Budapest- Day 2

Beautiful Budapest

Our second day in Budapest (first full day) started like every other before it. We woke up (we actually slept in a little for the first time) and headed downstairs to get the free hostel breakfast. At breakfast we met two girls named Cory and Melody who go to USC and they asked if they could come with us for the free walking tour we planned on going to. The more the merrier!

We left the hostel and took the subway to Vorosmarty Ter to meet the tour, hosted by the one and only Gabor. Gabor was a funny little Hungarian man with a love of spandex flair pants and colourful scarfs who referred to us as “travelers,” at one time even yelling “Godamnit travelers, hurry up!” Gabor grew up in communist Hungary and had a lot of passion for the city, not to mention he was very entertaining. We saw a lot of architecture in Hungary as well as statues. Here are the highlights:

Gabor (far right) in all his glory

Palace

Padlock Tree. When you are in love you write your initials on a lock, lock it here, and then throw the key in the Danube River.

St. Stephen's Basilica

It is actually not a true basilica but the Pope called it one when he saw it and no one argues with the Pope.

Chain Bridge which connects Buda and Pest

Hungarian Parliament= very impressive

View of Fisherman's Bastion

Hilly Buda

Steeple of Matyas Church on Castle Hill. The colourful tiles weren't added until 1950-1970.

Fisherman's Bastion

Interesting facts about Hungary:

1. Hungary claims the most nobel prize winners, although most of them were not in Hungary when they did their work.
2. Yoda from Star Wars speaks Hungarian. The script was written in English, translated into Hungarian, and then back in English word by word. The Hungarian language is very hard and unique. If you want to say “I am good” you could say “am I good,” “good I am, or “good am I.”
3. Hungarians are good inventors and invented the Rubix Cube and the ballpoint pen.

After the tour Gabor gave us the down-low on other places to go in Budapest, including the public baths which we hit up the next day. After his little lecture we went to get some lunch and then met up with Stacy who had stayed home from the tour to recuperate. We did some more shopping, and went in the inside of St. Stephen’s Basilica to see the mummified arm of St. Stephen, the first Christian king of Hungary in 1000 AD. For those of you keeping score at home, that is the second mumified arm I have seen while in Central Europe.
 

Outside the church there is a square and on this day there were children singing and performing there, probably in celebration of the national holiday tomorrow. We sat on the steps, soaking up the sun and the culture. What a slice of life to hear young Hungarian children singing “Ode to Joy.”

We headed back to the hostel to relax for a bit before heading to dinner with our new friends Melody and Cory. Diana unfortunately had to go back to Vienna in order to head to Bratislava to catch a flight to Dublin for a St. Patrick’s Day. Here we jet set like nobody’s business.

Dinner was ok and after dinner we headed back to the hostel. The girls asked me to perform my monologue because I think they desperately needed entertainment, and I don’t need to be strong armed into performing. I gave the Anton monologue and I think everyone was fairly impressed. Afterwards we shared stories of Gabor with Stacy who missed out and journalled together. We then did pits and peaks for the day. Here’s everyone’s peaks (except for Laura who had already fallen asleep):

• Stevie- choosing between going to a spa and shopping
• Brittany- listening to the music outside St. Stephen’s
• Jen- Gabor and my monologue
• Stacy- being able to eat at dinner (she had the stomach flu)
• Me- journaling with everyone

And so ends another day. Only one more to go!