BUDA + PEST

And the Budapest adventure begins...

(This is the street I stayed on. utca is pronounced (ooht-zuh) and when my scary lunatic of a cab driver dropped me off here I was very afraid. It's dark and I thought "Humm, maybe this traveling alone thing was not such a great idea..." but once I got inside all was well again with the world.

This is the courtyard of my hostel as the snow starts coming down + pretty much never stops all weekend

Friday night I stayed in because I arrived so late at night. Didn't feel like it would be a very good idea to go out alone into the darkness of Budapest without any info. on the town or any friends.

That night I met the guys who were staying in my hostel though and they (minus the weird and very drunk Canadian) were amazing guys. I stayed up talking to my new Danish buddies (people from Denmark for you geographically challenged) until like 4am.

Here you will find all the random bottles of beer that were consumed my first and second nights in Budapest by none other than "The Canadian". He kept asking Dora, our hostel lady how to say the name of the beer. He kept yelling ARANY ASZOK but in a bad Hungarian accent...ugh (didn't like him, can you tell???)

The next morning Mark (danish guy#1) and I went walking around the city as we waited for the other boys to awake from their beauty sleep. What is the first thing we encounter? Some random guy on the street trying to sell us a turn on the row boat in the middle of Budapest. Of course you KNOW I didn't pay a homeless man for something that was certainly free and Mark took this lovely photo above....

We continued walking around and stumbled upon...you guessed it!! a church. Eastern, Western...all of Europe is full of them (beautiful though ¿no?) This particular one is St. Elizabeth's Church (shout out to my grandma)

As you all might have noticed, I'm really enjoying the artwork/graffiti around Europe. This was done by a "gypsy" as they tagged it Gypsy something or other...

Finally the boys were ready to go out but we did absolutely nothing HUNGARIAN all day...until night came around. We were so cold because it was snowing so much that we went to the mall (initiated by the guys NOT ME!) and we sat there for awhile. We then moved on to another place to go have a drink to warm us up. My tea tasted like poo, and their hot chocolate was made with water so...you can imagine...
While we were sitting there bored out of our minds, trying to thaw out a guy came in bringing teddy bears around to the tables. I have seen this done in 0ther countries so I knew that he was saying he was deaf and wanted to sell these little bears for money. Mark reads the card aloud and it says...I'm dumb and deaf. I thought it was so sad that it said he was dumb but it was true because you're dumb if you think in a bar people want stuffed animals. The Danish chaps suggested selling ciggarettes and I think that might not be a bad idea. I mean obviously I think it's a horrible idea because I HATE ciggarettes but...he might actually make a buck.

We continued on the non-Hungarian path we started out on that day and went for sushi at Wasabi which is a pretty good sushi restaurant in Budapest. We ran into the hostel chica, Dora there. She was surprised to see us there since she did NOT recommend us going to the same place she planned on going to but anywho...we had a great time trying to pull down the good stuff off of the belt...

One of the highlights of the trip was the night spent at the Baths. The Hungarian baths which are really traditionally Turkish baths were AMAZING and are very much a part of the culture of Hungary. The bath that we went to is called RUDAS. It is open on the weekends from 10pm to 4am. We stayed until 330am. I got a massage and bath hopped all night.


Day two, without my Danish boys I headed out to explore the city all on my own. Of course it had to snow piles of snow on my head all day and night but I really enjoyed it, and actually didn't get lost even once!

Green Friar's Square in downtown area near Váci Street (pronounced Vat-see)

I know I was bragging about not getting lost, my trusty map and these lovely street signs helped to point me in the right direction (pay no attention to Fashion Street) You know I'd NEVER go down that street .)


Walking along the Danube for miles and miles in the snow...freezing to death :)
I seriously walked and "toured" for 11 hours on Sunday...

This is a picture of a statue of a lady I'm guessing is important who sits at the top of the mountain where Buda Castle Quarter is in Buda. The reason I said Buda and not Budapest is because until November of 1873, Buda and Pest were two different cities. In 1873 the two cities on opposite sides of the Danube merged and became one but, the layout of the land on each side is very different. The Buda side is really hilly and mountanous and Pest is really flat. To get back and forth you just take the tram or a bus across one of the many bridges to get to either the Buda or the Pest side.

After taking a trolly to Buda I got off and walked up the really steep hills to get to the Citadell and ended up coming down near a church that was built into the side of the mountain. It's called the Cave Church.

When I first walked over to the church the guy selling forralt-bor (hot wine) asked me if I wanted some and I didn't want to get ripped off or NEED any hot wine, I thought, "I'll be fine! I can't take the cold old man. I don't need your wine!" Well...after more and more walking I ended up back...you know where...talking to my Hungarian wine-selling friend, drinking hot wine. Most importantly I was holding something warm in my gloveless hands which made me very happy and helped me thaw out a bit.


Taking pictures of the Pest side from Buda...


