Budapest

Hello again everyone,

This past weekend I went to Budapest with five friends of mine. We stayed at an apartment that my roommate's parents own. It was really nice of them, and they had us to their house for a couple meals. It was great to have more homemade food. Mostly, Budapest wasn't so different from Prague. It is another big city with everything that you would ever want and need readily available. Daniel's mother was a lot like my mom and took very good care of us. His parents speak almost fluent English and it was nice to get to know more about their culture. The have an alcohol named Unicum that is like Jager and Whiskey mixed together. It was really good. Also, like in Slovakia, they had some Slivovica that is more or less vodka made from plums. We also had goulash that is identical to beef and vegetable soup that my mom makes! Our cultures are different, but not as different as I expected. I think I've said that a hundred times already...

This is the castle in Budapest, at night obviously. For some reason I neglected to take a picture of it during the day?

This is Mathias' Church, it is located within the walls of the castle.

This is the Parliament building, it is located across the river from the castle.

I'm not sure exactly what this place was, other than what I envision my future house looking like! ;-) I asked Daniel what it was called and he said it is Vajdahunyad Castle. It is a copy of a castle in Transylvania.

This is Daniel's parent's house

 Here are the people that accompanied me on the trip. From left to right: Me, Petr from Netherlands, Daniel from Hungary, Brown from Hungary, Andrew from Cleveland, Philip from Germany, Wiebe from Netherlands.

There is a place called Independence Square that is all commemorating the liberation of Budapest. There were a bunch of memorials of Americans, this one being Ronald Reagan! Has anyone else got to shake his hand? granted it was an awkward left-handed shake but o well.

We also went to one of the largest thermal bath's (aka hot springs) in the world. They had three pools that you can see in the picture, they extend away from the camera, as well as about 30 inside the structure that you can see. It was a labyrinth that never ended, or so it seemed. It was one pool after another all with different minerals and temperatures that were naturally from the ground. It was quite impressive. And packed with locals and tourists alike.

I noticed that I didn't really have much to say about Budapest. It was a lot of fun being there, but it really isn't different from everything else that I've experienced. That has definitely be the theme thus far. The world is becoming so interconnected and commercialized that most places seem very similar. It is making me want to go to places that are a little further away. Maybe I will make it to Zurich or London after all...