Our trip from Llubljana to Budapest can best be summed up thusly: We got on a train. We got off the train. We got on a bus. We got off the bus. We got on a train. We got off the train. We got on another train. We got off the train. We got on a bus. We got off the bus. We got on another train. We arrived in Budapest. 4 trains and 2 buses later we actually made it to our destination. I was incredibly dumb and didnt bring any food or water for the entire day, thinking that our trains would be like all the other ones we went on that had cafe cars. Little did I know we would be traveling on the 3rd world express through the "ass of Hungary" with no food or water for 9 hours.
So, after our lovely trip to Budapest we arrived at the station near where we needed to be and we began our walk making our way to Blazes grandmothers house (recall that Blaze is Hungarian). Since we were near starvation we stopped at a crepe place along the way and I allowed Blaze to order for me. I ended up with what could best be described as a large snot ball on a plate, which would have probably been repulsing had I not been in the condition I was. I inhaled it.
Soon we finally made it to Blazes grandmothers. This is where things started to get better. His grandmother is a wonderfully coherent little old lady who was very nice and was a pleasure to meet. Even though I didnt understand a word of the conversation I felt that I absorbed some of this womans positive energy after we left, and was already in a better mood. She gave us the keys to the 1 bedroom flat that would be our resting place for the next 3 days, as well as a bag
containing everything needed for several salami sandwiches. We found the place we were staying , made some sandwiches and just kind of sat on the couch dazed for a couple minutes before making our plans for the evening. The flat was perfect for us, 2 beds, a kitchen, a balcony, full clean bathroom and shower, plus it was free for me. Thank you Khoor family.
This is the point in the trip where I began to be dipped, or drowned, in Hungarian culture and language. Blazes friend Adam came over to pick us up and I was soon inundated with constant flurries of Hungarian. Their language is very different than anything I have heard on this trip so far, and it is hard to compare to any other language that I know of. It sounds kind of nice and flows pretty well, but trying to read it is like looking at pure gibberish. Anyways, Adam is a really nice dude. On Friday night, us 3 walked around the castle district, went to a club called Rumkat, and crossed the bridge over to Pest and we to another club called Gda, meaning "The Pit" or something like that. It was all very overwhelmingly spectacular. On the ramparts of the castle you can get an amazing view of the city at nightime. Budapest is actually 2 sections, Buda and Pest, separated by the Danube river and as a whole surrounded by mountains. I got a very clear picture of this while looking out from the castle. Adam then pointed to some spot in the distance and said "this is where we go tonight". So, off went went to check out the Hungarian nightlife on a Friday night. It didnt disappoint. I dont know how to describe it, but the vibe there is just different. Everyone is definitely more friendly than in the USA, as usual, but you get the feeling that you arent in the far West anymore. The club Rumkat was outside and they served big bottles of beer and played some crazy type of house music. We had a great time that night and ended crashing around 4 am, totally and thoroughly exhausted.
The next day was spent seeing alot of the sights around Budapest. We saw the parliament building, the basilica in the middle of the city, and the commercial district in Pest. This was also the first day that we didnt have to worry about becoming disgustingly sweaty after walking for 6 minutes outside. It was blustery and cool with a nice cloud cover that allowed us to have a much better walking endurance thus cover alot of ground. All of the sites were very impressive, of course we climbed the basilica and got some great views of the whole city. Pictures will have to wait however since this computer runs Linux and the camera wont connect properly...
That night, Adam took us to a house party of some of his friends in the area. It was a very international bunch of people, some Germans, Americans, locals. Alot of people speak English to some degree around here so I was able to communicate pretty good. I met an American who plays football for the Budapest Cowboys. He played for a DIII school in college in the states, got a job as a lineman in Tokyo, Japan, played in Germany for a short while, then took a temporary assignment in Hungary that was supposed to last only a few months, until he met a girl and now he has been in Budapest for 2 years and plans on getting married. Go Budapest Cowboys! After hanging out at the house party for a couple hours, a group of us headed over to a place called club A38. It is actually a boat on the Danube river, however. There was a line out the door and they werent letting people in, but someone with us knew someone important and we got in. At this point nothing could surprise me. I am on a boat in Hungary, hanging out with football players, locals, and friends from home, drinking Lowenbrau and dancing to European techno. Fun times.
Day 3 in Budapest started out with a nice lunch cooked by Adams mom. We went to their place on the outskirts of the city, in the mountainous area. The porch had an amazing view and the food was great. After that, Adam showed us some cool places near where his parents house was. One was an airfield where glider planes flew and landed. After that, Adam left us and Blaze and I saw pretty much the rest of the city. We visited the park area that is on a hill overlooking the city. More spectacular pictures to come as usual. That night, we just kind of took it easy. We did have an awesome dinner at a restaurant right next to the Danube river. I had gulyaslevesz, the essential Hungarian soup dish. They really love to use paprika in everything here, by the way. The food was really awesome and it was good to hang out with Adam one last time before we left. After the dinner, we drove up to some mountainous area that was pretty far removed from the city. We went out to some ledge that overlooked the entire valley containing Budapest, the Danube and everything. On such a clear night the view was so awesome and you could get a sense of scale for the massive city. It was easy to pick out the main landmarks, even though they looked like tiny dots. One thing that was cool was that all the lights and objects in the city in the distance seemed to be shimmering and flickering. This was not because the lights were actually moving or flickering, but it was actually the visual distortion effect that the rising heat from the city had on a massive scale. Pretty cool.
We caught our train to Munich this morning at 7 am and now here we are. Last load of laundry is being washed right now for the rest of the trip. I will have to get pictures up when we reach Cologne, or I find a different computer around here. More later!
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