Euroventures 2011 - Budapest

It was a 10am train going from Vienna to Budapest.  Luckily I had figured out the day before that Wien Meidling train station was in fact accessible through Philadelphiabrücke metro station as opposed to my first guess - Meidling Hauptstraße which would have involved changing trains, plus I'm not sure if it's actually connected to the train station?

Much as I complained about my poor comprehension of Italian and German, that was nothing compared to when all the rail station signs changed to Hungarian! Most people I encountered in Budapest spoke English and were very helpful and nice to me, so that was a relief.  My greatest language barrier moment came when I was standing in a small grocery store trying to figure out which bottles of water were carbonated and non-carbonated (I highly dislike the former).  In Italy I quickly learned the key word to look for was 'naturale' and in German 'ohne'... Hungarian and Czech...no clue.  To further complicate matters, carbonated water often comes in 2 forms, carbonated and a sort of mild carbonation (that's still pretty gross in large amounts).  Eventually I figured out the solution is just to pick up the bottle and squeeze it (similar to way you might test to see if your friends have shook up your bottle of pop before handing it to you...what?  didn't anyone have those types of friends in school? :P)  The plastic bottle can be squished a bit for still and mildly carbonated water, if you shake it a little the still water bottle will still have the same amount of give, the mildly carbonated one will have a little more resistance.  From there I just memorized the colour of the bottle cap and stuck with the same brand of water for the rest of the trip.

But in less mundane news, I stayed at the reliable Ibis City Hotel in Budapest, Ibis being a lower-budget brand of hotel that still offers a clean room, safe stay, and reliable service (wifi notwithstanding... I had some difficulties with it).  We'd been told they would take euros in Budapest, but in fact that was not true.  Tourist spots will take euros at a rip-off rate but everywhere else you will need the local currency.  Luckily we weren't far from Vaci Utca (aka tourist central -- a street filled with souvenir shops, restaurants, and shopping) where there were Change places galore.

Despite being distracted by cute souvenirs, the Eastern-meets-Western European architecture, etc. I did keep in mind my friend Aniko's recommendation to see Buda Castle that day (as many places are closed on Sundays), it was pleasant hike up and there was much to learn about the rich history of Budapest from the Museum.  It was interesting to see pre-historic artifacts outside of North America (ok, so I'm stereotyping but I always think Canada/US when I think of dinosaurs and cavemen), also to learn that one of the first inhabitants of Budapest were a Celtic tribe.  I had been hoping to check out the House of Terror (it's more about Facism and Communism than serial killers), which I should've gone to Sunday because it was closed when I passed by on Monday.  Still, I managed to glimpse other sites (including a education tour of the Dohány Street Synagogue) and really enjoyed wandering the streets of Budapest.  In fact, it was probably my favourite city of this trip and certainly the most photographed.

Parliament Building photographed from across the river while lit up at night.

The beautiful Dohany Street Synagogue

Chain Bridge

Everything seems delightfully affordable in Budapest thanks to the favourable exchange rate.  Despite all my previous joking around, I did pick up souvenirs that were not paprika (the only thing I knew Hungary was famous for prior to this trip).  If you're strictly about the sight-seeing, 2 days or 3 days tops is enough in Budapest.  However I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the city and would have no problem staying longer.  I got my hands on a culture guide from one of the tourist stands and there are a number of smaller museums that I wouldn't mind seeing.  So I hope to return to Hungary in the future.