Alright, so im not really in Budapest, i'm in Vienna, but since this entry covers my time in Budapest i thought it would be more appropriate to label it as such.

Budapest

My last morning in Zagreb i hopped on the 6 hour train to Budapest at 10am. It was nice because the train had compartments with curtains and reclining seats and i had it to myself the entire trip. i slept most of the time and it went by quite quickly.

I got into Budapest around 5:00, an hour later than i was supposed to thanks to the sublimely slow train. Again, i had no problem getting to my hostel but it was very far from the train station, about a 20minute trip, on the Buda side, and far from all the sites. The hostel was the best i have ever staying in though, in terms of atmosphere, rooms, amenities, the GaRdEn and price. it was only around 12 euro a night, i didnt have to sleep in a bunk and shared the room with only two other people because its low season. The garden was the best part of the hostel. it had a yurt that you could sleep in with four hammocks and a mattress. there were three more hammocks outside, a rugged sitting area under a wooden awning, and a similar sitting area, adorned with pillows on the side of the hostel, accessed from the kitchen door or the tv room window. it had a very hippy feel to it and each room was themed. there is a bob marley room but i didnt get to see it, jungle room, fish room, ganesha room, love shack room and a couple others. i dont remember what mine was called but it had an awesome trippy jungle painting covering one wall and half the ceiling. oh, and my room also had a balcony. AND there was a hookah with shisha and a guitar.

My first night i went out to dinner with a couple American guys who were staying in the hostel, we came back and smoked a hookah and then Blake, the Aussie who works at the hostel, took us out to a couple clubs. the first one we were supposed to go to is called K2 and they were having a techno party so we went there but i guess 1:30 was too early so Blake suggested we go drink somewhere else and go back at 3:00. we wound up going to a dancehall/reggae club for a couple hours and then returning to K2 only to find it was still relatively empty. we went in anyway though and spend the night dancing, drinking and buying party favors from the wonderful little man in the wonderful little window. it was an enlightening night, to say the least, we walked home at dawn and i crawled into bed at 6am.

luckily i woke up at 10am, earlier than i expected and was out by 11. I had a basic plan of what i wanted to do, which began with exploring the Cittadel and palace on the Buda side. i (one again) climbed about a million stairs up to the cittadel and was rewarded with breathtaking views of the entire city. the building was adorned with statues of angels, the one at the very top triumphantly holding a huge feather above her head, one in a fast motion running pose, and the third wrestling with a mythical creature. After the Cittadel i walked down the opposite side of the hill and made my way over to the palace. the palace was wonderful, it was free to go in and explore and there were many beautiful views along many wide cobblestoned walkways. i understand there are catacombs below the palace as well but sadly i was unaware of that at the time and didnt get a chance to go.

my next mission after the castle/palace was to go to Andrassy street on the Pest side. This is the street where many of the major sites are on, including the opera house and heroes square, with Szt. Istvan Basillica not quite on the street but at the entrance to it. I was very hungery when i got there so after checking out the basillica and opera house i made my way to a book recommended restaraunt nearby. i got mushroom goulash and a sausage and it was AMAZING. the put paprika in everything there so it was a paprika based, very thick soup and there was even a paprika shaker on the table. it was wonderfully cheap and filling and i wish i had a chance to go a second time. after eating i made my way over to the house of terror, which used to be the headquarters of the Budapest secret police of the nazi and communist governments. it is now a harrowing museum, chronicalling the history of Budapest both during and after the war in direct relation to their involvement with the nazi party. the basement still contains the old holding and execution cells of the secret police. it is a very powerful museum and i only had an hour in it, which was not nearly enough. it was certainly one of the most powerful museums ive ever been in and was full of information not really found elsewhere. the fact that it is in the same building is particularly disturbing during a visit.

After the museum i walked to heros square and the park but it was getting dark so i went back to the hostel not long after i got there. Back at the hostel, i first took a nap in a hammock and then hung out with the many new people who checked in that day. we went out around 12:00am to three bars. the first was a very nice outside bar with couches, the second was in an old car garage and was full of all sorts of young people breaking it down to prodigy and the like, and the third was on the roof of a grocery store. i think i liked the car garage one the best, because of its grungy atmosphere and graffitied walls. we left around 4am to get langos, a traditional heart attack snack of Budapest. its fried dough with a variety of topping options. we got bolognese, cheese and sour cream and then realized we didnt feel that well. got to bed at 5 this time, much better i think! it was a wonderful, interesting group of people and i had a lot of fun.

The next morning i really wanted to go to the baths so i looked around the hostel for people to go with. i found Jo, a really nice english girl, also travellng alone and Andreas (not sure where he's from) and we went out together. we first went to the Synogague, its the largest in Europe, and explored that as well as the museum and holocause memorial they have there. the Synogague is absolutely breathtaking, i have never seen anything like it, and am not sure i ever will again (except when i return of course). it was like all those big impressive churches in Europe, except this one was a synogague! there was so much beauty and attention to detail, im sure i could have spent all day there and still wouldnt have been able to take it all in. the museum was equally amazing, containing hundreds of old jewish objects from menorahs to sedar plates to siddur books. it was a beautiful and very special collection. the tour ended with a small dedication and history room about the effects of the holocause on hungarian jews. there was also a rather strange art exhibit upstairs... im not sure why it was there but it had a general sketon theme and we think it had to do with war. there was a mannequin leaning over a kitchen counter with a knife in its back, a skeleton with one of those huge microphones, and a fake stuffed lion.

Andreas decided not to go to the baths after all but Jo and i took the metro straight to the front door of the Szechenzyi bathhouse. this is the most recent one, having only been built in 1913, but the largest and most popular with locals. its very confusing because everything is in hungarian and the whole place is like a giant maze but we eventually figured out where our lockers were, got into our bathing suites and slipped into the first bath we could find. let me just tell you that this turned into the best day of my trip from the moment i got in the water. in the first room alone there were three different baths of various sizes, boarded by tall red pillars. each bath was a different temperature, we chose the moderate one, but had tried every temp by the end of the day. the baths are fed from underground mineral springs so its very cleansing and relaxing. in fact, many hungarians have prescriptions to go to the baths for various ailments and their national health plan includes visits. after we enjoyed the first three baths we found a sauna and attempted to sit in it but (we later found out) it was the hottest one there - 60-80degrees celcius, and we could only manage a couple minutes. we later found out that all the various saunas sprinkled throughout the bathhouse had different temperature ranges. our favorite by far, and everyone elses apparently, were the underground, larger saunas. when you walk in the sauna is to the right, in front of you is an ice pool, and to the left is an ornate bowl of ice that is consistantly being filled from a chute. you go in the sauna, which is a reasonable sauna temperature, sweat it out, then either jump in the pool or rub yourself down with ice. it was fantastic. outside there are three larger pools, one warm one, with waterfalls and checkers boards surrounded by jolly hungarian men, a middle, normal temperature lap pool and then a warm "fun" pool at the end. the last pool had two inner circles, one with a jet that would push you around the circle (very fun) and a middle smaller circle to sit in. there were also jets that would periodically shoot up from the floor and each was occupied by a person enjoying their vertical massage. outside there were tons of people sunbathing on the concrete. the entire place is very grand, adorned with white statues, high dome ceilings (inside), high walls (outside) and tons of towers. even if it isnt one of the original baths, it was still such a fun, relaxing, different kind of place. it was most defanitely the best, most unique day of my trip.

i will finish writing about Budapest tomorrow, i have to finish uploading pictures before my computer time runs out!!