Howdy,
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ENTOURAGE
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Well, the ride to Budapest was great. The first leg of the
trip to the border was rough., the roads I mean. The roads were rough. It wasn't
bad during the day, but on the way back at night it would prove to be more
difficult to stay on the winding, bumpy roads. We made it through the border
(barely). The American passports are easy access, but Aly, the Egyptian with a
French Schengen Visa, they took a little longer to process him. Anyways,
the highway came next, and it was smooth and free of police. We went about 200
km/h for a large portion of the trip. For the Americans, that’s about 125 mph. We were in 2 cars, and the 7 of us this
weekend included the Leon, Valerie, Haegen, Aly, Irina, Mircea, and myself. There were cows at some point:
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| awwwwwww |
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| Vaca |
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| Vaca Grasa |
We arrived in Budapest around nightfall and had to wait
outside of the Apartment we rented for a little bit, not knowing that the guy
owning it was sitting upstairs waiting for us. While we waited, Mircea whipped
out his guitar. Yes, he plays guitar ladies. Get in line:
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| Mircea... |
We seriously considered acting like we didn't know him and
start dropping money in his hat and see if other people would too. We got one
person to stop and listen to him! But, that was it. Anyways, the guy who owns
the apartment was really cool and spoke pretty good English, which is always
reassuring. We made our way out to the city to walk around a bit. It is very
pretty. We made our way past a couple fountains and saw a bridge that was well
lit:
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One of many bridges
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We made our way back to the apartment. Everyone found their
way to a pillow, at some point in the night. We woke up the next morning and
got ready to go caving! Scrounging for breakfast was a challenge, but Burger
King never lets me down. Valerie and I ran across Burger King on the way back
from our trip to the bank to withdrawal money. So, we all piled into cars after
that, and made our way to the caving adventure!
Now, we weren't walking like in Carlsbad Caverns, but
we also weren't lowering ourselves with ropes. This was more of a “how claustrophobic are you?” kind of cave. The cave attire was dirty, warm, and full
body. We had helmets with lights attached as well. Joining us were 4 Aussies, 2
couples. Jake & Sam and Murray and Beck. I would expect no other names when
I heard their Australian accents. They all were in Budapest to train for a
kayaking competition. They were all super fit, as well. Jake is a plumber,
Murray is an architect, and both the ladies are teachers. The things you learn
about people when stuck in small caverns… It was a super ‘red ass’ tour by the
way. At one point, we had to sing a song before the tour guide would let us go any
further, in the dark. So, the Aussies backed out and said they couldn't sing.
Naturally, the Aggies pulled together and sang the Aggie War Hymn. I suppose it
counts as singing. Oh, and our tour guide’s name was Aggie:
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| Haegen |
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| Cave selfie |
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| The gang (Aussies took the pic) |
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| Me stabbing Leon with a pointy rock we found |
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| Aly's favorite moment of the cave, the end |
There was one portion of the tour we had to keep our lights
off for about 20-30 minutes. It was not to keep the peace of the cave, but to
keep us calm. The spot we squeezed through in the dark was so small that most
people freak out if they are looking at it. J
Next we split up. Irina, Mircea, and I went to see the
Parliament building while the others went to quickly change at the apartment
for a tour we were meeting up for at 3. Parliament and more:
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| Myself |
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| Mircea, keep your tongue in your mouth, te rog |
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| Walkway |
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| Some street |
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| Metal shoes |
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| Parliament |
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| Statue |
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| Parliament |
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| Shoes for days |
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| Parliament |
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Statues
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So, Irina, Mircea and I made it to the tour in time, but the
others showed up just after the tour had left. Luckily, we waited back at the
meeting location and joined them. So, we all went to see more of the town
instead. (I preferred this option anyways.) We headed to the palace, on top of
a minor hill:
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| Palace |
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| Atop the palace hill |
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| The alternate to walking |
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| 'Murica |
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| Aly and the classy girl journaling under the statue |
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| Budapest |
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| Bridges |
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| Haegen |
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| Gang |
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| Haegen giving the belly a rub |
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| Husky in Hungary |
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| Wedding!! |
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| Haegen taught Irina how to sorority squat |
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| Haegs |
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Irina and Valerie
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Then we stumbled across a Catholic Chapel that was getting
ready for Saturday night mass. We didn't want to pay to go in though, as it
required us to. But, when the elder at the front saw we were turned away by the
price of admission, he waved us in, free of charge. So, we went in and saw the
chapel and the preparation for mass:
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| Before mass |
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| Candles |
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Articulate
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From there, we had a pub tour starting at 8. Aly, Mircea,
Irina, and myself were very tired though. The 4 of us decided to head back to
the apartment and meet up with the others later during the tour. We needed to
relax a bit and wash off and change. We got back to the apartment by taxi, and
then realized we had left the keys with Leon. So… Mircea and Irina went to meet
the others and grab the keys, while Aly and I sat upstairs on the inner balcony
by the apartment. I scouted for potential ways to get in the bathroom window on
the side of the building, and Aly knocked on a neighbors door to see if anyone
had a spare. We checked all the windows, but no luck. When hope had almost
vanished, Aly applied pressure on the door near the lock with his hand. He
increased his force gradually until the door just opened with ease. Nothing was
broken or damaged. A MIRACLE!! (The lock actually required 2 full turns to be
all the way locked. Instead, we had only locked it once, so partially locked.) As
Mircea and Irina took close to an hour to return from their initial departure,
Aly and I refreshed ourselves and lied down for a bit.
