5 Girls & One Long Weekend; What Could Possibly Happen

Throughout my year here I've done some amazing travelling.  For my first time overseas I can say that I've definitely spent my time wisely in seeing Europe.  I've gone to places that I've always wanted to and ones that I hadn't thought of visiting, but have nicely surprised me.  I don't know if it's just because of this time of year, with everything green and the sun making consistent appearances, but my heart was left in eastern Europe recently in the most unlikely, or so I thought, country.

At the beginning of June we had a four day weekend, so a group of us girls decided to plan a trip together.  One last hurrah before summer and we disperse, some of us for good.  Places had been talked about, tossed around but it was finally decided upon hitting up a country that a few had on their list.  For me, to be honest, I was like "meh" with the choice, really only going to have fun with a terrific bunch of people. However, upon landing and experiencing this place my mind was changed, my heart stolen and I think I found my new favourite city.  Where is it you ask?

Budapest, Hungary.

So here is the beginning of my love affair.......

We quickly vamoosed from school Friday and did the usual taxi, train, bus trio to get to the airport in Milan.  Thankfully our flight was later this night so we weren't worried about a Lisbon repeat incident.  After grabbing a quick bite to eat, checking-in with Wizz Air (another new airline for us with some pretty strict baggage restrictions, including cabin bags), going through security hoping that our broken elbow friend wouldn't have any problems (and didn't, she even got a gentle arm pat down), we were quickly on our way to Budapest.
Note: I'm a fan of pink, I really am, but an airplane splashed in it and stewards wearing pink and purple shirts was quite an interesting look, and definitely marketable as you'll always remember Wizz Air for that.

Upon landing in Budapest and unfolding ourselves from the "no leg room hope you enjoy your knees at your ears" seats, we took the LONG walk to the airport (I'm sure this was intentional so that we could start feeling our legs again and get the circulation going once more).  Once again we found ourselves in a country that doesn't use the euro, so grabbing our HUFs (large currency once again) we found our airport transfer and exhausted headed into the city.

It didn't take us too long to get there, clumsily find the place we needed and get the keys to the apartment we were renting.  Upon arriving in our area it was clear that Budapest has a thriving nightlife.  At 1 am when we rolled in there were people everywhere, but it didn't seem chaotic or haphazard.  Rather orderly and it was apparent that everyone was there to just have a good ol' time.

Entering into our apartment we were pleasantly greeted with a large, spacious apartment and beds into which we eagerly climbed.

Some of us napped and some of us caused shenanigans on the way.

Hello Budapest

Feeling wealthy once again (actually more so this time).

For our first day in Budapest we wanted to take in one of the traditional Turkish baths.  So buying a Hop-On Hop-Off bus ticket, we found the correct line and headed to get some sun and chillax.

When we got to our stop, at Heroes Square, there was a military "performance" occurring at that moment.  Not sure exactly what it was about, but there were men and women in uniform playing instruments, doing a weapon demonstration, and then going on a march.  We stopped to watch a bit before meandering on our way, at which point there was a disastrous photo jumping incident for which someone's sunglasses never fully recovered.  *sigh*

Walking down a lovely tree shaded street line with a few market stalls, we found the Turkish bath we were looking for: the Szechenyi Baths.  This place was great!  There were temperature regulated thermal baths inside, ranging from 40C to 20C, and baths outside with lane swimming in the middle.   Saunas and massages were also available but we were ready to just take on the sun and enjoy the outdoor pools.

Besides relaxing in the sun and enjoying the lovely water, one thing I really enjoyed was the people watching.  There were all sorts at the baths that day, most notably the stags where a green mankini made an appearance as did some very white cheeks ;)

Ready for our first day in Budapest

One of us decided not to make a silly face. Tsk, tsk. ;')

HO-HO bus, ready for some sun!

