Miskolc, Hungary: 3 weekends ago I went to Miskolc, Hungary with 7 people. It took a 2 hour train ride to get there and 2 hour train to get back. Once we got there we took a bus quite a bit to see a castle. The Europeans were not too super excited about it, but of course the American girl and I were pretty stoked to see a castle. Here's a link to the castle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_of_Di%C3%B3sgy%C5%91r. After the castle we took the bus further to go on a very small hike (there wasn't really much hiking involved). There was an amazing lake and a small waterfall (the biggest in Hungary I think!). The view over the lake was quite amazing. Following this, we took the bus back a long ways to a swimming pool connected to a hot bath that's inside a cave. Admittedly, it wasn't exactly what I expected. It seems like they converted a natural hot bath and cave to a man-made one, but either way it was still fun and relaxing after a long, slightly hungover day.
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Visegrád, Hungary: The next weekend about 15-20 of us went to Visegrád, Hungary for a hiking trip. It actually took a 3 hour boat ride there and 3 hour boat ride back along the Danube River, so it was epic enough getting there and back. Once we got there, the hike began. This was one of the more extensive hikes we've done. I can't recall the exact time it took, but it was hot, humid, and part of the trail was very muddy. It made a nightmare for the girls that wore flip flops! When we got up near the top there was another castle (que North Americans going "oooooh!"). The view from the castle, like many views I've seen in Hungary, was incredible. I will need to upload some of the pictures in full size, best quality some time so everyone can get a better idea of what it looks like. Here's a link to the castle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visegr%C3%A1d#Upper_Castle. Once we finished the castle we hiked up more and went on a luge! Like a one-person bobsled that doesn't need ice! There was a break to slow down, but I found if you don't use it, you go muuuuch faster and I nearly tipped it over on the last turn, totally worth it! After that we hiked back down, bought some champagne for the boat ride home, and headed back.
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Krakow, Poland: This next weekend was pretty action packed. 10 of us took 2 cars and drove to Krakow, Poland. We drove through Slovakia, so technically I went there too, but really we just drove through it and stopped at a gas station, nothing too exciting there. As soon as we arrived we put our stuff in our big hostel and then went to get food. What we got is called zapiekanka and WOW it was amazing. I'm not sure if this trip is indicative as Poland as a whole, but from what I've seen, their food is incredible and in giant portions, and everything is very inexpensive! My zapiekanka (the first one) had bread, mushrooms, cheese, more cheese, ham, garlic sauce, and ketchup. It was probably 18 inches long, and it cost about $1.50. The one I got on the last day was the same, except instead of ham I had salami and pepperoni and only had barbeque sauce on top. We went on a tour around a small part of the city which was a large part of where Shindler's List was shot, and for good reason. There was a lot of history in this part of the city, including one of the oldest Jewish buildings (I forget if it was a synagogue or what) and the Jewish ghetto, where Jews were kept if they weren't sent off to a camp.
After the tour we went to market square, which was pretty much what you would expect Europe to look like, it was pretty cool. There was a church with 2 towers, designed separately by 2 brothers so each tower has a bit of a different look. We had some drinks and headed to dinner. WOW, the food, again, wow!!! Potato cakes with Hungarian Goulash, I've rarely eaten anything so amazing, and the portion size - gigantic. It was kind of a Hungarian place, actually. The bathroom doors didn't have pictures, but it did have the Hungarian words for Men and Women, so I was able to pick the right one! After the meal we went out to a bar. In this square there are 16 bars, each are pretty unique in their own way. Oh, forgot to mention, my Kiwi friend Antony and I downed a bottle of vodka before getting to the bar... yeah...
The first bar was playing mexican music the whole time, it was kind of cool for about 5 songs and then I determined we had to go haha. So we went to another place which has a bunch of tables outside with working sewing machines outside (don't ask me why!). We danced there for a while, and my Kiwi friend Antony bought us some shots and beers and, yada yada yada, I got lost and couldn't find my way back to the hostel. Luckily my polish friend Joanna saved the day (at least that's what she says, I don't recall). The next day we went to Auschwitz. I'll spare this day, it was as you would expect, very sad. The worst room was the one in which they showed barely any of the leftover hair they had from the people (they would cut it off and sell it or make goods and sell those goods). By barely any, I mean it was probably about 10000 pounds worth of hair by my best guess. We went out again that night, but not nearly as long, and it wasn't such a chaotic night!
The last day we went on a reallly long hike to the top of this mountain. We saw a castle, although there was barely anything left of it, I wouldn't really call it a castle. At the very top was a small cave that a king from long ago hid out after the valley had been taken over. He was able to regroup their forces and form a plan, and later retook the valley from the inhabiting enemy. The hiking trip took wayyyy longer than we expected, so we ended up leaving Krakov at about 10pm and we arrived back in Budapest at 4:30am. The next day I started work at 9:00am, rough day.
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Besides that, I've been going out and hanging out non-stop. I went with my Polish friend, Joanna, yesterday to the top of the liberty statue in Budapest to watch the full lunar eclipse. There were apparently many people with this idea, so we had to improvise to find a place to sit, and I sorta thought there would be grass, but we stayed on a rock next to a cliff. Either way, still fun and the view was as always in Europe, amazing.
I need to go get ready to go out tonight as people are celebrating the end of the semester here in Budapest. On Saturday I am going to a wine festival, so I'll have more to write about soon. And hopefully I don't keep you all waiting for 3 weeks again as it takes too much effort to write this much at a time!!!
