Budapest!

At the time of writing this (6:00pm-ish on 7 June), I’ve been in Budapest for about a full day now. My train was half an hour later getting in, and I had to go through at least 9 passport controls. I had a little snag leaving Slovenia, or what seemed like it was going to be a snag, but that blew over pretty easily. The customs guy asked me why I didn’t have an entrance stamp, and I told him that I took a train from Italy and slept the whole way and no one woke me for a passport check. He looked at me slightly skeptically and then radioed his post (I’m assuming) to get a further check on me. While that was going on the police, who were also checking passports, crowded around my compartment while he waited for my information to come back to him. Luckily that blew over, but it was a little intense for before 7am. After that the train ride seemed endless, and every time I was getting to sleep it seemed like someone else was coming to check my passport and/or my tickets. A bit stressful, but I made it to Budapest in one piece without any real problems!

When I got in the weather was a lot nicer than when I left Ljubljana. It was sunny and a comfortable temperature and I didn’t have much trouble finding my way to where I’m staying. I’m fairly close to central Pest, on the left side of the Danube. After I got myself situated I decided to head on out and explore. I wasn’t gone more than 30 seconds before I heard an American girl who lives on the street I’m staying on trying to get my attention. I was wearing my Middlebury Quidditch t-shirt, so she wanted to know if I went there and if I knew someone. Turns out she knows someone who I have hung out with on several occasions. What a small world! So she asked me if I had any plans which I didn’t, aside from going to check out a supposedly vegan friendly restaurant that my Lonely Planet: Europe on a Shoestring suggested and I can do another time, and she invited me to come to an Indian restaurant with her and her friends. Another small world instance – one of her friends goes to Bard and knows the bridge on Buckwheat Road that we jump off of in summer! When we got to the restaurant there was an Italian girl who just graduated from Bard. So I ended up hanging out with the girl I met on the street, her flat mate- a guy from California- and the girl from Bard after dinner at this bar/café/performance place that was pretty chill. It’s weird going into places and seeing smoking still allowed inside! There was a concert going on downstairs that I caught a bit of. It was okay, the bassist and the drummer were really good, but the guitarist was nothing special. He did make some pretty epic guitar faces though. After that we attempted to go to a club, but it was mobbed and we weren’t sure if you had to pay that night, and I was tired after getting up for a 6:15am train. So since it was so crazy I just went back to get some sleep.

This morning I got up and left around 10:30 to start exploring. I walked past St. Stephen’s Basilica (Szt. Istaván Bazilika) through the main pedestrian area of Pest to the Danube (Duna) and then up along the Danube to the Chain Bridge (Lánchíd). My camera batteries had died, so I didn’t get any photos on this part of my day. The inside of the Basilica was pretty impressive. It was huge. I crossed the bridge and made my way up to Fisherman’s Bastian (Halászbástya), which had some pretty epic views and was just all around cool to be at. I decided I needed to take some photos so I bought some batteries at the souvenir shop there. Unfortunately almost right after that it started to downpour. It was nice when I left so I had no jacket and no sweatshirt with me. I made my way to Buda Castle (Budai Vár). There were some museums there, but nothing that I particularly wanted to go in, so I just chilled out under the archways until the rain cleared, or at least let up. Once it did let up a bit I made my way back towards Pest so I could grab my sweatshirt and figure out the rest of my day. I was originally going to go to the Baths with Kaye and Brandon, two of the people I met last night, but because of the weather we scratched that idea. I decided to go to the House of Terror (Terror Háza) instead, which is a museum about the dual occupation of Hungary by the Nazis and the Soviet Union. The rain had let up, so I ventured back out, but that wasn’t to last. Luckily the House of Terror wasn’t too far, and it was pretty cool. Best of all, it was free! I was expecting to pay 750 Ft (about $3.75/2,60€) for a student ticket, but hey, I’m not complaining! When I got out it was still raining, which brings me up to the present. I’m just chilling out now, but I’m probably going to meet up with some people this evening.

I know this is getting long and I’ve probably lost some of you in all of it, but one last thing. It’s so weird hearing prices in the 100s and 1000s, but it does make me feel like a baller to be carrying some currency in the thousands, with a 10,000 Ft bill. The exchange rate right now is about $1 / 1€ = 200 / 286 Ft, so it’s not that much, but yeah. I’m straight gangsta’!

Okay, that’s all for now. I’ll update again when I can!

Venice and Ljubljana

My last night and day in Venice turned out to be better than I expected! At first I wasn’t too keen on the hostel/campground I was staying at because I didn’t meet anyone. Well that changed almost right after I finished updating my blog last time. I met a bunch of Americans, an Australian guy, two Norwegians, and a couple of other random people. We all hung out at the hostel bar and talked about everything from politics to stereotypes to n’importe quoi. The Norwegian guys were hilarious and all over the place and ended up throwing each other in the pool. Overall it was an excellent night.

The next day in the city it was pretty hot and I had to carry my backpack around all day, from about noon until 9:30ish. That wasn’t pleasant, but I met up with Derek, an Australian I met in Rome. I saw more of the city that I hadn’t seen during the previous day, as well as the stuff I had already seen. I want into Basilica di San Marco because it was free. It was so massive! But unfortunately you’re not allowed to take photos inside. The floor was all wavy from centuries of tidal movements underneath it. It was definitely impressive.
Also, check out this beauty right here: That’s right, a diamond-encrusted skull. How ostentatiously badass is that?


Anyways, I got in Ljubljana in the middle of the night. When I woke up a little bit later I wandered all over the city. The castle is so cool, but unfortunately the tower was closed. It’s such a pretty city; small, but pretty. And there’s a Tivoli Park! (I lov it!) I mostly just wandered around and took pictures during the day, going from one side to the other. There are several different types of buildings, from Soviet-influenced bloc style housing, to art nouveau style, to just massive structures. And there are a lot of green spaces in the city, which is nice. The temperature here was a little bit colder than in Venice, but that was a relief.

I went into one museum, the Narodni Galeriji (National Gallery), because there was a Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition going on! His work is so great, and I was happy to see that for the most part these photos were different from the ones in Florence. His photos are just incredible! And, speaking of photos, I met a Slovenian girl who took me to another photography exhibition that her friend had some photos in. It was free, which is always great, and there was free wine and snacks, which is even better! After that we made our way to Metelkova for a concert. Metelkova is an autonomous area in the city that was taken over by squatters in 1993. It used to be used by the Yugoslav National Army. Now it’s a really cool place for alternative culture and concerts, and there is even a hostel there. The concert was decent, nothing to special, but it was cool to go to a concert since I haven’t been to one in a little while. The bands played some heavy post-rock type music. And I was able to meet a bunch of Slovenians.

Today the weather hasn’t been too great, which is why I’m updating this blog in the middle of the day. I’m not sure what I’m going to end up doing, if anything. It seems like whenever I step out the rain just starts to come down more. I did manage to go back to Metelkova to take some photos of the graffiti and buildings and things. I like it there.

That’s all for now. I head to Budapest, Hungary early tomorrow morning. I have a stop over in Zagreb, Croatia as well, but it’s only an hour so I don’t think I’ll be able to see much if anything there. I’ll update again when I can!