Jessie and Nathan's Epic European Adventure: Buda + Pest = Budapest, a City with Rough Edges, but Great Times

Budapest, the gem of the Danube, and our tale of the times we had in these two cities, of Buda on the one side and Pest on the other. This place neither wooed us, nor disappointed us, just simply entertained us.

The Szechenyi Chain Bridge, looking at it from the Buda side

This city is one that is rough around the edges, but with many nice spots in between. However, given that Budapest was under communist rule twenty years ago, we both concluded that the place is doing quite well. A nice city with an industrial charm. We saw lovely castles, statues, bridges, and monumental churches sprinkled throughout the city. The castle district on the Buda side was our favorite.

Storming the castle walls

Best statue in Europe so far, look at those manly Hungarian men and their trophy kill. Jessie just got so overcome with all that testosterone she had to flex her muscles too

On guard at the castle walls

Another intimidating lion was needed to guard the bridge

The castle complex also provided a sweet view. That pretty building across the Danube is the Hungarian Parliment

Feeling noble like the monument, had to substitute water bottle for sword though

More modern parts of Budapest also tickled our fancy. The goulash was great, as was the beer we washed it down with, the thermal baths, nightclubs, and of course the exchange rate.

Enjoying the local cuisine

Our 4 day budget for Budapest, 40,000 Hungarian Forints

The cost of this .5L Hungarian beer, 1.50 US

Unfortunately we do not have any pictures of them, but the thermal spas we went to were quite the time. We had all sorts of different options to choose from: hot baths, really hot baths, steam rooms, saunas, really really hot saunas, and even a cold pool with a fast current that pushed us around the circular edges of it. Made us feel like hatchery fish. A memorable experience we do have pictures of though, are the nightclubs we went to.

In Budapest, as a way to deal with their large amount of condemened buildings, they built nightclubs in some of them. It makes for a very unique experience, compared to the stuff we are used to in the states.

Merlin and all its industrial Budapestian chic looking glory

Changing these abandoned spaces into nightclubs is really working. This one was atop an old department store, on the 5th floor.

Leaving the nightclub. All the graffiti was from when the building was abandoned

During our stint in this industrial club we made quite a few friends. It was as if we were on social fire. To start, we bumped into the young couple from Brazil we met on our night train coming into Budapest. We shared drinks and conversation with them. During our discussion of the differences between Brazil and the states, a group of young bucks studying abroad in Austria, from the University of Redlands, passed us by. Learned that they too did not like Venice much either. It was great. At the coat check, Nathan made friends with two former NFL Europe players who loved the Seattle Seahawks and everything related to American capitalism. Quizzed him about his favorite sodas, hamburgers, restaurants, and anything else corporate he might like from the states. To top off the night, chatted with two hillarious girls from London over chips and gyros, and blew their minds about how we actually have to pay for our healthcare services.

Yea, our awesome Brazilian friend, left of where I am pointing actually

Our London friends thought we were so cool they wrote 95 and 96 on our hands. Their goal was to meet 100 cool people, we helped them out.

Other little notes we must mention, but could not find a way to fit them in anywhere else. Katy Perry seems to be worshipped here. She was performing in concert our last night, and before that was being played on the radio and MTV quite often. Hungarian language is like nothing either of us have ever heard or seen before, if not for signs we would be in a world of confusion. The main market has some interesting ways of displaying their merchandise, and finally, Nathan got lost in the Budapestian countryside, lovely by the way, on his way to the Communist Statue Park, insteresting by the way.