Monday, 12 September 2011
Day 1 of Europe InterRail trip. 1400 arrived in Budapest. On arrival, it dawned on me, why Budapest? Oh, because I thought it was a good idea 5 months ago. I did not have much time to plan, and as I looked around everything was really foreign to me, the language was really different to any other European languages. It was like being in a foreign country. This is going to take another level of ‘winging’. Like the time I was in a remote village in Nepal. It was great to be away, whatever happens happens.
Budapest is a beautiful city, full of history and culture. Even though I am more of a natural scenery person, this city have definitely won me over. The walk over the city was really long, in one day, we reached the castle district, the island between Buda and Pest, Octagon, Opera House and the Citadel, basically all the touristy spots. However, it was a monday and everything thing was closed.
One of the problem of sticking rigidly to the budget was the lack of a budget. We did not have enough budget for any guides. The solution was tourist group jumping. However, there was just about every other language of tourist group except for English. (American english doesn’t count). Another way of extending our budget was to actually eat chinese food. In continental Europe, Chinese food for some reason was really cheap and cheerful. I ended up speaking more Mandarin than any other languages.
The cost of the hostel was 6 euro pppn. It was appropriately named LowCostel and I would recommend that to anyone. The owner Dennis was really friendly and was conveniently located near to a train station. He showed us on the map all the places of interest and the next day we explored the whole place.
Since Budapest was actually my idea, and the fact that there was no preparation, we played by the ear. I don’t know if that is purely a saying to reassure those who do not plan but our ears guided us to a music event, it was a multi-stage venue under a pond. As the band played their tunes, I kicked back with a cold hungarian beer. The weather, location and surroundings were epic. It was great to be away from work.
Adventures of Delboy 