the midst of the train moving, and praying to every God in existence that the toilet bowl full of grime, (and quite possibly my dinner if I didn't move fast enough), wouldn't slosh so much that it would spill over. Quite the story, but hopefully an avoidable experience for future. I'm just hoping this in't a preview for what's to come while traveling into Eastern Europe for the first time.
I slept most of the train ride, broken up into pieces. Kay was restless and awake for the majority of the trip. It’s unfortunately her turn now to be sick with a cold, due to lack of sleep and travel stress. Sleeping on a train is by no means comfortable if you travel cheap side like us. Your cabin is cold from the whipping winds and winter outside, so you need to sleep in your coat. If there are multiple people sharing a cabin, then you can't stretch out and use the row, you need to sleep sitting up. You wake up at every stop throughout the evening, because the train jerks to a halt, and then you have people bustling in and out with their bags- Sometimes to come in or out of your cabin. The seats aren't put together tightly enough so that if you can stretch out, you have a lot of awkward space separating the seats acting as your "bed". And, on top of that, you need to sleep on your luggage / with your luggage / strapped into your luggage for security. Admittedly, I would've been too afraid to have done this if I traveled solo, but with a friend, it was quite good fun. I'm thrilled to do this in my twenties, because it was a good adventure.
Upon arrival, we changed money, and nearly got ripped off by a cab driver. He wanted to charge $30U.S. to take us a few blocks- We call B.S. and switch cabs. We check in to the nicest hostel we've stayed in thus far...Our money really goes a long way here. After dropping our bags, we went to see The Liberty Bridge, The Chain Bridge, the Danube, the Buda Castle- Now a historical Museum, and Parliament. We’re going back tomorrow for a better look at Parliament and a few other stops on our list. Hungry at this point, we wander into The Great Market Hall for lunch. It was totally packed with people, fully stocked with food of every kind, and included endless rows of small chachki shops, and places to eat. The food everywhere looked so delicious, that it was a welcomed assault on all of our senses. With so many options, we went around the place twice trying to decide what to eat. After having it for the first time in Poland, all I wanted to eat here was goulash soup. We settled for an overpriced bowl of goulash and warm spiced wine.
After this, we walk along the Danube, and cross the Chain Bridge to explore and get a closer look at the Buda Castle, and the Fisherman's Bastion. The overlook to the city at these places were wonderful, but the weather got colder and more bleak. We double back to our hostel to warm up to go out later.
My Hungarian friend Jenny, suggested we go to Szimpla Kert. It used to be a cheap place for the locals to drink, but with the building becoming derelict, they turned it around to become a tourist attraction. We enjoy spending a few hours in our dorm relaxing. We have comfy, warm, real beds with privacy curtains, nice clean showers, lockers, and chargers in our "bed pods". We're staying three days here, so we can stop moving for a bit, and rest. This should be good for Kay's cold. We had considered visiting Lake Balaton because the freezing weather should allow us to walk on the lake itself, but it's not guaranteed that the lake has frozen over, and it's over 73 miles away. Maybe another time in life. Until then, we enjoy some much needed rest.
Night falls, and we grab a gyro for dinner. We head over to Szimpla Kert, and are met with crowds of people. We're disoriented at first- Everywhere you look is different. There's an upstairs, and a downstairs, and each floor has many different rooms that are different themes, with different bars. Everything is decorated along the walls, and the railings, there are different colored lights strewn all over the place, heavy base music thumping at every corner, in the far back they have a massive projector running a film outside on a fake lawn, they have smashed mirrors along the wall, in the far back to the left they have a live band playing, and a full garden upstairs hovering in the air above our heads, at the center. We can barely process it, and run into the bathroom.
We do actually have to use the bathroom, but as sure as we're breathing in second hand smoke, there's a line in the women's stalls. We wait for ages until a couple walks out of one stall together, and makes room for the line to move. We do our thing separately, much faster than they did theirs, and head upstairs for a drink. We only order about two while exploring every room, but it's so crowded we can't even find a spot to kick back and stay a while. We leave early, and hang out in the lobby of our hostel. The fun carries on when we meet and talk with a few guys from France, and they invite us to play a beer game. We quickly learn that this game is as boring as their personalities. The idea of the game is to throw the bottle cap to a beer bottle far away to knock off the bottle cap on the beer bottle. Every time you miss, you sip your drink. Maybe coming from the States, I was expecting something a little more..."Lively", but for the most part, this game was putting us to sleep. Kay and I head back out to another bar, grab a drink and call it a night.
More tomorrow!
-eM
Xoxoxox