This picture is here not because I thought this was the hottest car I saw in Budapest but because it's very exemplary of the character of Budapest. It seems to me to be a city that could be really beautiful but feels so outdated. All the paint on the really pretty buildings is outdated. I wish I could power-wash Budapest and it would be fabulous! (I still liked it though)

My first Hungarian meal was AMAZING so of course I took pictures for you all to be jealous of...
I went to a traditional restaurant which was really beautiful inside. It looked kind of like a medieval church inside and I dined with St. Thomas above my head in stained glass, again, weird but cool...

First plate, gulyás actually pronounced goo-yash or as we would say Goulash. (really great stew made of beef, potatoes, carrots, onions and of course paprika powder which is a really important ingredient in Hungarian cooking.

It was realllllly great, especially since I could barely feel my hands by the time it was lunchtime.

Second dish and main dish was paprika chicken (the reason why my entire plate is orange). Underneath of the chicken is a Hungarian style gnoochi. It's was pretty amazing as well...

Next up was a delicious chocolate covered crêpe. It was really good and fluffy on the inside.

Next up was the Christmas Fair that started the Friday that I arrived. I was so happy that I picked the weekend I did to go to Budapest because it was their first snow and the beginning of the Christmas festivities. It was one big open-air market where you could go to get traditional foods, traditional Hungarian arts and crafts and of course decorations for Christmas.It was one of my favorite parts of the time I spent in Budapest.

Here are some guys who were spinning dough on these hot coals which made this amazing bread that was flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, and various nuts.

Here's your favorite fat girl who couldn't help but buy one and come back and devour it in my room.

I took SO many pictures of the folklore dancing but I figured you only needed to get the gist. I really really enjoyed the concert they put on in the middle of the Christmas Fair. Different groups came out and performed; young, old, men, women...really nice

St. Stephen's Basilica

After I left the Christmas Fair the FIRST day that I went to it because, I definitely went three times in 3 days of being there, I went to St. Stephen's Basilica. My camera sometimes gives me a hard time at night but I thought this picture completely explained the night...snow out of control...and beauty.

In front of the plaza looking out from St. Stephen's

Okay so...it was finally dinner time and I couldn't wait to eat more good Hungarian food. I made my way back to my hostel to look up some other good traditional Hungarian food and to thaw out for an hour and found two restaraurants that were near Hősök tere and since I hadn't been that way yet I thought it'd be great to eat there.

The restaurant was supposedly right outside of the metro station...but of course it really wasn't. It turns out that I never found a restaurant and walked for a good 2 hours...I did however find really amazing sights in Budapest...

The street that takes you to Hősök tere was designed by the same designers of the Champs Elysées and is pretty much a mini version of that street. I walked down this street several times that night trying to find SOMETHING that resembled food but was quite unsuccessful. This street seems like Embassy Row in D.C.; there were lots of beautiful homes lining the street.

I really liked this picture a lot...some of the heroes of Hungarian history

Vajdahunyad Castle -- really beautiful night. Right off of Hősök tere which means Heroes Square, where people were out ice skating all night long...

Monday - Last day in Budapest:


I am telling you no lies...I saw more Burger King's in Budapest than I've ever seen in my ENTIRE 28 years of life in the U.S. in one city. It was so ridiculous that I thought it merited a photo.

More beauty in Budapest...

The highlight of my last day in Budapest was the Invisible Exhibition that I stumbled upon when I was creating my trip itinerary. It was pretty crazy and amazing at the same time. I almost missed it because it was in some random location that I almost couldn't see...(how ironic). Well when I got there I was greeted by a blind girl who was going to lead me and 4 others through a day in the life of a blind person. It was literally the blind leading the blind because when we started through the "tour" we couldn't see ANYTHING. There are seven rooms that you go through which are set up as different scenes. A forest, construction site, a park, a kitchen, a living room/café, garage and a cabin. It was incredible to have your eyes completely open and see absolutely NOTHING. I couldn't believe it. I didn't know any of the other people and we were holding on to each other for dear life, and were trying to help each other not stumble down stairs, or wander into dangerous contruction sites. We had to feel our way through everything, listen to noises, and use pretty much every other sense to not hurt ourselves and SEE what was happening around us. Once we got to the end of the experience we were told we could purchase soft drinks or snacks...that'd be GREAT if we weren't in the pitch dark. I was so ready for a nice cold Coke until I realized that I couldn't see my money to give it to her and had a mix of € and Forint in my purse...it was just one more thing to remind me how blessed I am that I have my sight. It was really a great experience. If it ever comes to your area...check it out.


Next up, less deep...MORE FOOD!!

The last supper in Budapest -- Of course I went back to the Christmas fair to get my farewell lunch. It was a ginormous sausage with bread and mustard and it hit the spot!

This is me in the hostel, in my bunk bed after I repacked my bag successfully stuffing Hungarian pastries and trinkets in there. The goal of this photo was to look like an accomplished international traveler :) ...¿successful, yes?

Viszontlátásra
Good-bye