Lemme tell yah, if you go to Budapest as an American, be prepared to get ripped off; or at least that was our case when Megan and I went for the weekend. I would have to say that other than the extremely rude people, the place is beautiful and I would not mind going back… However; until I make it back let me just inform you of a few things in regards to Budapest.
SOOO… I decided to skip my Thursday night class {yes a second week in a row} in order to get to Budapest and have a few full days. Don't worry mama and dad, the class I missed was my business class that the teacher doesn't even know what’s going on, so its not like I was missing out on anything THAT important. In order to get to the airport at a good time though, we struggled BIG TIME!! We left our apartment once we got back from Spanish and it was all smooth sailing UNTIL we got off at THE WRONG TRAIN STOP!! We were required to wait for a little bit over thirty minutes until the next train to the airport was going to be at the station, there were no taxis around, and neither of us had data in order to call for an Uber. The station was empty and we were hitting delirium waiting for the dang train; but, once it finally made it to whichever station we were at, we ran through the airport and made it to our flight just as it was boarding.
Once we boarded, it seemed as though everything was back to being normal again UNTIL we were off and then immediately forced to turn back to our gate due to an electrical emergency. We got back, sat on the same plane for an hour, were forced to switch gates, and went on ANOTHER plane that was delayed an additional hour and a half. To say the very least, we did not make it to Budapest at the time we expected. That being said, we immediately checked into our penthouse flat AirBNB and then went to explore for food {and ended up at some bar place eating chicken wings}.
Being that a lot of people associate Budapest with their infamous baths, we thought it was CRUCIAL that we made an appearance. Because one is required to pay for entrance to the baths, we figured we would treat ourselves and purchase the package with a couples massage included. Boy was that necessary… The baths were SOOO hanky and the workers were not welcoming AT ALL. We got yelled at for wearing our converse {their way of trying to get us to purchase 20 euro slippers… didn't work} within our first five minutes of being at the baths. The majority of the people at the baths were old ladies in one pieces with swim caps and old men with speedos that emphasized their big bellies, and we just felt so out of place. Nobody would talk to us, nobody would help us locate where our massage appointments were, the outside baths were closed due to construction, and the sound of drilling and pounding echoed throughout the entire building {yeah, even during our “relaxing” massage}. That being said {for people my age especially} the pictures of the Gellert Baths are EXTREMELY deceiving, and I do NOT recommend a visit.
Following bath time, Megan and I wandered around the city and eventually made it back to our place where we blasted music while drinking wine {more like taking pictures with the 2 euro wine} on our deck and then decided to take a nap because we had planned for a packed night of yummy food and bars.
Without realizing the time, we slept way later than planned and then tried to get ready extremely fast. By the time we got ready, it was around ten at night and when we walked to the nice restaurants we looked into, every one of them was too full with reservations. We ended up at some random {and not so yummy} place just up the street, and then after din, we made our way to the Ruins Bars. The atmosphere was so different compared to the bars and clubs I have experienced back in the United States {and even Madrid}, and the drinks were FABULOUS. If you were keeping up on my snapchat or instagram snap {@victoriadoder}, you would have seen how POPPIN’ the place was. After a couple of drinks, and meeting group of guys from London, Megan and I felt like heading back home to get a good night’s sleep, and we stopped for a nice big pizza from a food truck on our way… Shoutout to the guys in the truck who gave us a free pizza and water!!
After getting ANOTHER good night’s sleep in preparation for ANOTHER long day, we began our day around eleven {ish} and hoped for an amazing brunch; therefor, we ended up doing our research, stopped at a super cute coffee shop, and then went to a restaurant where we were faced with MORE rude people. We walked in literally at 11:30 in the morning, the workers look at us and tell us “we stop serving at noon, so we don't have time for you. Finish your coffee somewhere else.” I could have LOST IT on them, but I guess me blogging for the world to see is just as bad and we ended up at a local breakfast place that was actually really good, so no complaints there.
After eating, we headed to St. Stephen’s Bastille where we proceeded to tour ourselves around the inside, and then climbed hundreds of stairs to make it to a lookout of the entire city of Budapest. As a treat {to ourselves} for doing so much walking, we walked to another church to take a look at and then got ourselves some pretty looking gelato.
Around five in the evening, we headed back to take a quick nap in preparation for the long night ahead of us {and early flight back to Madrid the next day}. We had reservations at a super cute restaurant about a ten minute walk away, ate yummy salad, and drank delicious drinks that were topped with white roses {however, after three drinks we think they didn't want to waste more flowers on us haha}. Following din, we ran back home to get changed for our “Sparty Party” {Széchenyi Spa Party} and then we were back at the door. For a ten minute drive to the bath’s location, the guy acted as though he did not take card {even though the machine was in his center council}, “did not have change,” and we were required to pay him about forty euros… DEFINITELY got jipped; but as young American girls in a foreign country, we did not want to argue any more with the dude.
We hopped around the pool, constantly with drinks in our hands, and jammed to the music all night long. At the beginning, the pool was pretty empty BUT by the end of the night {aka 2am}, the people watching was EXTREMELY entertaining and we witnessed some things that one should not witness in public. Overall, it was a younger crowd than the Gellert Baths and it was a crazy experience; however, I am in no rush to go back to the baths. It was a long night to say the least {sorry to my instagram followers for the flood of videos posted that night} and when we got back home, we only had about four hours to pack and sleep in order to catch a flight back to Madrid…
I canNOT wait until Nick flies out to spend my Spring Break with me though!! {Thank you Colliers International for letting him visit me}
xoxo V
