BUDAPEST, HUNGARY

Budapest is a magical Gothic city but getting there was quite chaotic. We left Florence at 4pm, took a bus to Rome (3-4 hour ride) and hopped on a plane to Budapest for the weekend. When I was waiting to board my flight to Hungary a guy came up to me and asked if I went to UofO. When I replied yes he continued to tell me that he had met me at the grocery store and I had told him that I was studying in Florence.
I still don't remember meeting him but he told me that he studies in Rome through a UofO program and that he knew we would somehow run into each other in Europe at some point. After talking for a while, we also discovered that he is my friend Devin's boyfriend's roommate! Six degrees of separation, truly.We arrived in Budapest around 1:00am. Our group was separated into two different hotels, so we boarded separate buses and headed on our way. After briefly getting lost around 1:30am, Fr. Brian, one of the Catholic priests that accompanies all the trips, got up in the middle of the night to come find us outside, wandering around and lost! We finally made it to Hotel Maverick and immediately fell asleep.

BEAUTIFUL HUNGARIAN ARCHITECTURE

OUTSIDE THE OPERA HOUSE

CATHEDRAL OF BUDAPEST

We woke up and got dressed for our bike tour of Budapest. We went with our hostel groups to a small travel agency who let us rent bikes for a few hours so that we could tour the city. But of course, it decided to down pour during our bike ride and we were totally soaked and freezing cold.

FINE ARTS MUSEUM

STATUE OF ANONYMOUS

Monument to an unknown Hungarian man who wrote down the history of the seven tribes who inhabited Hungary, which is the first known historical Hungarian text.

HOUSE OF TERROR COMMUNIST MUSEUM

OUTSIDE THE TURKISH BATHS

Around 1pm we stopped with the whole program, about 65 people, to eat a traditional Hungarian meal. I was very adventurous and tried goulash, deer stew, and ox tongue! After lunch we were all exhausted and freezing, so we came up with the perfect way to spend our afternoon- at the Turkish Baths!

We took the metro back to the hostel to grab our swimsuits and headed back downtown to the baths, which were AMAZING. we stayed in the outdoor mineral water pools for hours. We spent the entire afternoon relaxing, talking about plans for the following day, and soaking up the warmth of the giant Turkish pools.
We left the pools around 630pm, starving and tired. I was so relaxed after the baths that I thought I was going to fall asleep at dinner. We picked a restaurant that looked way too nice to afford but the menu outside told us otherwise. We were cautious at first but we ended up having an fancy delicious meal for a great price. I had sweet carrot cream soup in a ginger truffle shell, oh god, so good. It was nice being able to just relax and enjoy the atmosphere after a very hectic day. After a great meal, we headed back home around 11pm, laid down and watched Bourne Identity with some friends at our hostel.
We woke up early and took a cab to the Budda side of the city to visit Europe's largest Aquarium- Tropicarium. It was really fun, I felt like a little kid again.



Caroline and I stood in the under water tunnel, unable to move because of our fascination with the sharks which glided overhead and seemed to cunningly smile as they swam up to us and showed us their white bellies.

BLUE LOBSTERS

SHARK TUNNEL

SHARK KISSES

ON THE METRO, LEAVING THE TROPICARIUM

After the Tropicarium, we decided to get a cheap lunch and head to the Monument Park, an area where Hungary has moved all of it's Communist monuments. We took a bus, once again to the Budda side of the Danube and explored a little. The park only stays open till sundown and it was starting to get late so we decided not to go to the park and instead save money and go back to the hostel to make plans for later tonight and tomorrow.

EXPLORING BUDAPEST

HOTEL MAVERICK

BUDAPEST'S FAMOUS JESTER STATUES

GELLERT HILL AT NIGHT

The night was amazing. We took a river cruise down the Danube River, sipping on white wine as we took pictures of the Gothic buildings lining the Budda and Pesht sides of town.
After the river tour ended, around 900pm, we went to a Hungarian Buffet with a large group. We stayed there until midnight when the restaurant was closing, talking, laughing, and eating until we couldn't bare the thought of eating anything else. We slowly walked back towards Maverick Hotel and took pictures of the beautiful city at night.

NIGHT TIME CITY LIGHTS

ON THE DANUBE RIVER CRUISE BOAT

THE DANUBE AT NIGHT

WALKING OVER THE DANUBE RIVER

JUSTIN & CAROLINE

OLD WEAPONS YARD

WWII CANNONS

GERLLERT HILL MONUMENTS

On Sunday, Caroline and I, with our two friends Justin and Kenny, decided to see all the formal sights of Budapest- the statue of liberty, the parliament, and the Budapest Castle district. We hiked all the way to the top of the biggest hill ever (I was totally out of breath) to get to the most amazing view of Budapest where the Statue of Liberty is located.

FACING THE BUDDA SIDE OF THE CITY

It was SO windy atop the hill, I felt like I was going to get blown off the top of the hill and float away into the clouds. It was gorgeous, Caroline and I took a million pictures.

CAUGHT IN A WINDSTORM

ON TOP OF THE WORLD

THE STATUE OF LIBERTY

The Szabadság Szobor or Liberty Statue was first erected in 1947 in remembrance of the Soviet liberation of Hungary from Nazi forces during World War II. The bronze statue stands atop a pedestal and holds a palm leaf. Several smaller statues are also present around the base, but the original monument consisted of several more that have since been removed from the site and relocated to Statue Park. The monument was designed by Zsigmond Kisfaludi Stróbl.

MYSELF & CAROLINE

BUDAPEST'S CASTLE DISTRICT

IRON GATES

EXPLORING THE BUDAPEST CASTLE DISTRICT

CASTLE COUTRYARDS

LONG WALK TO PARLIAMENT

DANUBE RIVER VIEWS OF THE PESHT SIDE OF BUDAPEST

EQUESTRIAN MONUMENT

We then ventured onto visit the Hungarian Parliament Building, one of Europe's oldest legislative buildings. It lies in Lajos Kossuth Square, on the bank of the Danube, in Budapest. It is currently the largest building in Hungary, and the second largest Parliament in Europe.

CAROLINE & I

PARLIAMENT DOME FACING THE DANUBE

STUNNING SCULPTURAL FACADES

HUNGARIAN PARLIAMENT

Similar to the Palace of Westminster, it was built in Gothic Revival style; it has a symmetrical facade and a central dome. It is 880 ft long and 400 ft wide. Its interior includes 10 courtyards, 13 passenger and freight elevators, 27 gates, 29 staircases, 691 rooms, and more than 200 offices. With its height of 310 ft, it is one of the two tallest buildings in Budapest, along with Saint Stephen's Basilica. The number 96 refers to the nation's millennium, 1896, and the conquest of the later Kingdom of Hungary in 896.

After exploring for a few hours, it was sadly time to go back to the hotel, pack up our stuff and board the buses at 530 to catch our flight. Annoyingly, our group leaders bags got lost (why you need to check a bag for 50 additional euro for a three day trip when everyone else just took a backpack or a small suitcase, i still do not understand). SO we waited in Rome for them to try to find their bags till 1030pm, we all the students started complaining that we shouldn't have to wait more than an hour, especially seeing as the are headed into midterms week and we still had a 4 hour bus ride back to Florence).

CIAO, CIAO BUDAPEST

We finally left the airport and I am writing everything down right now on the bus, since I know I will have a busy week ahead. We are due to get in around 230am Monday morning. I will get 4 hours of sleep then I'm off to school again because classes start at 8am Monday morning. Wish me luck. I hope that I don't fall asleep in Renaissance English tomorrow morning. Ciao ciao!!