Budapest- Day 3

Last day of the best week of my life!

We woke up, checked out, and hit the town. Stacy was sad to see the Unity Hostel go because she said it felt like home. Our first stop was the city to show Stacy everything she missed the day before because she was sick.

We were greeted in Budapest by the whole population that was celebrating. I had read that it was a national holiday on March 15 but I had totally forgotten. It is meant to commemorate the 1849 Revolution and seemed like our Independence Day. A lot of families were out celebrating and the Chain Bridge was shut down to traffic so everyone could just walk along it. There were a lot of people on horseback in uniform riding about there too. I thought it was just about the coolest thing that we could see another country celebrating their national holiday.

We then headed over to St. Stephen’s because Jen was going to meet yet another friend from home to catch up. The rest of us headed over to the Szechenyi Baths for another authentic Hungarian experience. I was so glad that we went there and I could literally soak up the culture.

After much confusion at the baths we finally figured out what we needed to pay and went into the changing rooms that were co-ed. After getting changed (Stacy actually just wore her underwear because she did not bring a bathing suit) we hit the outdoor baths. Although it was still kind of chilly outside the baths themselves were very warm, about 34-38 degrees Celsius to be exact. It was very cold when I was walking outside the baths wet, but otherwise I was perfectly comfortable, especially since it was nice and sunny. There were maybe different parts of the pools including a whirlpool, jets, and chessboards for the old men who want to play chess in the baths. Indoor they also had sulfur baths and saunas, although I only spent a very brief time in the sulfur baths. We spent most of our time just soaking up the sun and relaxing after an exhausting ten days of travel.

Beautiful. And how blue is that sky?

The hot water was steaming in the cold air.

Jen surprised us there and we hung out with her a little while before getting out and showering because we had a plane to catch. We attempted to find the place where Jen had lunch with her friend Olivia but we were unsuccessful and ended up just going to an Italian place for a quick lunch before our minibus came to bring us to the airport.

We got to the airport successfully with plenty of time to spare. Good thing too because Aer Lingus was experiencing “technical difficulties” so we ended up waiting in the airport for quite a long time (about an hour). While checking in they tried to weigh my bag to make sure it was under 10 kg. I’m pretty sure it was well over the weight limit but I kind of lifted it off the scale ever so slightly while she was weighing it. It also seemed like every place we visited had various egg shaped souvenirs, so I literally had five different eggs in my suitcase. Random I know.

Once we made it through Hungarian security we took time to reflect about the trip, giving overall pits and peaks for the last ten days. Most of the pits were very minor and involved having cold weather. Everyone had the same heartwarming peak- the Wolf Pack. I love those girls and the group just meshed in a way that worked. We are all very different and yet we formed a great travel group that conquered four capital cities in ten days. I will always look back on it with the warmest memories.

The trip went as perfectly as we could have hoped. We had good accommodations, didn’t miss any trains, didn’t get pick pocketed, everyone kept their dignity intact, and we came back with the same number we started with.