Wednesday, 27 July

I didn’t sleep all that well, the mattress was rather thin. Anyway, I got up and showered and put on my runners for a big day of exploring. I had a banana and a nice cup of lemon tea and some toast. I headed straight for the markets for breakfast.

I walked in with a massive smile, realizing how much goodness was packed in the market building. There was fruit, vegetables, meat, pastry, sweets, souvenirs, lovely quilts which mum would like, restaurants, people drinking beer at 10am. It had everything.

I bought a makas retes (a poppy sweet wrapped in cake (pasty)). It was so filling and sweet… But I devoured all of it there and then. I had a nice peach for 20 aud cents that was big and juicy. I had a few slices of a mix of salamis as well.

I left to see more of the city, although I could have been all day in there.

I walked up to a large monument called the Szabadság Statue – The Statue of Liberty that you can see from all over the city at Gellért Hill.

Then I walked down and up to the castle and palace, and Matthias Church.

Close by was Fisherman's Bastion. From here I walked down and had a great view of the parliament.

After I walked to the island in the Danube. It had lovely parks and some very pretty gardens which had blooming flowers.

I was fascinated by the LRT system they have throughout the city. At a glance the transportation network is very efficient, and I enjoyed studying the engineering of the platforms, tracks and even the bends of the trams as it was exactly what I was doing in my vac work. I took a few pictures to send back to the team in Perth of their system.

I continued walked up the main street walking past a number of museums. I couldn’t face going inside the Terror museum, as I wanted to enjoy the rest of the day.

I came to the Heroes’ Square, and then discovered the ancient Széchenyi baths that are heated by the hot rocks below.

After all this I was exhausted and decided to head back to the hostel. I made it home at 5.30pm, a good 8 hours out and about on my feet. I cooked up two eggs on bread and snuck in a quick episode of breaking bad.

Sophie was keep to catch up for dinner again, we were both in search of a good goulash and she suggested a place. We met at 8, and were joined by two Norwegian girls from the hostel.

I ordered a Czech Pilsner and some goulash.

It was nice, but not the best. When I return in a few days time I will have to scope out a better place, as the goulash is famous here. Still, it was a very satisfying meal, and although the Norwegian girls didn’t say much and left as soon as they finished, Sophie and I had some great conversations.

Sophie is a 27 year old from Montreal, and was heading home the next day to study for her bar exam in December. She had just finished 8 months abroad, with 5 months in Spain on exchange, so she had many tips for me!

Back at the hostel people were still up and about. I snuck off and watch an episode of Breaking Bad, before turning out the lights at 12.30am. I had to put earplugs in as the noises from the street were just too loud. It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep. I had walked all day and was exhausted.