Horrible Histories

Thanks to the lost-luggage incident and all its associated dramas, I am now convinced that Eurail is out to get me. Dice would snicker when she hears me saying it’s a conspiracy. But seriously. I’m on the train to Budapest now, and I made jolly sure I was there 40 minutes beforehand, just to be safe. It appears, there’s a problem with my Eurail pass, and some nitwit stamped it on the wrong space last time I boarded, which has now rendered one of my day passes invalid. And they’ve got me scared now. For example I was too scared to leave my seat and use the bathroom for a good 2 hours. When I absolutely HAD TO GO I finally took all the valuables I could carry and took them with me. It made for a difficult bathroom experience. Those stalls are small. And then I was doing my belt up when I felt the train slowing to a stop and I was filled with immediate panic; that the train was going to do its little magic trick and split in half again. So with my belt still undone I grabbed my stuff and literally bolted down the 2 carriages back to my seat, before it could take off without me. Not going to pull that one again you slimy little sucker. When we stop on the tracks for too long in the middle of the country I start thinking that it’ll break down and I’ll have to spend another night in the middle of nowhere and MAYBE THIS TIME I WON’T BE SO LUCKY WITH THE HOTEL.

Honestly, I can’t relax.

But never mind that – welcome to Budapest.

I touched down in Budapest, Hungary without too much trouble and made it to my beloved Wombats. My roommate are all blokes, all 5 of them, which is good and bad. Bad; they all snore and boys in general are smelly, and this fine sample of masculine beings are no different. Good; they are all super polite and nice to me, and because I am (presumably) a girl, I get to use the shower every morning first (yay for reverse sexism), in the sense that they’ll ask and wait for me to use it before anyone else. But seriously, most of them are Turkish or Argentinian, and there’s  one American chap, Charlie, from Colorado, who has become my good friend. (I always seem to meet the best Americans outside of the States...) We headed down to the WomBAR for a drink, and Charlie asked the other chaps if they’d like to ‘come down for a drink’, so they did, and they used their free voucher to get OJ, and then sipped at it like it were brandy.

Can I just say that despite the horrendous embarrassment I suffered in Croatia (still can’t believe I actually told ‘yall), I’m looking mighty fresh in all my new stuff. Still hopeful, maybe, possibly, that I might be able to track my backpack down when I actually get to Austria myself (and what I mean by that is; march to the train station and get ready to do my best angry-German-voice impression. Swearing sounds particularly menacing in German). But two things before I forget;

11. For now I don’t look like a homeless person, which has made the whole making-new-friends-thing-easier

22. This; Lost Luggage

Budapest - what a marvel. Jumped on one of those free tours, which was a great way to meet other travelers and see a lot of the city. Their selling point was; 'begin as strangers, leave as friends'. It worked out quite well for them' my local Hungarian tour guide Peter and I had lunch afterwards, and he taught me some basic Hungaria and where to go to get the best Goulash in town. I'm not going to bore you with the history, #yesiam. (Contrary to popular belief memory is remarkably unreliable and not to be trusted, but I'll do my best with le history schtuff.

Budapest Baths - more about this later :-)

Budapest has been called; "The Paris of Eastern Europe"

When in Hungary do as Hungarians do - play table tennis. They caught me watching and called me over to play, but I scampered off. 

Jewish sector - the best food and wine in town. Where hungry Hungarians go

In 1200-something the Mongols invaded and half the population of Hungary were killed or made to be slaves. 1500-something the Turks invaded, and the poor Hungarians took almost two centuries to get them out. In WW1 Hungary was an ally to Germany and Austria, a bazillion Hungarians died for foreign interest. Then some important chaps made them the Republic of Hungary. WW2; they started fighting alongside the Germans, before someone said NAH, and they tried to switch to side with the Soviets. BUT BEFORE THIS HAPPENED they were invaded by Germany who forced them to be their nationalist allies. Then there were problems for the Jewish communities in Hungary, the camps and ghettos were set up, and thousands killed. Around 1940-ish the Russians invaded, drove out the Germans and the Hungarians were like HEY, THANKS FOR YOUR HELP BYE NOW, and the Russians were like LOL, GOOD JOKE, and stayed for another 45 years or so and Hungary became a communist society. In 1950-something, they tried to start a revolution and get them out, but it didn't work. But the Russians buggered off around 1990, just before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Communist till just before I was born. i didn't know it was so recent. A rich, rich history. Walking around, you see so many buildings that are evidence of the Soviet invasion. I jumped on a Jewish walking tour one day too, and you can still walk through the ghettos and visit significant places from WW2. People still live and rent out the communist apartment blocks - they look shocking and are terrible to live in, really small, dangerous and, poorly built, don't keep the heat in, ect, but you can follow the alleyways and them BOOM you're standing on a cobblestone street in 1950. 

OK. The thing that is starting to bother me is that, whatever photo I take, regardless of the angle, lighting and time of day, never ever EVER does the actual sight justice. Never ever. Eastern Europe is absolutely astounding, and Budapest is no different. I think I prefer it to Croatia actually - and that's what a big thing for me to say, usually I feel too discriminatory distinguishing my favourite cities on a trip. But srsly. This photo business is starting to get on my nerves. I end up looking through my photos at the end of the day, only to sort of realise, that the city is a good 100 times better than what is portrayed - not even Google could measure up to what these eyes have seen.

Actually, speaking of photos, I think something is srsly up with me, because this is probably one of the two only photos of me in Budapest! And I didn’t take them (a traveler friend did), that’s why the exist. A rare internet specimen. I figure I’m far too old/would like to preserve the dignity I have left/too mature for selfies these days. So this my friends is proof I was actually in Budapest;

But anywho sorry about the historical ramblings amongst other stuff, I'll try not to do it again, spare me and just go to Hungary yourself and check it out.