Don't Order a Hamburger in Budapest

As suddenly as our time in Oxford started, it ended. It was really a shame because we had such an awesome time together as a fellows class for the one and a half days we had at the end after we had finished our work. It was quite an expereince but we had to work so hard to complete our studies that we really didn't have the chance to get out and enjoy oxford or each other as much as we had all expected. By the time it came to fly to Budapest, I think I can speak for the others when I say we were ready for a vacation. We came in about 10:00 at soon were safely at home at Síp Utca 5, which was basically a private apartment we had all to ourselves at hostel prices! We had our first taste of authentic Hungarian goulash before hitting the sack as we were all, lets say exhausted, from our last night out in Oxford the night before. In the morning we decided to just get out and explore the city, and crossed onto the Buda side to check out the castle district. The first stop along the way was a solid climb up to the museum palaces. It was a bit of a gray day for photos but here are some of the shots I got.

One of the things that Budapest is known for are the extensive labyrinths that extend out from under the castle district. They were admittedly one of the cooler "tourist attractions" I have seen in my time. They were certainly creepy enough to scare the girls a little bit but I think it would have been even cooler if they would have really blacked them out. I couldn't really take pictures in the depths of the labyrinths because of the darkness but I was able to get these few when it was lit well enough to focus my camera.

The castle district in Budapest lies on top of a ridge overlooking the Danube and we kept walking along it, pausing every now and then to snap more photos.

Eventually we came down off the ridge and crossed back to the Pest side of Budapest making a quick stop on Margaret Island which lies between them on the Danube. It seemed like a park to us, but little did we know that it turns into a wild party destination at night.

We must have walked 7 or 8 miles and ended up spending that evening on our balcony with a few local beers. For those of you who know about it, Alex had a date with the gods of Tikka Masala, and Sheena has great pictures of it. I was too busy laughing, that is until some of the other people from our building started throwing down buckets of water from above. What a crazy time...

The next day was to be a party day. Alex found this pub crawl on the web and we managed to convince the girls to come along. We ended up having an awesome time despite our misgivings at the start. It was the wierdest group you could imagine. Other than the girls we brought only two more showed up, one was fat and ugly and the other with her boyfriend. Our girls (Sheena, Sabrina, and Stephanie) laughed each time new groups of guys showed up - apparently Alex and I seemed to be more and more demoralized each time. The best though was this 40 or so year old Indian guy who walked up at the end. Even I couldn't stifle a laugh at that point. Still the bars were great and I ended up getting to know this Hungarian girl named Csilla who was one of our guides. She showed me an awesome time I must say. Sheena donated the next three pictures to prove it. We didn't get home until after the sun came up...

You gotta check out Sabrina's faces in the two pub crawl pictures. Lets just say she wasn't all that comfortable with the whole deal... The next day was going to be a chill day. We had planned to meet at the baths (Budapest is famous for their thermal baths) but we had a solid hour or two to kill. As we were wandering along the Vaci Utca I saw a happy hour buy one get one free for liters of Paulaner! Not one to pass up such an opportunity and feeling nostalgic for Germany we decided to give it a go. "That's a big beer!"

After a wonderful stay at the baths Alex and I climbed to the highest point in Budapest, overlooking the Danube. The day was overcast and not the best for pictures but at least they give some impression of how high up you get.

I made the biggest mistake of the trip at dinner when I ordered a hamburger on the Vaci Utca, a major tourist street in Budapest. I thought it was a bit sketchy when I saw it but I had already paid 1500 forints for it so I ate it anyway - more on that later. Sheena, Alex, and I had been planning to stay up all night and watch the sunset and sunrise from the rise overlooking the city. I got some nice pictures on the way out there but torrents of rain ruined our plans. Instead we retired back to the pad to watch Juno. I had never seen it and I guess I still haven't since I started to feel truly sick part way through the film. After a night of puking and cold sweats, I had to wake up at 6:00 a.m. to carry all of my stuff back to the river to get on the hydrofoil to Bratislava. I hadn't felt so miserable in such a long time... Little did I know it would be over a week before I really got my health back, which pretty much ruined Bratislava for me.