Wallet: Day 14
Back to Jeans and Sweatshirt
This morning we all woke up feeling rested. I got to shower for the first time since London without Sandals...SWEET! Before we took the train to Budapest around 2, Meli wanted to show us one more thing the Danube Tower which sits on the banks of the river. She drove us over and we headed up the huge monument. The weather was not fully cooperating, as it was crazily windy at the top. We walked around and snapped some pictures of the beautiful city Vienna is. Not before long, we were all freezing and needing to get inside. We decided to try to grab some food at the restaurant at the top of the tower, much like the Space Needle.
At first we were told there were no seats but after some negotiation and pointing towards empty tables, we were seated at a table with an amazing view. The tower seemed to spin substantially faster than what I remembered the Space Needle ever spinning, leading to both Loyd and I feeling dizzy when we looked anywhere but straight outside. It was somewhat of a trippy experience.
Meli suggested we try the apple struddle, so we ordered one for the 3 of us to share. WOW, it was one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten in my life. After trying just about everything to get our waiters attention, we finally received our check and headed back towards the elevator. When we initially walked in a guy took a picture of us with a blank background and when we left the image had been printed out with the Danube Tower inserted behind us. The price of the picture was an astounding 6 Euros so we beat the system by taking a picture of the picture using Loyd's camera...classy, I know.
We made it to the station without a problem and Meli came onto the train to wish us goodbye. We tried to convince her to come with us but she clearly couldn't. The feeling shared by all of us in that train car was bittersweet, it had been a really fun time enjoying Austrian culture and Meli's family had been so hospitable to us, it was tough to leave. Eventually, the inevitable happened and Meli had to get off because the train was leaving. Loyd and I waved goodbye as we left the station.
One we got back to our cabin, we met a young Ukrainian. Turns out he is studying at Boston University Medical School and he entertained us the entire 3 hour trip to Budapest. He is living there for the summer so he shared with us some good places to see before we left.
Once we arrived in Budapest and got off the train I suggested to Loyd that we reserve our spaces on our first overnight train, to Munich. The atmosphere in the train station is closer to chaos than it is organized, people stand in a huge crowd and watch the ancient train schedule board. There isn't a TV or Digital system anywhere in sight. We took a number and waited, I looked up at the numbers being served and we were still 150 people away. After a few minutes I decided my time was probably better spent going to find some Hungarian currency, since they do not run on the Euro. The ATM in the station went through all the motions with me, asking for my PIN and amount I wanted to take out before it gave my card back and said that the ATM was out of order...HUH? Bad start for this city...
I decided to go take a look around and found a bank a few blocks outside the station. I put my card hoping I would actually get money this time. The options for withdrawal amounts ranged from 1,000 to 150,000 FTs. Geez, I had no idea what a normal amount was to take out so I went somewhere in the middle, 50,000 FTs. I only later found out that I had taken out close to $350 for the 48 hours we were spending in this city! BAD CALL!
Once I got back into the station, I was stopped by a couple Americans who spotted my Prague Pub Crawl t-shirt I was wearing. They were heading that direction so I happily gave them my advice of the best things to do in the city. In return one of the guys gave me one of their numbers in line and it was only 20 away from being called. Clutch. We quickly got called up and got our reservation.
We headed down to the metro to get over to the area where we lived and on the way we met two Parisian girls who needed help figuring out how to get out money. I pointed them towards where I had successfully been able to get some out. I bought Loyd and I 4 single use tickets for a grand total of 400 FTs. I realized that I still had 49,600 FTs left...I think that I may have taken out too much money. Even more sketch than that was the fact the lady behind the desk sort of threw a few bills and met with some change and started helping the guy behind me. I walked away and looked the amount of money she gave to me. I had handed her a 10,000 FT bill and had gotten back only 4,600. I got right back in line, hoping she wouldn't just plainly deny the whole thing. As soon as I got close to the front of the line she gave me this strange wink and handed me back the remaining 5,000 bill she had stashed in an envelope next to her full of cash. This was a scheme she was running on EVERYONE!!! Wow, Hungary is already sketching me out...
We managed to find our hostel even if it was on the most random street in the entire city. Once inside we realized how cool of spot it was, with two main rooms off the lobby with 15 foot ceilings. I walked into the full kitchen and met an Aussie named Al. We started chatting it up about our trips. Turns out he is backpacking alone for a full year, A FULL YEAR! He had already traversed Asia, the Middle East (including a trip to Israel which he loved) and Africa. Our conversations were classic from moment one, swapping stories of ridiculous people met along the way. We had both been ripped off by the lady in the train station, although I had managed to notice, Al only realized when he got the hostel.
After showering up and getting ready Al, Loyd and I headed out to explore the city and pick up a few brews. Once we got back to the hostel we sat around some more and listened to Al's insane adventure stories. A few guys from Amsterdam joined our conversation and told us about a few clubs that we should check out. We headed out with them only to be massively disappointed. The first one was open air, which is a cool idea except the moment we arrived the rain and lightning began. The place emptied out pretty quickly. The second place was a hardcore hike from the first one and once we arrived it was also completely dead. The 3 of us laughed about but were not terribly happy with our decision to leave the hostel in the driving rain.
The Dutch guys tried to convince us to visit one more place but I was having no part of it. I went to the bar and tried to order Loyd and I some Jaeger shots and caught the attention of a few Hungarian girls sitting at the bar. They asked us where we were from in impeccable English. We joined their group of people at their table and enjoyed some Hungarian specialty wine concoction. Al and the Dutch guys left for the 3rd club. Loyd and I enjoyed the new company until the restaurant closed. We hopped into a cab to avoid the driving rain and got back to the hostel dry. As soon as we walked in we saw Al walking in completely drenched. Turns out the 3rd club was closed and they had hiked all the way back across the city in the rain. Even in the horrible situation, Al was finding humor in it...you have to love the Aussie disposition in life.
We got to bed pretty late and planned on being productive tomorrow, doing some touring around the city. So goodnight from BUUUUDAPEST!
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