O, The Places I'll Go...: Carpe Noctem

So much for Carpe Diem, it is about seizing the night. Budapest had one of the best night life I have experienced yet. Like any other place though: it is only as beautiful as the people you share it with. Elizabeth and I met some truly beautiful people. It still amazes me how we are traveling this world and becoming so close with these people then leave and possibly never see them again. We stayed at two different hostels and had two very different, very wonderful experiences. We arrived in Budapest, which is actually two towns on different sides of the river- Buda and Pest, on Wednesday evening and made our way to the Budapest Centrum Hostel. There was a little sign on a huge apartment complex and following the run down stairs up to the first floor we were a little worried… When we entered we immediately felt at home in the cozy hostel. Alex the owner greeted us and showed us our room where we shared it with a girl named Yo-Yo from Japan. We were greeted by two other couples from Germany as well. Alex gave us a map and showed us the places we needed to visit and eat at. So we made our way to one of the restaurants he suggested for dinner. Menza was our first Hungarian food experience and it was delicious. We enjoyed a pancakes with chicken in it and a mushroom sauce and sour cream. I had pork and the mushroom sauce for dinner as well. It was a very retro hip atmosphere and it turned out to be a great first experience in Budapest. When we got back Yo-Yo wanted to take us to a “dance party” her tour guide told her about. We got on the metro and headed to a sketch part of town. The vibes flew between Elizabeth and I wondering what we were getting ourselves in to. We finally found the place and as we entered we realized this is not what we thought it was going to be at all. It was a Knights of Columbus sort of place where many older people were dancing to older Hungarian music. We were a bit thrown off but they were so welcoming and insisted on us dancing. I would say I picked up pretty well thanks to my line dancing skills, Elizabeth on the other hand struggled a bit. After 20 minutes of dancing we were already working up a sweat and these people dance for 5 hours non stop-talk about a workout! On Thursday we set out to take in the sights of Budapest we crossed the river to the Buda side since we were staying on the Pest side. We went up to a huge castle looking place and decided to check out the history museum since we really did not know much about Hungarian history. Here is your history lesson: Budapest stopped being a communist country in 1956 after a revolution but really didn’t die out until the late 80s. They just joined the EU in 2004 so they still do not use the euro. One dollar equals about 170 HUF-it felt like monopoly money and a joke when one plate for dinner was 2300. During WWII there was a big Nazi presence so when getting rid of the Jews they would put them in the frigid Danube river (which is the river that separates Buda and Pest). After the history museum we did a little more exploring then made our way to the Central Market where we tried a traditional Hungarian dish-Lognas which is fried bread with any toppings you would like on them-very filling and very bad for you but very delicious. We also tried some Hungarian pastries as well. After that we went to St. Stephen’s Basilica which I think is one of the top 3 I have been in yet. The sparkling gold and colors were breathtaking. Then we made our way to the Parliament but were discouraged when we saw that all the tickets were sold out for the day. That night we helped Alex made a traditional Hungarian dish for dinner. It consisted of potatoes, water, onions, sausage and paprika-it was so easy to make and so delicious! That night we had some new people join us and some people had left for other adventures. There were three men from Poland and three women from Argentina . We were the youngest ones in the house with everyone else being around 30. After dinner we ended up sitting around talking and drinking, boy did those Polacks love their drinking! Alex and the girls from Argentina headed to bed but we stayed and taught the guys how to play “Kings Cup”- which one of them took the rules so he could play with his friend- I would say it was a success. Then we continued to have friendly debates and conversations about life. That morning we headed to the Parliament with the girls and the guys headed out to an IT presentation then home. While waiting for our time slot in the Parliament we witnessed their military men practice their march for the National holiday. The Parliament was very neat inside, the dome was amazing. We saw the room where the meetings were held, even the cigar holders outside of the room that the men kept burning while they would go in for speeches. It is the 3rd largest Parliament in Europe with 691 rooms! We only saw about 6. After that we checked out of Budapest Centrum Hostel and checked into Carpe Noctem. We knew what was coming-this hostel was infamous for being a very lively hostel so when we checked in and noticed the white board with the nights plan saying: “Don’t worry you WILL have fun, you WILL get drunk, you MAY even get lucky".” We knew this place would live up to its reputation. We went a place where we enjoyed from Thai food for lunch then went over to the Buda side to watch the sunset on the top of the hill. We went up to an old castle and an old church. The castle looked like a giant sand castle and the church was absolutely beautiful from the outside- I have never seen a roof like it! We strolled around on top of the hill taking in all of Pest. The area was cleaner and more colorful than we had been in the city before. It was my favorite part of Budapest I had been to yet. Then we headed down to the Hummus Bar for dinner which was delicious of course- you can’t go wrong with hummus. Then we headed back to the hostel which was starting to pick up by this point. We joined a group for some cards where they taught us how to play “13” which is a card game. Then we got ready and all headed out for the night. They had organized a pub crawl for all of us so the first bar we went to was pretty quiet and had some swings and the bar for chairs. B-ron (who worked at hostel) kept everyone together making sure no one was left behind. The bar had a specialty shot that consisted of vodka, cranberry juice and tobasco sauce-surprisingly good with a kick. The next bar had a band playing and a little dance for-so naturally that is where we headed. There was a group of boys around 16 who were trying their hardest to dance but failed in the rhythm department. So Elizabeth, Sonya, Andrea and I decided to help them a bit. We created a circle where we would jump in and dance one at a time then I taught them how to swing dance. They picked up easily because I did not take no for answer even though they were a bit timid. By the end of the night they were pros so when I told them to ask Elizabeth to dance they were still a little too nervous. Then it was on to the next bar and we continued to enjoy our night and get to know everyone. Everyone smokes inside the bars there so it hurt our eyes after awhile. On Saturday we headed to the famous baths! This was what we were looking forward to most. The building consisted of several saunas and pools-outside and inside pools all sorts of temperatures. Hot, dry, aromatic saunas you name it they had it. It was the perfect day to enjoy the baths with not a cloud in the sky. We also treated ourselves to massages as well. We met up with some people from the hostel and had a lot of fun with them in the whirl pool area and on the jets throughout the outdoor pool. It was the perfect day of relaxation. That night we went out on another bar crawl this time led by Max which was a blast. By this time we had become very close with everyone so it was like going out as a big family. We were celebrating Sonya’s birthday at midnight which made the night even more exciting. Music, dancing, and fun-what more could we ask for? This morning we had to say good-bye to everyone which was a little more upsetting than I thought it would be. Imagine mixing people from New Zealand, Argentine, the US, Holland, Australia, England, Brazil all together and what do you get? The BEST time of your life. So many different backgrounds and personalities made it so much fun. It is amazing how close people can become after only a few days. I hope that I will keep in touch with these people for years to come. I am still getting used to this feeling when traveling but it was definitely another successful trip. Great people, great sights, great stories. I still have to pinch myself and remind myself that I am actually living this life and still trying to figure out how I got to be so blessed to experience something like this.