It'd be easier with nails! (Budapest, Hungary)

The night train to Budapest was an event. We wanted to book a sleeper car for the 12 hour trip, but the incredibly helpful (sarcasm) woman at the station said we could only by seats. Despite knowing people in our hostel who had reserved, she insisted we would have to ask the conductor. Bitch. Anyway, the conductor said no, and we were stuck in seats for the trip. Fortunately, we had a cabin all to ourselves (we locked the door and stared out the window when people walked by). We set up shop to sleep propped against our packs, head near the door as theft is a problem on Polish night trains. Gassing people isn't as uncommon as one would like. Anyway, other that being rudely awaken every hour or so to check tickets or passports we made it through the night without any problems. The train did get pretty full in the morning with commuters so we had to give up our little private world. The guy in our car eating the foul onion sausage was a great addition to our poorly ventilated car.
finding a hostel was easy enough, and we took it pretty easy the first day as we were still pretty tired from the trip.
The next day, towel in hand, we went in search of the famous baths. There are traditional (read: nude) Turkish baths as well as co-ed (clothed) ones. We opted for co-ed as the days alternate at the nude ones, and the hostel guy told me it's mostly gay men who frequent the Turkish baths now. Despite my pension for cappucino, I don't swing that way.
Despite a multi-mile, multi-hour search, we were unsuccessful in our first attempt, and had to settle for a movie that night (yes it took us that long). It took us three cinemas across town to find Star Wars playing in English. I couldn't believe it, but I was impressed (not with the acting, but the story was good).
The next day, new map in hand, we found a great spa in the park where we relaxed our weary traveler bones. It was wonderful. All sorts of pools, hot, cold, swirly, sulpher, salt, whatever. The sauna was 105 degrees. Holy hell. I jumped in the 16 degree pool after that. Holy hell. But it was a great experience. I didn't have enough cash for a massage but maybe tomorrow. The jet massages were great and included in the $13 (all day) entry fee. To make things better, you even get a refund if you don't stay a full 5 hours. How sweet is that?
The refund I got helped pay for some of the wine I drank in the park after the spa. There was a wine tasting festival going on along with all sorts of barbecued food. Glasses of wine ranged from 100 to 500 forints ($.65 to $3.25). Sweet. Good wines too. The Communist occupation effectively ended Hungary's wine industry but they've been working quite successfully at bringing it back.
We met Darren and Margeaux from Calgary that night who were a nice couple to talk to without the whole "where've you been?, where're you going?" preliminary crap that gets old quick.
So we decided that a little caving action under Budapest would be fun and signed up through our hostel. The 3 hour tour (more like 4) was only 3500 Forints ($21cdn) and was worth every cent.
They outfitted us with the typical helmet and Petzl lamps along with some very stylish (and very dirty) coveralls. There was some talk about waivers, but I guess they couldn't find them or they forgot so off we went into the depths of the world. I kept thinking about Jules Verne.
It was wild. I was expecting a half assed walk through the mountain, but I got a whole ton of crawling, climbing, slithering, squeezing and squirming. We dubbed one hole "The re-Birth" as it was so damned tight I have bruises on my chest and hips (just wait till I get the pics up). There was an alternate route, but I'm not so bright. Beer never tasted so good after that.
At one point we were playing a "game" where you had to climb into a small pocket, starting with your back to the wall, arms outstretched "like Christ" our guide explained. Alison, who was attempting to do it at the time commented "It'd be easier with nails!". A few people were shocked, but after I burst out laughing, so did everyone else.
We went for some beers with Darren and Margeaux that night (we were pretty late, but they didn't care), and left for a different hostel the next day.
Sightseeing in Budapest is nice, but it's another city and they're all starting to blend together. The city is cut in two by the Danube River, one side being Buda, the other Pest, hence Budapest. The Buda side is on a hill and home to the Royal Castle and offers some great views of Pest including the Parliament building (you'll see what I mean when the pics go up). You can see some Communist era buildings in the background of some of my shots, (I'll point them out when I get then on line). Between the two is Margit Island which is closed to public vehicles. It's essentially and enormous park in the river. Not too much to do there but relax. There are some trampolines to jump around on, but I didn't want to entrust my pack to some stranger. I was alone that day.
Pest has more to see and do but not as quiet. Better as a tourist here though. We went to take night shots of hero's square on our way to a jazz club when we heard music (metal) coming from the park. We followed our ears trying to figure out who it was, neither of us knowing but both finding it familiar. We sat outside the concert trying to find a poster or some sign of who it was with no luck. We couldn't lower ourselves to asking and exposing our ignorance to hundreds of Hungarians... We settled down with some beer in the park (which is legal - as it should be) and listened to the music. Only Ali and I could be side tracked by metal on our way to a jazz club... Well it turned out that the band was DreamTheater. Neither of us knew who they were, but the music was good.
Hero square was basically a square with statues of Hungarian warrior heroes through the ages. Pretty neat. Unpoliced too, which was cool. There were guys/girls skating, roller blading, drinking generally having a good time and would you believe it - no trouble. Too bad we're such idiots in Vancouver we can't do the same.