Once Upon a Time, There Was a Bath in Budapest

It was the morning of October 16, 2009 and the morning light had barely come over the the distinguished horizon. Our hero, laying in bed, is hit by the rush of the early morning sun. He stretches and..............blah blah blah, if I were to write the entire post like this , I am pretty sure I would be shunned to Hades by the great poets of past.

Anyways, moving on to reality. I woke on this past Friday morning around 4:30 so that I could exercise a bit before leaving to grab the bus around 5:30. I went and met my travel buddy Amanda in the lobby and then headed out. She and I made it our way to the bus station via metro. We got to the station, figured out how things work and then grabbed our bus to the wonderful city of Budapest, Hungary. We then sat on the bus for about 7 hours. Sitting for that long without any breaks and pit stops really does a number on your rump. Lets just say my backside was very happy to stand after that ride.

We grabbed some subway passes to aid our process of getting lost in the city and then got on the next train. We figured out the situation pretty quick and found our hostel with little confusion actually. We met up with everyone in the group when we checked in and then a few of us went out to a massive market place building to grab some lunch. There was so much food and trinkets everywhere is was a little unbearable. We ate and then headed back to meet up with everyone so that we could go explore the city. We wandered along the river for a while, seeing all the famous buildings we had originally gone to the city to see............on the other side of the river..............whoops.

We did make it to Buda Castle at the end of our journey before heading back. The castle was so amazing to stand in the presence of. The stairs to climb up to the castle were so amazing. White as could be, the castle stood before me, awesome. We then made it over to the walls surrounding the castle and I spent a good amount of time adjusting camera setting to grab the most perfect picture of the Budapest skyline in the evening. We then made our way back to the hostel to get into our bathing suits.

We made it back, changed, and headed out for the night to one of Budapest's greatest attraction, the hot baths. We made it to the baths, paid our cover charge and headed in to put our affects in lockers. After everything was put away, we made our way out into the baths. After a few cycles of warm, hot, freezing pools (in that order), my body began to feel like jello and I didn't think my muscles could be more relaxed......I was wrong. I stepped into the sauna and repeated the cycle again with the new layer. I think my body was in pure bliss at that point, haha. We spent a few hours there and then made it back to the hostel for the night.

The next day was very interesting. We planned to get up early so that we could go get tickets (that cannot be reserved by any means before the intended trip) to Parliament. We got there 15 minutes after the ticket window opened, and a guard told us we were too late. So we saw Parliament on the outside, haha, and then started to wander again. We ate some lunch, made it to and absolutely beautiful park (where we weren't allowed in a specific part because some kind of Chinese Diplomat was there) and then headed back to the hostel to rest before going to the Labyrinth later. We took about 2.5 hours to relax and then headed out. We grabbed the subway for a few stops and then walked for a while before getting lost. We asked a few people and then finally found the place. The Labyrinth is a series of tunnels in a hillside that were naturally formed by water and then made into a bomb shelter during WWII. The best part about this place is that, after 6:00 p.m. they turn out the lights and the maze is completely dark. The only means of light are the 3 lanterns given to you at the entrance. We headed in, and then about a half hour in we were encountered by a shadow around the corner. We stepped back and............and................a deep dark voice from around the corner "We are closing now." We laughed at the man, freaked out of our minds and then made it to the exit (that we had found 10 minutes earlier by mistake).

We then walked back to the hostel to crash for the night. The next day, a few of the group needed to wake to get on the early bus back to Prague. They woke and left and then the rest of us slept for a bit, woke up, and headed out for a few hours before having to catch our bus. We wandered the city for the day, shopping and looking around. We then made it to an island in the middle of the Danube River, where we explored a beautiful park for 30 minutes. We then decided to head back to the hostel to collect our possession and then move on to the bus. We made it there, grabbed some food, and then grabbed our seats on the bus.

We sat on the bus again for 7 hours again, but with a couple of pit stops. We made it back to Praha around 11:30 p.m. We had to run through the metro stations to grab the metro before the trains shut down at midnight. We got around and finally made it back to the dorm around 12:15, which is why I did not write my blog last night, haha. Sorry I was a day late. It was fantastic trip and worth every HUF (Hungarian abbreviation for their currency). I got my best pictures of the semester so far there. Next adventure should be a lot of fun.

Until next time.......