Day 2: Ba Syl On Gaw Lul?

Today Karla and I became fluent in Hungarian. (That was easy!) We know how to say (but not spell!) "yes" (igen), "no" (nem), "thank you" (ke se nem) and the magic words..."Do you speak English?" (ba syl on gaw lul). And we communicate perfectly!

We started our day off by changing hostels cause unfortunately the cute place we were staying didn't have rooms for tonight. So we shouldered our (shockingly heavy!) backpacks and set out to find hostel #2. We only had to try 2 places which was glorious...this place is a bit less clean, and doesn't include breakfast, but at least the owner was nice enough to delay his shower and greet us in his bathrobe...that was lovely.

We all-too-gratefully put down our backpacks (how are we going to last 4 months?) and set back out to the thermal baths! We went to the Szechenzyi baths. We spent the first hour indoors with the locals, marveling at the sauna, hot and cold baths, and showers. Then we stumbled across a door that lead us to a magical wonderland of an outside courtyard. (The Germans walking out behind us heard me remark this to Karla and promptly started laughing at my naivite and enthusiasm...the one time you don't want people around you to speak English!) The architecture was beautiful and there were 3 pools teeming with people enjoying the gorgeous day - one was really hot, one cold (for swimming laps) and one (filled with small children!) was just right.

We spent 2 relaxing hours there, then carried on our way to the National Museum, after stopping for gyros - where I got to speak French with the Turkish-by-way-of-France owner. Poor Karla...although she's paying me back right now by speaking rapid Spanish with the Uruguyan boys staying in our hostel :)

The Museum explained hundreds of years of oppression for the poor Hungarians, who only gained their independence in 1989! We also saw an exhibit on Ancient Roman tombstones which was pretty interesting.

On tired feet, we truged to the St Stephan's Basilica where we ate some gelatto and watched a couple on their wedding day get photographed on the steps. Then we walked to the Parliament building and took a nice rest on the grass, taking in the sights and planning our next step. We crossed the Margaret Bridge and found a cute place for dinner, then walked back to our hostel via the Chain Bridge.

We're now chilling in our hostel, but Karla's raring to go out (despite tired feet and jetlag!) We'll see. Hopefully my body will get used to all this walking or else it will be a very tiring trip!

Love to all,
Alicia

Day one= Dont trust anything green and harmless looking

11pm
We are just settling into our cozy double room on the sixth floor of a mysteriously large old building in downtown Budapest. We got here today around 3pm after a lovely and also cozy night in the plane...well, sort of. we walked to the Danube river, had some food, and walked towards the Buda hills and the Buda Royal palance that overlooked the river and the bridges. everything is gorgeous and just really nice looking. the river is surprisingly clean too. Then after walking over it three times, we went to dinner. We ordered some harmless looking meals, and thats when it happened. Alicia, with my vote of approval, decides to take a large bite of a slice of green pepper. Nothing can happen of course. we are only in Hungary....we havent even gotten to Asia yet. after chomping down, her eyes widened, and out came the pepper. So, me, unbelieving, stuck my fork into it and proceeded to taste my fork. Wasnt i in for a surprise....lets just say, we need to build a better tolerance. and quick.

tomorrow we pan to visit the thermal baths in the morning and go to the national gallery or for a bike ride in the afternoon. The weather is perfect and sunny and we havent even gotten lost yet. . .things are looking good, but as is expected, we are exhausted. good night!