Our First Day in Budapest

Lauren and I arrived in Budapest at the pleasant hour of 5am. It was unfortunate that the train was not running late to give us a little more time to sleep. Instead, we were booted from the train into the freezing morning. We didn't know what to do because nothing was open and they weren't expecting us at the hostel for another three hours or so, so we just hung out in the station. We got to see the sunrise from the train station which isn't an everyday occurrence, so that was a little fun. Then we (not so patiently) waited at the station for the McDonald's down the street to open. It was the first real fast food I'd had in a while and I didn't miss it at all. I ate my breakfast sandwich (with LOADS of mayo) and then we used the bathroom and just hung out the for an hour or so. In the meantime, I ordered a coffee and we just rested in the warmth until we had to find our hostel, which was a metro ride away.

Once we got there, we were very happy with our hostel choice. Everyone spoke english and we met some really awesome people. They were a lot of fun to get to know and I had a good time listening to their British or Australian accents. We caught the late end of breakfast and then decided we needed to get out and see the city because we had LOTS to do!

First thing we did was head to see all of the Pest side. We dedicated that day to buildings and more buildings. (Not sure if everyone knows this, but Buda and Pest were two different cities with much different vibes, then they were connected by a single bridge (now there are more) and it created one big city.) The highlights of the day were:

Hero's square

Dohany Synagogue 

the opera house

St. Steven's Basilica 

We had a good time seeing all of these buildings and the rain held off enough to make it an enjoyable walk. One detour that was especially entertaining was going into the synagogue. It was definitely an impulse decision to take a tour, but neither of us were familiar with synagogues and there was a student discount so we said we'd go for it....GLAD WE DID! Our tour guide was off the charts and I loved every second of her crazy antics and funny phrases. Here she is, captured paparazzi style:

get it girl

She was very enthusiastic about her subject and made sure we knew everything about Hungarian Jews and all of the famous guests of the synagogue. After we made it out of there, we went to eat langos (which is pronounced langosh). It was delicious and was something of a cross between a funnel cake dough and pizza dough with onions and cheese. It was delicious and I knew when I ate it that that one wouldn't be my last. 

delish! 

We walked around and saw more of the buildings listed above and then made our way down to the banks of the river and saw "shoes on the Danube". This is a memorial for the Hungarian Jews that were trying to escape during World War II and made it to the banks before they were shot by people at the Parliament building (located right behind it) and pushed into the river. It was very sad, but also very interesting.  

After we made it back to the hotel, we met a guy from our hostel and went to dinner with him. It was interesting to hear about his life and how he is constantly on the move. He had many interesting stories and he was a very entertaining person. We went to an italian restaurant, where the food was amazing. After that we made our way back to the hostel and went out to a bar with everyone. We were beyond tired at this point from waking up early in the train, so I curled up in my bottom bunk and slept like a baby!