Budapest, Hungary

we spent two days in budapest, hungary, june 5th and 6th. luckily we had enough fun that our only memory of the city wont be the disgusting hostel!! it was by FAR our worst accommodation! it was actually an apartment in a run down complex and i don't think there was a clean molecule in our room. we spent the two days avoiding having to go there and slept on top of a sarong stacy gave me from greece so we wouldn't have to touch the bedding and spread a scarf over the pillows. very gross.

our first day in budpest we took at bike tour with a very nice hungarian woman as our guide. it was really a good tour except for the exhausting uphill climb to get to the top of a hill to a castle. it was sooo hard i had to walk my bike up the last bit because i thought i was going to have a heart attack. the cobblestone streets didn't help much either. regardless, we heard a lot about the city and its many hardships, past and present.

after the bike tour we walked over to the jewish quarter for lunch and to tour the 2nd oldest synagogue in the world.

later in the afternoon after biking and walking all day we went to one of their well known bath houses. it was a huge place with a million different rooms with saunas and baths, plus a large outdoor area as well. it was a little confusing because nothing is written in english and there are separate rooms for men and women for changing and such and i think there are different areas inside that are segregated as well, like certain saunas and tubs, but since nothing is in english we were nervous we were going to wander into the wrong areas.

we had fun going from tub to tub and they are labeled with their temperature. so we would get in one that was 36C and then get hot and go to 34C and then get cold and go to another... its all thermal waters from budapest's natural springs which they cool down to different temperatures. each of the bath houses is known for different mineral contents that are supposedly beneficial for different ailments. there are also a lot of older people there and we learned that it's partly because they can go to their doctor and depending on what health issues they may have they get prescriptions for the bath houses and get in free.

our second day in budapest we decided to benefit from another incident of their natural hot springs and go caving. we went with a group of 7 other people, plus our guide and went climbing all through an elaborate cave system created by the springs. it was so much fun. they give you jumpers because you get absolutely filthy and spend 2 hours deep in the dark underground (the deepest cave we entered was 25 miles below the surface) climbing and sliding through some of the smallest spaces you can imagine. some of the holes you shimmy though look like there would be no way you could ever fit, and then some how you do. everyone on our tour was a girl except for michael and one other guy who was a pretty big kid. the limit to go on the tour is 100kg (220.5 lbs) and this kid was right AT the limit at 220 and there were some TIGHT squeezes for him (squeezes for all of us really, but especially for him). it was maybe the most fun thing we've done and by the end we were exhausted!! plus we are both a little sore today (more upper body work than we are used to) but it was great, great fun!!

we took a night train last night and arrived in brasov, romania this morning!