My last stop was Budapest. It was cold. So cold. So cold and windy. Freezing. The Weeknd lyrics were going
through my head the entire time I was there.
My previous post does a pretty solid job explaining how I got lost and
eventually got to my hostel to if you want to catch up I’ll leave the link
(Here). When I finally did get to my hostel I was pleasantly surprised at how
small and empty it was. After I checked in I found a few people hanging out in
the kitchen eating dinner and after a quick run to the store for a TWO DOLLAR
frozen pizza, I was glad to join them. I was tired but I had a hard time
falling asleep. I’m not sure why but this has been pretty common for me in the
last year or so. On top of that I was woken up by a super early morning “call
to prayer” from the mosque that was supposedly down the street. I never did end
up seeing it. I guess I can’t complain though because my room, the India Room,
was pretty cool. I had the whole loft to myself so I got to spread out a bunch.
I also never locked my stuff up. There were only a few of us in the room and
they all seemed nice enough (this isn’t foreshadowing. Everyone was nice and no
one stole anything).
I spent my first morning walking along the river and through the Castle
District. The city looked nothing like I expected and it was almost completely
empty. It actually had a pretty eerie feeling. I stopped in a few cute little
shops and bought a Christmas ornament in one of them. It was kind of strange
(also magical) to be in these cute, cozy, warm stores and then all of the
sudden be back out on a street of communist era buildings that seemed to be
falling apart. You lose yourself in all the crafts and beautiful things and
then you forget about the outside. I walked by the coolest wedding dress store
and also went into a music history museum and an art gallery that I was rushed
out of after the woman on duty received a phone call and then said she needed
to close up.
I thought a lot about how lucky (blessed, mostly blessed) I had been the
night before. I got to thinking about what could have happened if that man
hadn’t been there. Not pretty. I went back to the hostel around lunch time and
I went with some of the people I met to a cat café (slightly disappointing, I
mean not really because I don’t like cats) and the “cat-pucchino” that I had
was pretty amazing, mostly because it had peanut butter in it. From there we
went to this secret tea house called “Altair”. It was amazing. There are no
signs for it so you only hear about it from other people; this is me telling
you to go. You have to take your shoes off when you go inside and it’s hard to
describe but it’s kind of like a jungle gym and you just relax on the various
levels/lofts and drink tea. We stayed for a while but I could have sat there
all day. It also seemed to be a popular date spot. That night I cooked myself a
huge pot of pasta and tucked myself into bed with Netflix and watched “Suits”
for hours. I ended up staying away until almost 4 because I just couldn’t
sleep. 
The next day I lay in bed until after lunch watching Netflix. The guy
that I traveled to Vienna with got to the hostel that afternoon and we walked
around the city taking pretty much the same route that I did the day before.
Instead of seeing the sun burning through the fog we were treated to the sunset
and Budapest all lit up. It’s not a super impressive city during the day but
it’s absolutely breathtaking at night. One of my biggest regrets is not seeing
historical Prague at night! We stopped back at the hostel and met up with
another girl who was staying there and the three of us went out to dinner at a
traditional Hungarian place. I had potatoes and fried cheese with blueberry
sauce (great combo with the carbs right?). I also had two beautiful glasses of
Rosé that were less than 50 cents each. What. And I thought Spain was cheap!
Our waiter was clearly not as impressed by the wine prices as I was because he
gave “the look” when I ordered a second glass to go with my ice cream. 
The next day James (the guy I met in Austria), Pedro (a guy who works at
the hostel) and I all went caving. IT WAS SO FUN! I was nervous at first but
I’m so glad I did it. It was great to do something more adventurous and it
makes me want to go caving when I get back to Sweet Briar! The caves were
wicked cool, literally and figuratively. There’s a natural stage down there and
once a year they have Christmas concerts in the cave. At one point near the end
the instructor had us turn off our lights and work our way through a tunnel by
using each other’s voices and bodies as a guide. My favorite part though was
when we were sitting in a big “room” and she had us turn off our lights and sit
silently. Because you’re underground absolutely no light gets in so it’s
complete darkness. It was amazing. Same goes with sound, all I could hear was
my blood in my ears. I lay down on the clay. That’s what I need for a good night’s
sleep- absolute silence and darkness and a clay floor. I was sore for days
afterward from all the climbing and squeezing through tiny spaces, but I think
I have a new hobby!
After lunch and a nap James and I went up to the Citadella to see the
city from a birds eye view (well…). It was quite the workout, but also worth
it…just take a look at my pictures! We went to this really nice Italian place
for dinner after stopping for a yummy street food dessert thing. I got a pesto
pasta dish for dinner and some surprisingly good Hungarian red wine. It
occurred to me that that was the first time that I had gone out to a nice
Italian place and ate like an adult (aka had wine with Italian food that wasn’t
pizza). It was really nice having someone to walk around with and talk to.
Budapest was the city I felt the least safe in by myself, though my perspective
may have been biased for a variety of reasons given my recent experiences. I
realized that when I’m not walking alone (in whatever city, even Sevilla) I’m
always smiling and laughing but when I am alone I have my game face on. It
sucks that that’s the way it has to be but I guess that’s what you get for
being a woman.
On a lighter note, I
found out exactly what happened my first night in the hostel in
Grunau…apparently I had a bit more to drink than I remembered. It all made so
much more sense! I’ll spare you the details.
My last day was pretty low-key. James left that morning so I walked
around a bit by myself in the morning and ended up buying a ticket to see Romeo
and Juliet at the opera house that night. I wanted to spend all the money I had
withdrawn and I had a bunch left (aka 30
dollars) so I decided to spend it all in one place J That afternoon I went on a run down to an
island that’s connected to the bridge by my hostel. The island had a 5(y
pico)km track that was actually really nice.
The ballet was very…Eastern European. The dancers were great and I thought
Romeo and Juliet did a great job showing just how young the couple is which I
always think is important. There was a bit of a Hungarian flair to it and there
were some surprisingly funny parts as well. My seat was in a box almost
directly in the back of the theater and it was in the first row which meant my
view was amazing. During intermission I was people watching and I saw several
little girls dancing around pretending to be ballerinas. I want that to be my
children and I want to dance around with them. It was actually heartbreaking
seeing some of their parents on their phones! Oh, also, they do this really
cool thing in Hungary where they all clap in unison at the end of a
performance. It was so weird and unexpected and a bit creepy, but cool nevertheless.
On the way home from the theater I walked by a bunch of cool cafes and bistros.
I wish I took the time to eat out and explore Budapest a bit more. I’d love to
see the city in the summer. I stopped at the metro station and spent the last
of my money on a ticket to the airport for the morning and on a slice of pizza
for dinner (my new post theater meal).
I left pretty early the next morning for my flight that was at nine. It
took my about 12 hours to get home, there was a lot of waiting around for the
train but I ended up buying “The Book Thief” so it wasn’t too bad. I was really
glad to be back home. I was sad not to be traveling anymore but I was excited
for my host mom’s food and my bed and being able to understand the language!
…that’s that! My first solo trip was a success! Lots of ups and downs
but I learned plenty about myself, other people, everything. I also learned
that being completely free to do whatever you want is the most exciting, though
sometimes overwhelming, feeling in the entire world. This type of traveling is
totally different than any traveling I’ve done before but I think it might be
my favorite. You just can’t replicate how that freedom feels. Sorry to the
folks at home but I think I’ve found my new drug! (Hi can we just appreciate how I just brought that right back to the title?)
**Stay tuned for my budget breakdown coming soon**
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