Castle, River, Town

Auntie and I decided to make the trip to Budapest. We took the 2 hour train ride from Vienna to Budapest. When we first pulled into the main train station, I thought "Holy moly....where did I take us to.." It was ghetto. There was tagging everywhere, and the place looked like it had just recovered from a fire. I'm sure Auntie was thinking "We wanted to come here?"


Once we got ourselves out of the station and into the bustling streets of Budapest, it was much better. We went to the castle on the Buda side, which overlooked the river and Pest. It was a beautiful day, and the city looked awesome from the hill that the castle was sitting on. I tried some Hungarian chocolate, and it was the grossest chocolate I'd ever tasted. It made Hershey's taste really good. We also went to a local restaurant recommended by my travel book and had Hungarian goulash. It was good. Lots of paprika.

The Budapest subway system has three levels, the oldest one being closest to the street, and the newest one being much further underground. Auntie and I rode the first and last levels because that's where we needed to go. The oldest level is right underneath the road, maybe about 10 ft. It was cool and a bit odd to think that I only had to go down one set of stairs to get to the subway. And the car was cute! The deepest subway was waaaaaayyyyyyyy down there. And there was only one escalator that took you about 4 stories down. It was fast and steep, and I thought I was riding on a roller coaster. It was awesome!

The opera house in Budapest is must see. It is all gold on the inside, and even though it isn't that big, it is still very beautiful on the inside and outside. The tour guide said that the entire place was gold leafed with only 3 kg of gold. Some of it was under renovation, but much of it remained the same from when it was first built. Hungarian chocolate may not be good, but their coffee is awesome. It makes your hair stand on ends, and keeps you good and wired. It is a little bitter, but one tiny sugar cube, and you're good to go.

One of weirdest things I've ever seen was in St. Stephens Cathedral. The cathedral itself is very big and nice. Although it could have been a tourist attraction by itself, many people me here to see the actual hand of Saint Stephens. It is encased in a glass box behind the main altar. It is "wearing" a golden robe. It is kind of gross. It is gray, with yellowish/blackish fingernails. It is weird. It is gross. But if it was a saint's hand, I guess it's worth keeping.Auntie standing in front of St. Stephens