well, it is officially POURING outside right now, here in budapest. luckily, i was able to tuck into this fine internet cafe moments after getting completely soaked. oh well, i was lucky enough to find somewhere i suppose, and it is only the 2nd or 3rd time its rained in about the past 3 months, so i cant (for the life of me i cant find the apostrophe on this blasted keyboard) really complain TOO much. and honestly, of all places to be stuck in the rain, budapest is a good one. more on that in a bit..
so when i last typed, i was still in vienna, just kind of lounging there a bit. as it turned out, i did end up staying there an extra day, as planned, but different from my plans i wasnt really able to relax too much. the hostel wasnt really condusive to that, so i ended up going to tour the opera house and some other stuff. (by the way, i WILL attend the viennese opera ball held in that opera house. oh yes, sometime in my life, i will. tis lovely.) i was able to meet some great people in vienna however, with whom i will hopefully be able to stay with in belgium and maybe in berlin. so vienna wasnt too shabby at all.
and leaving vienna brings me to budapest. more than really any other city id been to, i was just giddy about arriving in budapest. i seem to be having that feeling the further east i go. its like these are the places that not EVERYONE goes to, and the are going to be ever-increasingly foreign. i like that. and hungary really hasnt been a disappointment at all.
the hostel, backpackers guesthouse, is a sight to be seen. its the ultimate loungers paradise. a cramped little house in buda, some distance from the hustle and bustle of downtown pest, the place is just a mellow collection of people, all lounging around in hammocks, watching movies, reading, cooking, and what have you. the movie collection numbers 200+. having not watched a single movie (or television really for that matter) in some 3 months, my first night here, i, along with a sizable group of others managed to sit until all hours of the night watching movie after glorious movie. it was great. a great way to relax and unwind after having walked for nearly 7 hours around the city to get acquainted with it.
yesterday then, i had planned to just sit and do nothing. i figured there comes a point at which you really dont need to be going to 2 museums per day, or 2 sights or whatever. and thus, since i wasnt really able to just chill in vienna, this was seemingly the perfect place to do it.. however, after a few hours of writing, that grew old, and myself and a girl from london and french-canadian guy wondered around, and finally ended up at one of budapests famous turkish baths. talk about relaxing! going from a 60 celsius steam bath into a 20 degree celsius bath, really wakes you up.. but is sooo refreshing. and sooooooo cheap. oh lovely eastern europe. boo the euro and the expense that it brings. after the confusion of having 250 thingers to the dollar weared of, i began to realize just how cheap stuff is here. its fantastic.
and that brings us to today, in which i fullfilled my dream of doing nothing. wel i did manage to walk 2 whole blocks to the grocery store to buy some butter so i could make grilled cheese (a truly AUTHENTIC hungarian meal, i might add), and i walked around for a tad bit in the rain to find internet, but other than that i simply laid in a hammock all day. it was everything i thought it would be and more.
and now you ask, where to from here... the truth is, i dont really know. theres a great deal to do and see here, and im really in no hurry to leave. so at least a few more days here. and then to romania. like hungary, im REALLY excited (even more so really) about romania. theres at least 3 or 4 places there that id like to hit up. brasov first, i would imagine. its really nice, cause you get over here, and suddenly theres people who have BEEN to these places. good luck finding ANY information about romania, or bulgaria, or places like that, when youre in the middle of western europe. it just doesnt happen. so yeah, im going to talk to some people, and figure it out in the next couple of days..
well, hopefully its stopped raining, ive got quite a long walk back to the hostel. if it keeps up, i think ive got another rough night of movie-watching ahead of me.