(continued from above)
Once I was sure Leslie was sleeping, I put leggings and a long sleeve shirt on under my pajamas. I put everything back into my backpack, and laid my purse and coat together within arms reach of where I was sleeping.
I didn't sleep very well obviously.
Leslie and Dave got up at seven, I had been awake laying there got a half hour already.
Leslie had promised to make me pancakes, so he and Dave were going to run to the market. I told him not to worry about the pancakes.
They left, and I got moving. I changed etc. and repacked my bag. I booked a hostel on my computer, and text the address and name of my host to a friend and my mom, just in case things went badly.
I couldn't just leave, there was no way to lock the door.
So I waited, fully strapped into my bag.
In they walked, finally.
I thanked Leslie for his hospitality but it just wasn't working out. Leslie had a dumbfounded look on his face.
I ignored it. Shook both their hands, and left.
As I walked 2.3 miles with 20 lbs on my back, I felt so relieved.
I checked into the hostel, and went to see the real Budapest.
And I loved it.
Despite the rocky beginning, I'd put Budapest in my favorites category.
I first climbed the 300 steps to the top of St. Stephen's Basilica and got a beautiful view of all of Budapest.
Budapest is actually two cities. Buda on the west side if the river, Pest on the east side.
I was in Pest, but could see all of Buda that wasn't behind the giant hill on which Buda Castle sat.
That's the direction I set off towards.
It took almost an hour to get there and climb the hill, but it was worth it. There I had a great view of Pest and the Parliament building on its bank of the river.
Their parliament building reminded me a lot of the one in London, only fancier. More elaborate architecture.
The castle wasn't anything particularly breathtaking. Just a standard fortification.
I Bambi-legged my way down the hill and back across to Pest to find a cafe to rest. There I looked up a cinema that played subtitled movies instead of dubbed movies in Hungarian.
How perfect would it be to watch the Hunger Games in Hungary?
I found a cinema I knew how to get to. With still another two hours before showtime, I took a long scenic walk to Hósök Tere.
Hósök Tere is a large open square surrounded by several museums and other picturesque buildings.
One of which was a large castle like building with a very shallow pool surrounding it. I'm sure people came in the summer to lay out and splash around. Just opposite the shallow pool was some sort of music conservatory that I imagined played on the terrace in the summer.
It was nice out that day, sunshine and all, but not quite warm.
After admiring the scenery, I hoped on the metro towards the cinema.
The ticket had an assigned seat number on it, but I ignored it. There was hardly anyone there. The two guys that bought tickets in front of me were American no less.
I'm not going to go into the movie. It was awesome, you should see it, I'm going to read the books when I get back.
I returned to the hostel, coordinated a few more hosts for the cities to come, and went to bed.
The next day was an eleven hour train trip to Venice where I'd meet Alberto.
Great pictures!
ReplyDeletemom