Opera House

Heroes' Square

Szechenyi Baths - outdoor pools

Once we'd got enough sun and felt like we were rejuvenated after a long work week, we headed back to our apartment, freshened up and headed out to have a traditional Hungarian supper.  We didn't have to go far to find a thriving restaurant/bar scene as our apartment was right in the heart of a lively neighbourhood.

After supper we explored the neighbourhood a little, found a place for a night cap, amused ourselves with a fun 'game' or two started earlier that day, kudos to A for her win, then proceeded to avoid anymore awkward winking situations or feel-ups and proceeded back to prepare for our next touring day.

Did you know......Budapest is actually a combination of two cities into one separated by the Danube River.  Buda is the hill part of the city and Pest is the flat part.

Our next day started with an absolute lovely breakfast at a quaint spot called the Blue Bird cafe, where there were eggs, omelets, sausage, bacon, toast, fruit and cinnamon rolls at our disposable.  Ah, the breakfast we know and love.  There was a market set up this Sunday down the street so we had the chance to peruse some Hungarian wares.  We then jumped aboard a HOHO bus again and headed to the Buda section of the city to find the funicular by Szechenyi Chain Bridge.  In separate groups, not sure how this happened by it did, we took the funicular up to Buda Castle.  Here we could look out over the Danube, walk around the Royal Palace and it's gardens where one could participate in knife or spear throwing, see ruins of old buildings, and watch the changing of the guards.

Enjoying a hearty, delicious breakfast

funicular

Szechenyi Chain Bridge

Pest and the Hungarian Parliament

Keeping guard

ruins

Royal Palace

This statue depicts quite a tragic love story

After meandering here for a bit, we headed to Fisherman's Bastion and Matthias Church, a 700 yr old building with marvellous exterior architecture and an amazing tiled roof that absolutely shone in the sunlight.  Deciding it was about that time to fuel ourselves, we popped into a restaurant nearby.  By sheer luck we ended up at a place beside the Andras Hadik horse statue.  Legend has it that this statue is rubbed in its "nether regions" by university students before an exam for good luck.  Needless to say it was quite shiny "down there" and whilst we decided to participate in this tradition, some of us couldn't quite complete it fully due to stature limitations.  (It was really high!!)

I was here!

Statue of Matthias Church

Matthias Church

Tiled roof

Andras Hadik Statue

Some of us were too small

Some of us were just right

And some of us got close; actually I think she just managed.

How forks and knives are often presented at the restaurants here

Fisherman's Bastion

Margaret Island and Buda

Pest

Selfie of a selfie

There was a camera lens incident on the top of Fisherman's Bastion

which led us to discovering the nature around it, down below.

Note: Bugs LOVE B's yellow shirt.

Next we took the HOHO bus to the top of Gellert Hill to get a picturesque view of the city, then on to the water boat portion that our ticket covered.  It was a beautiful evening to sit upon a boat in the dying sunlight and take a glimpse of Budapest by water.

Someone's head got in the way

Parliament via water

Szechenyi Chain Bridge

This church was originally where the end of the bridge is but 

was moved over to accommodate the bridge.

For supper we decided to try a different food style and went with Vietnamese.  There was a place near our apartment that we headed to called "Abszolut Pho".  This was quite the experience!  Between a wait staff that couldn't recognize the food / orders that came out, to waiting 1.5-2 hrs for our meals, to being served at all different times, to mixed up orders, let's just say that although the food was pretty good we sure left with a sour taste in our mouths.  We hoped to end our night on a better note and find a ruin pub to quench our thirst.  There was one in particular that we were trying to find but a few blocks later, some twists and turns, and realizing that we weren't quite sure where we needed to be, we found the closest one and took in the ambience of our first ruin pub.

Note: Ruin pubs are pubs located in formerly abandoned or ruined buildings/spaces.  They aren't renovated and are usually very eclectic and raw in nature. Totally fun!

