Budapest

Trains over here are confusing - one half of the train goes to one destination, the other half goes somewhere wlse entirely. Luckily we were helped by a guard, and managed to get on the half going to Budapest. The train journey was very pretty - Hungary is a very very green and pretty place. We arrived, and instantly felt lost. Hungarian is the weirdest language ever, and is not related to anything we recognise. Richard Dreyfuss helped us buy our onward ticket to Slovakia (always be prepared), then we somehow managed to find our way to the hostel. Which turned out to be an apartment occupied by a fatalistic Chicago man named Jimmy, who instilled in us an irrational fear of strangers, and pointed out the people "trapped forever, screaming in pain" in the sculpture on the outside of many of the buildings. We were given our own room in a huge apartment in a 19th century building, run down like all the others in the street, with an internal courtyard and ceilings 15 feet high. It was late, but we ventured nervously out, clutching our valuables, and wandered around the darkened city until bed time.

In the morning, we went to St Stephen's Basilica, a huge church with an incredibly ornate marble and gold interior. I climbed the many twisting stairs to the top, only to find I could have taken an elevator. The view was worth it though. Descending, I rejoined M and we made our way across the Chain Bridge, a stately 19th century suspension bridge across the Danube to Buda, the side of the city with the palace and so on. This was on top of a steep hill, up which we were hauled by the coolest funicular I have ever seen. It was practically steampunk - like something out of Jules Verne. I think it was built in 1844, but can't quite remember. At the top, we were accosted by a friendly-seeming tour guide, trying to sell his tour. He was a nice looking old chap with a glorious moustache, but when I tried to say we weren't interested he flipped and grabbed the front of his head, yelling "don't interrupt me, let me finish my sentence". We let him finish and then walked away, slightly shaken. The top of the hill in buda is lovely - we walked over Fishermen's Bastion, with a lovely view over to the parliament, had a too expensive lunch (1200 forints for a very meagre sandwich), then wandered over to the palace, which now houses an art gallery. After gorging on art, we managed to find a supermarket buried in the bowels of the biggest mall in the universe, then went home for dinner. Accompanied by a very drinkable 500 forint bottle of wine. After dinner we went to a very cool little bar that Jimmy had recommended, and tried some of the local brandy. Or possibly it was metho, it was hard to tell.

The next day was the end of hot weather, and the start of rain. We went to the undercover market hall, and wandered around lost in a sea of meats of all kinds, fresh fruit and veg, sweets (some of which we bought, very cheap, and made ourselves slightly ill), and spices. Upstairs is all manner of souvenirs, tacky and otherwise, and food and bars. Apparently you can get a drinkable glass of wine for 80 forints. That's about 50 cents in real money. After sampling that, we went up the road to the National Museum, ate our lunch on the steps, then went inside and explored the history! Then returned home for dinner, and out again for the festival. This was a huge event - the metro stations had little music groups playing in them, all the museums had live events, either usic or dancing or medieval reenactments. We went back to the palace, via the funicular, where they were playing classical music of various types in the art gallery, and finished with a ska concert in the forecourt. Budapest is magical at night.

On Sunday we got up earlyish and went down to the river to catch a ferry upstream to a little town called Szentendre. It was cool and drizzly, but the ride was fun, and the town was just gorgeous. It was very touristy, but in an upmarket way, and it felt very posh. Beautifully restored, it ranged over a hill next to the river, and was all twisty cobblestone streets and nineteenth century buildings. We went to a very cool contemporary art space in an old mill, and had sandwiches on the banks of the Danube. I found the shop of a family knife company I'd seen in the market hall in Budapest, and drooled for a while. They are all handmade traditional shepherd's knives, and the family has been making them for over 200 years. Walnut handles, brass, silver and bone decoration, and hardened stell blades...but I digress. There was also a marzipan museum in the town, which was sort of horribly fascinating. The trip back to Budapest took half the time.

On Monday morning we trekked across town with a garbage bag full of clothes, in the rain, to the only laundrette in Budapest. It advertised itself as "self service", but the lady working there did it all for us, and we just paid her. Quite alot, too. We went and sat in a cafe while we waited, and the rain did clear up a little. After that we went back to the market hall for a hearty cheap lunch, and I caved and bought one of those knives, but M made me ship it back to the UK in case there was a repeat of my Eurostar security incident. There have been countless times since then that it would have been invaluable, but there you are. In the afternoon, we went to the Szechenyi public baths, in the city park. This is a huge complex, with outdoor pools of different temperatures, and indoor mineral pools of everything from 20 to 40 degrees, in wonderful ornate surroundings. There is also a sauna with a 16 degree plunge pool. We spent 3 hours just turning into prunes, and alternately baking and freezing ourselves. After that we were so clean and invigorated that we went home, ate dinner, and totally crashed.

Tuesday morning we bid adieu to Budapest, and set off for Slovakia.