Budapest, Hungary
July 14th, 2010
Budapest, you have stolen my heart… I was hard-pressed to believe that I would ever have more fun in another European city than either Barcelona or Amsterdam. But you blew me away, and now I cannot wait to get back there! It was so much fun, I could have literally shown up there and there alone, experienced those few days, and had gone home happy!
I arrived in Budapest via train on crutches again, and was kindly met at the station by my couchsurfing host Cassandra and her boyfriend Attila. We headed off to a gorgeous park with a huge outdoor bar, and Attila treated me to a shot of his grandfather’s home-fermented plum liquor called palinka and a Hungarian beer that was very tasty. We all spent the afternoon getting to know each other, and it was funny because most of the time with my surfing hosts, I am the one asking the majority of questions. But the tables were turned on me when Cassandra was extremely interested in my experiments that I had been conducting in the states before I left; she’s working towards her bachelor’s degree and is fascinated by the biological sciences as well. It was funny talking about that stuff for the first time in months… I’m glad I haven’t fully drunk myself stupid here because I was able to do a pretty good job of recalling all of the chemistry.
Eventually Attila had to head to work, so Cassandra and I went to her house to get ready for an evening of fun. Attila bartends at a club on the river that was having a massive party, one that I hadn’t exactly prepared myself for. It was a Lady Gaga cross-dressing concert! Well what the hell… I’ve already donned a dress on this trip… might as roll with the punches and see what this is all about! The spectacle that we witnessed was ridiculous! Grown men parading on stage in home-made Gaga outfits lip syncing the night away. It was hilarious!
Unsurprisingly, Cassandra and I ended up on the dance floor and raged for hours, which was an absolutely awful idea because I was drunk as shit and didn’t feel how bad I was tweaking my knee. But I’d say it was worth it ^_^
The pain I felt the morning after was unbearable. However, Cassandra and her mother were both so sweet and accommodating, taking care of me when I could barely walk. Cleaning and ironing my clothes, making me an amazing meal, hooking me up with some joint pain balm and wrapping my knee in a new brace. I felt incredibly fortunate to have met them.
Cassandra accompanied me to my new hostel, the Central Backpacker King, one that I was a bit hesitant about. I had originally booked the biggest and most popular hostel in Budapest; however, Cammy had told me this was one was legit, as she had stayed here last year. I knew she was right when after checking in with the nicest receptionist ever, she handed me a shot of the same plum liquor we had drank the night before (it was 9 am!) Now that’s what I call good service! It was also a very tiny hostel like the one in Venice, therefore it is super social, and everyone becomes a big family and parties together. I dropped off my bags, grabbed my crutches, and headed out to explore this city. What I found was one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen in my travels thus far.
Budapest has huge, sweeping avenues, with tiny pedestrian-only thoroughfares tucked away between gorgeous buildings that look like they belong in Paris rather than Hungary. The tree-lined Andrassy Avenue, with its uber-expensive shops and exclusive restaurants was so refreshing to stroll down (or in my case, hobble down). I’m pretty sure there are more water fountains in this city than the rest of Europe combined, and there is a substantial cultural scene here. Within two blocks, I found a gleaming Opera house, several dance halls and theaters, and a trendy jazz & piano bar that I decided to patronize for a glass of wine while people watching from the balcony.
The knee was killing me, but I was on a mission; I had been recommended a fantastic Thai-Hungarian fusion restaurant about a mile from my hostel. When I arrived, I was seated at a table… without chairs! They have these cool Thai mats with comfy seat backs, so you lie on the ground while being served. I loved it! I ordered the spiciest Thai soup I’ve ever tasted, and a Hungarian dish that I wouldn’t be able to pronounce in a million years (rolled pork stuffed with several cheeses over jasmine rice). I also order a Hungarian lager called Borsodi that was delicious! It finished super smooth and even had a hint of vanilla in its taste. I ended up ordering several of them, listening to the ambient tunes, and reading my book on the floor. The perfect meal!
