Budapest has been lovely thus far. Upon arrival, Megan and I took a nap at our really awesome hostel. It's run by a bunch of Hungarian Hippies, and they practice yoga in the Zen room. Unfortunately for the rest of the hostel (a mixed-dorm room of 8), I asked this couple (who weren't sleeping in beds by each other) if they wanted to switch beds so they could sleep by each other and Megan and I could sleep next to each other as well. Well, they took the "room" that has some "privacy", (a big curtain around the beds) and they have not stopped making out since. Oh, did I mention that the guy is probably like 45 and the chick about 30? We are in a YOUTH hostel... It took all I had not to cough under my breath "get a room" to them. But, I am in the hippie hostel where you love all and I'm trying to abide by the 10 Indian Commandments they have posted on the wall for the duration of my stay.
Aside from that, Budapest (and our hostel) have been really nice. Budapest is really cheap, which is nice at the end of the trip. Today I bought "Gucci" perfume for like $15 at the Chinese Market, which a HUGE and really dirty market run by (obviously) Chinese people that sell really really cheap stolen or knock off goods. Megan and I also toured the Ethnography Museum, the Opera House, St. Stephen's Basilica, Parliament, and then took a nighttime boat cruise down the Danube River.
In order to tour Parliament, you have to ask the guard permission to enter to buy your ticket. We were given permission, and entered the grounds where we bought our ticket. The lady at the ticket window gave us no further instructions on where to go or what time the tour started, so we left left the ticket office the same way we came in and proceeded around the courtyard. We were headed toward the main stairway when the guard yelled at us and chased after us. He informed us that the entrance we were attempting to use was only for "Presidents and Royalty like Queens and Kings" and declined our entry up the grand stairway. We laughed at our mistake and he pointed us to the gate where we needed to wait for our turn to enter. I asked him "You don't think we look like royalty?" but I don't think he was amused or he didn't understand me. :) Actually, he was quite nice for a guard, possibly the nicest guard I've ever met (excluding the "dos besos" guard from the Royal Palace in Madrid).
Tomorrow's plans include a visit to the Royal Palace, Buda Castle, the Central Market, City Park and the Statue Park (A park with all of the communist statues). After all of that touring we're going to hit up Gellert Spa for some therapeutic Turkish baths.
Another funny story - we have become immune to almost all languages since being in Europe so far. So as we walk down the street we've started to play a game we made up called "Name that Language". The best part is there's no one there to tell you if we're right or wrong, and since we don't speak the languages, we're always right!
Also, we've been practicing our "mean face" since Slovenia. People in Eastern Europe have scowls on the face almost always. We've been practicing ours to try and fit in with the locals better. However, I'm not very good at it and usually end up laughing instead of frowning with the furrowed brow, which makes me stand out even more. It's not that they people here are mean, they just don't look happy.
Tomorrow's going to be a long day, so I best be going!
1 comment:
You are the coolest person I know, going to all these places and writing all of us shmucks at home so we get a bit of excitement and feel like a world traveler too! The language game is cute and the mean face thing is hilarious. I developed a nice mental pic of your attempts at mean faces while reading that part. Thanks for that. I'm seriously missing you right now, my steamboat days accomplice. No one ever wants to go earlier enough for the music for some reason!! Everyone has been drinking until 9 or 10 and then going down, makes me mad. I know you would go with me if you were here. OOOh well, keep having fun and maybe I'll get to see you someday.
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