Well, its all over. I'm back in Munich, and Birgit's back in Frankfurt. The bikes are back in the basement, and the photos are all imported into iPhoto. We're gradually putting the posts written along the way online, and adding photos as we go. [Photos for this one might not be up until the weekend!!!]
Budapest was wonderful. Much bigger than expected, with crazy traffic and people everywhere. We found dinner, wet feet and all (plastic bags provided a helpful insulating material). I allowed myself to eat what can only be described a huge mountain of potato, bacon and chicken. The day was so wet, long and exhausting that I felt it was deserved. Our hostel was also a huge dance school, which made it a little crazy, busy and noisy, but it was a great place to dry all our things and recover from the ride.
We tried to see all the 'important' sights on Friday with a whirlwind tour of the old 'Castle' part of Buda and the more recent grandeur of Andrassy Street. Budapest has an incredible number of beautiful buildings. Perhaps the most imposing is the Parliament, which is so big it doesn't make any sense to see it up close. We also visited both of the main train stations in Pest - the first to find out if we could put our bikes intact on the train back (the answer was no, but more on that later), and the second because it was said to have a famous Parisien archectecture. As it turns out the latter also houses what is reputed to be the world's most beautiful McDonalds.
On Andrassy St, we found the Opera House. On the offchance, and on the recommendation of our trusty free guide-leaflet, we asked if there were any tickets for that evening. For the pricely sum of around €3 each (Hungary's still on the Florint, and it seems with its current economic situation, will be there for quite some time) we got two great seats, and saw a ballet interpretation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. We were expecting an Opera, but all the skin tight suits and lack of singing soon made us realize otherwise. Also somewhat embarassingly, we walked all the way downstairs after two acts thinking it was over and that the Hungarians must have some tradition of not clapping after performances. After seeing we weren't exactly leading a crowd, and consulting with the nice usher at the door, we crept back in to join the second intermission crowd, trying to look less stupid than we felt! Before the opera, we found dinner (or at least an adequately sized snack) in a small cafe nearby. While I do keep aspiring to not eat meat, their little portion of sausage cooked in red wine, was, well delicious.
After the Opera, the night (as planned by Birgit) had only just begun. Our free guide had a whole section on the 'Budapest scene'. It seems with so many ruined and vacant buildings, alternative cafes and bars have sprung up everywhere. One we tried was in a mix of old buildings and a courtyard, and the seating included old cars and a bathtub. And, they sold cider! The second was on top of a huge warehouse/shopping centre. You couldn't even tell from below that it was there. After a drink at each (and the walking in between) we were ready for more sleep. All in all a great day!
We ended up having breakfast at the McDonalds the next morning (finding breakfast in Budapest is hard, as is finding a restaurant open after 10pm, as is finding anything open after 5pm on a Saturday...!). Saturday was a bit less frenetic - we decided to visit Memento Park (getting there was however a little frenetic, it's far out of the city) to see the old Soviet statues that used to live in Budapest. These were accompanied by a video on the training of secret police spies, and an exhibition on resistance to communism during the Cold War. It was at first a bit weird, but as time went on I found it more and more touching not so much over how people had suffered (which of course they did) but the sense of relief and freedom there must have been in 1989-1990. The rest of the day was quite leasurely - we retruned to Budapest and sat in a cafe and wrote our postcards (finally), meandered our way back to the hostel to pick up our things and headed for the station.
We went pretty early to take the bikes apart and put them in the bags, sort out food, and make sure we got on the train in time to avoid luggage issues. On the food front, we were very successful (the normal rule of groceries being more expensive in train stations doesn't seem to apply in Hungary). On the luggage front, well, there was no way the bikes in their bags would fit around us in our couchettes. Hungarian trains seem to be built a little differently from the German night trains. We had trouble even getting on the train, but having managed that with some arguing, we had to decide whether to leave them in the corridor in spite of insuations from the conductor that they might not survive the night, or pay a rather bargain price of €20 to have an entire cabin, and hence 2 more beds (for the bikes) to ourselves. Strangely, we received no receipt...
The night's sleep was pretty good until the German police boarded the train bright and early around 5.30 wanting to see everyone's ID. Shortly after it was time to disembark, reassemble the bikes (just as painful as in Vienna), and slowly ride home...
After the Opera, the night (as planned by Birgit) had only just begun. Our free guide had a whole section on the 'Budapest scene'. It seems with so many ruined and vacant buildings, alternative cafes and bars have sprung up everywhere. One we tried was in a mix of old buildings and a courtyard, and the seating included old cars and a bathtub. And, they sold cider! The second was on top of a huge warehouse/shopping centre. You couldn't even tell from below that it was there. After a drink at each (and the walking in between) we were ready for more sleep. All in all a great day!
