Playing Catch Up

Wow... Where to start? Clearly it has been a while since I have had time to sit down and write down everything that I have seen and done. At this point, my memory is hazy on some parts of the timeline and sights, but I will do my best to recount everything.

Since my last blog post, which was forever ago, I have been to and seen a lot of things, I will skip the boring details of school, so with that said, we will start last Tuesday, the 21 of February. After getting out of my Human Resources Management class, Hillary, her roommate Cynthia, and I were excited to be heading to a Czech hockey game. It was Cynthia's first time to a hockey game, despite living in Chicago (where the best hockey team is- because the Red Wings are no good), so we had a lot to talk about at the game. We got off the tram and snapped some photos walking into the arena. They had some legit security set up and it felt almost like going through the airport. The arena was small and nearly empty (apparently the home team was not so good). The first thing that struck me in watching the game was the number of ads in the arena. The boards were decked out, as well as the ice, as well as the jerseys of the players. It all seemed like a bit much to me. The next thing that hit me was that I could have played for these teams. I felt like I was watching two high school teams play each other. At the end of the first period, the score was 4-0 in favor of the visitors. Fed up, and hungry Hillary and I left our seats to grab food. I had the most delicious hot dog of my life (sorry, Varsity). Hillary got a beer with the meal and made me try a sip. I was disgusted and glad that I had my hot dog to chase it.
We returned to our seats to watch the second period. While the period flew by, the amateur hockey was still very present, as the score was evened 4-4. I felt like I was in the filming of a Disney channel movie where the underdog always comes back miraculously. After two periods, we had seen enough, and later learned we had made the right decision. On the way out, I bought an HC Slavia (the home team) scarf as a memento.
In the end, HC Slavia won in a really long shootout, 5-4.

Wednesday was school as usual, though on the way I made a detour to buy a hooded sweatshirt as the weather had warmed to 40 and my pea coat seemed a bit heavy for the weather. Along the detour, Hillary and I decided to sample Czech fare from Vaclavske Namesti (Pronounced Vot-slov-skee). I had a traditional sausage on a bun with curry ketchup and Hillary tried some nasty (though she liked it) seasoned kolbasa.

Thursday morning- TRAVEL DAY! After last weekend's testing of our Eurail Pass (just realized I forgot to post about Brno... Look for a separate post on that).
At 9:42 AM, our train headed out. Armed with enough food to feed an army, we carefully chose some spacious seats with a table for our 7.5 hour journey south and east to Budapest, Hungary! The ride was rather uneventful, though I enjoyed the scenery and the food we had packed.
Around 4 PM, our train pulled into Keleti Palyaudvar, one of two main train stations in Budapest. Immediately, we hit the ground running, turning to head to a mall that we had seen from the train to get some wifi and reserve our hostel for the night as well as look at a map to figure out what in the world we were doing. The mall was one of the biggest I have ever been in, and it was a really interesting experience. We found out that Pizza Hut is a sit down restaurant in Hungary, that McDonald's is good no matter where you are, and that I had a massive hole in the crotch of my pants. Embarrassing. Good thing I was wearing thermal underwear so no skin was shown. After some half hearted shopping, we parked it at Starbucks to reserve our room at Tiger Tim's Place (our hostel) and to look at the map to figure out how to walk there.
After that, we took off walking. Luckily, it was warm, because without knowing, we had planned an 8 kilometer walk! We walked down the street to the Danube River. From there, we saw the Freedom Memorial and the Citadella (never visited them, though) and the Inner City Parish Church. From there, we turned north in the direction of Tiger Tim's. Immediately we spotted the Royal Palace (unique because the royal family never lived there) and the Old Castle District. Because it was dark, the view of Obuda across the river was enchanting. I was in awe of the beauty of seeing the three major churches along Fo Utca lit up in the shadows of The Castle, Fisherman's Bastion, and Matthias Church.
Our walk led us in front of several famous buildings to the Chain Bridge, a famous bridge in Budapest. From the chain bridge, we turned away from the water a bit and ended up running into the most massive building I think I have ever seen- Hungarian Parliament. It was a beautiful gothic structure that takes up an enormous amount of space but is truly gorgeous in the daylight. Without meaning to, this building took up a lot of my photos because it truly was unavoidable. After the awe of Parliament, nothing else stood out much, except the excruciating pain from every step (we both forgot to bring our tennis shoes).

