Budapest

So its my birthday today and I'm wandering around Budapest. Jason's supposed to get in around 11-12 so it'll be nice to have someone around to celebrate my birthday with. Budapest is a growing city; it still has vestiges of its communist past. Buildings are older and unkept compared to Prague. It still has lovely architecture though. I walked around the river towards the market, hoping to get some breakfast. Picked up some yummy little pastries: a couple of bite size pain au chocolat. Funny thing is, they sell pastries by weight here. Seems very fair to me. The produce here looks so rich and fresh compared to the plasticwrapped denizens of the supermarket. Jewel red strawberries at a couple euros a kilo... DROOL. Decided to wait for Jason though.


Wandered down the main shopping district. Signs of modernisation: Louis Vuitton store on corner next to the State Opera House.

Jason took a really long time to arrive. We both decided the hostel was really really bad. By bad I mean, old, cramped and dingy. Also the bunk beds looked like they were nailed out of old wooden crates and swayed precariously when I tried to climb into the upper bunk. The lockers were not much better. The kitchen was small and had that worn linoleum look so beloved of the 1960s. Showering in the bathroom was an adventure in itself. The heater was of the old fashioned variety, banned in Australia for the last 20 or so years. You could literally barbecue while you took a hot shower because the water was heated with an open propane flame. It was a real eye opener.