Budapest, sitting in Thermal baths, not bad at all

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  Budapest, Hungary
Saturday, October 4, 2008

So I finished up my time in Germany finally. In total I have spend almost 4 weeks touring the fine country but I am offically done with beer and brautwurst for the next little while. I had to take a night train from Munich to Budapest because the journey was a nice 10 hours. Last night train was a disaster and I got a whole 3 hours sleep on that one. I was stupid then, I wanted to save money so I booked myself into a 6 person cabin. This time around I deciced to invest in the sleep and spend a little extra cash. I was put into a sleeper with 2 other guys. One Canadian, (go figure)and one guy from Romania on his way home from Switzerland. Good conversation and in bed by about 1:00am and I was pretty happy. I didn't wake up once until the conductor pounded on the door to see if we wanted coffee. It was about 8:30am and the train was due to arrive at about 9:30am. I got packed up and got ready to disembark the train. Jean Francois, (From Montreal if you didn't figure it out) was meeting someone that he was staying with so when we jumped off the train his host asked if I wanted a ride to my hostel. The rain was coming down in buckets so I was pretty happy to get a lift instead having to navigate the city of Budapest in a down pour.

I settled into my hostel which was really nice. Except for the 4 flights of stair that you had to climb to the rooms it was really cool. A very small hostel only 4 rooms, held about 30 people so it was quiet and everyone just seemed to talk to everyone. I walked the city and tired to get my barings. I had a really hard time in Budapest navigating for the first day or so. It wasn't that difficult I was get getting lost every 2 minutes. I think it had to do with the fact that I got a ride to my hostel and wasn't forced to walk the city and find where it was. A really basic evening, cooked dinner, walked the tourist area for most of the night and crashed pretty early.

The next day I had a few things in mind. Budapest has the second biggest synagogue in the world. I wanted to check that out, I wanted to walk to the top of Castle hill and get a view of the city and tour the 5 millionth castle so far on my trip. I had a date with a parliment building and then just cruise the streets and find something to eat. Well things went kind of as planned, I decided to get to the top of Castle hill first so I didn't get lazy later in the day. Well that is all I did. I toured the castle, the gardens and the town around the palace and then headed back into the city for some RNR. I know, I probably didn't deserve due the fact I didn't see much but I was tuckered out and ready for a nap. I went out for a bite to eat that night and had this hungarian pancake things. They were okay, lots of potaotes and cream.

They next day I had the opportunity to meet another couple from Austrailia, I am attracted to them like bees to honey. We headed down to the market in the center of the city. One thing I love about Europe is the fact that where ever you go, you know you can find a really good market somewhere in the city. This one was great, the tourist junk, food, leathers, you name it. We hung out there for about an hour, had some bakery treats and then decided to spend the rest of the afternoon in the baths.

Budapest is known for their thermal baths. The locals swear by them and you can tell when you arrive there. We headed for one of the most popular ones only because we wanted to make sure we had a good experince. We knew that there were going to be a hell of a lot of tourist and locals but we were willing to put up with the crowds.

When we arrived it was busy, hundreds of over weight old men in their speedos, not hiding a single thing and their wives in their bikinis letting everything hang out or should I say hang low. You could pick out the tourists from the locals in about 2 seconds. All the locals had speedos and all the tourists had board shorts. The baths were incredible though. It had close to a dozen different temperture baths ranging from 14 degrees to 40 degrees. The 14 degree one was there just so when you got out of the sanua or the steam room you could cool your body temperture down. They also had the outdoor swimming pool and outdoor baths as well. It was just a great spot to sit back and relax and veg out for the afternoon. After the baths we headed back to the hostel and went out for a bite to eat and called it a day.

The next day I had to hammer out a few more things that I wanted to see. I still had to see the synagogue. I hiked over to just to realize that I had to do a guided tour to see it. I absolutly hate it when they make you do guided tours. The price is usually twice as much then just going into these churches by yourself. I joined the group and headed into the synagogue with cap on and everything. All the men had to cover their heads with traditional jewish head wear. He explained about the history of the building, the holocaust and the Hungarian side of it. We took a stroll through the memory park where Estee Lauder has donated countless dollars to make sure the park is kept in good condition.

I finished up there and headed over to the parliment building. I didn't need to go in, the outside was stunning enough. The Gothic Style facade was incredible just to look at. I admired that and still had most of the afternoon to kill. I decided what better way to relax then to go to the baths again. So that is what I did. I went to a different one this time but still very similar. Hung out there for a few hours and then headed back to the hostel. My next stop was Rome and I had a late flight the next day, that will be the last late flight I take.....................

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