First ruin pub experience

Upon walking home, we realized that we were right in the ruin pub district and couldn't believe our luck on how diverse and alive the area we were staying in was.  Also, the pub we were originally trying to find was RIGHT beside our apartment. Oi vey!

We were up bright and early the next morning as there was still so much we wanted to see in Budapest and hoped to get it all in during our final day.  Let's just say that this city has so much to see and do that a 4 day weekend just wasn't long enough.

Our first stop: St. Stephen's Basilica which was absolutely breathtaking inside.  Then it was on to find a bus that would take us to Memento Park, an open air museum with statues from the Communist period of Hungary's history.  This was a very interesting thing to see, and is set up in a figure eight style with a variety of statues depicting historical events and people.  Thanks to B and Rick Steve we got our own guided tour of the place.  I personally found the boots, representing Stalin cut at the knees, to be the most poignant statue there.

St. Stephen's Basilica

I can't caption this with the key phrase said during this 

group selfie, now can I A? ;) lol

Memento Park

Taking photos of someone posing ;)

After about an hour here, our tour bus took us back into the city (Memento Park is a little outside Budapest), hopped the subway and headed to the Hungarian Parliament. This building is absolutely massive!  It's the 3rd largest parliament building in the world and although there was military presence visible on the perimeter, I was kind of surprised there wasn't more.  Hmm. We'd had good timing and luck to this point in our trip, but it ended here.  Only so many tickets a day are sold to enter the parliament building, and at specific designated times, and by the time we got there the tickets were sold out. Boo :(  Oh well, just another reason to go back in the future.

Parliament from behind

Someone wasn't happy we were denied

So we headed to the Great Market Hall, which reminded me greatly of Kensington Market in Toronto.  GMH was two floors with the main floor being solely for food items and the top floor for clothing, linens, toys, souvenirs, etc.  It was a neat place to see, and smell.

Great Market Hall

After perusing here for a bit, we headed home to prep for supper.  Tonight's meal: Mexican!  Near our apartment was a ruin pub called Ellato Kert where we indulged in tacos, burritos and bevies.  I was a little skeptical when, after ordering our meals, I realized that the girl made them right there and all the ingredients, premade and mixed, came out of tupperware containers.  Let's just say, I'm not sure what the health and safety people would say on this one, but it was THE BEST burrito I've ever had, and.... I never got sick. ;)  Cheers to trying new things!

Since this was our final night, we decided to hit up Budapest's #1 ruin pub: Szimpla.  One of our groups members had heard about this place from a friend who raved about it so we just had to see for ourselves.  Well, let it be said that it's #1 for a reason and I can totally see why it was recommended.  This was the coolest bar/pub I've ever been in.  It extended quite a ways ahead and was definitely a ruin pub as the walls were rock and the floors were dirt/rock and completely uneven.  This place had amazing character!  In various nooks you could find a bar for your specific needs, but not all at one.  There was a wine bar, a beer bar, a shots bar and a liquor bar.  With music blasting, a big screen showing videos and enjoyment in our hearts we had a fab time here.  Some even partook in a little shisha and we ran into a British stag that amused us with a dance off, comments about teeth and wondering where "Iowa" went.  We definitely partied our last night away making a flood of memories.

Washing feet after a long day of walking

Ellato Kert

Szimpla

Time progressed and we decided to make an all-nighter out of it since we had a 4am pick up for the airport.  So leaving at 2:30, packing and trying to stay awake (some of us not as successful as others) made for a very long day the next day.

It's funny how small the world really is, for as we lined up like cattle in the quonset like airport hanger waiting for our flight we saw many of the same people who'd been on the flight to Budapest with us.  Makes sense I guess since the long weekend was Italy based so more than likely most people had those days off as well.

Wearily we flew, bussed, trained and taxiied our way home, probably scaring a few people along the way but we didn't care.  This was one of the best vacations I'd had this year, and one of the last for awhile with some of these gals.  It'll be sad to see it all end, but the memories and laughter will last a lifetime.