Indeed, Budapest, Queen of the Danube, is also referred to as Paris East, and I think with good reason. It's beautiful here for one, and the arts and vibe in the city are very much on par with a city like Paris. Friday was a good day. I got a little walking around did and bought my first non-necessity for myself today, a new shirt. I just needed something different. Three months of the same four or five shirts has gotten tiresome. I strolled up to the Parliament buildings, to the castle, and through a little on the Buda side of the river (Budapest is or was actually three cities, one called Buda, one called Pest, and one called something much like Buda. So now you've learned something from my blog, and I've set a new milestone for myself.
So... I met Jess and her friend (whom I'd met the night before), Melinda, and we went caving. There are vast limestone caves beneath Budapest, formed by volcanic heating of the water which forced it up through the limestone and eroded it nicely. This, incidentally, is the same water that is used in their renowned mineral baths. Caving itself was a good time, I kept thinking that my mom would not quite have enjoyed it, however. A lot of the spaces we went through were really, really small. Places with names like the Birth Canal, the Sandwich (you're the meat between two crusty layers of limestone), and Pooh's Place (a hole named from the time that Winnie the Pooh gets stuck in his house). The latter was optional, but I gave it a try and managed to squeeze through it, though with great difficulty (put it this way, it was too narrow to get my shoulders through unless I put both arms ahead of myself). We had a great time, and afterwards, as is surely tradition by now with Jess, we bought a watermelon from a farmer. The intent with this one was to fill it with vodka, leave it overnight to soak in, and eat it tomorrow.
We were starving afterwards, and my hostel guy as well as several co-inhabitors, recommended a place called Paprika. Big plates, good food, that sort of thing. So we went (really, the word is voyaged) there only to find it full and a 45 minute wait! But we convinced them to open the patio and we sat outside. The goulash wsa terrific and not one of us finished our plate despite a great effort. We went to Hero's Square afterwards, and more importantly, didn't climb a certain statue, before checking out a cool outdoor billboard exhibit with a bunch of fake ads. It was pretty cool stuff. They also had a section on war propaganda with lots of Russian ones like the one on the left (hold your mouse over for English translation)which were very interesting too. Given our tiredness from the tonne of food, the caving, and general malaise associated with the weather, we called it a night early (though I was up til 3 uploading pics and reading).
I stayed yet another day, and so on Saturday, I met with Jess and Melinda at about noon (after missing a meetup at 11:15, 11:30, and 11:32), and we checked out the Basilica, walked back to the Parliament, and also checked out the Museum of Modern Art. In a warm and sunny Budapest. Happiness! The Museum had some really cool stuff in it, one of the better ones I've seen (especially compared to the weak-at-best-if-you're-English Museum of Terror), though the highlight might've been the toilets that automatically wipe the seat, which I had thought up some time ago but sadly not gotten around to inventing. Thieves!
Then, we got our train tickets and headed for the baths. Ah, the baths. They were well worth the 4 hours spent in there, that's for sure. Terrific stuff, and I had my first ever professional massage. Anyway, after caving and all the walking around, it really hit the spot. We ate dinner at a grill around the corner from my hostel, ate the watermelon for dessert (finally!) and went out to this really cool bar that was kind of inside a warehouse district, off the street but in a courtyard, if you will, between warehouses and industrial buildings. They used the walls of the buildings as giant screens, and Jess has some pictures she'll be sending me soon (ahem!). After some red bull and vodka, Melinda and I were quite gung-ho to go out, but Jess was sleepy, so we said goodbye at 3AM and Melinda and I went out and closed the bar down at 6. Being so late, and with a train to catch at 8:35, there was no point attempting to sleep, so we checked out the sunrise on the Danube and said goodbye there.
I just made it to the train to Zagreb after getting back to the hostel and getting packed up. I think I even slept about 30 mins to an hour on the train. I met some more Aussies who had all bought these awful sandwiches where they had put little pieces of what was supposed to be inside them at the edge of the bun. They shared their food with me since I had no local money and hadn't eaten since the watermelon 12 hours ago. Zagreb was a little light on things to do, and raining, and the one good hostel was full, so I walked around a bit, got some food in me, and left for Ljubljana, where I am now. I may stop by there when I go to the Croatian coast, for another few hours, if the weather is better. I met a Canadian, Brian, on the train and some locals who told us all about Slovenia for the entire "2 hour" three and a half hour train ride. So I have a good idea of what I want to do here. Brian and I got a hostel last night (and also a bite to eat after an exhaustive search for a Plus interac machine and then some place that served food or a grocery store), and tonight we're moving to a good (i.e. not HI affiliated) hostel called Cecila, which is a converted prison and looked really cool when we were there checking for availability last night. It's in a Christiana-of-Copenhagen style area, should be interesting. Then we're off to Bled and Bovec for some really great scenery in the Julian alps and some good times.
As for photos, many are up in the gallery, but I've not gotten around to adding them to my posts or captioning them yet, will do that soon. You can check the gallery in the meantime if you're so inclined...
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