Day #217 - Budapest, Hungary

Walking across the Danube River

Streets of "Pest"

Art Museum

Streets of "Pest"

Heroes' Square

Sunday, October 17th

Today was a good day. I got out of Vienna at 9:50am via train at the West station near my hotel. I got out of the hotel late - I had to run most of the 1/2 mile with all my gear. I entered the station with 2 minutes to go. I didn't have time to look at the board. I bolted to the gates - luckily there were only about 8 of them - I saw the Budapest sign - and jumped on with a minute to spare. Sat down - heart pumping - the train started to take off. I knew it would be a good day at that point.

Budapest, Hungary -- that was my destination today. I arrived around 1pm after a 3 hour train ride. Budapest - really? Why would I come here? Here's a couple stats from the Wikepedia page: "Budapest ranked 3rd out of 65 cities on Mastercard's emerging markets index (2008), ranked as the most livable Central/Eastern European city on EIU's quality of life index (2009, 2010), ranked as Europe's 7th most idyllic place to live by Forbes, and it attracts 2.3 million tourists a year." Sounds like an OK place to go.

Getting off the train, I wasn't so sure. The main train station is far east of town. A little sketchy. People were harassing me for money, asking if I needed a cab -- getting in my way. Two people even tugged on my coat while I walked by. I don't like that. In the US, I would have had a much more aggressive response to this (especially in a public place). Here - I just kept walking.

Once off the train, I had alot to do. At first, I just stopped and took in my surroundings. I generally do this for a couple minutes to get a quick feel. Next, I went over to the information booth and got a city map. Then, I went to the ticket booth and got my reservations straight for tomorrow. Next, I went into an internet cafe in the station and booked a hotel for the night. Then, I looked up a couple spots I wanted to visit and marked them on my map. Next, I went to the change counter and got some Hungarian money from my extra euros I'd been using in Vienna. Finally, I went back to the Info booth and asked them how to get to the hotel I just booked. "Take the red line, it's outside on the corner". OK - I went into the subway, purchased a ticket, and got off on my exit. When I reached street level - I was a little confused. I asked about 4 people until I found a girl who could help me. She pointed to the street I needed. A 10 minute walk later - I was at my hotel. This is basically a typically daily routine - but thought I would write it out today.

Probably the 1 thing I will take-home with me concerning Budapest, it's made up of 2 sub-cities separated by the Danube River. "Buda" is the older, hilly section of town located on the west bank. "Pest" is the newer, flater area on the east bank. The city was unified as 1 entity in 1873.

I'm staying in "Buda" (old school). This part of town is known for the Buda Castle. It stretches over a very large area. Today I walked around the exterior, but hope to go inside tomorrow morning. I walked all over the streets of "Buda" - making my way down to the river. Note -- I never had a single person harass me the rest of the day - just at the train station. Actually - as the day went on - the city became better and better.

I went over to the Hotel Gellert. Hungary is known for it's thermal hot springs. I need to work out a right knee - so I went in for about 1-1/2 hours. Pretty cool spot -- not as good as Germany - but good. I then walked across the bridge into "Pest". "Pest" is where the real tourist section gets going. Actually, if I did it again, I would stay in "Pest" and day trip to "Buda". Here you have the long tourist streets with shops and cafes. There weren't many people around however (It was closing in on 6-7 pm on Sunday night). I just walked around taking pictures. My book pointed out a couple famous hotels and cafes I went by.

I next took the subway out to a park in the eastern part of "Pest". I wanted to see Heroes' Square. Great spot. I only regret not getting there with more daylight. Heroes' Square is made up of a memorial with a 36-meter high column (on top of which is a statue of the Archangel Gabriel holding the Hungarian Holy Crown and apostolic double cross). Quarter-circular colonnades extend to both the left and right of the column. Between the pillars of the colonnade are figures of the 'greats' from Hungarian history. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is positioned in front of the monument. Awesome park area as well.

I took the subway back to my hotel and will spend some time tomorrow morning walking around "Buda". I then head off to my first country in the former communist state of Yugoslavia - the country of Slovenia. I'll get into more details later.

To close today -- I gotta send a shout out to all MU football fans. This upcoming Saturday, October 23rd -- MU will be playing Oklahoma at home. This is a big game. Both teams come in undefeated at 6-0 ---- only the 5th time MU has ever started a season with this mark. Mizzou's ranked 18th and the Sooners are ranked 3rd. It's the first time in the history of the program that College GameDay will be coming live from Columbia, MO. GameDay will be live from noon-2pm on Friday and 8-11am on Saturday morning. Oh - it's also Homecoming. MU has only beat Oklahoma 4 times since I've been alive - the last one being in 1998. Is it going to happen this weekend? Who knows. I can only hope. But, if you want to have a good time and be part of a good time atmosphere (I promise you this) - find your way to a parking lot in Columbia on Saturday. If I was in the US - short of a major conference, I would be driving to Missouri on Friday night. Fellas - all I ask - cut me a little sliver of the goalpost if things go our way.