We got into Budapest around 8pm and were now on the treck to find our hostel. No problem; we were on track. Checked in and then what? We met a couple of guys in the hostel who invited us with some other friends to a jazz fest. Cool, why not? So off we go and turns out it wasn’t so much a jazz event, but a club underneath a pool and everyone just kinda chills on the grass. I’m not painting the greatest picture, but just picture a huge lawn, a pool in the middle and everyone drinking and hanging out. We met some more friends, such as Amy from the USA whom you will hear more about later.
We pretty much spent the night there which suited us just fine, it was relaxing, a gorgeous night out and well, drinking on the lawn in the middle of Budapest seemed a very natural thing to do. Wonderful.
The next morning I awoke to a pretty cool day; cough cough, my birthday. I was pretty excited that I was going to be able to spend it in Budapest and we had planned a ton of cool stuff, so off we went early. We searched for a breakfast joint, but unless you are feeling a kebab for breakfast there wasn’t a whole hell of a lot. We found a subway which offered pretty sweet breakfast. This is where Petey presented me with the amazing gift that was my jagger suspenders. Green overall suspenders with place for 3 shots on either side. AMAZING. These would be put to good use that night. I was also put in charge of the beer goggles (the ones we got Petey for her birthday) and we knew the day would be interesting to say the least.
Our walking tour started at 11 with a cute girl named Suzie who was excited and super stoaked to take us everywhere. It was 2.5 hours on apparently the hottest day of the summer in Budapest. Ha. We would pick that day to do our walking tours. So the first one took us around the city showing us the river, the sites, and it was actually really interesting learning about Hungarian culture. We saw the Budapest Castle and learned the differences between the Buda and the Pest side and how over time they came together. Luckily, Budapest is filled to the brim with water so there are free taps all over the place and in fountains which was pretty sweet. Cheaper yes, but nice, fresh, clean cold water. Refreshing to say the least. Our tour ended around 1:30 and we had opted to do the second free tour again at 3:30. Why not right? Mine as well get the most out of the day. The tour had ended in front of the Fisherman’s Bastion (which the Disney castles are based after by the way) and the tour guide invited us to join her for lunch at a local cantine she liked. She said it was cheap and the best Hungarian food; we were in. Slash we were starving. Turns out we would never have found it without her, but it was really cool inside. I opted for the sausage with tomato sauce and pasta. Although the pasta was more like rice, it was delicious. Hot food on a hot day wasn’t the most cooling idea, however, really neat just the same.
We had a couple hours to kill and in this time did a little shopping, walking around the squares and I treated myself to a little birthday present as well: my red blazer.
Time for the second walking tour and this time it was called the Jewish Community Tour & Pubs. Brilliant. We are getting the introduction when our friend Amy comes over. She joined us for the tour too which was perfect. So we get going and were able to see the four synagogues and even enter one. It was so interesting to see the Jewish district and the contrast between the architecture before and after the time of Hitler. Really cool area though. She recommended us a kosher pizza place which smelled like heaven and we had taken a couple breaks at local pubs which were all make-shift and artsy. I loved the look of them. They used beer crates for seats, they had art all over the walls and they were primarily all run down, abandoned buildings. Really, really neat spots. We ended at a place called Szimpla; another artsy local pub and this was the place we had agreed to come to later that night for my birthday festivities.
After the tour, Petey and I went back to the kosher pizza joint for dinner and baby was it ever good. Wow. Hand made by such an old woman in the back, Hungarian to the core, but the smallest little joint. There were two wooden tables and about 6 chairs. Small is an understatement. But when that pizza came out, it was well worth the wait. We had ordered one pizza with onions and tomatoes and the other with mushrooms. Yumm.
We had just enough time to kill before meeting Amy at Szimpla at 9, so we headed back to town, got ourselves some souvenirs and then dropped our stuff back off at the hostel. Pretty sure it was ten million degrees outside, but we were having a blast. We were so thrilled that we did both walking tours (even on Petey’s stitched up toe) and I was psyched to go back to this outdoor pub to have some drinks with the girls.
We get there and we had seen prices for 200 florint sangria, which clearly caught my eye, which turns out to be under a euro by the way. Ridiculously cheap. We started with sangria, then switched over to beer in which time Amy joined us. The jagger belt had come out to play of course and Petey and I were well into our shots. We had a blast with Amy and chatted with a group of guys who had just moved there. They came and went but we stayed at the same table all night. The beers kept flowing and Amy bought me a round for my birthday. It was turning out to be a killer good night. How could it not right?
We were chatting and all of a sudden we turn around and at the table behind us was one of the assistant tour guides from our tour before with another friend of his. How fantastic. Clearly they joined our party and we all drank and chatted some more.
