Hot and Hungary in Budapest

Made it to Budapest, the bus ride was not bad at all. Not crowded, and actually for while I was awake lovely scenery thru Slovakia. It is a very mountain country and we even made a quick pitstop at a ski resort, that in summertime was dead, but I can imagine in the winter would be a pretty cool little village. I have still never been on a mountain in my life, and I dont think my first one will be in Slovakia tho. The bus was actually 1hr early, so my fears of missing the France vs Portugal match were not a problem. Got to the Hostel, while a bit of a walk from the metro station, I was able to catch the 2nd half of the game, and very happy that France won. The hostel is friendly, a bit small and bathroom situation(only 1 full one) could be a problem during busy periods, I might find a different place for the weekend days. I think I am going to stay here until Sunday, and then make Bratislava a quick one day stop, its a small town, so i hope I can see most of it in a day. Budapest on the other hand is a large spread out city, seperated by the Danbue River(which surely aint blue, more like brown/green), you have the hilla Buda side and the flat Pest side, right now I'm on the Pest side, but there is suppose to be a cool open air/outdoor place on the banks near the Pest side that I might check out. Last night didnt hit the street till 11pm, and didnt really find much of a nightlife, had a few beers, Dreher seems to be the popular local brand, a normal golden pilsner, nothing outstanding about it, other than maybe the price of under 2USD for a pint.

Trying to figure out this keyboard, as its not the standard US keyboard, as long as its not in Hungarian I am cool. Man this language is NOTHING like anything i've seen, hard just to figure out simple words, like which is the mens vs womens bathroom, the menus if not in English I have zero hope of trying to order anything other than using the point and nod method.

Today is a lovely sunny warm, about 30 degree day here. Just beautiful to walk around and sightsee. Must say already I am digging Budapest, so far the buildings are some of the most beautiful I have seen, blows away Prague for sure. The Royal Castle on the other side of the river in Buda side, looks spectacular, a surely miss visit. On my way now to the City Park, which I guess is their version of Central Park, complete with museums and a hot thermal bath. I have a feeling I will be spending some time at the Thermal bath, soaking and trying to get rid of the little aches and pains from lugging my bag around yesterday, it was quite a walk from the Krakow hostel to the Bus station, and from Metro station to Hostel here in Budapest, glad that I am not planing to leave till Sunday.

One church that I have been in so far, and its not even the biggest in town is the St. Istvan Basicla, very impressive on the inside, It was too early, but there is some exhibit of the Royal Right Hand that didnt open till 1pm, not sure if its a real hand preserved or just a sculpture, i will have to ask someone. Alright, off to walk to the city park, despite its size of the city, thankfully being a New Yorker I am used to walking miles just wandering and exploring, I have a great map, so despite the lack of street signs, I can find my way around.. I swear if I ever get back to Russia, I know there is going to be a museum of street signs they took from these former Eastern Bloc countries when the iron curtain collasped, cause there surely havent been many street signs on the streets, they have to be somewhere..