I headed back to the hostel to start pre-gaming with Cammy, her sister Sarah who had just arrived, her friend Dan and his buddy Matt from California, and two other girls we met, Guga and Virginia from Brazil. After housing an entire bottle of vodka, we headed to an incredible bar called Morrison’s Two. From the surface, it’s nothing special; a courtyard bar with a bunch of tables. But when you head down the stairs, you are shocked at what you find. They converted a bunch of old metro tubes into a massive maze of bars and dance floors underground. You could walk around for half an hour and never find your way back out. But that was ok, because they were blasting some great music, and the drinks were flowing cheap. We partied until around 5 am before catching a cab home. Thank god for the cab, because my dumbass spent the entire night dancing again, and now the knee was even worse! When am I going to learn!?
The next afternoon, the whole gang from the hostel, with new additions Tim and Julian, headed out and grabbed a ton of sushi. Tim, Julian, Matt and I decided to grab a backpacks worth of beer, and head to the Szechenyi thermal baths on the northeast side of town. But along the way, we ran into Guga and Virginia again, who were headed to the Terror Museum. It is a museum that details first the Nazi invasion and occupation of Hungary, and the subsequent occupation by the Soviet regime. This was something I had pretty high on my list of things to do in this town, but I wasn’t sure I’d have time to do it. So when the girls said they were headed that way, we all happily cracked some beers and accompanied them. The baths could wait a few hours.
I am so glad we went there. I must admit I did not know much of the Hungarian plight during WWII and the cold war, but after that day, I can say that I honestly believe those people had the absolute worst time during the 20th century (with the exception of maybe Poland). Hungary was originally part of the Axis, but secretly signed a peace treaty with the UK and the US. When Hitler found out, he was super moody. The Nazis then rolled in, set up shop, murdered the entire Jewish population, and allowed the complete destruction of the city trying to fend off the Soviets. After the war, things only got worse since they were on the losing side. Immediately, a Communist regime was set up and millions of people were sent off to Gulag death camps. Ethnicity did not matter; you could be sent away to certain death for owning banned literature, attending church, or even dancing in the street. I couldn’t believe the atrocities the Soviets committed there. The museum itself is actually the headquarters of the Soviet secret police that once ruled the city with sheer terror, and where they would torture and execute citizens. It was a sickening place, especially the basement where you could actually see the torture devices.
The mood thereafter was quite somber. To add some levity to the situation, one of the boys felt it necessary to leave the museum proclaiming that “ze Russians love ze Terror!” This became the motto of the week, along with a shit ton of other silly inside jokes no one will ever understand when looking at back at this trip (our wolfpack of pterodactyls, the six Russian punch of death, etc.) These jokes eventually made their way into the hostel guestbook. Seriously… which one of you drew this?! LOL!
Eventually the group made it to the thermal baths and we hung out for hours in the massive pools filled with geo-thermally heated water while drinking our beers. It was an awesome, relaxing, silly afternoon with great new friends. Never mind the fact that as I dove into the pool, the cheap knockoff sunglasses that I bought in Greece literally disintegrated.
We headed back to meet with Dan, Guga, Virginia, and the sisters, because the World Cup final was starting. A park near our hostel had it on some massive screens, so we joined the party with a few thousand other Hungarians, most of which were rooting for Spain.
The next day was definitely one of the top days of the trip. The entire crew (Cammy, Sarah, Matt, Julian, Dan, Tim, and I), or should I say wolf pack of pterodactyls, headed over the bridge and finally left the Pest side and entered Buda. We ascended the huge hill to the Castle, and headed around back to see the gorgeous view of the other half of the city. While we walked, we found this medieval game with nine wooden Hungarian soldiers, and a big wooden ball suspended above them. Obviously, we had to turn this into a drinking game: knock over the most and win a beer from the group.
After downing my celebratory beer, we all headed off for the Castle Labyrinth. A few people I had talked to had told me this was a must-see attraction. It is an enormous man-made cave system running under the castle that was an escape route, wine cellar, and jail. I had seen some pictures of it online when I was back home, but clearly these people had used some pretty strong photo flash because it is pitch black down there. I mean it is definitely way creepier than I was first envisioning. Everywhere in the dark recesses are featureless human statues and they play scary noises over a hidden sound system (beating heart, breathing, etc.) We goofed around in the chilly darkness for hours, frolicking like loons and skulling beers.
