The train to Budapest was a nice ride through farmland dotted with modest stone and brick homes, fields of corn and tomatoes, and an occasional river. Keleti Train Station was big, noisy, and busy. The metro system was confusing since the name of our stop had been changed and the hostel had not updated their online directions. We found the place after several transfers and a fair amount of walking. Rastel Hostel was a kickback place over a Ruin Pub (WW2 bombed buildings turned into pubs with no cover charge-at least 15 in Budapest) and the staff all had dreads and listened to non-stop Bob Marley. I suspect that they might smoke cannabis.

We took a free city walking tour the next morning with about 150 other people. The guides were exceptional in their knowledge of Hungarian history. Hungarians, we were surprised to learn, are a mixture of Mongolian and several Slavic nationalities. It proved to be one of the best walking tours ever! We started on the Pest side and ended on the Buda side. It took almost three hours and covered the major sites such as St. Stephen's Basilica, the White House, Parliament Building, Castle Hill, Danube Promenade, Gresham Palace, Gellert Hill, Hero's Square and the Statue of Liberty, Andrassy Opera House, and Matthias Church.

We quickly discovered that Budapest is expensive! The local food, especially the Toltott Kaposzta (stuffed cabbage with pork), looked and smelled lovely but was way out of our price range so we subsisted on kebabs (Hungarian version), homemade salami sandwiches, fruit, yogurt, soup, and McDonald's (ugh!) We heard there were cheaper local eats around the city but we never found them unfortunately. We also discovered the many secondhand clothing shops called "cream", easily recognized by the Union Jack in the window. The deals were amazing and soon we were tossing our old rags at an alarming rate and replacing them with new old rags! Our packs were stuffed full of new finds at dirt cheap prices!

The beautiful architecture in Budapest kept us occupied for the remainder of our stay as nearly every building is photo-worthy. We were amazed by the Gothic, Neo-Baroque, and Rococo styles. There was also a sprinkling of East Bloc as well - not so amazing.

We were set to take a thermal bath at one of several bath sites but were rained out. It was disappointing as thermal baths (warm pools, Jacuzzi, cold showers, cold pools, saunas, steam baths, massages, all included in the price) were one of the few reasonably priced activities in Budapest.

We checked out City Park and Central Market which sold the usual tourist stuff, spices (especially paprika), vegetables, meat (the butchers were a lively group who danced behind their counters to 80's hits and waved huge sausages at us as we passed), and pastries. I really wanted to buy some famous Hungarian paprika as a gift but couldn't think of anyone I knew who would use it in such large quantities!

Stayed an extra day to guarantee that we had hit all the major sites and in the hope that the weather would clear up so we could hit the thermal baths. No such luck. We would have stayed much longer in Budapest if it hadn't been such a budget buster. It's definitely one of the most beautiful cities I've seen so far. Another time I suppose. We caught the night train for Brasov, Romania.