I am so happy I took the advice from few good friends (Sophie, Holly, Wesley) to visit Budapest! Everything about it is beautiful! Before I start bragging on Budapest, let me start at the beggining of my trip...
Monday morning my mom and sister Amanda took me to the airport. We had a lovely homemade breakfast together and left in just enough time to get coffee at Picassos coffee house before my flight. They loaded up the car for me so I could run around the house making sure I had everything. I come out the front door to join them in the van when not 5 steps into this journey I am taking .. BOOM .. I tripped on my hiking boots and dove onto the ground! My mom said it just looked like I was rolling around in the grass saying goodbye to the U.S. I dont know about you, but I feel that for me, starting my trip out that way is only fitting in the clumsy Hope fashion I have obtained!
My flights all went well. I probably slept a total of 2 hours in about a day and a half or maybe 2 days... I dont know, time change messes with me. During my layover in Dublin, I stowed my bag away and caught a bus to O Connol St. It is one of the main streets in Dublin City. It was very chilly and wet, but still amazing in its way. The townhouse apartments that were all wedged next to eachother all looked the exact same, but each one had a different colored door. And not like, red, brown, white, gray; but blue, green, red, yellow. Very cool. I went I found a cafe/bakery on a side street and sat and had a scone with some combo of butter, peanutbutter, and jelly and a make shift capp. It was lovely :)
After that I took my flight to Budapest and arrived 8 pm Hungarian time ( we are 7 hours ahead of the midwest) to be greated by Veronika (my couch surfing host) and her friend Krizstina. Big hugs and smiles and cheese filled pastries! They brought me home and we stayed up talking for a while. Their English wasnt too bad and they understood me pretty well. Veronika, i think, went above and beyond any responsibility she had to me. She treated me like a sister. She wouldnt let me sleep on the couch and gave me her bed and gave me fruit and was just over all completely amazing. I really lucked out. First day walking around Budapest I went to the bank to exchange currency. Afterward I sat on the fountain infront of the bank at Vörösmarty tér (tér means square) and a woman approached me and asked if I wanted to join a free tour of Budapest. I said sure! So I toured around Budapest with a group of mostly Americans and met some nice people and learned about Budapest. The tour guide do it for tips so to get tipped more they let you in on tourist traps and cheap place to eat and party. It was perfect! Then I had lunch with a couple people from the tour. Two guys and a girl. Individually they had all been traveling Europe doing what I am doing, but longer. 2 of them had been traveling since end of June and the other guy has been backpacking for a year! Then I met my host and her friend Moha for coffee. Afterward I took a long nap and then Veronika and Krisztina and I went to a bar and had the official Hungarian liquor pálinka.
Today has been much different. I woke up a bit later, took my time getting out of the house, walked to the train station to check out tickets, learned first had the system of doing things here (i.e. i dont speak english go to next window, not the right window go upstairs, not the right window again, wait wait wait, you need to get a number, wait wait wait, finally I talk to the person and she tells me how much it costs to go one way to Prague and I say no thank you and leave. Then I didnt understand the bus system... at all... so I probably walked at least 7 miles today. I went to the market this afternoon and ran into Michael. He is the guy who has been traveling for a year. So we just walked around together and had coffee. It was good to speak clear english. We went to Veronikas home and had some food this evening and said our goodbyes. So now I am sitting in a hostel called Capitol Hostel. When I step outside I can see the St. Stephens Basilica! Tomorrow I am going to check out the inside of the basilica and parliment. Maybe I will leave for Prague tomorrow night, maybe not until Sat. morning.
Anyway, sorry for such a long message, but thats what I have been up to. Pictures will come sometime.
Love love love love
Hope
