Birthdays, Vampires, and Doona Parties! (Part 1)

I just got back from my latest break from school. We had a week off after midterms, which just so happened to coincide with my 21st birthday. So, me being my odd self decided to go to Budapest and Bucharest for a week. Why? Why not! My friend Danielle had just gone to Budapest and said that she absolutely loved it so I decided to give it a go. And if I spent the middle of the week in Bucharest then I could spend Halloween in Transylvania! Unfortunately everyone in my program had decided to go to Paris or Barcelona and I was left conquering eastern europe all by my lonesy onesome. But hey, I'm an independent gal, it would all be fine! Right?

I flew to Budapest, Hungary Thursday night after class and arrived at the Wombats Hostel. It is actually ridiculously nice for a hostel. The building used to be a hotel so every room has a giant, wonderful bathroom and there is even a bar on the ground floor! The only down side was my roommates. I got stuck in a room with 5 Italian guys who were awful. They slept all day because they would be out partying until 6 am and when they finally decided to go out they hogged the bathroom and even were blow drying their hair. Honestly, Italian men spend more time on their looks than most women... The worst was when they came back at 6 am and decided to continue partying in the room blasting Gangnam Style and dancing about like modern bacchantes. Someone even came to the door at 7 am and started asking them to turn it down, but he ended up coming in to dance. All this time I'm huddled under the covers in my top bunk trying desperately to ignore the noise and get some much needed sleep and the newcomer notices me. He asks the Italians who I am, to which they respond that I am female, and of course the guy wants to know what I look like so he asks the Italians. They just start saying, "Ohhh, è brutta! È brutta!" At that moment I wanted to yell at them and inform them that I speak Italian as well and could understand everything that they were saying. But I decided it would be wiser to keep quiet and ignore them (besides, my ego was now irreparably damaged) . By some miracle I fell asleep and when I woke I went straight to the front desk and got a room change. I got lucky and ended up with a quiet Korean guy and 4 German girls.

After that fiasco I went out to explore the city. It was beautiful, but gray and freezing and wet. I walked around the Pest side (Interesting side note: Budapest is actually 2 cities - the hilly Buda and flat Pest on either side of the Danube river) and found a Hard Rock Cafe. I know, I should eat the food of the area. I did on all of the other days, but after more than 2 months without a burger and minimal red meat I could not resist. And wow, what a burger!! They had heinz ketchup and french's mustard. I appreciate the little things so much more! I then went and explored the oldest cemetery in Budapest which had some really wonderful funerary sculptures. And the colors of the trees made it so magical.

This one legitimately creeped me out.

DON'T BLINK!

Another rather frightening one, this one in mosaics

The next day I went to explore the Buda side. Specifically Buda Castle and Matthias Church and Fisherman's Bastion. The castle was first completed in 1265 by King Béla IV of Hungary. In 1526 Buda was sacked, burned, and captured by the Ottoman Turks after the Battle of Mohács causing the fall of the Kingdom of Hungary, but the palace was left unharmed. Allied Christian forces endeavored to drive out the Turks in 1686 but in the midst of the fighting ended up inadvertently blowing up and destroying the medieval castle. The current palace was built in the baroque style in 1769. Some parts of the medieval palace have been reconstructed and can be seen on the path leading up to the castle.

Rawr!

Ruins of the medieval castle

The reconstructed medieval turret. 

Buda Castle

Matthias Church

The beautiful roofing

Fisherman's Bastion

 Ending my stay in Hungary I celebrated my 21st birthday by going out to Spinoza Cafe. It's a wonderful cozy little restaurant that features live piano music and a relaxing twenties vibe. I ordered steak and potatoes au gratin with a nice white wine. It was divine! Sure, being alone on my 21st birthday was not how I envisioned spending it, but this was pretty wonderful. The most magical part occurred while I was eating my apple strudel with vanilla ice cream - the pianist began to play a jazz version of A Whole New World from Disney's Aladdin. Not only is that my favorite Disney film, but it came out on vhs on my 3rd birthday and my party consisted of watching it with the neighborhood kids. It also seemed like a sign for me to buck up and take on the world. It was just so unexpected because all night the music was jazzy and classy. It really was amazing.

(I'll get to Romania and the train of horrors in Part 2. Ciao for now!)