It's been a while since we've been in Germany. After being in Salzburg last week we moved on to Vienna which was not at all what I had imagined.
I knew that Vienna was a big city, but for some reason I thought the atmosphere would still be relaxed. Vienna reminds me of New York City -the city that never sleeps. People were CONSTANTLY going and doing and seeing. Tourists crawled all over the national monuments and museums like ants. Every street was consumed by high-end shops like Rolex or Swarovski. Vienna is not the quite the small historic city I thought it would be. We took a lot of trips to museums and landmarks while we were there including the ELDE House, Freud's House, the Josephinum and many more. My favorite part of Vienna was the coffee. One evening I stopped by a cafe we had gone to the first day. Everyone was off getting ready for the string quartet concert and I decided to drop in for dinner. I had the most wonderful roast beef and goat cheese salad -a nice break from schnitzel and sausage- and a melange coffee.
For the first time during this trip I was alone. Time moved slower and I was truly grateful to be where I was. I really do think I needed the short break to slow down and enjoy.
After Vienna Zoe and I hopped on a train to Budapest -the city that stole my heart. We arrived and trekked to the hostel. At first we thought the city was a little terrifying. There was a lot of graffiti, people never looked at you and smiled, store fronts looked run down...not promising for 2 twenty-something year old girls in a foreign country where the language has all sorts of accent marks and super long words. When we finally found our hostel the man gave us 3 keys: one for the first 3 doors to the building, one to our floor, and one to our room. Obnoxious. The elevator was a wooden closet -much like a cofffin -and sank down when you stepped in to it. Needless to say we only used it when we had our luggage.
After an exhausting day of travel we decided to go to the Széchenyi Baths -one of the largest bath houses in Europe. We thought it best to take a taxi so we wouldn't get lost but all the taxis turned us down saying it was too close -only 5km/over 2 miles. We started walking with our map when 2 Canadians started making fun of us for celebrating the fact that we found where we were. After they mocked us a bit they helped us figure out some directions and we hopped on the metro which took us all the way there. The metro was also wooden and all around old just like the elevator. All public transportation in Budapest seemed DECADES older than anywhere else, but if it ain't broke don't fix it I guess. The baths were beautiful and well worth the confusion. We stayed for a few hours relaxing and de-stressing before heading back and on our way stumbled upon a ferris wheel and took a ride to see Budapest at night. I was shocked at how pretty and picturesque everything was! We stopped at a bar before hitting the hay. I had a great red beer recommended to me by the bartender and delicious traditional Hungarian goulash. A great first day.
The next day we woke up with the intention of seeing everything we possibly could. We started out at a cafe and had a great breakfast before our long day of sight seeing. We started off at the Synagogue and then continued on to St. Stephen's Basilica. St. Stephen's was gorgeous! We ended up buying concert tickets for an organ, trumpet, and vocal concert later that evening and it turned out to be a great choice! We trekked off to Parliament and gazed in awe at the Buda shore. We crossed the lock bridge and went up to the Royal Palace where we had a breathtaking view of Pest.
The building on the left is Parliament on the Pest side of the Danube. Zoe took this for me from the Royal Palace on the Buda side. It was incredibly hot and we were exhausted but we kept going anyway. We grabbed dinner, went to the concert, walked around to see the bridge lit up, and then finished the evening at an outdoor bar/club. We walked in the door at around midnight and napped before waking up super early to make our 5 am train. Budapest has been my favorite city so far!
We spent the following day in Prague. By this time my wallet was littered with American Dollars, Euros, Hungarian Forints, and Czech crowns -it was a nightmare. The city was beautiful, but also very touristy. I was not a fan. We walked across the Charles Bridge, visited the Lennon wall, explored the old town square and then went on a pub crawl. My time in Prague was short, but I'm not very disappointed. It was not my favorite city. For now I'm glad to be back in Bonn. Home sweet home...
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