I end my stay in Budapest with a feeling of extreme exhaustion. Ive been running around for the past three weeks seeing all the sights by day and all the nightlife by night, with very little rest. My ambition as I get on the train to Vienna this afternoon is to get a good nights sleep when I get into town, which may not happen. I am the kind of the person who doesnt want to risk missing out on anything, so I end up taking part in everything.
By the way, this post will not have apostrophes because I cannot find it on the keyboard.
Anyway, lets talk about Budapest!
I arrived in town 4 nights ago. I arrived with my English teacher in Slovakia friend who was taking his parents to the airport, so I ended up hanging out with him for most of the afternoon. Mainly just walking around and having a few beers. I knew better, but he allowed us to be suckered into a scam on one of the main tourist roads. It was one of those restaurants where they harass you until you finally agree to take a seat. There was a sign that said 50% off happy hour, but of course our beer happened to not be a happy hour beer when the bill came. We also got tricked into buying a highly overpriced shot that was pretty gross. So the bill came and it was something outrageous, I was willing to eat it and go, but he started yelling at them and got the price reduced. It was all rather annoying. The price was originally like 20,000 HUF...I am guessing because this whole US dollar conversion to Hungarian money is difficult to convert. Itś something like 279 HUF to 1 USD...I round it to 250 HUF...still difficult!
That night I accompanied a housemate from the hostel to a couchsurfing.com party at some bar. For those of you who don't know, couchsurfing is this online community of travelers whom offer people places to stay and stay in other peoples houses while traveling for free. They also have forums and do parties and other things....but we went, it was a little lame, but I ended up talking with this Hungarian. I was very curious about the racism toward Gypsies in Eastern Europe, so I asked. The thing I love about European culture is that they love to talk about real issues. I said he didn't have to talk about it if he didn't want to, but they do want to. Unlike American culture where it is a faux pas to talk about anything controversial. It seems to me that every person who is from Eastern Europe hates them, and they all have their own personal story as to why, such as Gypsies stealing their bike when they were a kid, or Gypsies robbing their house. Klara, a Hungarian woman I knew a few years ago told me this once. "Gypsies are dirty, smell bad, and they don't care about anything!" Anyway, when this Hungarian was talking I did what any curious tourist should do. I listened and had no opinion, it's just interesting to know about this deep rooted racism engrained in their culture.
The next day I took o
ne of the free walking tours around town...which I still vouch for as amazing. They took us around the Buda and the Pest sides of the city. Budapest actually used to be two cities that were united a long time ago. Budapest is a beautiful city, but I don't think I can give it the most beautiful city I have been to award, I think that still belongs to Prague. Today as I get into Vienna I will have to compare the three. Those cities are called the Golden Triangle, and are in a little bit of a competition.
ne of the free walking tours around town...which I still vouch for as amazing. They took us around the Buda and the Pest sides of the city. Budapest actually used to be two cities that were united a long time ago. Budapest is a beautiful city, but I don't think I can give it the most beautiful city I have been to award, I think that still belongs to Prague. Today as I get into Vienna I will have to compare the three. Those cities are called the Golden Triangle, and are in a little bit of a competition. I wasn't liking the hostel I was staying at and I was trying to get into another one, but most were booked. A guy checked into mine who had to leave his due to no room. I went out with that hostel that night to try to weasel my way in, and have fun.. I managed to weasel a booking out of them at 4am. Turns out it was the best hostel I have ever stayed at, The Aboriginal Hostel. It felt like home there.
We went to this horrible outdoor party, it was Cancun status of horrible. To give you an idea of how bad it was they played a techno remix version of Rebecca Blacks Friday. I went up to the bar and some Hungarian said something to me. I told him I dont speak Hungairan and he switched to English. He said, |Ÿou must have a beer to stand this music!| They did follow it up with The Cureś Friday Iḿ in love at least.
The next day Emma from Sweden, Bee from Virginia, Dan from Wales and I all went to the famous Budapest thermal baths and relaxed in the different mineral waters. There were about 15 different pools we could sit in and tryout, all different. We spent a few hours there and left feeling relaxed and amazing. I think that night was the first night I actually stayed in and watched a movie with Irish Dave, drinking some hungarian wine. You can buy a GOOD bottle of hungarian wine for less than $3!!!
Budapest is an interesting/weird place, along with the rest of the Eastern block. Itś so funny how bureaucratic everything is. When you ride the metro, you first have to buy a ticket from a ticket window. Not a machine, but a window with one person, so everyone is waiting in line. After you buy your ticket you then have to validate it in a validation machine. After you validate it, you need to show your validation to a group of four men guarding the entrance to the metro. Then on the metro the cars often have security people walking on making sure your ticket is validated. Sounds like an awesome waste of money for the city to me. I mean, four people guarding the metro entrance? Why
not just one?
Iḿ getting a little lazy with the pictures. I wish I would have taken some of this stuff!
They also havent updated the metro since maybe 1960. The cars are all rusty and peeling, and all the colors are 60ś colors. Itś actually kinda cool in a soviet nostalgic kind of way.
People in Eastern Europe are also different too. I notice it now that I am in Vienna and am back to a more modern society. People in post soviet
countries arent as friendly. When they
walk down the street, they dont look up,
they dont offer to help. This is most likely due to Stalinś rein of terror where Big Brother was always watching you
. People didnt want to stand out, so it is just engrained in their culture. I hear itś fading with the younger generation though.
The last day I was in Budapest I bought my train ticket, fell asleep on a lame tour bus, ate dinner and partook in a late night party which left me exhausted for the train ride to Vienna. I am now being good in Vienna. This is my second day here, and I feel like I am still recovering from the last 3 and a half weeks.
Budapest is an interesting/weird place, along with the rest of the Eastern block. Itś so funny how bureaucratic everything is. When you ride the metro, you first have to buy a ticket from a ticket window. Not a machine, but a window with one person, so everyone is waiting in line. After you buy your ticket you then have to validate it in a validation machine. After you validate it, you need to show your validation to a group of four men guarding the entrance to the metro. Then on the metro the cars often have security people walking on making sure your ticket is validated. Sounds like an awesome waste of money for the city to me. I mean, four people guarding the metro entrance? Why
not just one?Iḿ getting a little lazy with the pictures. I wish I would have taken some of this stuff!
They also havent updated the metro since maybe 1960. The cars are all rusty and peeling, and all the colors are 60ś colors. Itś actually kinda cool in a soviet nostalgic kind of way.
People in Eastern Europe are also different too. I notice it now that I am in Vienna and am back to a more modern society. People in post soviet
countries arent as friendly. When they
walk down the street, they dont look up,
they dont offer to help. This is most likely due to Stalinś rein of terror where Big Brother was always watching you
. People didnt want to stand out, so it is just engrained in their culture. I hear itś fading with the younger generation though.The last day I was in Budapest I bought my train ticket, fell asleep on a lame tour bus, ate dinner and partook in a late night party which left me exhausted for the train ride to Vienna. I am now being good in Vienna. This is my second day here, and I feel like I am still recovering from the last 3 and a half weeks.
Could you remember any of the Hungarian Klara taught you and did you have a chance to use them?
ReplyDeleteI didnt remember, but it thankyou and hello came back to me. I also remembered that s makes a sh sound and sz mades an s sound. I arrived into town pronouncing Budapest correctly.
ReplyDelete