February 14-18
It was valentine's day, and I was on my way to Budapest along with Lieselotte and Shawn. Unfortunately it happened to be one of the two sunniest days (the other being the day we were coming back to Bamberg) and the train ride was 8 hours long. We busied ourselves with many games of Uno and Rummi. When we finally arrived in Budapest, I instantly became scared of the streets. I wasn't sure exactly how safe
it was there and we were already being begged by people for money. There were also a lot of homeless people at the train station, in phone booths, boxes, etc. We even had a hard time getting around at first since everything was written in the Hungarian language and a new type of currency was used.
It was valentine's day, and I was on my way to Budapest along with Lieselotte and Shawn. Unfortunately it happened to be one of the two sunniest days (the other being the day we were coming back to Bamberg) and the train ride was 8 hours long. We busied ourselves with many games of Uno and Rummi. When we finally arrived in Budapest, I instantly became scared of the streets. I wasn't sure exactly how safe
it was there and we were already being begged by people for money. There were also a lot of homeless people at the train station, in phone booths, boxes, etc. We even had a hard time getting around at first since everything was written in the Hungarian language and a new type of currency was used. After finally finding the metro, we realized how fast the transportation was getting around. I seriously felt like I was going to fall off the escalator...it was going so fast! The metro itself wasn't entirely bad but the trams were also quite fast and very unstable. I think we were all happy to step on stable ground after the tram ride! Shawn booked our hostile, which he was very excited about since it received high recommendations. After finally finding the entrance, I was thinking, "What the hell did Shawn book?!" We were instantly asked to go to the main room which wasn't very big and about 10 people were hanging out watching a movie. As I was sitting in my little corner on the couch, I saw a room with the door wide open and eight beds situated. I was praying that that was not our room. It was so close to the tv room
and so open. I felt like anyone could go in and out as they pleased. After finally being situated, my fear became reality; that room was in fact the room where I would be spending my next four nights sleeping in...WONDERFUL!
and so open. I felt like anyone could go in and out as they pleased. After finally being situated, my fear became reality; that room was in fact the room where I would be spending my next four nights sleeping in...WONDERFUL! 
The first night sleeping there wasn't bad for me, but unfortunately Lieselotte's bed was very uncomfortable, so she didn't sleep very well. We started our day around 10ish on the Buda side. For those who do not know, Buda and Pest were once separate cities separated by the Danube River. Walking around from 10am until about 8pm, you can imagine how much we accomplished. We climbed up a mountain side to visit the citadel. The citadel has a cave chapel, many symbolic statues, a bunker museum, and many twisting walking paths. The view was amazing, and we took many beautiful pictures even with the gray skies. On our way down the mountain, it started to sprinkle. After making our way down the mountain, we visited: the royal palace, which one goes see for the view and not the interior since it had been destroyed, the the Buda Castle Labyrinth, which was more like mazes in a cave with mimicked cave drawings, the castle district, a medieval district where many of the buildings have been restored from WWII, the Fisherman's Bastion which has amazing picturesque sights of the Danube, and the outside of Matthias Church.
After walking around most of the day, you could only imagine how wet we really were. Shawn, Lieselotte, and myself decided that it was time to sit down and get a drink. We tried the Hungarian beer which was good for me but not as strong as Lieselotte's liking. We also grabbed something to eat at the all American Pizza Hut. It was delicious especially since we hadn't eaten since 11ish. On our way back to our amazing hostile, we passed through the small hall where the two showers and toilet were into the tv room to get to our room. In the tv room was basically everyone staying at the hostile watching a movie. It was a little awkward since we were all soaking wet and they were sitting around drinking. We decided not to be outcasts and sit out and join them. The movie was Sin City which Lieselotte and I have already seen so we were trying to explain the movie to Shawn in German. It was pretty funny to learn that everyone there thought we were really Germans. When we finally got around to introductions, I learned that all the people staying there were backpackers! I was shocked!! Where do they get the money to travel Europe? They have been travelling anywhere from 1 to 10 months! The backpackers included one guy from England, one from Wales, a guy and girl not travelling together from Australia, two French girls, 2 guys and a girl from VA traveling together, one guy from Canada, and then us.
They ended going out to learn some Hungarian dance moves, but we were not feeling it after walking around all day, so while they were at the club we played Uno and watched Chicago with our Hostel supervisors. They really weren't our supervisors, but I don't really know what else to call them. There were three of them that would take shifts and they were all so nice. They seriously waited on us for all our needs; they even brought out popcorn, coffee, and tea even when you didn't ask for it, and they would clean your dishes after using the kitchen. They also bought us wine and food items! 
