Hungary For Prunes.

Directly after the last exam on Wednesday (literally, right after...enough time to grab our mochilas and PEACE), Caitlin, The Bacon Wallet and I headed to Madrid to spend the night at Caitlin's aunt's house in preparation for our excursion to Eastern Europe. After purchasing the necessary cold-weather outerwear, our first stop was Budapest, Hungary.

So many hungry/Hungary jokes. We were starving when we got there, so it was actually very appropriate.

When we arrived in Budapest, we found this bus service that drove us right to the front door of the hostel. This was really clutch, because neither of us know a single word of Hungarian (as if anyone actually does...). So navigating our way to the hostel without a map, without any language skills, and in the PITCH BLACK DARKNESS AT 4 IN THE AFTERNOON would have been rather difficult. The sun sets so early there! I do not understand. It's so strange.

After checking in at Colors Hostel, we decided to go on a nighttime boat cruise on the Danube! We bundled up, made our way to the river and hopped the boat. It was SO cold, but the boat drivers anticipated our freezingness and had blankets ready for us. Caitlin and I decided to be adventurous and sit outside on the deck of the boat so we could take pictures. The rest of the passengers were lame (slash smart) and sat inside with their hot chocolate whilst we battled hypothermia up top, but we definitely got the best views. Budapest is so beautiful at night! Unfortunately, my camera decided to be uncooperative and fail at taking amazing pictures like it usually does. So the only photo I have from the boat tour is this one, which I think is all I really need anyway.

The Bacon Wallet with the ELIZABETH BRIDGE on the Danube in Budapest.

After the Danube tour, we took refuge in a cellar restaurant and settled in for our first Hungarian meal. Two words can perfectly describe Hungarian food: hearty and robust. Every bite is packed with flavor and the bites are endless--the portions are absolutely massive. But it's so good that even though you're about to burst you want to keep eating and eating because you just want more of the amazing flavor in your mouth! Ahhhhhh, so delicious. It took a while for us to be able to move again, but when we finally made it back to the hostel, we got ready to go out. We had met someone earlier who told us about a place to go, so we decided to check it out. Once we finally found the address and managed to find our way there, we discovered that it was a club.......inside a mall? It was...interesting. But still a good time!

The next day, we forced ourselves to crawl out of bed so we could see Budapest by daylight. We grabbed our maps and hit the streets. We tried to see all the places we saw the night before on our boat tour. First was Buda Palace, then Buda Castle. Both places had magnificent views of the entire city.

View of Pest from Buda.

The rest of the early afternoon we just kind of meandered around the city, taking it all in. It's such a cool place. But by 4:30 we were making our way to the highlight event of Budapest: the Széchenyi spa. I dare you to try and pronounce that...I certainly can't. We just called it "the most amazing place ever" instead. First we changed into our swim suits and jumped in the pool...outside. Keep in mind it is about 25 or 30 degrees outside. The pool was steaming and wonderful and we stayed in for about 15 minutes before we had to sprint inside for our massages.

Ah. Maz. Ing.

For my first massage experience, I'd say it was pretty spectacular. We both got full body massages, and it was the most miraculous experience of my life. There was one ticklish spot the masseuse kept hitting that would kind of make me twitch a little, which was kind of awkward, but other than that it was perfect.

SO excited for our first massage!

After the massages, we spent the next 3 and a half hours testing out the dozens of steam rooms and mineral water hot tubs (indoors and out!) that the spa had to offer. By 9:30, we had both set personal records for "longest bath of my life" and our bodies had turned entirely into prunes. We were finally ready to leave the hottest outdoor pool so we prepared ourselves to reenter the cold air. We mapped out the quickest route from the pool to our towels to the door to the inside and got ready to run. Shrieking from bitter cold, we ran to our towels only to find that they had FROZEN to the bench! 30 infinitely long seconds were spent in shock and laughter until we realized that our hair was probably turning to icicles so we had better get our wet-swimsuited selves back inside. We propped up our stiff towels on the radiator, and rented new ones so we could shower, re-bundle up, go back to the hostel and pass out. Sitting in warm water for hours on end is a surprisingly draining activity and we were exhausted. We ate another hearty, robust meal and when we got back we packed up our bags and fell right asleep.

The next morning we left Budapest for round two of Eastern Europe, and Caitlin and I were both wishing we had more time in Hungary. It's such an interesting place--very different from the rest of Europe that I've seen. I will definitely be coming back here, this was just a preview!