Monday: Woke up early for my British music class and managed to play a few Sudoku games in order to keep myself awake. I swear, that class had so much potential, but the professor just kind of… fails at the whole teaching thing. It’s really quite the bummer. Even at this point, if he were to figure it all out and become some excellent teacher, he's already lost all of us. Everyone does homework or sudoku in that class. I feel bad, but you can only do so much in a 3 hour class that starts at 8am on a Monday morning. It's his own fault that he chose such heinous hours as well. Just saying. Anyhow, this class was followed by classes all day, some gym time, and finally Chinese food with Diana for dinner. It was delicious and made me quite the happy person, especially considering an intense desire to talk to someone about all the drama that decide to rear its ugly head around this time, not that I'm at all innocent in the matters. But, regardless, it's nice being able to talk to someone about it over good food. I ended the night with some writing and then much-needed sleep.
Tuesday: I slept in a bit more today before heading off to the gym, then convo, a little relaxation and writing time, before my final class of the day and then Bodeans (delicious American BBQ) for dinner! Woohoo! I’d been craving that for a while as well, and it didn’t disappoint. Afterwards, I spent some time planning Budapest activities with Diana, got all my packing done (so weird after not traveling for a month), cleaned up, and prepared for an early bed time, considering my very early morning. I didn't really end up getting much sleep, a mix of loud people, excitement, and it's just never that easy to sleep right before a big trip, especially when you know that you have to get up super early the next morning. Like, 4am early. Ugh.
Rent-a-Cop: "6000."
Diana and me: "No. We paid for them."
Rent-a-Cop: "6000!"
Diana and me: "No. Sorry, we're not trying to make a scene. But we paid for these tickets and we used them like we were supposed to."
Rent-a-Cop: Some pointing at a ticket and then- "6000!"
Diana and me: "No. We just bought the tickets." We provide evidence of the receipt. "I guess they didn't get marked correctly. But we just bought them."
Rent-a-Cop: "No. In english. You don't pay. 6000." Some really obnoxious expressions on their part.
Diana and me: "No. We understand the English. We paid for the tickets. Do you understand us?" We pull our our airplane tickets. "See, we just landed. We're not trying to screw over the system."
Rent-a-Cop: Annoying shrugs. "Come." They show us a sign with the same english commentary about the fine. "6000."
Diana and me: "Yes, we get the whole 6000 thing. But we're not paying. We didn't do anything wrong. Can we speak to your superior?"
Rent-a-Cop: Really annoying lack of commentary. Just pointing at the sign talking about the fine.
Diana and me: "Seriously right now?"
Some nice Hungarian woman her husband came up at this point and offered to help. We explained our situation to them and they tried to argue it out with the cops. They still wouldn't break. The woman left after apologizing for not being able to do anything. Diana and I figured it was pointless to fight back at this point, because they WERE NOT going to listen to us. They just wanted their money and it didn't matter if we were in the right or wrong. So, while insulting them blatantly in English, we paid our 6000 fine (the equivalent of about $35, but we had only taken out $100, so it was a good chunk), I refused to sign my name on their sheet and just marked an X, and then we returned their annoyingly haughty looks with disgusted ones of our own and left the metro after demanding out tickets back. If they hadn't worked then we were sure as hell using them again instead of paying for more. Luckily, the metro workers obliged. I'd reached the point where I would not have been polite any longer.
After that ordeal, we finally found our hotel, checked in and paid, dropped out stuff of, and decided to get in some exploring of the city instead of being lazy. I mean, a nap would be lovely and all, but sleeping at that point would have just resulted in us passing out and getting all out of whack. So, we found a place where we were able to grab quick sandwiches for cheap, used the map our very helpful hotel guy had given us, and proceeded to just wander around the city. We found a bridge, crossed it, and then found ourselves on the "Buda" side of the cite. It's split by the Danube river- our hotel was on the flat, city "Pesh" side, so we figured it might be fun to check out the other half. Immediately, we were drawn in by this epic hill with statues and whatnot lining it, and found that it led up to the Citadel. So, why not? We decided to hike up the mountain (very Lord of the Rings-ish), and made it to the top, where we got an absolutely AMAZING view of the whole city. Seriously... it was awesome.