We went from one cave system to another, for a truly awesome Hungarian wine tasting event. It is in the depths of a 14th century wine cellar, and we were assigned a personal wine expert to teach us about all of the local batches. Me, Dan, Cammy, and Sarah could not wait to sit down and get started. For around $25, we were served eight different Hungarian wines (the pinot noir was heavenly), a pile of scones, and a cheese platter, with another shot of that evil plum liquor to wash it all down. We enjoyed the tasting for about five hours, and ended up making friends with everyone around us. One of the guys I was sitting with turned out to be another PhD chemist! The entire table didn’t seem interested when we started discussing his mass spec-based proteomics research.
After the tasting, Matt, Julian, Tim and I met up with Cassandra, Attila and Cynthia at a bar, and they invited us all back to Attila’s new apartment where we could house-party it up. He had three liters of his gramps’ devilish palinka, and who was I to deny free shots of plum rot gut? The shots just kept coming and coming, and before I knew it, half the party was vomiting in the bushes! That stuff is truly lethal. Apparently my liver is ready to win gold at the 2012 summer Olympics because I ended up heading to an all-night bar with some of Attila’s coworkers, as I was the last (and only) man still standing from the party. When we emerged from the bar, it was fully daylight. Damn it. I did it again! I was supposed to check out in a few hours!
So instead of checking out, I reasoned the past four days had been way too much fun to leave this wonderful city. Let’s extend it another day! Cassandra said I could crash at her place again that evening, so I grabbed three hours of sleep and was later rattled from my slumber by the pterodactyls. They wanted to hit up the other famous bath house that we hadn’t yet visited. I didn’t think I could possibly party anymore this day, but as I looked around at all my new friends gleefully popping bottles of bubbly in the middle of the street, I felt a tinge of jealousy. I dove into the store, grabbed a bottle of Brut, and launched the cork three stories into the air! I cannot go to a thermal bath without a buzz! It also resulted in arguably the funniest video of the trip.
The six of us walked for what seemed like hours until we finally arrived at the Rudas bath house. This place is where the locals like to chill, and it’s hundreds of years old. But when they saw us walk in, the resounding answer was “no way” - I guess we looked too drunk. I can’t really argue with their conclusion.
We continued on to the Gellert baths which were nicer anyway. As opposed to the baths we had gone to two days previous, most of these baths are all indoors. I am shocked we didn’t get kicked out within ten minutes: we were throwing each other all over the pool, jumping off ledges, spilling beers, and at one point I absolutely wiped out straight onto my face due to my bad knee completely buckling underneath of me.
We stayed until sunset and then headed out to find dinner. I indulged in American food for the first time in two months, and ordered a California Chicken sandwich from Burger King. My stomach instantly revolted, and I felt awful. I gathered up my stuff at the hostel, and said my sad goodbyes to the most fun group of people I had yet to meet in Europe. They were heading to Morrison’s again, but more liquor and dancing would mean more ligament tearing. I declined, and arrived at Cassandra’s tired, hurting, and still slightly intoxicated. We ended up just relaxing for the night, and watched a Japanese animated movie… in Hungarian. No English subtitles. I had no clue what was going on. But it didn’t matter… I was positively content.
Cassandra dropped me off at the train station the next morning as I waited for Tim to meet up. While waiting, I got a tap on the shoulder from behind… it was my boy Kevin from Nice! He had also been in Budapest, and was also heading for Prague! The three of us boarded our train, and off we went. I love when I randomly see people that I have met on this trip!
Now for the emotional stuff… Cassandra, Cynthia, and Attila… you were some of the most hospitable people I have ever met, and I cannot thank you enough for the great times and amazing memories. I can’t wait to return to Hungary to see you again someday. And Cassandra, I can’t thank you enough for taking care of me, and letting me stay with you twice! I promise your post card will be sent as soon as I get back, and I’ll be on the lookout for some dice for you! You better come visit me someday in America… you promised! Hivatalos Durex Teszter!
And to my pterodactyl wolf pack… Matt, Julian, Dan, and Tim (and Cammy and Sarah when you girls weren’t busy shopping or eating haha) the insane time we had in Budapest together was legendary! You are some insane lunatics, and would easily be considered some of my best friends back home. So keep flapping those wings, frolicking in castles, punching Russians with too much terror, and popping super dangerous bottles of champagne. Anytime you guys want to meet up, you have a place to stay in Florida.
Budapest… I’ll be back!
-Batty
