Hungary


So...........in order to get a decent loop in eastern europe, we decided (more like I decided and Andre was nice enough to bend) to go through northern hungary so that we could come back towards Czech Rep. after, and then follow towards Austria in order to be close to Munich for Oktoberfest. While dipping through northern Hungary, we stopped at Eger for a night since it was supposed to be nice and it has great wine cellars. It would've been even better to stop by lake Balaton but it is too far south, and we didn't want to get off course. The itinerary was to do a short clockwise loop from Poland to Prague, so only a quick stay in Hungary.


Eger

We thought it would be a small, not too touristy town with lots of accomodation, especially at this time of year, but ney! We finally were appraoched by a little lady offering to stay in a private room at her place, and for a decent price, 5000 forinth a night. Money is large bills in Hungary, 1$ is worth 160 forinth so no worries (pic left). We hadn't tried the "zimmer frei" yet, and it seemed like a good option, but it turned out to be rather shitty, for various reasons. The town itself was nothing exceptional.........granted it was a nice old town, kinda medieval with the big castle fortress, and nice square and cobble-stone streets but I think our context made it a little less spectacular.

The little lady that took us in, Maria, didn't speak any english, that's fine but she just said our names in an annoying high pitchy tone and pointed to things and always said "problema, problema", and when Andre was in the shower, Maria kept on knocking on the door, and saying "Andrea, Andrea" and speaking Hungarian so obviously Andrea just kept on saying, "I'm in the shower, I'm naked" and Maria kept on knocking..............so kinda annoying. Most of the little ladies with the private rooms is not exactly that. It is a room in their house so you have the family or little lady in your face all the time. Some of them know how to receive people and give them their space while others like Maria was on our asses the whole time, and you could see it was just for the extra cash. Not hospitable at all. So that put a damper on the Eger experience, and we decided to hit the wine cellars in the afternoon, and then go straight to Budapest. I keep on seeing my future car everywhere in eastern europe. I don't even know the make but it looks so rough and old and tiny, but man it's got character........and check out the eastern station wagon version (pic right) so cool! Not the friggin huge north american cars we're used to.

The wine cellars were really cool! You walk out of town for about 15 minutes, and you're on the vineyard countryside. There's a nice statue of Bacchus sitting on his wine casket, welcoming you to the wine cellars. There are about 20 or so little cellars with the merchants there, ready to serve you their wine for a taste. It's dirt cheap and really good wine. Have a glass for about 70 forinth, and then fill up your nalgene bottle (1L) for about 300 forinth. 2 bucks for a liter of really good wine straight from the maker himself is the way to go. So we tasted a few wines (pic left), each filled up our nalgenes, and took off to Budapest..........pretty happy!......meaning tipsy...........


Budapest


So, another lady approached us at the train station offering a room, but not just a room, a full appartment that was in between bookings so we got it for 35 euro a night. A real good deal, super clean and spacious, and check out the inner courtyard (pic left). It gave us a good base to check out the city.

And what a gorgeous city it is. You have the Buda and Pest parts of the city that are divided by the Danube river. The Pest side is the more flat, business side, with shopping and more modern stuff, but still great architecture and huge buildings. The Buda side is more hilly, and green, and older with more monuments, and churches, and great views of the Danube and Pest side (pics left + right). I really had a great time walking through the whole city.





One full day of walking and checking everything out. A church in a cave, the castle, the amazing church with, again, a mosaic colourful roof (left), and the parliament (right)........kinda kicks Ottawa's ass hey! Then, as the sun was setting, I was able to get some really nice pics of the Buda side (bottom left and right).





It was really ironic, and thus shitty, that Andre and I reached our personal space limit in Budapest. It had been 3 weeks that we were together 24/7, and we told each other that we needed to plan ahead and take some time each on our own in order to keep things fresh and sane, but it was hard cause we wanted to see all of the same things, and you kinda don't want to break. I say ironic, of course, cause Budapest is divided into the Buda side, and Pest side. I ended up being, of course, the Pest and Andre was the Buda. Fitting I guess. The space bubble had been lagging for a few days, and it errupted in Budapest, and we knew it would come some day soon. It was a little rougher than I let on, but in the end we visited Budapest each on our own side, and then talked about everything we had seen when we got back to the appartment. It felt good to talk about it like that. "Hey check out what I saw today" type of thing.



Bratislava (Slovak Capital)

We then took the train together from Budapest, direction Prague, but I got off in Bratislava, and Andre kept on to Prague. It was a weird train ride, and when I got off, I didn't know when and if I'd see her again, cause I kinda gave her the impression I needed my space, and honestly it was hard to be with someone all the time after travelling alone for 4 months (not alone alone, but on my own and meeting people...........more independent). We had the stereotypical little kisses through the window as I got off the train.

Bratislava is a pretty nice city with the old town, and castle (pic left) ...........AGAIN............it's kinda lack-luster after a while.........old town.........castle......It's beautiful but I guess cause I was there alone, and had a lot on my mind, I couldn't enjoy it. It's cool though cause it's the capital of Slovakia, but it feels like a little village...........but so friggin touristy. Of course all of the nice places are touristy but it kills the atmosphere seeing all of the corporate signs like Nike, and McDonald's in the old town luring tourists to spend their money. So I checked out the city, and walked across the cool bridge (pic right) to see the castle from the other side of the Danube river again. It is worth the visit, but one day is enough. I would've stayed more than a day but it was a little expensive, especially for Slovakia.

It was really nice to get back to hostels and meet people cause alone in the private rooms and stuff, Andre and I were always alone, no alterior interaction, and that's what sped up the detachment. I met some super cool people at the hostel, where we were watched by another bust of Lenin, like in Krakow. It was awesome, but that's all I needed, contact with others. I wanted Andre to be there so bad and meet these people, and we could have fun meeting others and talking with others but together. That's all I needed.........we just can't always be alone together all the time. It would never happen like that in any other setting so it's only normal. So I realized I absolutely needed her with me on this trip and in my life! One day away and I was almost sweatin'! She's like a pusher...........one little taste and I was hooked..........I needed more!

So after my night in Bratislava, I took the bus to Prague to hopefully meet up with my sweetie. It was actually cheaper to take the train to Bratislava from Budapest, spend a night there, and take a bus to Prague, then to just take the train straight to Prague from Budapest so it was a perfect stop over. I saved money!

So atleast I have a little more direction now, and can't wait to see Andre...............

See you in Praha people !