Budapest - 3rd-4th March

My Saturday began with one of the more interesting train journeys I've experienced on this trip. Whilst tucking into my breakfast of 2 giant pretzels and 2 bananas (eaten pretzel-banana-pretzel-banana, of course), I was amused to be instructed by the English-language welcoming announcement to "Look after my luggage and values" whilst on the train. I was also slightly bemused as to why they felt the need to add fade-out music to the end of the announcement. Funny people, the Magyars.

I arrived in Budapest around lunchtime, morals and luggage intact, and took what turned out to be a 45-minute hike to my hostel. In the rain. Must have been quite a sight when I finally got there, as the receptionist took a good 2-second gawp break before welcoming me! After drying off a bit, it soon became apparent that the weather wasn't going to give up, so I eventually decided to brave it again to check out the attractions of the Pest side of the city (for those who don't know, Budapest has 2 sides, appropriately enough named Buda and Pest, which are divided by the mighty Danube river). It was quite a pleasant little walk, despite the weather, which took me down to heroes' square, which is full of arches and statues, and the park behind it, which has an island with a nice little castle on it. A good afternoon's work, I felt!

That evening was relatively quiet, just went out to check out a few a few bars with a kiwi guy from the hostel, but there was one event of note in the form of a chap in the street with flyers. Budapest is full of these types, and during the day I'd perfected the art of brushing them off with a few sentences of Swedish (let's face it, no one speaks Swedish, really!). This one chap, however, had the perfect response. The conversation went something like this...

- "Hello gentlemen. {Insert name of strip club here} tonight? Beautiful girls, cheap drinks...
-"Jag talar ingen Engelska, talar du Svenska?"
-{Confused pause as we begin to walk off} "What? No, it is not a gay club, unfortunately"

This left us pretty much lost for words, so we left it there.

The next morning, I rose late to a lovely day, which fitted in perfectly with my plans to wander over to Buda. This side of town consists of lots of big hills, a rather impressive palace and a little stone-walled citadel. Lots of statues and impressive architecture, and some amazing voes, both from the bridge and up the hill. The Danube really is a big river! I was also amazed by the size of the city...it was quite intimidating really! I'm not a big city person, though it has to be said I did rather enjoy my time in Budapest. All the same, I was glad to make my way out of there to somewhere quieter the next day...