Budapest, Hungary, Europe

Today was another beautiful day in Budapest. I started out by going up to the Citadel on top of the hill in the south of Buda. Unfortunately it was not possible to actually get to the top where the statue is. It was all roped off, and no one was there to tell me why. It was a real shame because the view from the top would have been amazing, but I didn’t get to go all the way up. I walked down from the hill to the Central Market.

The market is massive and you could get anything from meat, cheese, alcohol, to bags, shirts and souvenirs. It was pretty cool to see, but there were so many people in there that I got really annoyed. I could only stay in there for about a half hour before I had to get out of there before I punched someone in the neck. I hate big groups of people. I got on a number four tram and took that around the city. I found out that it was National Ice Cream Day in Hungary, so at a lot of places the ice cream was half price. I took full advantage and found a nice gelateria and had a nice ice cream on the banks of the Danube. There are certainly worse ways to spend an afternoon.

Tonight was a really nice surprise, as I got to go out with an old chum from Woodstock Academy. I found out from a friend on facebook that Emily Weedon now lives in Budapest, so I got in touch yesterday and we met up tonight. I met her husband Pete, and their friends Scott and Bobby (a girl). We all went to a ruinbar called Ellato Kert which was in the Jewish quarter. This is one of the bars that was an abandoned house or office and then they turned it into a bar after the liberation from the Nazis and Russians. They typically don’t buy furniture or anything, they just collect things off the street that people are going to throw away. This makes for a pretty cool bar because all of the furniture inside is a miss-mash of what has come out of people’s homes.

It was really nice catching up with Emily and meeting her friends. Scott and Bobby are travelling around the world until January, so there’s a good chance that I may run into them again somewhere down the road. I’ve really enjoyed my time in Budapest, and I wish I had a bit more time here. Unfortunately, I have to wake up at 2:15am (which is in two hours from now), and head to the airport. It’s going to be a LONG day, but at least I’ll get to see two more things that are on my list.