Budapest and Bratislava

On my second full day in Budapest I did a lot more wandering around again. I like doing that – just getting to a city and wandering around the streets for a few days. I walked up to the Citadel on the Buda side of the river, which had some pretty epic views of the city. You could see everything! It was a long walk, but totally worth it. I had a late start to my day, so that was in early afternoon. After the citadel I wandered through the Central Market in Pest, which has plenty of vegetables, fruits, meats, alcohol (hey, it’s Hungary, where can’t you buy alcohol?), and souvenirs and such. I didn’t get any that day, but the cherries are so delicious and cheap! After that I made my way to the other side of Pest and checked out the Parliament building. It was hot, and I was a bit tired, so I hung out for a bit before making my way to the baths. I had 2 hours to relax in the different temperature pools and saunas before they closed. It was a bit lonely being there on my own, but it was relaxing. And I had my first experience in a sauna. Let me tell you, it’s a weird feeling when the metal on your piercings actually heat up and are hot to the touch.
I didn’t do anything that night, kept it low key because I had to get up early the next day to go to Bratislava!

I got into Bratislava around noon yesterday, and after dropping my stuff off I met and hung out with Vojtech and Ian. Ian is an American traveler and Vojtech is Slovakian. He had to work, so Ian and I wandered around the city a bit and saw everything in just a couple of hours. The castle was unfortunately undergoing a lot of construction, so that was closed, but the views from up there were awesome. After seeing the sites we wandered to the park and hung out there for a bit, then walked through a nearby cemetery that had some awesome headstones. Vojtech got off work at 1am, so we met up with him and went to an after party for a Marilyn Manson concert in a club in a nuclear fallout shelter. When we got there, R.E.M. was playing, which I found hilarious for a Marilyn Manson after party. After that we hung out until well after sunrise. (The sun was already rising at 4:30am.) OH, I almost forgot! I was super excited yesterday when I was able to find peanut butter for a reasonable price. I almost finished the whole jar yesterday. Woo! That is definitely one thing I miss from the states, and as soon as I get back I’m going to go to Hannahford and buy a giant, family sized jar of chunky peanut butter.

Now I have about an hour and a half until my train to Wien (Vienna). Luckily the train is only an hour long. I’ll update again when I can!