Roadtrip part 3 : Buddha and pestilence

Ok: Hungary. I feel like we should have gotten the hint when we were turned around at one of the Austria-Hungary border crossings. It was completely deserted, except for some army vehicles off the road. We pulled up to the douane, and asked the man there if we could get our passports stamped. "Where are you from?" he asked. "Canada, the States, England, and Cyprus," we chorused. "No. This border is only for Austrians and Hungarians. Go back to the main highway."

We then waited at the main border crossing in the Non-EU line for about twenty minutes, as three cars ahead of us slowly progressed into the country. The EU line, despite having more cars, was passing by us at a rate of 5 EU cars : 1 non-EU car. However, we finally made it into the new country, and drove through the rolling, fog-shrouded hills of Hungary. We got to Budapest about two hours later, and of course got lost trying to find our hostel -- repeat: run to a hotel, get free map, finally get to hostel.

 Anyway, the city of Budapest is made up of the two halves Buda and Pest, which of course were then subjected to many jokes on our part. (The picture to the right is Pest, from Buda). We did the whole tourist thing: Parliament, 1956 Memorials, castles, churches (one included a mummified hand! it was all blinged out with jewels!). At times it didn't really feel like Central Europe, not even with the impossible street signs and metro stops I didn't even begin to know how to pronounce, being completely unfamiliar with Slavic languages. And then suddenly it would strike me -- like when we first saw the monument to the 1956 Revolutionists massacred when protesting Soviet occupation.

Budapest is also not as cheap as one would imagine. Shopping proved to be a rather disappointing affair; clothes were too ugly or too expensive but usually both, and most of the stores were sex shops anyway. In fact, the only thing that was cheap was food -- we had our first "real" meal of the week at a rather swanky restaurant. Three course meals for less than 15 euros each -- I felt giddy with nutrients. Especially considering that at our hostel, three pieces of bread and tepid coffee constituted breakfast. Also at dinner, being loud and rambunctious anglophones, we didn't heed the fact that everyone could understand us and had rather inappropriate and loud conversations. Two Belgians were distinctly eavesdropping on us the entire evening.

However, although Budapest was interesting enough, I was not upset to leave. For one thing, I felt very unsafe there. The streets were incredibly poorly lit at night, and coupled with the deserted feel of the city after dark, it gave off an ominous feeling. I feel like I missed a side of Budapest that you have to dig to get to, or that requires knowing someone who is familiar with the city.

However -- there was a problem with our leaving. We decided to make a small detour on the road home, but the misery that is Györ and Munich shall wait, my friends.