Budapest Dec 26 - 29

Ok..

Budapest is something of an interesting place to say the least. It is a bit dingy, chaotic, and reeeeeally confusing. For the first time in my entire traveling career, I didn't get lost. However, the place where we were staying was owned/operated by one guy who just kind of came and went as he pleased. He expected everyone to show up EXACTLY when they stated they were going to show up. I didn't remember when said we were going to show up... oops..

So we show up, and he isn't there... wunderbar... Lisa and I decide to look around for an internet cafe/call center where we can call him and have him let us in. To no avail. They were all closed.
We are now basically wandering the streets of Budapest in the cold trying to figure out how to make a phone call, all the while slowly descending into the depths of disparity.
To the point of considering simply beating up some poor Hungarian soul and making off with their cell phone.
Luckily (for some poor Hungarian) I decided to head back to the hostel and try ringing the bell again. He was there. We made our way up a thousand flights of stairs to be greeted with the most "basic" of all hostels on the planet. I literally watched Lisa's demeanor turn into that of the devil's. It wasn't that the hostel was gross. It was that it sorely needed the hand of a female to "spruce" it up. It was the very definition of a bachelor pad. I thought it was cool... Oh well..

Anyways, the owner/operator turned out to be the coolest Aussie guy one could ever want to meet. He was chatty, helpful, interested in our travels, etc etc. He even invited us to his local pub to have a few beers with him. His local bar (The Vittula) was this amazing cramped, smokey, random music, beer-drenched little hole in the ground where I have never felt so at home in my life. I felt as if I tore out about 100 square feet of Patties and toted it to Hungary. There were people crammed in there everywhere and nobody gave a crap about us! Well.... everyone but our hostel owner guy. He was happy to see us and bought us a round. We proceeded to chat it up for a couple hours before heading back to the hostel to sleep. Despite all the frustration of the day, I went to sleep knowing that Budapest would be a good time for us.

Woke the next day and hit the streets to see what there was to see. Budapest was still the same city in the daylight as it was at night. Strange, quarky, unorganized etc. But I never ever felt as though there were any danger. It just seemed that people had their own thing to do and didn't really pay us much mind unless we were shopping into their stores or sitting in their restaurants/bars. We walked down to the river Danube and strolled it's chilly banks. Lisa sang to me as we passed by the Hungarian Parliament and watched the boats and barges struggle up the the Danube's swift current. It was a good day.

Next day (as are most days) was spent basically feeding Lisa every hour, on the hour. But it was ok, it was her birthday after all..
We found food in the morning and headed out towards Hero's Square to look at the statues of the old Hungarian heroes that this country so adores. Hero's Square is basically situated in Budapest's central-park, so there were all sorts of other things to look at as well. There was an enormous castle right in the middle of the park that was worthy of a million photos. It is a really funny thing about Europe in general really. You're just strolling along and OH LOOK! A castle!!
In the US you have to drive to Orlando or Anaheim... blah.

Later that evening after Lisa had been fed for her 17th time for the day, we headed to another little place that our hostel-owner had suggested. A little bar called Szimpla. We should have never doubted him the first time he suggested it..... It was the coolest place EVER!
Some enterprising Hungarian basically took and alleyway and turned it into a little swanky bar that would have been way overpriced anywhere else on Earth, but here it was priced for the locals, and way too scary to find for the common tourist.
It was a little off the beaten path, and when I say "off the beaten path" I actually mean, it was on a dark street with shadowy people milling about and strange smells emanating from the trash cans nearby.
You walk through the front doors having no idea what is going to greet you, but you are greeted by a bunch of that plastic stuff hanging from the door sills. *Lisa says it's like walking into a meat locker, THAT kind of plastic stuff*
You walk through a couple layers of that stuff and you enter into this quiet candlelit bar that is warm from the many heaters, and fragrant with the smells of the random burning incense. There were Christmas lights all over the place, and the furniture was made up of everything that you and I have tossed out over the years. It was about as romantic as anyone would ever find in any city, anywhere. We talked for hours and hours and had the time of our lives here.

Ya know. When you visit these cities, you can visit them in one of two ways. You can head into the sterile hotels and get herded about like cattle by the tour guides. OR, you can stay in the bowels of the city. You can breathe the air of the locals and have them respect you because you did it. They love their cities, and they will show you all you ever need to love their cities as well.

For anyone going to Budapest. Remember.

- Go to Szimpla
- Go to the Vittula

Say hi to Ted at 10 beds Hostel. He's cool and won't steer you wrong.


Pictures will be posted whenever.



- P