Let's go to Budapest!

Vienna just wasn't our thing, so Wednesday night at about 10:45 PM we decided to take a bus to Budapest. The bus was 19 Euros each way and only 3 hours to our Easter European adventure. Yes please! We booked our hostel and went to bed, excitedly awaiting our next destination. 

We missed the first bus but it wasn't really a big deal, so we wandered around Vienna until 11:30 for the next one. Perfect. 

We got of the bus, realizing they don't use Euros in Budapest...oops. So we had to deal with the absolute ridiculous exchange rate at the train station. We had directions to the hostel and skeptically wandered our way through the station trying to figure out where we were considering we don't know Hungarian. We find the ticket counter, thankfully the man spoke English and showed us where to go. After two security checks we were able to find our hostel, in the rain. We stayed at Astoria City Hostel, a little strange but it turned out to be the best place we could've asked for! We checked in, made ourselves comfortable and set out to explore the city. 

Leave it to us to find the Mexican restaurant. Of course we HAD to eat there, and to both of our surpise it was delicious (and if the Raymmah who was borin in Tijuana said it was good...then it was good!). Forint's are quite complicated to figure out considering 1 Euro is about 320 Forint, so when your bill is 17000 Forint you may experience a small heartattack!

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We ventured back to the hostel and met one of our dorm mates, from the the US! Her name is Anne Marie and she is from Chicago. The three of us wandered around Budapest at night, scarves and cameras in hand. 

 

 

The next morning, Raymmah and I just wanted to explore Budapest and make our own tour. We had to eat breakfast of course. As we were sitting at the kitchen table in our hostel we started talking to one of the guys, after quite a bit of back and forth we found out he was from Horb! Not just Horb though, Bildechingen...the little village that Kaila, Raymmah and Anne lived in. What a small world, most of Germany hasn't even heard of little old Horb. We continued talking and started a conversation with someone else at the table, Vishnu. He was from Davis, California and had just graduated from UCSD! Too weird. 

Vishnu joined Raymmah and I on our Budapest escapades. We went to the Market Hall and got lost in all the vendors. Then we went to the "House of Terror" which was a museum dedicated to the victims of the two terrorist regimes that ruled Hungary in the 20th Century. The museum is located in the original headquarters of the Regimes and some of the rooms contains the actual furniture and papework from that time. With primary source videos, one is really able to connect with the survivors of this regime. In the basement, you are able to see the torture chambers and prison cells that were in use during the dictatorships, it was incredibly difficult to walk through. I found myself quite a few times just standing and staring at various parts of the exhibit really trying to take it all in. At the end of the exhibit they had a display of victims, their names, pictures and when they were killed. I felt that was very honorary and appropriate. As you exit the exhibit you walk through one more display, that is of the victimizers. This to me was incredibly shocking. They had pictures, names, birth and death dates of all the people who took part in these terrorist acts and worked within the regimes. What struck me was that the majority of these people are still alive. These regimes were very recent and the museum just opened in 2002, and here are all of their names and pictures. This museum was probably one of the best put together exhibits I have ever seen. I highly recommend going if you are ever in Budapest. 

After that humbling experience we got lost a bit before finding a lovely Hungarian restaurant called Menza. The atmosphere was good and a great pick up after the museum. I had some paprika chicken and spaetzle, Raymmah the gulash and Vishnu something with a rabbit. We tried each other's dishes and I personally think mine was the best, but I'm a little biased. At the table next to us, we met a guy from  New Zealand who lives in Vienna and plays and instrument (I think the cello) in an orchestra and his friend from Argentina. Again with the small world. 

After lunch we said our goodbyes and headed back to the hostel to pick up our bags before our  bus ride back to Vienna. After finally getting back at about 10PM it was time to go to the airport. Raymmah and I spend the night in the airport before our flight the next morning at 9 am. It is not something I would recommend. 

I had a wonderful week in Vienna and Budapest, it was just what I needed to get motivated for the last few weeks of school, but I was ready to be at home. 

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