Tiger Tim's Place- Sketchiest facade of a building I may have ever seen. Graffiti everywhere gave the impression that the building was all but rundown. We rang the buzzer, and Tim, an Ireland native gave us instructions on how to get into the hostel. We entered the courtyard and were buzzed through another door to the smallest and honestly scariest elevator I have ever seen (Molly, you would have died, and Dad you would have had a claustrophobic breakdown). After stepping inside, we closed the doors and pushed the floor button. The elevator moved, then stopped. Normally, I wouldnt have been too worried, but due to the appearance of the elevator, I was sure we were doomed. Finally the elevator dropped back down and we tried to push the door open to get out. But couldn't. Freaked out, we closed the doors once more and pressed the floor button. Holding our breath so the elevator wouldn't stop working, we finally made it to the 3 floor and exited as hurriedly as possible. From there, we walked to Tiger Tim's across some more shabby courtyards. As we removed our shoes, we were introduced to Nina from Finland. Climbing the stairs, we met: "Team Argentina", Ruben from Brussels, Unnamed man from Ireland, and an obese mute man. We later found out that Nina, Ruben, and obese were to be roommates of ours in our 6-bed mixed dorm. The rest of the night passed rather uneventfully and we both passed out immediately from our over 5 mile walk.

Friday was our full day in Budapest, so we got up and out around 10. After sampling some Hungarian pastries (not as good as I was led to believe), we walked across Margaret Bridge and hiked up to the tomb of Gul Baba (patron saint of the city). Nothing much to see there, but it was a nice view of the city. We strolled down Fo Utca, the main road in Obuda on the Danube toward the castle. Along the way, we stopped at the Presbyterian church, the Calvinist church and another church (so many churches some of the names escape me). We paid for a funicular ride and headed up to the top of Castle Hill, snapping some pictures on the way. At the top, we took in some spectacular views before heading toward Old Town. Visiting the Old Castle and church ruins (destroyed 1686), we got a feeling for how beautiful Budapest was, despite its initially dirty appearance. Heading through Old Town, we hit a market to get some real Hungarian Paprika. I bought some pizza flavored Cheetos (no good, as you may expect) and a Sprite: Total cost $1.35. From the market, we strolled to The St. Matthew Fountain and church of St. Matthew. The building was a gorgeous white with a really cool and colorfully patterned roof. Situated right in front of Fisherman's Bastion (a portion of wall built and defended by the Fisherman's guild), we spent a lot of time taking pictures and walking the fortified walls of the bastion. With some beautiful views, we headed north toward the gate to old town and National Archives Building. From here, we saw Mary Magdalene tower (remnants of a 13th century church destroyed by bombing. Was never rebuilt, nor converted to a mosque despite Muslim rule (a rare feat in these areas)). Strolling down the nearly empty streets of the Castle district, I found myself thinking about how cool it was to be able to travel to Budapest and see these things.
As we marched south, we headed to the Royal Palace (really just museums) and snapped pictures of several statues and fountains as well as ruins of the old castle. From the outcropping of wall, we got a decent view of the Freedom Monument and Citadella again. Deciding our time was done, we headed back down and across the chain bridge to St. Stephen's Basilica. The dome was remarkable, and though we could not figure out how to get inside, all we missed was seeing the mummified hand of St. Stephen (gross!). As we walked the main street toward Heroes' Square, we snapped some pictures of the State Opera House. Worn out from all of our walking, we headed home, grabbing some dinner at Tesco. That night, we did some research on what we missed to see if an early morning excursion was necessary. This is what we found:
On the list of 1000 places to see before you die: Gerbeaud Chocolate Cafe. Saturday morning we hit the streets and walked the 20 minutes to the factory. There, we got a piece of famous Stopos cake and a few chocolate bars (one for momma). With some time to spare before the train, we hopped on the Hungarian metro (sketchy!!!) and rode back to Keleti Palyaudvar to kill some time with the golden arches. I had some McGriddles (served without meat, but with honey). After spending the last of our Forints on food for the road, we hopped on the train, ready for our next excursion: Bratislava, Slovakia!