Budapest, Magyarország!

Shout out to my Hungarian friend Jake Wolter! I visited his homeland of Hungary last weekend. And Jake, it's awesome you need to go there! For this blog entry, I'm going to just give you a quick rundown of my trip to see how this post will turn out. Just want to say though real quick that Budapest is beautiful and I'm so glad I decided to buy my bus ticket on a whim at midnight the night before. If you’re ever near eastern/central Europe, I’ll be disappointed in you if you don’t visit this city. Enjoy!

Transportation: Orange Ways Bus System (7 hrs each way, 40 USD)
Lodging: Tiger Tim’s hostel the first night, Boulevard Hostel the second night. My first hostel experience!
Travel buddies: Wyatt and Ariane
Hotspots visited: St. Stephen Basilica (though its not technically a basilica I’ve been told), Royal Palace, Parliament building, St. Martin Cathedral, House of Terror, Jewish Town, Dohány Street Synagogue, and Szechenyi Baths (a must), among many others.
Favorite dish: A hamburger I got near the hostel (I know, how Hungarian. But it was sooooo good). And Hungarian langos (fried bread with sour cream and cheese)!
Favorite Hungarian drink: Bull’s Blood, a type of red wine.
Words I learned: A word that sounds like t-shirt means ten beers…. And I swear I knew more words, but a week later its hard to remember.
Facts I learned: In Hollywood movies aliens often speak Hungarian. It's the 4 or 5 hardest language to learn. Hungarians have an extremely rough history yet are very nice, friendly and helpful people. There's not really much crime in Hungary other then pick pocketing. Hungarians are very proud of all the Hungarian inventors/inventions. Big thanks to them for soft contacts, the refrigerator, the Rubik’s cube, etc. Also it's very easy to get around Budapest. They have a great transportation system but you can also walk everywhere. And, of course, the ruin bars in Jewish town are awesome.
My best photos:

Closing remarks: My last day in Budapest, Wyatt, Ariane and I got a bottle of bull’s blood red wine and some cheese and sat down by the Danube by the Parliament building. Our timing was perfect because we got to see the sunset and, just as we were about to leave our spot, all the lights of the city slowly started turning on. It was beautiful.

I think this may have been my favorite weekend trip thus far. If Hungarian wasn’t so hard to learn I’d maybe even consider living there for a little.

Na Shledanou,
Lesia