The drive from Prague to Budapest was a long one to be sure, but I dug the countryside and scenery we had on the way. We passed a load of really cool old school communist-style buildings that would tower over all the vegetation surrounding them, and seem to be in the middle of nowhere. We also stopped in the capital of Slovakia: Bratislava. We were only there for about an hour, but that makes another country that I can claim I have been to, since I at least made it out of the transport hub!
I got into Budapest in the evening, and found myself confronted with yet another public transport regime. I found my way with the aid of a screenshotted google maps to the hostel, which was pretty close to the center of the city. I got in pretty late after most people had left the hostel to go out for the night. One of the staff at Carpe Noctem hostel offered to show me where the others had gone, but I opted to stay in and get some rest after the 10 hour bus ride.
The next day I set out on another massive walking tour to get acquainted with the city. I made it to the famous Heroes Square, which is backed by the Szigeny Baths in a large park. The baths are really well known in Budapest, because they have been there for ages, are really quite cool, and were originally heated by hotsprings in the area. In the early afternoon I ended up meeting with some people in the hostel, Ed and Woody, who were headed back to the baths, and were kind enough to let me join them. I handled about 20 minutes in a 70C sauna before opting to stay in the much more comfortable outdoor pools.
Back at the Hostel a bunch of us chipped in to make a giant meal of Gypsy Goulash, which was the perfect amount of spicy, and really quite delicious. Also, like everything else in Budapest, it was dirt cheap. Earlier in the morning I managed to get a 20,000 note from the ATM! Ballin’! After dinner we did some bar hopping before heading out in a massive group of travelers to an outdoor club that resembled a festival, with multiple stages and bands, food stands, and more. We got to hear some Hungarian pop music, which was interesting, but spent most of our time being obnoxious tourists. We headed back into town where I got my fix of the now-standard Turkish Doener, which in most ways parallels the cheap burrito stands near bars in California.
The next day a Scottish girl and I rented some bicycles to get around the city and see some really nice old buildings. We managed to climb the towers of the inside of the Basilica, a huge church near the center of the city, which afforded some nice 360-degree views. We also made it to a huge island-park located in the middle of the river that splits Buda and Pest (which were originally different cities). The park is really nice, and almost unfathomably huge. The entire thing is developed, not like a natural wild park, but is seriously huge. Apparently the island is host to one of the world’s largest music festival every year.
I had a late night getting some work done on various projects. Writing blog posts, and assissting with Ninja Neishon. The next day I woke up pretty late, but managed to see some more of the Buda side of the city, which before then I had only really looked at across the river. That night the hostel packed up and went to a karaoke night where, after an appropriate amount of peer pressure, I managed to belt out some R. Kelly and Aerosmith. I met a lot of chill people, and one that made the biggest impression was a lawyer from New York that I ended up hanging out with for most of the night named J.R. Like many other people I have met on my travels, we exchanged contact information, leaving all of us wondering if they will ever be employed.
I had arranged another mitfahr (carpool) to Vienna for the next morning, so I made sure to get some sleep before having to manage the public transport to the outskirts of the city where I would meet my ride.