Hungry in HUNGARY!

This past weekend 12 of us went back packing in Budapest!

My absolute FAVORITE building! 

Haha. This is cutie pie Maddie and I as we are Hungry in Hungary!!! Baha!

This. Trip. Was. AMAZING!

I can’t even describe how beautiful this city is. After Vienna I thought it couldn’t get any better! But I’m not kidding, it is so great. We all took the train early Friday morning, arrived in Hungary, ate yummy lunch, and explored the city. We took a pleasant yet unexpected hot and humid hike to the top of Gellert Hill that overlooks the city. There is a statue at the top representing the conversion to Christianity. The view? HOLY SMOKES! It overlooks the Danube river which splits up Buda and Pest (the two cities came together obviously) and for miles and miles beyond.

A few of us girls at the top of Gellert!

Later we went up the river over the Buda side where the incredible Buda Palace was, the Matthias Church, and many gorgeous buildings and monuments. My feet were pretty close to falling off, we were all delirious and laughing at the most ridiculous things. It’s unreal I’ve only known these people for a week.

Around 7 we finally found our Hostel. It was called “Home to Home Hostel” and the name actually fit very well! It was the first hostel I had ever stayed in, and believe it or not I had the most amazing experience. In fact, all of us did! Let me just tell youuu… J

We check in, and the guy at the front desk is telling us what we can do at night to have fun. He lays out 12 coupons on the counter, looks at us and says, “free beers!” with a grin on his face. That smile slowly went away when he saw that none of us were jumping for joy and when we told him that none of us drink beer. So later that night I hear Lyndsi talking to him about school and about Budapest, so I decide to go join. When I walk in he out of the blue just asks us what religion we are. We tell him and he continues asking questions. Before we know it, seven of us are in at the desk talking to him for an hour and a half. It was a really great experience hearing his story and things that he has and is struggling with. You can tell he is a really good person and I’m thankful we got the opportunity to tell him what makes us  happy and what gets us through life! Oh and he totally asked us if we use facebook. Neue Freund!

At night a few of us went out to a main strip with a lot of restaurants for dinner. I was surprised at how alive Budapest was at night! Love eating outside. The “sexy saxophone man” was playing MJ so Lyndsi, Elysse, Naomi and I danced. Yeah, we danced and brought in a crowd with video camera and pictures. No big deal.

We woke up and went to the “Baths” which is natural effervescent spring water. SO fun. First of all I love water anytime, anywhere. Second of all it was in Hungary (still can’t really believe I’m in Europe…) and the baths were surrounded in Ottoman architecture and the set up was very unique! Afterwards we went to the Budapest market, went to the Parliament building. Seriously…majestic.

These boys are hilarious. Haha!

This man was so random and funny! 

 St. Stephens Kirche (church). Literally the most beautiful church I have ever been inside and seen so far. There was a wedding going on while we were in there and we got to see some of it. Cool!

Matthias Church. Beautiful...

Up on the Budapest Castle!

This is my Castle.

Shoes along the Danube River representing the Jews who were forced to jump off  into the river after taking off their shoes and giving up their belongings.

On our way back to the train station, the Hungarian workers stopped us and told 4 of us we owed them 6000 Flornz (weird using different currencies everywhere) because we didn’t stamp our tickets right. HUGE language barrier, and we needed to catch our train. it was stressful and overwhelming, but you live and you learn and it made for a good laugh at the end! Other than these men, the Hungarians were EXREMELY nice people. We eventually got on the train and are back safe and sound!

This weekend was unreal and so worth my time. Being in Hungary has actually made me realize how much german I really do understand and how well I've gotten to know my way around Vienna. SO glad to be back in Vienna! J