After a rest, Aly and I decided to head out to join the
others. Mircea and Irina were still tired, reasonably so, so they rested a bit
more. Aly and I headed to this pub that is supposed to be one of the best in
the world. We entered, and it was interesting to say the least. A good
interesting though. There was an upstairs with open balconies, and everywhere
is was modeled like the 50’s almost, but 70’s lighting. There was an old car in
which you could sit and socialize. The name of the pub was Szimpla kert. The
others still had a little bit before they arrived, so after we scouted out the
place, we went upstairs where many were watching the game. That night it was Costa Rica vs Netherlands. Netherlands won, just in case
you were wondering. But, better than that, we sat next to a lovely couple. They
were Americans! Matt and Jenny. Matt is in the Air-force, and they air stationed
in Germany. We were just talking and Matt went to the restroom, and he came
back with beers for us all. Did we pick the right people to sit by or what! My
favorite part was that at some point Matt and I talked about American football
for a solid 20 minutes. He went to Nebraska, and he doesn't like Aggies.
Hopefully his opinion changed ever so slightly by the end of our talk.
After the game, or close to the end, Aly and I went down to
find the others. I met another guy downstairs from Virginia. He told me there
was an Asian girl in the pub from Texas!
But, I wasn't about to go ask every Asian girl in the pub if she was
from Texas, so I left it alone. What we found was even better, when we found
the others that is. The others were accompanied by a group they had started the
pubbing tour. The group included some awesome people, all around. 2 Englishmen
(Jack & Liam), 1 Singaporean (Bjorn), 1 Brazilian (Evelyn), 1 Irishman
(Ian), and a German couple named Greta and Vilhelm (except, Greta is Mexican
and Vilhelm is Argentinian). This group was seriously my favorite part of
Budapest. Ian and I talked a while at the pub. He just got out of Electrical
Engineering at his university and has a girlfriend back in Ireland. Jack and
Liam were two down to earth English guys who just wanted to have a good time. I
joked with Jack excessively loud in the streets between venues the rest of the
night. He taught me some British words I would have otherwise never have known.
Bjorn and Evelyn had actually met once before in Madrid, but just happened to
see each other again in Budapest. Both were fun individuals. Greta and Vilhelm
were a little older than the rest of us, but not too much. They were very cool
and sweet, and left a little earlier than the rest of us. After the first pub,
the group went to a club, which we stayed and danced at for a bit. Valerie even
accompanied me in a dance. We two-stepped to a techno song. It was grand. Once
we got everyone together, we left and tried to go to another place, but the Belgians
in town were crowding the line for their celebration. We decided to go to
subway instead. It was past 2:00 AM for sure, but no telling what the actual
time was. We all departed after a few more laughs, and exchanged some contact
information. The group is pictured as below (taken before Aly and I arrived):
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| L to R: Evelyn, Haegen, Liam, Leon, Bjorn, Jack, Ian, ??, Valerie, Greta, Vilhelm |
Sleep was nice. The next morning, we all awoke and got
ready. We headed to this farmers market that was difficult to find. We were
standing next to the pub from the night before, which is right next to where
Google maps said it was, but still no market. Until we went in the pub… They
had transformed it from just a few hours before. The magnificent pub from the
night before, was now filled with locals selling jams, cheeses, meats,
breakfast bagels, breads, fruits, a variety of things. We gathered each of our
own breakfasts and stumbled upstairs to avoid the rush of the market. It was a
lovely breakfast:
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| Valerie in a bathtub |
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| Texas in a bathtub |
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| Haegen and his bagel |
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| Aly and I |
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| Texans |
After breakfast we split into the groups from yesterday.
