Budapest at the Goat Hostel

I have made it to Budapest, after a 14 hour day of travel. I started early in the morning, rising at the ungodly hour of 6 am in order to catch the 7:30 train to Zagreb, and then hitch a ride aboard the 3:45 train to Budapest.

I have taken notice of the fact that Europeans are big fans of sidewalks paved in polished marble. The walkways are beautiful and glisten in the sunlight, and because of their expensive look, appear clean and inviting. Inviting unless you are me. I am what you might call obsessed with flip-flops or thongs (if you feel so inclined). I have an unrivaled affinity for the comfortable and breezy shoe. I have worn them most of my trip. Hiking through Cinque Terra (receiving less than pleased looks from the older, more mature tourists, as they strolled in their expensive hiking boots) I learned that a pair of flip flops encourages you to get more in touch with the world around you. You step light when you need to, run at a moments notice, and can kick them off in a flash to splash around in the water. You might have tired feet at the end of the day, but your paws remain free of blisters and other unthinkable foot ailments. But I digress, back to the marble sidewalks. When a polished to perfection marble sidewalk gets due to rain or hose (lots of washing is required to keep them looking so pristine) they suddenly become EXTREMELY slick, especially to people such as my self that parade around in 6 dollar flip-flops from Walgreen's. Now imagine me, of course in my thongs, carrying the 50 lbs for luggage I have, hiking to a train station at 6 am. Now I will admit I am not a morning person, but it was less hiking more ice skating. There were about two dozen instances that I nearly took a devastating plunge. This all before I got to the main Riva (street of solid marble) that I had to walk down in order to get to the train station. Let’s just say I looked like the uncomfortable person at the roller rink holding on to the railing for dear life. Luckily it was 6 am in Croatia, so the only person that saw me in this compromised state was a guy picking bottles out of the trash left on the street by pubs, so who was he to judge me.

Needless to say, I made it to the station safe and sound, I just give you the warning to bring a pair of ice skates with you when traveling to Europe. You never know when they might come in handy (for marble sidewalks, after dark romps on a wintry night in Vienna, or warding off thieves with their sharp blades).

So far I am really enjoying Budapest, although it will take me some time to accept the fact that a soda costs 500 forents. When taking 10,000 forents out of the ATM, I asked myself "Now you don't really know the exchange rate, this could be a devastating sum." Well my hostel costs 10,800 Ft (forents) or 43 euros for four nights. Hungarians aren't doing so well with the whole exchange rate thing, but good for me. It is a cute hostel call "Goat Hostel" in a charming old building about 2 blocks from the Danube. They only warning they gave me was to stay quiet in the halls at night, so as not to disturb the little old lady who lives on the first floor. Adorable!

Tomorrow I start taking in some of the major sights and hopefully have a bit dryer weather.