Noice, different, unusual

Arrived at Budapest train station early morn. What a painful city to navigate! Budapest is divided into two regions, on either side of the Danube, Buda and Pest. It took us quite a while to work out which side we were on, extremely frustrating.

We figured out we needed to get a bus into the main part of town, Buda or Pest, who knows! Got into town, then spent the next 4 hours trying to find a hostel. An extremely looooong story that we won't bore you with, but suffice to say we've had better days.

Anyway, we finally found this little hostel called the Budapest Bubble run by an English girl. We dropped our bags and after spoiling ourselves with some camembert and ham on bread from the supermarche, we went for a walk to the main pedestrian area of the town, Vaci Utca. . . in the rain. Decided to stop into a pub, nice cosy little underground place. Paul was happy cause he could get beers and Michelle was happy cause they were playing cheesy 80's music.. just the thing to lift the rainy day, lost- in- a- new- city blues!

Day two was a much bigger success. We finally worked out how to get around town and headed to the Chain Bridge, over the Danube, and up to Castle Hill and the Fisherman's Bastion, a beautiful building overlooking the Danube and the city. But being high on the hill, absolutely freezing. Quite a touristy area and a couple of guys were up there with their hawk and eagle which you could hold for a minute or two after paying for the privilege. Paul couldn't refuse. Apparently its quite scary being that close to a hawks beak, even if it is blindfolded!

After lunch and now feeling quite au fait with the three modes of public transport (metro underground train, tram and trolley bus), we headed out to the Terror House, a museum dedicated to the victims of communism and nazi's via the Arrow Party. A very well presented museum and incredibly moving, we left in quite a reflective mood.

Fortunately our spirits were picked up once we reached our next destination, just a little way out of the heart of Budapest, the Szechenyi Furdo thermal baths... what luxury... a gorgeous big complex with numerous baths of varying temperatures. We tended to stay in the one that was 37 degrees, since it was about 15 degrees outside. Paul treated himself to the steam room and plunge pool a few times and felt "bloody amazing" to quote the man himself. Michelle tried the steam room for a while but it's pretty hard to breathe in there, so resigned herself to floating in the 37 degree bath. Ahhhh.... now this is what holidays are about!!