Budapest

Before arriving in Budapest we were warned about a few things in Eastern Europe, one of which was to make sure that we count our change so as not to get ripped off by a Hungarian establisment. Upon getting off the train from Prague we bought metro tickets to get to our hostel and were given 1000 HUF less than we were owed by the metro ticket counter lady. Ethan immediately double counted and headed back to show her the "mistake" but before he could even get the words out, she handed him the 1000 HUF bill that she had discreetly put aside for herself. Granted, it equals about 4 euro, so like 6 bucks, but the point was we were already getting ripped off and stolen from within our first 5 minutes here. Luckily we knew to watch out for it and caught it before it was too late. We then headed to our hostel, and got some dinner at a really good Turkish buffet nearby. Then we got a beer and went to sleep in the "space room" at our room-themed hostel.

The next day we walked to the Parliament building, which is modeled exactly after London's parliament building, but was pretty cool. We walked a lot, and tried to go to these labyrinths underground in a castle, but they were closed for the season we think. We then strolled along the Danube River until we reached a bridge that led us to Grand Market Hall where we wandered around the stalls of fresh produce, meats and and pastries. We decided to grab a quick lunch from one of the cafeteria stalls for some traditional Hungarian food. Ethan had sauerkraut and sausage with mustard, and I had some white beans and vegetables served with rice mixed with sauerkraut and some kind of pork. Both dishes were excellent, very tasty and interesting. We prefer Hungarian food to Czech food so far. After lunch we perused the market stalls looking at souvenirs and little trinkets and then headed out of the market.

After a long day of walking and sightseeing we headed back to our hostel for a nap and then dinner at another traditional Hungarian restaurant with live gypsy music. This was a really fun experience. There was a live band playing a violin, bass and stringed xylophone thingy. Everyone in the place was dancing and swaying at their tables to the wonderful Jewish sounding music played by the cheerful band of gypsies. The food was pretty good too; it was meat or fish in a sauce with gnocchi type dumplings and then pickled vegetables. We had a really good time, and then went out for a couple Saturday night beers and bed.

Today, Sunday, we walked to Hero Square, an area with a large park, bath houses, museums and scenic walkways. We decided to forego the Museum of Fine Arts, because it was the same paitings we had already seen in every other city, and just walked around a bit. Then we headed to the Jewish synogogue and Museum, but skipped the museum since we had just visited the one in Berlin, and just wandered around the temple area. Then we had lunch and are now at the hostel resting. Tonight we plan on eventually grabbing dinner and getting a good night's sleep to prepare for our 7 hour train to Munich in the am. Also, Sunday in Budapest is not quite happening, and pretty much everything is closed and the city is dead, so it has been challenging to find much to do today. We hope to find a good biergarten in Munich and then its off to the UK for our last week in Europe!

Of course on the day we leave, the public transportation goes on strike. Now we are off on a 45 minute walk to the train station with our HUGE backpacks. Bye.