Better late than never, right? Eight months ago, I took a long weekend and traveled to Vienna, Austria & Budapest, Hungary. I wrote about everything I did in a journal, but never got around to posting here on SL. Read on to find out what I did in Budapest:
April 21, 2013
"We woke up early and had breakfast at the hostel. We saw all of the toursity sites: the opera house, St. Stephen Basilica, a square, the chain bridge that divides Buda and Pest, the royal palace, Mathias Church, Fisherman Bastion, and the Grand Sinagogue. I really enjoyed the greenery in the city as well as the archetecture and detail in the rooftops. One roof looked like an aztec design: colorful and sparkling in the sun. The castles were breathtaking and abundant. Budapest is such an underrated city in my opinion—the weather was perfect and in the 70's (although I was told it was snowing only 2 weeks prior...amazing), there were few tourists, and I loved the friendly people. In both Budapest and Vienna, blankets were draped over the backs of chairs in outdoor cafes for customers to cuddle up with. I loved the coziness of the outdoor seating in both cities.
For lunch, we went to Bonnie's cafe where I got a hamburger for the first time since January. It was absolutely delicious...best burger I've ever had! I was thirsty enough to get a coke, lemonade, and water, as well. Sarah split off at lunch to meet her friends, so Rachel, Molly, Alexis and I went on to do our own thing. We went into a little spa that had a service where fish eat the dead skin off your feet. There are usually 500 fish swimming around, but this tank only had about 25 for the time being. The owner let us try it for free since it wasn't really the “true experience”--it was enough for me, though! My feet are too ticklish...it was the strangest thing I've ever felt. It wasn't our brightest idea, but we followed that experience with a visit to an Ice Bar. With temperatures in the subzero degrees, we wore our eskimo jackets that were provided and went into the freezer where the entire bar was made of ice. Even our glasses were actual ice cubes! I was glad they provided us with gloves, but my sandals weren't quite cutting it—we lasted about 10 minutes because me and Molly's feet were close to frostbite. It was a cool (pun intended) experience, nonetheless. We went on to see the Sinagogue, which is the 2nd biggest in all of Europe, but it had closed five minutes before we got there. We got to see the outside, but Alexis and Molly were upset they didn't get to go in and check it out. I wish we could have, too!
The best and last activity of the day was the thermal baths. I wasn't prepared for what I was about to see as we headed down to the changing rooms: there were naked women EVERYWHERE. 20-year-olds, 30-year-olds, 80-year-olds. I saw all kinds of things I wish I didn't. After I took my bathing suit into the bathroom to change like a forigner, we tried all of the different tubs and pools at different temperatures and with different levels of sulfur. We found an outdoor one we really loved and took it all in! The people watching was phenomonal and the bath was so relaxing. We even started our own back massage train since the professional ones were out of our price range. Once the sun set on the beautiful archetecture surrounding the baths, the pools lit up with different colors. We went into the whirl pool and I had more fun than I've had in a long time. We were all getting rushed around this pool so fast that my bathing suit was coming off—people kept touching our feet, Hungarians broke out in a chanting song, and I couldn't stop laughing. It was an incredible experience that will forever define Budapest for me. I will never forget the feeling of my stomach hurting as I was holding onto my new friends for dear life in the thermal baths. Around 8:30, we changed again and went home to shower. We cashed our free wine coupons in, cheered to the night, and went to a late dinner. I got goulash soup (not quite like Mom's!) and a salad, and had a great time with everyone. By the time I fell asleep at 1, I realized I had less than 4 hours to rest up for the flight to Pisa. What a beautiful weekend!"
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I'm almost caught up on sharing every adventure I've had in 2013 with y'all (I can't wait for the coming adventure planned in December, though). I'm so grateful that I write everything down while I travel...I think everyone should. You get to relive your experiences more than once. Alone, the memory really is just a faulty camera.
XO