That night was terrible for sleeping! I woke up to loud talking in the tv room, which let me remind you was right next to our sleeping quarters. I finally decided to look at my clock after it seemed like hours went by and realized that it was already 5am and I was going to wake up in the next few hours! I heard Lieselotte shift around in the bed next to me and realized that she probably couldn't sleep either. I actually sat up in bed and Lieselotte saw me awake and we just started laughing. We couldn't believe this was happening! She decided to go to the bathroom and when she got out they asked if they were being to loud and later if she wanted some wine! After about another ten minutes they went to their individual rooms, where one of the guys came into our room. He fell asleep when the next thing happened!!
LOUD SNORING! I was like you have to be kidding. I laughed to myself and later found out that Lieselotte heard it and it finally woke up the other 3 people in our room. I was like...one more night of this and I am going to book a hotel room! 
That day, we toured mostly the Pest side. There we saw: the Hungarian National Gallery with items and pictures from the 12th century and on, St. Stephen's Basilica, which is said to be the second largest in size (the first being in Rome)...it was amazingly beautiful, the Hungarian State Opera House, which was beautiful but I personally preferred the one in Venice, the Great Synagogue and Parliament. We walked around just as much as we did the previous day, mostly because we were trying to find food! We finally found a Burger King around 3pm, our first meal of the day. We then made our way back to the Buda side trying to find the Budapest History Museum, which we finally found behind the castle, but it was closed! So we sat around on the mountain taking amazing pictures wishing we had a beer. On our way down the mountain...it started raining and then the covered markets were closed, which is like the onl
y grocery type place in Budapest, so we went to our 24 hour store and got dinner and drinks. When we arrived back at the hostile...what do you know...everyone was in the tv room watching another movie! So we ate a little bit in our room and then joined everyone in the tv room. When we arrived they were watching Meet the Fockers, and we have no idea how many other movies they had watched before. We found out later that the backpackers have been staying in Budapest for almost a week now since it was so cheap, so they have seen everything that they wanted to. Anyways, they were picking out another movie and I began to talk to a lot of them about traveling as Lieselotte and Shawn were making dinner. I really liked talking to the Canadian guy, and received a lot of good tips. After eating dinner, Lieselotte, Shawn, and myself went to the Irish pub next to
Today was our last day, so we wanted to see everything that was left to see! We made our way further on the Pest side and visited the city park, the statue park which actually had a statue of George Washington to recognize USA's help, the outside of the famous baths, and the Vajdahunyad Castle. This day was more of walking around an
d enjoying the parks. Since we were so far away and we still wanted to visit the famous covered markets, we decided to take the tram. None of us were really sure of how the ticket system worked but I figured mine worked more then once since it had 8 numbers. Lieselotte and Shawn just decided to buy another ticket to be on the safer side. The tram checker guy came around to check tickets and of course mine was not valid and I had to pay a fine. He was speaking English with me and I was speaking in German hoping that would help me get out of it, but unfortunately another German speaker was on the train and she was translating the English speaking guy for me into German...ugh. The fine was only 10 Euros but that is sucky when I only had to be about 2 Euros for a ticket. Shawn said, "I am so glad that I bought the tic
ket." As we were walking off the tram, there were another set of ticket checkers standing by the exit. Lieslotte and Shawn showed them their tickets...which ended up not being valid for the tram ride since we had 5 stops and not 3, so both of them ended up paying the 10 Euro fee as well. Now that we all had paid the fee, none of us were in a really good mood. We made our way to the covered markets and found out that they closed an hour ago!
Can the day get any better? We made our way to the 24 hour store again and once again bought food and drinks. As we returned back to the hostile, what do you know...most of the backpackers were watching another movie! We ate our dinner, and after the other people left, started watching the first Kill Bill movie. The Australian girl first joined us and let me try her famous Australian food Vegemite! Let me just say...it is like eating soy sauce straight...not my liking. We started drinking our cheap plastic wine, and then 
other people joined us and started drinking as well. Pretty soon everyone was in the tv room drinking and listening to music. We started playing the card game 'circle of death.' It didn't last too long and some of the guys made their way to the bar across the street. We drank a little more when I decided a shower would be a good idea. When I was finished and came back with my towel wrapped around my head and in my amazingly hott pjs, everyone decided to come back to the tv room and drink. A little embarrassing for me I must say! I went to bed around 3ish and later Shawn did. Lieselotte never came back to bed for she was having to much fun in the tv room.It was now Sunday and we were back on our way to Bamberg...on a beautiful sunny day of course! Overall the trip was amazing. Budapest is quite beautiful when one has nice weather. My favorite part of the trip was definitely our hostile. Even though I wasn't quite liking it at first, the people were great and made the trip more worthwhile. They had such a great influence on me that I hope to backpack through Europe once in my life!
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