Get ready for a long one!
After a very disorganised night of dancing with Jo and Damita I finally got home around 2:30, slept until 5 when I got up to get ready to leave. Fortunately I'd packed everything, so I just ran down to the tube through to liverpool station. We all (Tam and Karen) met at 6:10 and piled onto a train to Stansted.
I eventually remembered to wish Tam a happy birthday, before sleep the rest of the way to the aiport.
Checked in OK, wandered around a bit as we managed to get there early (better than late) before sleeping on the plane to Budapest. Got a very sore neck from that as there weren't headrests - oh well. I guess I got 5 hours sleep in total.
Caught public transport into Budapest - already liking the friendly people and ease with which they spoke english, or understood our stupid hand gestures. We went straight to the flat with Tam finding the way for us almost directly - well done!
We tried the door and it was answered by a gorgeous young woman. We later deduced that she was Swedish, but it was the sign of more things to come. (The great thing about going to foreign parts is that you only notice the beautiful people, so you think that that place must be unfairly graced with their sublime appearances)
We headed out on the town (it being 3pm) and climbed a MONUMENTAL cathedral (cyclopean if I was Lovecraft). Had a good look over town, then headed to the parliament building - not as MONUMENTAL, but certainly as (in)spiring.
We noticed that a lot of stuff was happening on the bridge just down the road so we headed down there. It turns out that the 25th is the anniversary of the withdrawl of Russia, so the whole weekend was one big celebration.
We wandered over the bridge and around the palace end of the old citadel. I quite liked this, I could invisage how it was used, especially since it was in better repair than most of the castles I see. We headed back over the bridge and had some dinner (Tam had salt suasage which tasted pretty good in small quantities - for those who don't know, Hungary's favorite dish is paprika with anything :)
It was starting to get dark, we wandered down to another blocked off bridge that had pretty lame rock playing on it, and ventured back into town. Not knowing what we really wanted to do we stopped at a cafe thing and grabbed a few drinks (and toilet breaks).
We finally decided to go to the Finlandia promotional night club, which turned out to be a stumble from our place. This was a lot of fun, with some nice vodka drinks, and some decent electronica (Tam liked it).
At one point they played some Hungarian style music which Tam and I 'Zorba'ed to - we got some black looks from that so stopped :) Did I mention that all the girls were hot?
Anyway, to bed by 1:30, after a fairly long day
Up on Sunday and off for coffee (I had a milkshake I think) before heading over to the Applied Arts Museum to look at fabrics, chairs, clocks, triptets and playing cards. Surprisingly interesting, with some cool wooden toys.
Then off to the Statue Museum, one of two things I had on my list of things to do. Had to catch a tram to the end of the line, then a bus for another 20 minutes. When we got there I was initially a bit dissappointed - it looked lame from outside. Once we'd entered, though, it was great - the statues were fantastic and all I'd dreamed - Russian propaganda at its best!
I bought my new 'Marx Park' TShirt from there - made in the style of South Park. If only I'd had my camera (which I forgot :(
Back into town and we had a wander up the other end of the Citadel.
We had a look around the inside of an amazing Church (St Matthius I think). The inside was completely covered in patterns - like the inside of a mosque or something. And the images were beautiful - especially when surrounded by such geometric, repeating patterns. It turns out the current state of the church was created in the 20th century!
Not sure what to do next, Tam and Karen went to do some wine tasting while I went down into the Budapest Labyrinth.
The Budapest Labyrinth is made up of reclaimed caves and shelters and cellars of centuries worth of digging. It is a tourist attraction of the worst kind - but fun in it's lameness. Ask me about it next time you see me, but I will regail you with my favorite bits now
- The Gothic Room
Upon entering this room the air is filled with a strange, sweet smell. Upon inspection you determine that the old, gothic, overgrown fountain in the middle is bubbling WINE, not water :) - The Courage Room
In which it is pitch black. Absolutely and completely. Not a hand in front of the face, nothing. Scary as
Met up with T&K, only to find that they hadn't gone wine tasting cos it cost way to much.
We headed over to this large Island in the Danube that is a huge park. Had a little walk and relax. They had a fountain that squirted in time to music (though only water this time), and a jogging track that was springy so you wouldn't hurt your knees so much (BTW did I mention the women were all really attractive?)
We headed out for dinner in a place recommended by the Bible, which was quite close. Got some good food, but a truely insane amount of it. I got the beef stew thingy, trad Hungarian and all. Ate about 3 times more than I normally would - and most of it red meat.
I think we headed home after that.
Monday morning we awoke again to find the streets awash with people (the weekend had seemed quite deserted) and not all of them as beautiful as our initial few days (I'm not really that surface :) Had some breakfast from the supermarket before heading out to find some JaggerMeister and shorts for me to swim in. We went in a great, huge, market where we saw all the items from the Applied Arts museum available for sale :)
Headed up to a park where Tam and I went for a swim in a hot spring pool (K was feeling a little nervous so read a book) Wandered around the park, looked in on the zoo, before heading back to the railway station.
The Railway station has the 'biggest shopping centre' in Budapest, where all tourists are obliged to go to buy cheap clothes etc. We had a good look around there, and got some food (caught up on my bread intake which had been severly strained as of late :)
After that we went home and I finally collapsed after 3 days of trapsing around. T & K went off to have dinner on a cruise boat, which they didn't find so just went back to Finlandia. I just read for a bit.
We got up the next morning at 4:30 to catch our taxi at 5, to catch our flight at 7.
It was all going well until we locked up the flat we were in, at about 4:50. Just as Tam was putting the key through the letterbox we realised that we couldn't get out of the compound that the flat was in without the key. We ended up randomly knocking on people's doors, one of which was answered by a helpful old woman, or she would have been if we could speak french or hungarian, or she could speak english. I think she thought we wanted her key to get into her place or something.
In the end she told us to try room 7, and just as we were we heard the front door opening. I sprinted down and the mail woman had arrived, and unlocked the door! The taxi driver was patiently waiting on the other side, as it was only about 5:02!
The rest of the journey was quite uneventful, and Tam and I survived work quite well - I even went to a film! (Kung Fu Hustle!)
Last thing to say is the weather was fantastic - really quite hot for the whole time, humid at times, but fantastic. wouldn't have helped with our energy levels though.
