Budapest - Day 2

Szia!

(that's hello in Hungarian. I had to look it up in a book. I'm absolutely useless with this language...)

Somewhat relaxing day here exploring Pest. Walked from the hostel to the Varosliget city park. There is where I found the cure to my traveling aches: The Szechenyi Baths. Indoor and outdoor pools heated to 38 degrees Celsius. Spent about 3 hours there... bliss. Have pictures... but no way to upload them.

Otherwise, just walked around exploring. Interesting city, but I've gotta admit - after the cities and countryside I've seen so far, it's hard to get excited about Budapest. It's another European city (but honestly, a lot dirtier). As a result, I'm cutting my stay here by a day. Early Thursday morning I'm catching a train to Zagreb, Croatia. I've heard that Zagreb isn't really worth visiting, but I'll give it a day. Friday I'll catch a bus to Dubrovnik and then start working my way up (north) the Adriatic coast. Dubrovnik - Hvar - Split - and then I don't know. Depends how long it takes, and how much time I have left. I'd still like to try going to Slovenia before ending my trip in Vienna (where I'd like to spend at least one full day). We'll see what happens.

Tomorrow I'll explore Pest and Castle Hill. If I have time, I might go to Statue Park where they have a sizable collection of communist era statues from various eastern bloc countries (who obviously didn't need them anymore)

Hostel here in Budapest is great. So far, I've been very lucky with my accommodations. This place (The Goat Hostel) is basically a converted (very large) apartment. There are 3 rooms, and a great common area with a TV/DVD, a great selection of DVDs, a kitchen with food earmarked for anyone staying here, laundry. The manager, Gabriel, is incredibly helpful and personally makes individual specialty coffees for everyone. People staying here are great too. One guy here is from Laval, so I got to chat about the Habs, which was good. Food's good too (although the chinese food I went for tonight was a little sketch... I don't think this is the right country for good asian food...). Tomorrow I'll be going for some authentic Hungarian food (hmmm... goulash)

Weather has been amazing too. High 20s both yesterday and today. Shoulda brought shorts.

Speaking of the Habs, it was nice to see copies of EAs NHL 08 in Switzerland with Mark Streit on the cover. Made me proud.

Still a little confused about them keeping Price up and sending Lapierre down... but oh well. I can't believe I'm missing the beginning of the season. Bah.

Alright, I'm off. 'Til next time (hopefully with pictures)

Viszontlatasra.

Matt