Now the deal was to have a shot of absinthe for my birthday and since each shot was 800 florint, so not even 3 Euros, we decided to go for it with five minutes left in my birthday. I mean we had had been at this place for almost 3 hours with no intentions of leaving anytime soon. The shot came up and let me just say that I was full of nervous giggles.
So you burn the sugar cube over the shot, drop it and drink it. It’s like a flaming ball of mint in your mouth and actually pretty damn good, minus the gasoline after taste in your mouth. We came, we saw, we conquered.
What a damn good night. We had some serious laughs, met a ton of great people and the guys were nice enough to walk us back to our hostel. Probably a good idea, but hey, life was good. Happy 22nd birthday to me eh? I loved it all.
The next morning we woke up and had to catch the train at 830 to go to Vienna. Petey was hung-over…well that’s the understatement of the year. Pretty sure the alcohol was still in my system in the shower, and I was in a damn good mood. We boarded the next train still drunk, no lies and were well on our way. Petey semi looked like death since the alcohol and well, facing the wrong way on the train didn’t help her much, so she may have tossed her cookies a couple times on that trip. I was still feeling good. I was happy to see that my 22 year old body still didn’t get hung-over like my 21 year old body. Excellent. I’m waiting for my 30th birthday when all the years of never getting hung-over come toppling down on me like a freight train. Until that day, I will enjoy every evening out since the next morning is still a joke.
We arrived around 1ish and had another hour or so to kill before checking in so we grabbed some maps and went off on our way. It was a gorgeous city and talk about nice weather, it was hot as well. We went and visited the imperial Palace and the Sisi museum, in addition to the Museum Quartier which was gorgeous. We kept our own walking tour going and saw the civic centre which had been decorated to the nines for the Life Ball 2010 formal for AIDS. They had wrapped a large red ribbon over the entire vertical front of the building and were having a huge concert type of thing the 17th. We made a mental note to come back for that.
Talking about gorgeous monuments we saw the St.Stevens cathedral and decided to sit for a bit and enjoy the view. There was a fountain but we weren’t sure if we could drink the water. I said we could since there were no signs advising me not too, and turns out once I went for it, another couple people followed me. Ha. Waiting to see if I collapsed first I’m sure. Nah, it was totally good drinking water.
We decided to take a little break and have a beer down by the water. What a great choice. A cute little spot and the beer was cold and there was some shade. Excellent idea. On such a nice day, it was a great call just admiring the water, and with a beer and some laughs, it’s hard to go wrong. We had been touring the city for almost 5 hours and we decided we should probably check in. First we stopped for some good (Chinese) and I purchased some sun screen since I felt like my skin would be more lobster esk after a couple days in 40 degree weather. We got back and got to our room no problem at all which was quite nice. No air conditioning which unfortunately had become the new story of my life, but hey, we had managed in Berlin and Budapest and we would manage her in Vienna as well.
After checking in we did a little internet time and that’s where we met Naomi and Josh: two Americans who were travelling for a couple weeks post graduation. They wanted to grab something to eat, but since we already ate we said we would get a drink with them. We ended up walking around in search of a certain spot they had heard of but with the Life Ball going on, it was closed off. So we searched around and came across a great Austrian spot outside that was lit up. Really pretty actually. They ate; we had some beers and just chatted.
The topic of a nightclub had come up but none of us were sure if we wanted to do that. I was in the mood for just chatting and having some beers, bur dancing in such hot weather? Not the most appealing image. We were off to search for a bar called Flex which was right by the water and when we finally found it that is where we decided to stay. Super cool, right along the water and just a ton of picnic tables, beers everywhere and clearly a local spot. Perfect.
We had been trying to figure out the metro plan and when it closed, so I asked a group of what seemed/sounded like local guys behind us and they were super helpful. Really nice guys actually, so much so that we joined them for the rest of the night. What a great time just chatting, we all compared some travel stories and they were really sweet. Chilling with the locals was a great night and we finally got back to our hostel at around 3:30am. An early night eh? Never. Petey and I always say that: we’ll just go out for a drink, and what happens? Not that . Love it.
The next morning we awoke to an overcast day. Are you joking? I had just bought sunscreen and clearly there was no need for it today. Rain was on the forecast. Hmm. Our room was pretty empty upon waking up minus another guy in our room: Sven the German. We invited him along for the day and turns out that was a great choice. Super easy going, since we didn’t have any major plans and had luckily seen a ton the day before.
We had planned to see Praterstern, which really the name makes no sense to me, and there is a Ferris wheel there called Prata I think. Anyways, we wanted to see this infamous ferris wheel and when we got there we realized it was more like an amusement park. Awesome! We got in, walked around, and finally decided to take the Ferris wheel up and around for a spin to see the city. Great call. It was about to rain, but still great weather to see the view. Got some great pictures of that one for sure.
