Skip the boring stuff (no hassles at all)... and arrived in Budapest at 1pm.
I had read the guides and had a minor idea of what I wanted to do.
The hostel was a little hard to find, and turned out to be a quite little 3 bedroom one in this random apartment. It was still good and the staff were extremely friendly. Oh... and once I got back to Germany I realised I had double booked myself at hostels in Budapest! Luckily they only charged me for the first night... ooops... I guess I just lost track of which places I had booked.
Anyways... upon arrival I met two Swedish girls (they seem to be everywhere!) named Isabella and Julia. They had just arrived as well and were going to check out the local baths. It was on my list of things to do, so I tagged along with them.
Walking up to the baths was quite cool, I walked through the Oktagon which had the museum of Terror (didn't visit it but heard it was cool). Also walked through Heroes Square which had a protest going on against the current government.
Arrived at the baths and realised I hadn't changed any Euros over... so they sent me on a wild goose chase to try and find an exchange. There were none around the area! I then actually stopped to think for a second and used my credit card :-P
Anyways, the thermal baths were quite nice. The hottest they were was 38 degrees, but it was a big outside pool that you could just relax in. Pretty cool atmosphere with people playing chess in the water! They also had a sauna, which had a 16 degree pool right outside. You hoped in this freezing water for a few minutes then went in the sauna. It was a strange experience.
Ended up staying around 3 hours before leaving. Overall impression was ok, NZ's thermal baths are slightly cheaper and you have more variety in temperatures. These baths were just bigger. I wouldn't complain about the $5 they charge at the Mt. Hot pools anymore :-P We do have it quite good in NZ and I'm realising it more and more while I'm over here.
After the pools, the girls went off to the supermarket to get some dinner. 1 was vegan and the other vegetarian, so found it very hard with the Hungarian cuisine. I decided to go check out Heroes Square and City Park. It was a nice walk with some strange art exhibitions around the place.
I eventually got back to the hostel around 7pm and cracked open a Hungarian beer while watching some basketball. Started chatting with some people from the hostel and eventually there was a large group that were heading out on the town (2 American girls, 2 American guys, the 2 Swedish girls, and me). Went to this really cool bar that had vines growing all over the walls. It was really strange but awesome! I ended up chatting to a couple of Pommy boys at the bar for a bit then joined the rest of the group.
After a few beers, bed was calling me (I was shattered!) so I left and walked home. Got lost for a bit and had to get my drunken sense of direction with my map. I got accosted by a prostitute on the way home. They are pretty full on, she flat out grabbed my crotch and told me 2500 florints ($NZD 20). When I said no and tried to walk away she grabbed my belt, so had to basically force her off! They must be desperate for money when they are only charging that amount!
Anyway, after my escape from the STI machine I got home and was in bed :-) Talked to a couple of Pommy girls who came home just after me then promptly went to sleep as I was shattered.
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