Budapest

My weekend in Budapest was fantastic. Before I left, HM was telling the kids that I would be out of town all weekend. One's exact words were, "Are you never coming back?!" with a very concerned look on his face. We left Thursday morning and returned Monday evening. We took the train, which was about an eight hour journey each way. We stopped in Linz, Austria to change trains, with about a 30 minute layover. On the way down, the second train (from Linz to Budapest) was absolutely packed. For about an hour and a half, or from Linz to Vienna, the train was so full that we sat on the floor in the entry way with a number of other people. Luckily, the train cleared out in Vienna and we were able to get real seats. Our hostel was fine. It wasn't quite what I had expected from the pictures, but it was suitable for the weekend. We were in a room for 14 people, and we all shared two toilets and two showers. Most of the other people were Canadian, something I didn't expect. There were a couple of other Americans, an English girl, and a Brazilian girl. We all chatted when we were all there, but otherwise that was the extent of our interaction. Throughout the weekend we walked roughly 15 miles per day. In the beginning we said we were going to get a three day public transportation ticket, but we didn't end up doing that. We probably should have, as I could barely walk by the end of it. I wore converse all weekend and ended up with about five blisters and very sore feet. We walked all over the city to see everything. We didn't see everything the city had to offer, but we saw everything we wanted to see. We had many delicious meals. It was a lot harder to find places that served traditional Hungarian dishes than I expected it to be. We asked a number of Hungarians, and even most of them didn't have many good recommendations. In the end, we succeeded and ate local every meal. Their traditional dishes are a variety of meat dishes seasoned mostly with paprika. They also really like to eat goose and goose liver. The meals often looked questionable, but tasted amazing. The only bad meal we had was the crappy breakfast at the hostel (toast and cereal with instant coffee). The weather was warm. It was in the upper 70s/low 80s during the day and upper 60s at night. I made sure to wear sunscreen on my face (MOM!), and didn't get sunburned. When I got back Monday evening, HM informed me that I had gotten "brown." My freckles definitely got darker! The country as a whole is very affordable. Even with eating out two meals a day, paying for museum entrances, and buying a few random things along the way, I didn't spend all the money I had brought with me. I did get slammed with 15 euros in bank transaction fees (5 euro each time I withdrew money). All in all, it was a fantastic trip. We had a great time, saw the sights, and enjoyed a new city. I'm incredibly glad we went.

I haven't been able to download the pictures onto my computer yet. Once I do that, I'll upload my favorites from the weekend.