Leon, Aly, Valerie, and Haegen went to some thermal baths in the middle of the
park and Mircea, Irina, and I went to go see some more of the city. It turned
out great, because everyone got to do what they wanted, and enjoyed it. My
group went to the highest hill in Budapest, which has a statue of a lady
holding a feather (I don’t know why). It overlooks the entire city. When we
were atop the hill, I met a Korean girl who was there by herself. Very sweet,
but our conversation was short lived because my colleagues wanted to continue on
down the hill. It was a pretty walk both up, and down the hill:
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| Me and Irina and Budapest |
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| Small stream near base of hill |
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| Local Art |
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| Top of the hill |
We walked, a lot. All the way to the central park, which was
down the hill, across the bridge, and a few more kilometers to central park.
But, the city was worth walking through. We even went to the main train station
in town. Mostly, it was made of glass:
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| Side Street |
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| Mircea refreshing |
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| Train station |
Now, to tell of the adventures the others had at the pool,
Haegen has written an insert:
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The baths
As
Josiah and the rest of the try-hard crew began the six hour tour of Budapest,
the smart interns decided to immerse themselves in one of Hungary’s oldest
traditions; the Szchenyi thermal baths.
After two days of long hikes, long nights, and no sleep, the crew of Aly,
Valerie, Leon and myself decided it was time to treat ourselves to a little
luxury and what better than these naturally heated thermal baths. To start, the
bath house itself is absolutely gorgeous. With its old world architecture and modern
amenities, even from outside the anticipation was mounting . Once inside the first step was to get in the
hot tubs to soaks our aching joints and broken bodies; the only problem was
deciding on which tub to soak in. Tub hopping commenced and was only broken up
by the occasional sauna/steam room pit stop. That was until we discovered the
ice baths. I’m still not sure if it was meant to jumpstart the heart or stop it
completely but what I do know is I felt much more alive afterwards. After the
fun of pool hopping subsided, Pharaoh Shash…err… Aly opted to get a massage in
the palace room (it’s actually just the upstairs VIP room but palace is a
better description). Food and an hour nap followed in the warm sun until we
awoke to a meet a very tired Josiah and friends. I think I speak for all of the
crew when I say that was one of the best decisions we have made on our trip and
I would do it again in a heartbeat.
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After we rejoined, we went out to dinner in the city. All
you can eat buffet! Glorious. Then, we got in the cars, and headed back to the
border, and then back to Zalau. We got home at 2:00 AM.
Random Facts/Comments:
1. Everyone here in Romania expected the Americans to be
fat. They were surprised all of us were in shape. “At least one of you was
going to be fat, c'mon..”
2. Our British friend Jack, his last name is Appleyard…. Yup,
Appleyard.
3. I Skype’d a couple of my good friends this week. Payden
who is in Florida right now and Bob who is in Spain. Good conversations on both
ends. Payden described something in yards instead of meters, and it legitimately
through me off for a second. Bob and I related all the new European things we
now know.
4. Work is picking up, but I’m learning a ton. We only have
3.5 weeks left. Scary.
5. I Skype’d my parents at their breakfast table today.
Mircea joined me halfway and met them. He’s a goober who couldn't stop smiling.
6. I received a picture from my good friend Carly Rose King
on Sunday evening showing me her and her boyfriend Kaleb just got engaged.
Whoop!
7. I (lastly) Skype’d Tiffany Doan this week, who was with
Shannon Gaden and Leon Coe and in the car in front of them was the Jack Harper.
As I was talking to them, Shannon ran the phone to the car ahead of them (at a
red light of course) and showed me jack for about 10 seconds. Good seeing you
bro.
8. We will stop at 7.
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| Before it's over, check this guy out. |
Until next time. Ciao.
