On the Blue Danube

This morning, we packed up, checked out of the hostel in Vienna, and made our way to the train station for a new adventure.

The train from Vienna to Budapest was largely unremarkable. Zak and I both slept most of the way. It is amazing how physically draining it is to spend all day long walking and sight-seeing. It has been the same for the past week-- the second I sit or lie down, I tend to fall asleep.

It is interesting to pass through the former Iron Curtain. I suppose, for a significant portion of the last century, the border between Austria and Hungary marked a sort of end-of-the-world. Indeed, one could clearly see from the windows that the towns we passed in Hungary were poorer than those I had encountered in Germany or Austria. Many of the towns we passed still sported huge, concrete housing structures, of the type I have seen pictures of from the Communist era.

We arrived in Budapest and got a little bit lost looking for the hostel. Hungarian is a difficult language, and it is not related to either the Germanic or the Romance languages groups, so I can´t make any sense of the words on the street signs. Thankfully, we encountered many helpful English speakers on the street, who guided us to our hostel.

I´m not going to lie-- this hostel building is a pretty freaky place. To get the hostel itself, one must walk up a few flights of stairs through a dark and creepy building-- with peeling paint and graffiti on the inside walls. The stairs creak. The few times I have entered the main atrium, there are ominous bangings from higher floors. I am reminded of how geographically close we are to Transylvania.

The rooms themselves are quirky-- done up in bright colors with lots of strange art on the walls. The proprietor lives here year-round. He speaks some English and seems friendly enough, but I will lock my door tonight.

Zak and I walked around the city for a couple hours this evening. We had a delicious and filling pasta dinner on an upscale street. Afterwards, we decided to splurge and took a nighttime river cruise on the Danube. The cruise lasted one hour, and included a blanket for the cold, head-phones with a very corny monologue given in the voice of the Danube River herself, two glasses of perfectly horrible champagne and wine, and awesome views of the city at night.

All of the great buildings of Budapest hug the river, and at night they are all illuminated with a rich, golden light. I was really quite taken with the beautiful Budapest Castle, glowing on a hilltop, reflecting its light onto the river around us. Each of the four major bridges which connect Buda with Pest were also lit-up, and it was wonderful to pass underneath them. Zak and I both agreed that this is one of the most beautiful cities that we have ever seen.