I awoke earlier than necessary on Saturday morning since I was being bathed in the morning sun and starting to overheat. The Loft was much more comfortable Friday night since the temperatures did drop, though only a little. After waking, I worked myself into a bit of a panic trying to plan for the departure from Budapest. Since this was going to be our first planning on the go and our first train ride, I was nervous. So nervous in fact I woke Susan up to get the day started earlier than she would have liked.
Either way, once roused we talked some strategy with Gina the hostess before taking off to the Central market to grab breakfast (a chocolate pastry and some tart berries we had been wanting to try) and then crossed the Green Bridge to Buda. On the crossing we ran into 2 other girls from our Hostel, one from Australia and one from Germany whom we had met the night before while lounging in the common room. It sounded like some of the other guests were planning on going to the baths today and then going out as a group with our hostel hosts tonight…we were a little bummed to be missing out on the fun, but it was nice to have met some travel friends.
Our routes diverged once reaching Buda, and Susan and I walked along the river to the Old Castle and surrounding district. We took the funicular to the top since the heat was setting in and we’d already covered a couple miles on foot. At the top, we started wandering away from the castle seeing sites along the way including Saint Matthias Church (with its beautiful mosaic tiled roof), Holy Trinity Square, and Maria Magdalina Tower. Then we returned to the President’s office just in time to see the changing of the guards ceremony. It was overly flashy with plenty of quick rifle movements, but that made it fun to watch. After the show, we walked the castle grounds, but passed on the art and history museums before descending back to the river and returning to Pest.
The funicular 
Saint Matthias Church & Maria Magdalina Tower 
Overlooking the Danube and Pest 
Changing of the Guard 
The soldiers marching around the crowd 
St. Peter’s Basilica & Parliament 
Lion’s Courtyard
The goal now was to find food and return to the hostel to get ready to depart. Unfortunately we were in the heart of tourist central, so finding affordable options that also looked appetizing was near-impossible. Once we hit emergency caloric depletion, we (*gasp!*) settled for McDonalds (*sigh*). It was embarrassing, but at least we got food unavailable in the states (Azsianburger for me and BBQ burger for Susan). Refueled we returned to the hostel, folded the laundry that was done for us in the morning, packed, and left for the train station. We arrived too early since we weren’t sure of the process for activating the Eurail pass or getting tickets. After a wait on an uncomfortable bench we finally boarded our first train for Vienna. The plan is to stay at a hostel on the outskirts of the city tonight, then see what we can in the city center tomorrow morning before moving on again tomorrow night.
Hungarian countryside (from the train)
The train ride was nice and smooth with the exception of the occasional lurch. We boarded early, so got our own table. Unfortunately, so did a group of 6 obnoxious Americans who settled across from and behind us. I was able to block them out for the most part, but was still discouraged by their constant loud conversation and all the unnecessary drama they incited on board…silly Americans.
Arriving in Vienna at Westbonhoff Station (and mall apparently), we navigated our way to the subway then bus necessary to reach our hostel. We are staying outside of the city in a suburb of sorts on a large hill that overlooks the cityscape…it is impressive scenery. Since we arrived at 9pm and had not had dinner, we walked a little ways down the hill to a small restaurant with a unique atmosphere and delicious food (once we were able to get our hands on the English menu). Most of the seating was outdoors, bier garden style, but there was a Villa house, a separate reception hall, a third gathering room hidden in the back, and a lawn with patio seating, an overlook, a teepee and a huge sculpture of a man face down in the grass.
Post dinner it was late, so back to the hostel for bed. This hostel, although nice, is more like a scaled back hotel with smaller rooms, electronic door keys, a dining hall, etc. It houses more guests total, but doesn’t have the unique features that create as much of a community atmosphere as the Loft. It’s nice, just in a completely different way.
Tomorrow, we storm through Vienna in a day…
No comments:
Post a Comment