budapest: an introduction

Whew! It's been a long week and a half. Last Tuesday, Rowena (whom, if you've been paying attention, you'll recall my having mentioned in the past) and I caught the 7AM bus to the airport. EasyJet tickets in hand and a little nervous, we got on our big orange plane, Hungary-bound. An hour and a half later, we found ourselves blinking in the unexpected sun, surrounded by words we had no hope of reading and a pervasive sense of vacation.

What made us choose Budapest? That's a good question, actually. Some esoteric algorithm of EasyJet-flight, never-been-there-before, and really-cheap-hostel informed our decision, certainly. Regardless, three months ago we were sitting on Rowena's couch saying, "wouldn't it be cool if we went to Budapest?"--and a week ago, we were there. We were right. It was cool.

Cool, of course, doesn't begin to describe it. Budapest is kind of like two miniature cities: to the west of the Danube is Buda, and to the right is Pest. The photo to the left is of Buda, from Pest which is larger. Our fabulous hostel (more on that later!) was in Pest.

The city itself is an intriguing blend of old-world Central Europe, memories of Soviet involvement, and a shiny new Budapest of industry and tourism. Oh, and a lot of really incredible buildings. Rowena and I hadn't been there ten minutes before we fell in love

with the place, and we just kept getting more impressed. Budapest is known for a number of things: perhaps the most famous are its medicinal thermal spas, whose use dates from Roman colonisation. There are a few such complexes in the city. We chose Széchenyi, the largest spa in the city with something like fifteen pools--indoor and outdoor--as well as steam rooms, jacuzzis, and lots of other exciting spa-stuff. 


We filled ourselves with a week of buildings and sun and Magyar culture, and now it's proving difficult to be back. I'll write more on Budapest, of course: I have far too much to say to fit into one measly little entry. In the meantime, these and about two hundred other photos are up on my facebook. 


Szia! (that's an informal Hungarian colloquialism for both "hello" and "good-bye"--a bit like the Hawaiian "aloha")