Diana, Jen, Stevie, Laura, Claire and I headed to meet Cynthia, Jen's long time family friend and resident of Vienna for breakfast and the Saturday market. We hopped on the metro and towards Volkstheater, hurrying a bit since we were running a little late. We got to Cynthia's and sat for a bit in her quaint studio apartment.
We headed towards the market, stopping in a delish smelling chocolate store, and enjoying the sunny Vienna day. Cynthia took us to this cute little restaurant were we had breakfast. Claire and I split an Italian omelette. The best part of the breakfast was the freshly squeezed blood orange juice that made you feel like you were eating about 12 vitamins. I enjoyed our breakfast and the chance to talk with Cynthia, who reminds me so much of Jen with her spirit. Must come from all that Canadian fresh air.
After breakfast, we hit the market. What an array of colors and smells. We walked through the market, lines of fresh fruit, and bread, and meat, and everything under the sun. Dried fruit made me think of Ali and the time we about died on the floor of the DZ house laughing so hard. It's weird how the simplest things make you think of home. We walked through the market a bit and towards the flea market section. Jen and I split a cinnamon roll and took it all in. The market was full of all sorts of one of a kind items, things with a story. If I was a fan of clutter, maybe I would've bought something. But I prefer my own clutter, with my own stories behind it. After a while of wandering with the locals and the gypsies, we decided it was time we should be heading home to pick up our luggage and get to the bus station to check our bus. We said our goodbyes to Cynthia and mobilized the troops back to Haus Eramus.
By the time we got back, Diana had decided that she wanted to tag along with us to Budapest. More the merrier. So she threw together a bag of stuff and we were on our way to the metro to meet Stacy who decided to brave the bus to Budapest. After all, she had made it this far. Jen met us at the bus station and after wandering for a bit, we found the place, checked in, boarded the bus, and were on our way to Budapest.
The bus ride was only 3 hours, but Laura insisted I give her some Dramamine. She had never had it before, but I'm starting to believe I've created an addiction. I couldn't fall asleep and wasn't into the Mr. Bean they were showing, honestly I just wanted to make friends with the girl a few rows up watching Lion King on her laptop.
Arrival in Budapest. Another city to master. New country, new culture, new language, new currency. We had to orient ourselves and figure out how to get from the station to our hostel. First on the list, getting some Hungarian Forints (or HUFs like we liked to call them). We found an ATM and I took out 10,000 Forints. Pretty much a Hungarian Baller. Actually that's about 50 American Dollars. First impression, no one really spoke english. We saw a ticket machine so we tried that and after a little confusion, a guy told us in english that wasn't what we needed so we walked through the tunnel towards the metro and found a ticket window. Using hand signals we indicated how many tickets we wanted and pointed on a map where we wanted to go. Like I've said before, I am pretty good at navigating foreign public transportation. So I got us on the right metro, which I'm pretty sure was made in the 1800s, and headed to near the Opera House and towards our hostel. Now this whole experience had been a little nerve racking, but I didn't question once if the 7 of us could handle it. Yet on the metro, we were a little disturbed by an older drunken man who stumbled on the metro and then lost his balance when we started to move and fell over. Not knowing what to do, we all just stared at one another, until a woman helped him up. We switched lines, and a woman checked our tickets, so we were glad we had gotten them. Being yelled at in Hungarian wasn't on my list of must do's in Budapest. We got off at the Opera stop and I navigated us to our hostel. And by hostel, I mean the run down building it was located in.
Now I'm going to paint a picture for you. It's about 9 pm. It's dark in a foreign city. A mysterious foreign city. You are surrounded by 6 other girls, one of whom is about to pass out from exhaustion and the flu. You arrive at a run down building, ring the buzzer to the 3rd floor where the hostel you've booked is located. The lady buzzes you in. You walk in, it's dark, it smells like garbage, and even in the dark you can see it is dirty and run down. You find a light switch, so you turn it on. The light doesn't help make it look any more appealing. You have no choice but to at least check this place out. The elevator looks sketch, so you carry your luggage all the way up to the 3rd floor. In the midst of the climbing in the world's most sketchy staircase, the lights go out. The girls scream. Ah this is going to be good. And finally you get to the door. You open it, and find a lovely charming hostel with a very homey feel. It was getting a little sketchy there. Yep, that's the first impressions of Budapest. The Unity Hostel turned out to be super cute, we had our own ski chalet cabin looking room with bunk beds and slanted roofs with sky lights. In my mind, the Unity Hostel was like an oasis in the middle of a garbage wasteland.
I found this in the daylight on the walls of the staircase. Hello Zombie movie.
We got a dinner suggestion from the front desk and headed just down the street. Turns out the neighborhood we are in is actually really nice. Like Gucci is a minute walk away. The place she recommended was booked solid so we went across the street to a little place called Bohemia. The woman at the front door gave us a sampling of some little biscuits and I was sold. After a somewhat stressful evening, we decided a celebratory cocktail was in order. I had a "swimming pool" and the rest of the table got cosmos, pina coloadas, beer, and a tequila sunrise. We had a lovely dining conversation about art and literature. It was like a sophiscated first date. I ordered a chicken caesar salad, and it was really good. (Not quite as good as Mom's tho...I'm putting in my request now for it when I get home Mom). The day was exhausting and I could've fallen asleep at the table. The evening spiced up a bit when a man walked in in a duck suit. Turns out he was French (something about the French I swear) and it was his bachelor party. When's the big day? Oh 3 months from now. Hmmmm... he posed with us for some pictures (which are on someone elses camera) and we wished him best of luck.
After we paid, and got yelled at by the waiter for not tipping him, he actually chucked a tanty in the words of Laura. Now I am not one to short wait staff but let's be honest, our bill was in Hungarian for the amount of 17,934 Forints. It was a little confusing. I wasn't pleased with his audacity to call us out on it, but whatever. We tipped the man and headed out. We headed to our favorite spot KFC to pick up some comfort food for Stacy. She was unable to eat any of it without the desire to throw up, so we just made sure she had plenty of water.
Given my sleepiness at dinner, it wasn't too long before I was asleep in our little cabin like room.
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