I used to think I was a complainer but I'm starting to discover that my complaining is much more mild than some. I'm also discovering that I am a bit more open minded especially to change. Don't get me wrong, I hate change, but I make due with what is handed to me.
Budapest may have been a bust but I kept my mind open about where we were and the experience I was getting. Maybe this is what made me love New Zealand so much more than my friends during our Easter break last year. Yes, it reminded me of home, but yes it also rained and was a lot colder than anyone really anticipated. I, however, enjoyed where we were, nonetheless, and that's what made me fall in love with the country.
Same experience has occurred in Budapest, Hungary.
The first day we arrived no one seemed to know where we were going or how to get to our hotel so we spent a lot of time waiting around as we looked at maps and figured out the bus routes.
By the time we got to our hotel, it was 17:00 and we just learned that there was a wedding party the next day so we had to have dinner at the hotel that night at 20:00, which didn't give us much time to explore the city, especially because our hotel is on an island in the middle of the Danube River. Nonetheless, we walked (1 mile each way) towards the bridge to catch a "Hop on Hop off" bus. However, by the time we got there it was about 18:30, the last bus was at 19:00, and we had to make it back to the hotel by 20:00 for dinner! That being said, we ended up not doing the bus and once again sat around deciding what to do. Finally a few of us decided to walk around, so we walked over to the parliament building to take some photos before heading to back to the hotel for dinner.
We had a delicious all-you-can-eat Hungarian buffet. It was divine, but we ate way too much! It was worth it though, especially because we got to try many different foods that I would normally be too scared to try otherwise.
Walking around Budapest
The parliament across the river
Parliament
Beautiful flowers in front of the Parliament
More flowers
Olympic Rings in Budapest
Pretty flower garden
More parliament
Selfies
Photo in front of Parliament
Selfies!
U of U in front of the Parliament
Budapest!
Reppin the U!
The next day we woke up early and did some tai chi with our professor and class mates. After we walked around and did a "mindful walk" - very slow and mindful of our surroundings. It was nice to become with natural and truly envision everything around me, smell everything, and hear all the birds and people running and playing. It also gave me time to just think about everything that was on my mind. It truly was relaxing!
Afterwards we got ready for the day and made our way to the bus so we could explore the city. We made our first stop at St Stephens Basilica, mostly because I found a gelato shop I wanted to go to because they turn the gelato into roses!!! It was delicious.
Gelato Selfie
Rose Gelato
My ice cream!
The basilica
Basilica
Beautiful Basilica
We then continued on and went to some markets where we walked around, bought some souvenirs and just enjoyed seeing many Hungarian clothing and toys.
View from the bus
Bridge to cross the river
The markets in Budapest
The markets closed at 15:00, so we waited for the bus, but the bus takes so long Kelsee and I decided we didn't have any more time to make another stop because we had to get back to our hotel for our massages at 18:00. We got to see the city by bus, though, which was fun to see. It made me, however, wish that we had more time in Budapest because there's still so much I want to see!
We made it back to the hotel with about 20 minutes to waste. So we relaxed and then headed to our massage. It was quite the experience...
I have had massages before in Utah, and was expecting them to give me my privacy while I changed and got on the bed, but it's a little different here. Instead, I had a guy masseuse who stood there with the sheet and watched me get nearly naked! I quickly undressed and jumped onto the bed where he kindly covered me up, finally. He started with me on my back and did my legs and feet (which was much needed after all of the walking on the island). Afterwards he had me turn onto my stomach where he would do my legs again and then my back. The back is where it got really interesting though. He pulled the sheet down to uncover my back, but then started to pull my underwear down! So I was sitting there butt naked on the table like no big deal. He also gently unclipped my bra. I just sat there silent laughing in my head and told myself I'd never see him again and to just relax and enjoy it. I truly did feel relaxed though and felt so good when it was done.
Thankfully after the massage he left the room and allowed me to get dressed again in private. He also gave me a little bottle of lavender oil that I could use. Maybe it'll help me relax now when I get stressed out.
After our massages, Kelsee and I were hungry so we went to grab some food at a restaurant that was "nearby." (Nearby means on the other side of the island which means another mile walk down there...)
We enjoyed dinner, but from all the lavender oil from the massage we felt so greasy and gross! But again, still worth it.
That night we also walked back to the end of the island so I could take some night shots of the city.
Sunday was our last day and of course it was raining in the morning so we didn't get to do tai chi or yoga, so we just relaxed, and walked around the city one last time. We also are another Nutella lángos before heading back to the hotel and waiting for our group to leave back to Vienna.
Langos: Basically a scone with nutella on top. I promise, it is divine!
Anyways, sorry for the lack of photos. We obviously didn't get around the city as much as we wished we could have, but the trip was fun, nonetheless. We definitely got to relax (besides all of the walking!!!) with some spa and massage action. It was worth it, I think.
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Random Thoughts
I've realized people in Europe seem to think that they are bigger than vehicles. They have no fear of them! Today we watched a lady walk right in front of a bus without a second thought. The bus honked but she just kept going. Thankfully she didn't get hit, but my heavens, if they come to the States they will die. The game "10 points, 20 points" exists for a reason! (Not really, but Americans do not stop for pedestrians like they do here...)
It's interesting to go country to country because I keep seeing different flowers.
Switzerland the fields were blossoming with yellow flowers. Hungary they are blossoming with purple and red flowers!!
So my mom has this story from when her and my dad were in Europe for their honeymoon. They would be driving around and they kept seeing city signs in Germany for Ausfahrt. They would keep driving around to other cities and still see exit signs Ausfahrt. My mom kept thinking "that must be a huge city if all these exits lead to Ausfahrt!" Later, to their dismay, they discovered that it meant exit.....
Well today, as we were on the metro to get to our bus to go back to Vienna, we were trying to figure out what stop we were at and how much further we had to go. I saw a sign that says Kijárat, and we started to looking for it on the signs... We did not see it on the map but just went with it.
We got to the next stop. Kijárat again, and it has an arrow pointing up. Wow. We must be in a big metro station area or something...
Finally get to another stop. Kijárat with a running man symbol and an arrow. That's when it finally hit me that it probably meant exit in Hungarian.... And we finally figured out which stop we were at that matches up with the metro stops. Hahahaha
Nonetheless I felt silly and obviously have my mom's IQ genes.
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When we got back to Vienna, we discovered there was a beer festival nearby our institute, so we all obviously had to make a stop and check it out
Beers at Beer Fest
Bratwurst..... was quite interesting and HUGE to say the least.
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