Budapest! (With a short stop in Milan)

This weekend was quite the adventure! My friend (I should say- my VERY adventurous friend) Christina and I went to Budapest. But first...we went to Milan...for a few hours! We started our trip with a shaky start- it wasn't the BEST time for us to be travelling; I was feeling sick and Christina was really busy and stressed w/ grad school apps, but we were both troopers and decided we would go anyway and try our best to enjoy. Anyway, we flew to Milan on Thursday night and didn't leave for Budapest until 7 am. So, we decided we would take advantage and go into Milan for a few hours, instead of just hanging out in the airport. However, by the time we made it to Milan, it was already almost midnight. Anddd...although Christina swore that something would be open (its a city right? like Madrid? of course we will find food at midnight!), it turned out that the city was quite dead.



We did get to see the Duomo (the main cathedral/square in Milan) and a bit of the center of the city, which was pretty cool. However, we couldn't find any open restaurants or bars. So, we decided we would just head back to the bus station and then back to the airport. However, it turned out that we had misread the bus schedule and long story short....the 1:20 am bus that we thought we would take did not exist, and the next bus wasn't until 4:15. So, we had to figure out what to do with ourselves for three hours in a city that was cold, pretty dead, with very little open. Luckily, the bus station was close to a bunch of hotels, and a nice hotel receptionist agreed to let us chill on the couch in the lobby while we waited for our bus. That was quite the relief! So...we spent 2.5 hours in a hotel lobby...I was drifting in and out of sleep while Christina was working on her computer and we were occasionally laughing (in our deliriously tired state) about our crazy, adventerous night.



Anyway, we made it back to the bus and to the airport, and on our way to Budapest. When we first arrived, the weather was pretty crummy (cold and rainy), but we still managed to enjoy our day. We went on a hop-on, hop-off bus, which took us all around the city, to all of the main sites. Budapest is divided into two parts (Buda and Pest, which are divided by the Danube River). The bus tour took us to all the main sites on both sides of the city, and we also went on a boat tour on the Danube. We learned all about the history and culture of Budapest, which was really interesting! The Buda side of the city is the hilly part, which is where the famous Fisherman's Bastion is, and where you can see an amazing panoramic view of the city. On our way up the hill, we also saw the Parliament building, which was an absolutley beautiful building and is one of the largest Parliament buildings in the world.



We also went past several other impressive monuments on both the bus and boat tours, including the famous medicinal baths (Budapest has the largest medicinal bath in Europe). We took a long walk across the famous Chain Bridge (one of the many bridges that divides the two parts of the city), and got some great views of the entire city (although the pictures would have certainly been better if the weather had been sunnier!).



At this point, we were exhausted and hungry...we made our way back to the Pest part of the city, where we found what they call "Fashion Street," which is a very popular pedestrian street with lots of shops and restaurants. We found a nice restaurant, where we had some traditinal Hungarian food (goulash soup, some sort of Chicken/pasta dish, and a Hungarian crepe-like dessert). After lunch, we walked around the area a bit and then came across the annnual Christmas market. We got really lucky- the Christmas market opened the day we arrived- and it was probably one of our favorite parts of the weekend. The market was full of traditional foods and desserts, hot wine (one of our favorite parts of the weekend!), and all sorts of great gifts, artwork etc. We walked around for awhile and snacked a bit before we decided we were so exhausted that we needed to walk back to our hostel. So, we got back early, hit the sack, and called it a night.



The next day- we had much more energy, and certainly made the most of our time. We left the hostel at 9 am and didn't come back again until after 11 pm!! First, we walked down Andrassy ut, which is the main, famous street in Pest. We walked along the street, away from our hostel, towards Hero's Square. Along the way, we saw all sorts of beautiful houses and buildings. Then, we arrived at Heros Square, which is a monument for Hungarian soldiers that have died during the various wars. Also at the same square are two different, beautiful mesuem buildings. And, right behind the square, there was a beautiful old castle and a nice, big park, where we walked around for a bit. After we finished touring that area, we walked toured the Dohany Street Synagogue, which is the largest synagogue in Europe! Since it was Saturday, we were unable to go inside, but just the outside of the building was quite impressive! It was absolutely beautiful!



Next, we went back to the Christmas market to do a little shopping, now that we had a little more energy to think about what we wanted. We both bought some great gifts :) We also ate some traditional Hungarian snacks for lunch- I had a kebab with chicken, onions, and some other substance that we were unable to identify (not sure i want to know?), and we shared this really yummy sweet dough- it was basically dough rolled in cinnamon, sugar, walnuts etc (delicious!)



After the Christmas market, we walked to the Opera building, which is another amazing site in Budapest! We took a tour of the building, which was really great, and learned all about its history (even learned that Franz Liszt was the director there for a few years). Then, we walked back towards the market (Christina still had some gifts to get), and sat for a bit, talking with some other Americans we met there. Then, we walked along the Fashion street again, and found a nice restaurant on a side street, where we had some more great tradtional food. I had pumpkin soup and stuffed cabbage. Christina also had the soup and had a pasta and mushroom dish. After dinner, we walked along the water, but in another part of the city that we hadn't seen before. We wandered around for quite awhile, before heading back towards our hostel.



And, near our hostel, there was this really cool outdoor food and wine market going on. There were all these stands set up where they were selling all different types of wine and also different foods, buffet style. So, we decided to sit and enjoy another cup of that hot wine we enjoyed so much, and take in the ambience. Eventually, after our long and exhausting day, we made it back to the hostel and called it a night.



Sunday morning, we woke up and took a short walk around the area where our hostel was (in another direction, where we hadn't walked before). We found a cafe to have some breakfast, and then we headed to the airport. Our trip back was another adventure. We were flying from Budapest to Munich, and then on to Madrid, but had a very short layover. We knew that even if our first flight was on time, it would be pretty tight. So, our flight did leave on time (more or less), but we still ended up landing about five minutes late. Then, it turned out that we needed to take a bus to the terminal (which adds about five mins) and we needed to wait for everyone to get on the bus (another 2-3 mins), and as you know if you have ever ran through an airport trying to make a connection (or if you have ever missed a flight that way), you know that 7-8 minutes makes a big difference in these situations.



So, by the time we got to the terminal, it was already 2:40 (or maybe later?) and our flight was supposed to leave at 2:50. We dashed across the airport towards our gate, with the hope that we might get lucky. AND, it turned out, that when we arrived, completely out of breath, that the flight hadn't even started boarding yet! (delayed for one reason or another). So, we made it back to Madrid as planned...and although i came back still sick and a bit stressed with a lot of things to do, I realized that I'm really glad I went on this trip (i had considered not going at one point, because i hadn't been feeling well). I thought about it- when again am i going to go to budapest for the weekend? So...this week will be a bit hectic, but its totally worth it for this incredible adventure of a weekend that Christina and I shared :)



Anywayy..i know this is a long entry, but i just had sooo much to say! I hope I didnt forget too much (i'm sure there are plenty of things I left out...Christina can add if she thinks of anything!)