I got quite a bit done yesterday :)
Woke up and set out to see some sights, and started out at St Isvan's bazilika. These guys really appreciated his arm, and mummified it for safe keeping. The view from up top was awesome, and at some point I will for sure try to upload some photos. After that I walked over to their version of central park. It seems like everywhere has cool buildings surrounding where ever you turn! At one point I was walking down a main street and noticed an open door to the coolest run down building I've had a pleasure of walking into. My guess is it's so commonplace here that it's old news for local to see something like that. After that I met up a tour that was going on. CAVING TOUR! By far one of the cooler things I've done.
You get suited up, they give you a hard-hat and a guide, and you set off underground to the pitch black caves. We had a group of about 8 of us, and we were all up for going on the harder and longer route. It required a lot of army crawling, sliding, climbing, and squeezing your way through these little holes that at some points were so tight, you had to slowly wiggle your way through inch by inch. We saw a lot of fossils on the celling, and at one point turned our headlamps off to really appreciate the fact that it was pitch black down there. After a few hours of being in the caves, it was unfortunately time to resurface. Our guide was great, and I for sure see that being one of the main highlights of the country. Not something I expected to be doing in Budapest, that's for sure!
Some of the guys that were on the caving tour were staying at my hostel, so we all decided to shower up and get some dinner. After food, we met up with the rest of the hostel at a karaoke bar. The place was happening and we had a great time belting out songs together. Too bad for Budapest, we missed our karaoke slot and weren't able to sign back up. I have a feeling there will be more opportunities to get on the mic, so I'm not too worried about it. So after a full day of walking, caving, crawling, climbing, singing and dancing, it was definitely time for bed. Since I'm spending a little bit more time in one place than I ever have before, I don't feel rushed and I'm happy to report that I had my first full night of sleep :)
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Has it really been a year?
Has it really been a year since I last went on a trip? In a lot of ways it feels like it was just a few months ago! Life looks a little different these days, all still really really good. I was due for an adventure though! The day started off at 5.30 am in the morning, waiting for my flight to Phx. I was lucky enough to grab breakfast with the parents, which was really awesome. It's been a while since I've seen them, so it was nice to quickly catch up, and I'm sure they enjoyed seeing their only son once before he shipped out of the country for a while. Since I didn't get to sleep until 4.30 am that day, it wasn't really hard for me to sleep on the plane. From PHX it was a plane ride to South Carolina, from South Carolina it was a 7.5 hour flight to London. That flight wouldn't have been so bad if the girl sitting next to me wasn't coughing up a lung the whole time *i'm already worried about getting sick) oh ya, and she had really bad breath...which I was reminded of every time she coughed. ewwwwww
I had a 3 hour layover until Budapest, so I slept on some a bench to catch some more Z's. The scary part was that I slept through my alarm and had to sprint to gate...just barely made it in time. Upon arrival, I had some trouble finding my hostel, since the directions I had were completely inaccurate from the get go. Luckily the locals here are really helpful and gave me directions on how to get to my hostel. After some trial and error, I arrived, set my things down, and headed out to get money/food/supplies. Took a quick shower and headed out with the hostel to go out to bar with some of the other hostels they have a partnership with. The 40 something cup long Jagermeister train was pretty fun to watch. I shared drinks with some people from Ireland, and Eddie, another Californian. Once things started to die down, it was clear that both Eddie and I were wanting to find something a little less touristy, and a lot more local. We headed off to a spot that heard about-Closed. Another spot we heard about--Closed. What's with these people shutting down bars at 11:00 on a Sunday???
We started asking people on the streets where to go and what was open. After sifting through a lot of conflicting information, we found out that there was an 'island' close by that had a bunch of places open until 4am. Not knowing more than the name of a bus stop, we headed out. Luckily some conversation was made with more locals on the bus that were going to the same place, so they let us tag a long and showed us the way. After crossing through some alleyways and railroad tracks, we made it to the spot. No way would we have found it on our own. We had a great time and were for sure the only tourists there. We got a good idea of what the local scene was like, which included a number of prostitute propositions so we headed back. It's now 5am, and I have no idea how I'm still awake right now. I also know that most of this is written poorly...and for that, I apologize...
Excited for tomorrow!
I had a 3 hour layover until Budapest, so I slept on some a bench to catch some more Z's. The scary part was that I slept through my alarm and had to sprint to gate...just barely made it in time. Upon arrival, I had some trouble finding my hostel, since the directions I had were completely inaccurate from the get go. Luckily the locals here are really helpful and gave me directions on how to get to my hostel. After some trial and error, I arrived, set my things down, and headed out to get money/food/supplies. Took a quick shower and headed out with the hostel to go out to bar with some of the other hostels they have a partnership with. The 40 something cup long Jagermeister train was pretty fun to watch. I shared drinks with some people from Ireland, and Eddie, another Californian. Once things started to die down, it was clear that both Eddie and I were wanting to find something a little less touristy, and a lot more local. We headed off to a spot that heard about-Closed. Another spot we heard about--Closed. What's with these people shutting down bars at 11:00 on a Sunday???
We started asking people on the streets where to go and what was open. After sifting through a lot of conflicting information, we found out that there was an 'island' close by that had a bunch of places open until 4am. Not knowing more than the name of a bus stop, we headed out. Luckily some conversation was made with more locals on the bus that were going to the same place, so they let us tag a long and showed us the way. After crossing through some alleyways and railroad tracks, we made it to the spot. No way would we have found it on our own. We had a great time and were for sure the only tourists there. We got a good idea of what the local scene was like, which included a number of prostitute propositions so we headed back. It's now 5am, and I have no idea how I'm still awake right now. I also know that most of this is written poorly...and for that, I apologize...
Excited for tomorrow!
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