I saw the girls from the Bucharest hostel, and Ron Weasley who I met before we boarded as we all were changing money. I asked for 1,000 Forints, and realized that was about $6, so I got more. The girls and I were staying at the same hostel so we all took the bus over there and I led the way, it's absolutely amazing how much I remember. Even little things like places I tripped come back.
The hostel is awesome, maybe my favorite one yet. It's on the penthouse of an old building and like a apartment, just super nice and new and the staff is really awesome too.
We got a voucher for a free meal down the street so we all went. There was some ok soup, a meatball and potato dish (they separated the meatballs for the two vegetarians, the potatoes and tomato sauce was awesome). There was a little pastry for desert too, a great free meal.
From there I took them by the Roman ruins by Dr. Schimidt's, down Vaci Utca, and then we met for the walking tour outside Gerbauds in the square where they had all the Christmas stuff. I liked it more with all the decorations up but it has a great feel when the weather is nice too.
The tour was pretty solid, going to mostly sites I'd been to, Chain Bridge, Castle District, Fisherman's Bastion, those places, but it was great to hear about them again. It was a beautiful day so I really enjoyed it (and I even nailed 1896 as the date that the Fisherman's Bastion was built, no idea how I remember that).
We went back by our hostel and went to Coffee Heaven where I had a cafe latte and a slice of chocolate extreme cake, both were awesome.
We went to the hostel and hung out. I chatted with some people that worked there about sports (the Wings/Pens game was on tv) and ended up showing one of them my articles. It was good and I got to catch up a little with everything.
Around 8:30 I made the long walk down Andrussi Utca to Hero's Square. There was hardly anyone down there so it was good to have it to myself. I hung out for a little down there and made my way over to Vaci Utca.
Over by the river I found a cafe that was still open with a view of the castle, which was awesome. I had cottage cheese dumplings in a strawberry and cream sauce, a great Hungarian desert.
From there I crossed the Chain Bridge and went up to the top of the castle like the old days. This is one of my favorite things to do in the world, it's just an awesome view, although at this time of night it's rather scary since it's dark and not all that well light, so I didn't spend all that much time.
I walked back down Vaci Utca to my old hotel and saw that the Lite Coffe shop where I went a few times to get internet was closed, which is kinda sad. Other than that and they've paved some roads, that's about the only difference. It's great, sort of a nostalgic walk back in time. Going to Budapest was such a major event for me and so much has happened since, it's a nice bookend and makes me realize how much I really have done. This has been exactly what I needed.
I went and got some pastries from a little store by my hostel and took them over to a bench in front of Dr. Schmidt's with a view of the Danube and at them. The cherry one was way better than the chocolate one.
I came back to the hostel and called home on Skype. I've really enjoyed this trip, I'm over my freaking out and at peace. Tomorrow I'm going to try some new stuff, so that should be good. I just better not miss my next flight, although this is a great place to get stuck.
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