Spring Break...Budapest and Prague

Thursday, February 15th
I had a midterm, which went really well and then my train to Budapest didn’t leave until 9pm. That was great because it gave me time to get things done…such as pack. I was supposed to go to Budapest that night with Trevor, Jon, Jess, and Julie…unfortunately right before we were supposed to leave Jon came back from the doctor, who though he might have enlarged lymph nodes and wanted him to get tested the next day. So instead only Jess, Julie and I went to the train station to catch our overnight train…Trevor and Jon decided to leave in the morning the next day.
The trip didn’t start out so well though…on the way to the train station I was leading the way and looking behind me to talk to Julie…apparently some women coming the opposite way took that as a slight and began to swing her bag at my face…then once we arrived at the train station and found our sleeping car a man took our tickets away from us…he had no identification and didn’t speak Italian or English so I grabbed the tickets away from him until a female conductor came and explained that he was the conductor and he was supposed to have our tickets…after grabbing them out of his hands a felt a little bad…
The trip was interesting…not much sleep…we were woken up every hour (or so it seemed) for passport control…but lots of stamps in my passport now!
Friday, February 16th
We arrived in the morning, 11ish, in Budapest and were able to walk just a few blocks to hour hotel. After checking in we went and got some lunch…we went to a diner place the guy at the hostel recommended…but no one there spoke any English…until one of the customers took pity on us (we were basically standing dumbfounded in front of the menu posted on the wall) and translated a few words. I’ve been taking Italian and romance languages in general for granted apparently…entering Hungry and having no understanding of the language or any derivation there of left us all a little confused. Anyway after a very good lunch we went back to the hostel and slept. For dinner we wandered around Budapest a little and ended up…I know this sounds bad…at a TGIFriday’s. We were waiting for the boys to show up and decided to go in and grab some appetizers and margaritas. After dinner we walked to the train station and met the boys. I was exhausted at that point…my friends had gotten some sleep on the train and napped for longer that afternoon…everyone else went out for dinner and to a club and I slept.
Saturday, February 17th
Our first day in Budapest we spent walking, and walking, and walking. The city is beautiful…actually it’s 2 cities Buda and Pest. We walked to the river and grabbed lunch before handing over the Danube to visit some sites. First I bought a scarf…which if you look at my pictures you’ll see in about every one of them…and then we went to see the Buda Castle…which was closed and then over to visit Matthis Curch and then back across the river to see the Parliament building…also closed. On the one hand it was really nice to be there during the low season…everything was cheaper and not crowded but a lot was closed.
That night we tried to go out and do a Pub Crawl with a walking tour company but I think that was stopped for the low season as well. Instead we wandered around and visited a few bars and the club everyone else had gone to the night before. It was ok…ish…not really my scene…
Sunday, February 18th
We didn’t get in the night before until probably 4am so we slept in on Sunday. When we finally did wake up we walked up to City Park. It was a really nice area…probably the kind of place that would be crawling with tourists in the summer but on a winter, Sunday afternoon it was filled with Hungarians and their dogs. We had a lot of fun just walking around all day.
After our late night the night before we decide to stay in. I made pasta (well I boiled water and heated up some canned sauce) and we ate and played card games all night. It should have been a nice night in but I ended up staying awake until 6:30 because that’s when one of my friends stopped snoring…
Monday, February 19th
Budapest is apparently famous for its bathhouses…which we took full advantage of on Monday…we went back to the park and to the beautiful bathhouse there. We started off with massages and then spent the next six hours in different pools and saunas all different temperatures, inside and outside. Then I ended the day with another massage…it was fantastic.
After the massage we went to a cafe we had been to the day before. I guess after spending so much time in hot tubs and saunas I was feeling a little dehydrated because I ordered coffee, tea and water…
Monday night Trevor left to go to Transylvania and visit Dracula’s castle so we walked him to the train station and bought our tickets to Prague…I’m pretty sure we ate dinner, I just don’t remember what, or what we did when we got back from the train station.

CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES OF BUDAPEST

Tuesday, February 20th
We checked out in the morning and then killed time walking around Budapest. I think we just ran some errands and got some food. We had a day train to Prague that arrived at 8:30pm. Jess and Julie ate at the restaurant car while I saw with all of our stuff. They didn’t leave me enough time to eat before we got to Prague so I was starving! We found our way to the hotel, checked in, dropped our stuff and went to Banditos…the Mexican restaurant across the street…I had a burrito which hit the spot! We spent a pretty early night in…all that sitting in the train really tires you out.
I also had a 10 minute conversation with Emily which cost 15 euros…or about 20USD…not something I plan on doing often but it was worth it to talk to her…
Wednesday, February 21st
Monday morning we wandered around Prague until we found a cafe and then headed over to Old Town to visit some of the sights. One of the most famous is the Astrological Clock…which is so boring!! At the hour crowds of people started gathering around it and we already happened to be sitting in front of it…at another cafe…so we stayed to see what would happen…all that happens is little doors open and saints revolve through the windows….kind of reminded me of a Disney thing…although this was created in like 1410. After old town we wandered over to Charles Bridge and through Lesser Town. These are pretty popular, touristy areas in Prague but so beautiful.
For lunch we wandered in to a really good Czech restaurant…I had the rabbit legs with spiniach and carrot gnocchi. I really liked the Czech and Hungarian foods…both have a lot of meat which I’ve been missing in the carb heavy Italian cuisine.
That night we went to dinner a restaurant near our hotel. I had the fish which was delicious but I wasn’t expecting it to come whole…including tail, head and bones…That night the girls (Jess and Julie) went out but I just want to sleep…that kind of became a theme of the trip…but wandering around a city I don’t know late at night is not really my scene…nor is the club scene…
Thursday, February 22nd
On Thursday we went and saw the Prague castle, which I had been most looking forward to. It’s the largest castle complex in all of Europe, I believe. We paid for the long tour which was kind of expensive so I was disappointed when I found out that the large cathedral, kind of the main sight, was not included in the price of the ticket and I had to pay additionally…but it was worth it. The cathedral was gorgeous and we went up to the top for some amazing views.
After another long day of walking around we returned to the hostel to rest for a bit before dinner. After sitting for only a few minutes Jess got a call…our friend Trevor had shown up in Prague…apparently traveling through Romania and Transylvania by himself wasn’t all it was cracked up to be…he had to travel for about 24 hours to meet up with us in Prague..
Because he hadn’t seen any of the city yet we walked back towards the castle with him…it was amazing to see it lit up at night and then we had another great Czech meal…I had pork with baby corn and ketchup with French fries
Again that night I stayed in while everyone else went out…some how even though I never really went out I ended up more tired than everyone else…mostly because I would sleep for a few hours and then everyone would come back, wake me up and then I couldn’t sleep until like 6 or 7am.
Friday, February 23rd
I woke up earlier than everyone else…mostly because it was in my nature but also because they had had a rough night…so I wandered over to a close cafe and read a book, drank a latte, had some toast but mostly people watched Hungarians…when I got back they girls were just waking up so we wandered over to Old Town…Jess wanted to try and find a photography exhibit her mom had told her about. On our way we passed a flea market and looked around, although it was all touristy junk and then into a book store which really fun. It was a tiny book store with a good selection so we were able to wander around and ask if the others had read different things and compare or suggest.
Afterwards we found the art exhibit which was kind of disappointing but whatever…I think we made it back to the hotel at like 3pm and Trevor was just waking up.
After hanging out at the hostel taking for a while we went to Prague’s TV tower…you can take an express elevator about 100m up and it has a great view of the city. Then we went to their cafe and had some snacks while we watched the sun set over Prague.
After the TV tower we went to Banditos for some Mexican food. I know we were in the Czech Republic but it was still kind of nice to get something different than what we had been eating for the last week.
After dinner we went back to the room and hung out and played cards. And again everyone else went out and I stayed in…but this time I switched rooms with Trevor (he was in a different room because he came late) so when everyone came back I actually continued to sleep…I think it was the most continuous sleep I got the entire trip.
Saturday, February 24th
We had to check out at 10am but were able to leave our luggage at the hotel. We wandered around Prague some more. Trevor was in search of a scarf and I wanted one more souvenir…I’m not going to tell you what it is because I’m sending it home to my dad…after wandering around all day we went back to the hostel and grabbed our stuff at like 4pm. Our train left at 5:15pm and we actually had a great time drinking and playing cards…everyone else went to sleep I stayed awake…I never was able to sleep well on trains but sleeping cars kind sketch me out even more…I did get a few hours though…
Sunday, February 25th
We got in to Venice at 9am and began the hike back to the house…we took the long way but that was find with me…after 15 hours trapped in a 5 by 5 room with 3 other people walking around felt great. Once I got back I just showered and tried to get some work done…but mostly I’ve been watching TV…I was glad to get back early because it gave me time to relax…seems silly I would need to relax after a vacation but traveling is hard work!

CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES OF PRAGUE