Budapest

Had a very easy time getting here, the directions to the hostel were excellent. I think the reason why is that the hostel manager is from Chicago. It ended up being old home week here in Budapest, 90% of those at the hostel are from the US with most being from California.

Went to the baths yesterday. There are about a dozen in Budapest some old, some new, etc. The one I went to was up at the old castle and was wonderful! Newly renovated with hot pools, cold pools, saunas, steam rooms, indoor pools, outdoor pools. It was hard to tell but I think most of the people were Hungarians. Taking the waters is a very popular thing to do in central Europe and there's a huge business that has grown up around it. The Hungarians aren't nearly as elegant as the Poles and don't watch their diet very well either, there was a lot of excess flesh in the water. It was totally mixed which seemed to be a weird thing for Donna and Alberto, the Americans I went with. We spent most of the time in the outside pools.

Budapest is the most monumentally grand city I've ever seen. I've walked all around the city and it never seems to end. On the plane coming in I saw lots of suburban tract homes and lots of tower blocks but the main city area is all old and impossibly beautiful. A lot of it needs refurbishment and the divide between the rich and the poor is greater here than in Poland or Berlin but it's a very vibrant city.

It's warmer here than in Krakow or Berlin but it's been drizzling off and on since I got here so it's too grey to get any good pictures. I'll try downloading them tomorrow and see how they are. Budapest is actually two cities, Buda and Pest. I'm on the Pest side which is the larger part of the town and went to Buda this am to climb the hill and get a view of Pest and the surrounding area but I only got as far as this wonderful coffee shop at the base of the hill. There's definitely a coffee culture here and it's taken up a lot of my time!

Budapest is fairly expensive, not really that much cheaper than at home, but then it's a city of 2 million so I suppose that has something to do with it. From here on to Ljubljana it should be fairly reasonable. I'll be busing and or training it from here to there. I'm still undecided whether to take the train or the bus from here to Zagreb. Decisions, decisions!


Til then,

Lyle

The photo of the large white building is of the Hungarian Parliament on the Buda side of the river. It was so massive. The previous day I was walking around the other side of it and an Italian tour group was there. On the lawn were a pair of youngish golden retrievers chasing each other and having the time of their lives. Half of the tour group was more interested in the dogs than the tour!

The other photo is of the Pest side near the cathedral. The views were stunning.