11.14.08

A sweet place we saw on the all day tour. So sorry I don't recall the name.

A sweet place we passed on our tour..wish I knew the name.

Town square.

The BATH! Best day!

Hungarian baths... a tradition mosdef.

These guys were loving their chess game. Not sure why this looks like daytime...

The city from the castle on the Buda side.

Parliament.

Castle atop a hill on the Buda side from which one of many great vistas were brought to pass.

Today our schedule read, “All day tour.” That isn’t something to be excited about, but our day ended up being great. We were able to experience the public transportation system as we rode into town; we visited two semi-castle-ish sites, one of which sat atop a hill was not only stunning in and of itself, but also benefitted us with its gracious view of the city. After this we went through some catacombs, then to a gigantic indoor market which housed masses of meat stores (all of which were full and grotesque! Will I ever feel the same about eating meat?). That was a cultural experience in and of itself. After our time there we took a boat tour up and down the Danube, which was a great time—naturlich! Ps I'm going to come home saying "Naturally!" all the time because it's so common here.

Then came our best activity for the entire weekend, possibly entire study abroad: public baths. This is not a joke! Naturally heated, mammoth swimming pool-like bodies of water! It was a colossal place with multiple pools and glamorous buildings housing more pools and specialty rooms (? Lack for a better word… like saunas and stuff). We saw crazy people and had the best time there. It was amazing! It is supposedly a native, snazzy thing to do, but not a touristy attraction. So, for us, it was pure Hungarian culture a second, and we loved it!