We wandered around there for a bit before taking some silly pictures with the statues, and then hiked back down a different way. Upon leaving that area, we crossed the freeway again (everyone stops for you there, as opposed to trying to run you over in London), and came upon a street that led towards the Buda Castle. Like I said, we were kind of just exploring, but managed to chance upon everything we wanted to see. So, we walked up to the castle, or at least one side of it (it's immense and very long, hosting like 3 or 4 hotels and a bunch of museums and stuff), took some pictures, and then it was getting dark. So, we headed back to our side, looked around the city for a bit before we found a pharmacy and a convenience store, bought the necessary champagne and OJ and some dinner, and headed back to our hotel for a lazy night. We were exhausted at this point, but very proud of ourselves for going out and having a full day. Our night was pretty early, but not before we enjoyed some girly time with the mimosas. Love it.
Thursday: Luckily, the rest of our trip was free of obnoxious, money-stealing Rent-a-Cops (you can tell how much I love those people at this point). Thursday we decided to sleep in a bit, just because we could. It was amazing catching up on some sleep, and after we got going, we decided that we were going to hit the baths, considering Hungary is nick-named the "city of baths." It kind of means we have to check out one of the thermal spa areas. So, with our chosen spa in mind (the most popular one, but also the one recommended by our hotel owner), we headed out into the city, this time staying on our side. We were immediately side-tracked as we chanced upon further sites that we had listed as places to visit. The first was the Basilica. And oh my goodness.. it was absolutely beautiful!
We headed in (gotta love free stuff), walked around the place, and just admired the beauty and splendor in silence. Once leaving that, we continued our journey across the city, voting to opt out of the metro use and instead walk everywhere. It was probably the best choice we made, because we saw SO much of the city that we never would have discovered had we been lazy and used public transportation. Besides, both of us probably would have punched-a-cop had we used the metro again so soon. Okay, so that's a bit over the top, but seriously, we were nursing some unresolved bitterness towards authority at that point. Anyhow, on our walk, we ended up going right by the Opera house (another photo time), then kept walking down a pretty fun street. We finally came upon the end of this VERY long road, found some museums flanking a giant roundabout (the architecture was pretty awesome). Then, on our way to the baths, we came upon another castle-like structure that looked to be a museum.
We wandered in, took some pictures, and then finally made it to the baths, where we bought our tickets for fairly cheap, and then proceeded to get lost in the myriad of halls and corridors and such. Finally, we reached our changing rooms, got our lockers, and then meandered through more twisting halls until we came upon the indoor baths. It almost felt as though we were interrupting some of the locals, so we moved towards the side rooms and checked out all of those. However, we had a mission! We wanted the outdoor thermal baths, because that was what was so well-advertised! After further confusion and getting lost, we finally found them, ran through the cold air and hopped into the deliciously warm water. It was so much fun. Kind of weird, because at normal pools they're filled with kids and the parents are all chilling on the side, but there were few kids, and it was mainly all adults and young adults, like some huge communal bathing time. But, once you got over that weird sensation, it was relaxing and warm and so much fun. Diana and I met some other college kids touring around, and finally ended our stay when we were overly "pruney".
We decided to walk back home, and it was so much fun seeing the city at night. We were there at an off-peak time, so it wasn't too crazy, but we battled the cold (it snowed over night!) and made it back to the city, where we explored a bit more, then decided to make another girly night of it. So, more champagne, more OJ, and back to the hotel after grabbing dinner at this Asian place. Hungarian food- kind of hard to find for a quick bite. And we were so sure that the asian place was Hungarian. We totally missed the red signs with asian symbols on them. Oh well. It was good. After dinner, we got back to our hotel, and proceeded to stay up a bit later and just enjoy a relaxing evening of chatting, laughing, stories, and the bubbly. I love vacation. 
