Well, sorry it’s been so long. I have been a bit overwhelmed with the end of my school semester and the constant travel. I plan on doing three of these recap posts to account for the trips I’ve taken over the course of the past three weekends – to Budapest, Switzerland, and Lisbon. But first, I want to share some pictures I took from our trip to Parc Guell, right before we left for Budapest. This was a really pretty day trip my friends and I took.
Then, on Friday, March 3, Dan, Karthik, and I left for our trip to Budapest, Hungary. The first night we got there, we went out to get a quick bite to eat before calling it a night. We went to a cool, Americanized chicken place. I was starving and had been eagerly awaiting the low prices in Budapest. So, I splurged and bought two chicken sandwiches and some tenders with their secret spicy sauce. It was delicious! This was also my first experience trying to communicate with someone in Hungarian. It was very challenging trying to read or understand any of the Hungarian writing. While we were there, we learned that Hungarian is one of the hardest languages for English speakers to wrap their heads around. Fascinating! The next morning, we got brunch. I got tasty chicken and waffles with Pomegranate. I also told our waitress it was Dan’s birthday and we got free cookies! We headed out to meet up with our friend, Elan, who is studying in Rome and who was also visiting Budapest this weekend. We walked around the city with Elan for a while and explored some of the beautiful Architecture the city had to offer. Here are some pictures from the first day of exploring:
Later that day we went to the famous Budapest Thermal Baths. The baths were cool – basically just a giant hot tub. Fun place to take pictures though. There were several baths throughout the facility but two main ones outside. We only went in the two outdoor baths; One of which had a really funny little mini lazy river encircling a little central hot tub with benches. We got some pretty great pics here too. I’ll explain some of them as they may need an explanation. The ones with my friends and I are pretty self-explanatory I suppose. And, the one with my feet in the air is basically just me doing a handstand. The one with the water spraying everywhere was when Karthik went on my shoulders and we took a picture while walking through the central fountain. But lastly, the one where my legs are wrapped around my friend Dan may justify an explanation. Basically, all across the pool, there were couples who were either very intimately intertwined or actively kissing. Many of whom were having their pictures taken for Instagram or whatever. So, after a couple moved away from this spot, Dan and I decided to recreate the pictures they had just been taking.
That night, we went with Elan to a really cool traditional Hungarian restaurant. I got some kind of meat plate with french fries. We also got some tasty locally brewed Hungarian beer! It was really good and I’m really glad we got to experience authentic Hungarian food while we were here.
Swiftly after finishing our meal, we hurried over to the nearby dock where we would be getting on the boat that would be taking us on our booze cruise! The cruise was really fun and a great way to see the illuminated buildings in the city. We cruised across the Danube river, admiring both Buda and Pest. On the cruise, we learned that Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, is divided by the Danube river into two parts: Buda and Pest (pronounced Pescht). Buda is the hilly, western part of the city located on the right of the Danube. Many of the tourist attractions are located in Buda (including Buda Castle and the thermal baths). Pest on the other hand is the flat, eastern part of the city, which we learned is wealthier and more residential. The two were originally separate cities but were merged due to rapid urbanization during the 19th century and due to their close geographic proximity. Here are some pictures from our cruise.
The next day, we did some more exploring. We visited the Hungarian Parliament building (located in Kossuth Square) and Buda Castle. Here are some of those pics.
Then, after our exploring, we got dinner at a hummus bar and then went on a pub crawl with our hostel. The clubs in Budapest reminded me of Barcelona where every room you walk into was a different crowd with different music playing. And in Budapest, this was on a different level. The pubs we went to were called the “ruins bars.” These bars are all old abandoned buildings from World War 2 that were converted into bars during the early 2000s. Lots of fun but after all of our fun it was time to get some rest and get ready for our flight home the next day. Here are a few extra pictures from different times throughout the trip.