Another thing on our list was the high acclaimed Naschmarkt: in English, that would be Market. Ha. So we were off and just as we get there…it starts raining. Are you kidding? Of course this would happen. We took shelter in a pub across the street and enjoyed a beer and some food for lunch. Mine as well make the most of it eh? I had goulash with butterspaetzle. Aka some damn good goulash with buttered noodles. A great afternoon well spent, and it was nice to just sit outside on the couches of the restaurant listening to the rain. Once the rain settled we headed back to the market (which was across the street) and finally were able to walk around. Really neat.
We opted to do another free museum: the modern art museum which Naomi had said was excellent. Air conditioned, free, and art, nothing to lose. Now side story: my eyelids were on fire itchy. I know that sounds ridiculous, but c’mon it was really annoying. I am not allergic to anything; however I was tempted to just rip them out. We had gone on a serious hunt for a pharmacy and I was finally able to get some cortizone with anti-biotics in it. Maybe it was the heat and a mix of eyeliner? No idea. My body loves heat right…not. Ridiculous.
So now that I was celebrating regular eyelids we grabbed a beer and headed for the museum. There we saw probably one of the world’s most beautiful children. She should have been a baby GAP model, but hey. She was hilarious. She was not a fan of her dress and as such was trying to take it off. She pulled it up over her head but it got stuck and you just see her drop her arms and do the silent “I don’t know what to do” sob. We were in tears laughing in addition to her mum as well, but man oh man this girl was cute. For the record: Vienna has some of the most beautiful children I have ever seen. Babies, toddlers, you name it. Everywhere and all freakishly adorable.
Museum time. We headed in and had the pleasure of touring 8 different floors each with its own exhibit. Probably one of my favorite museums of all time. Really, really cool. One of the artists: Brigitte Kowanz uses light and Morse code in her art work and it was so interesting to see. We loved it. It was all modern art, but gosh it was cool to see. Especially since none of us three were huge art know-it-alls, we didn’t always know what we were looking at, but being abstract, it was really interesting. Bright colours, light, it was hard to go wrong. Certainly eye catching to say the least.
Afterwards we headed back to the hostel where we split ways with Sven and Petey and I headed to the movie theatre. Now don’t judge, but we saw Twilight. I know, I know. But hey, I’m a fan, what can I say? Anyways, the show was at 6:30, and since it doesn’t get dark until about 10pm, we still had tons of time afterwards to see the city at night. The movie was great of course; although I’m pretty sure Petey lost 10,000+ brain cells watching it. Great fan for coming along though. I owe her huge to say the least. We got a bite to eat afterwards and just enjoyed walking around the city a bit more. Everything was closing, but we went into a bunch of shops and just really enjoyed the people watching. Great atmosphere for that.
We got back to the hostel later where surprisingly everyone in our 8 person room was actually present. We met 2 Mexicans, 1 guy from Denmark, a guy from Korea, and included Petey: 3 Germans. Woo. It was one of the rare times where we just kinda chilled and all chatted talking about travels and such. Doesn’t happen very often where everyone is in the room at the same time. Actually…I don’t think that has ever happened before in all our travels.
That night was epically the worst sleep of all time. There was a HUGE thunderstorm outside, so it was raining = wonderful. It would be cool for sleeping. So we fixed the windows open and tied the strings to the lockers so they would stay that way. Except that one of my windows was well….not functioning. Turns out when the wind came it slammed against my top bunk and woke me up. Around 4am I was ready to kill someone and jumped off my bunk and closed the window. I apologized if anyone died of heat but if not, I would kill one of them anyways. We didn’t have a very long sleep since we had to be up around 8ish for our train at 9. Lovely sleep. Not. Ah well, you win some, you lose some.
Turns out the Mexicans were on our train the next morning so the four of us headed off for out train only to discover that it was in fact 2 hours delayed. Wonderful. How did we celebrate? We got a beer. I mean we were not overly thrilled, not at all, since the guys were going to Prague and we were on the train for 10 hours heading back to Berlin, but hey. What can you do? Have a beer, that’s what.
We finally boarded the train around 11 and discovered that since there was flooding in Austria, that our reserved seats that we bought no longer applied. It was a free for all seating wise. Are you joking? Absolutely not. Crap. We got on and well…the dining car was left. No joke. These were little chairs, and there was no way in hell I was sitting in one of those for 10 hours. Not a chance friend. So we scrounged and finally tracked down a car that had four seats (not together obviously) but proper seats to sit in.
We finally arrived back to our apartment at 9:30pm that night; it had been a long day but we were finally ‘home’. Oh boy oh boy. We were thrilled.
It had been another wonderfully successful trip filled with hot weather, absinthe, laughs and a ton of new friends. Life was pretty damn good. Our next stop was Prague. We could not wait. We got back from Vienna Sunday night and were leaving Tuesday morning. Home, unpack, pack and off again.
The story of our lives. No complaints here.
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