Friday: We got to sleep in once again on Friday, and, once again, it was just a fantastic experience. Once ready, we headed out into the city and walked down one of the more touristy streets, passing by a bunch of restaurants that we kept in mind for later when we wanted to try actual Hungarian food. We chanced upon the huge marketplace, and so entered and explored. It was very cool- not as awesome as the Barcelona one, but still very neat. I got my customary shot glass, we found some Hungarian snack food, and then exited to continue our day. We decided to cross a bridge (our eventual destination was parliament, but we saw some cool ruins on the other side and neither of us had much of a plan- we improvised). After crossing the bridge, we walked up a hill, bought some hot wine, and then came upon a church built into the side of the mountain. 
We paid a small amount, explored around, exited, and then headed further up the hill. The was the other side of the mountain that boasted the Citadel, so it was a whole new view, just as awesome, and the likes. We climbed up a decent amount, got a fantastic panoramic view of the city, then headed back down and continued our journey, following the Danube river. We crossed the freeway again at the same place as the day before, but walked along the river this time, following the length of the castle. We made it to Chain Bridge, and found a little tram that could take us up to the main bart of Buda Castle. We bought some tickets, then kept walking down the river to get some pictures of parliament (which is AWESOME looking), then returned, took the tram up, and explored the top of Buda Castle. Lots of museums, little carts, cool statues, more amazing views, etc.
After this, once again we happened upon a cool church, took more pictures (so many pictures!), and then found the Labyrinth. It was kind of silly, because they basically remade it all since it had been destroyed years earlier, but it was a fun tourist trap. We did the nighttime exploration. It was all about finding yourself or something, but it was cheap and had oil lanterns and they turned all the lights off, so it was totally worth it as we ran around, giggling, taking pictures, getting lost, making everyone else around us either glare or crack up. What can I say? We regressed a bit and it was totally fun. After escaping the labyrinth, we found a nice restaurant and got dinner. I got some veal stew dish, Diana got goulash, and it was also warm and delicious, especially considering how COLD it was outside. And we were on top of a mountain. And we still had to hike back down, across the river, and back to our hotel. After dinner, we stuck some bread in my purse, and then journeyed back to our side. Again, the city at night- beautiful. 
We wandered around a bit, checked out some bars, but the nightlife was sorely lacking. Which, honestly, was fine by us. London offers so much night life that it was kind of nice just relaxing. So, we found an even cheaper convenience store, got some more champagne and OJ for our final celebratory night, and headed back to the hotel for our final hurrah. And honestly? It was awesome. The bread came in handy around midnight and then we crashed out, having had a great last full day in Budapest. 
Saturday: We checked out of our hotel at 11 and hit up the market again to kill time before we had to get to the airport. We'd basically seen everything we wanted to see, so we got lunch at the market- I got some beef goulash, Diana got a stew with potatoes that looks absolutely delicious as well. After the market we explored more of the city that we hadn't yet walked around, came upon the Jewish district and checked out the synagogue, and then retired to a coffee shop for an hour of reading. After such, we made our way back to the dreaded metro (they had different people working that day), took that to the bus stop, grabbed the bus and took that to the airport, got through security without any problems, relaxed there until our flight, dealt with the surrounding babies that cried the entire flight, and then found some sandwiches for dinner as we trained back into London. All in all? an amazing trip. And so necessary. Sunday: I slept in. And it was glorious. When I finally dragged myself out of bed, I decided to hit the gym, got some work done, and then wrote. And wrote. I wrote a lot on Sunday- I was very proud of myself. Jessica got back a little later and we talked about our trips before I further immersed myself in writing, and finally crashed out in preparation for the school week ahead!
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