Budapest, American movies, and clubbing (Becky)

The next day we ended our short stay in Vienna and took a train out to Budapest. Our car of the train, fitting with our usual luck, had no air conditioning and was unbearably hot. The women near us started to complain, and several rail attendants came though, and then one told us to get up and leave the car. Confused, we followed the group, and then realized that we were relocated to first class. Nice. Unfortunately, Jeremy’s iPod disappeared between the spacious first class seats as we left the train, and we forgot about it until we were off and the train had pulled away from the station. We went to the information desk, and after about 5 minutes of confusion trying to explain in simple language what we had lost and where, we were told to wait while they checked with the cleaning crew and the lost and found. Eventually they told us that the iPod was nowhere to be found, but left it open that we may be able to try again a few days later to see if it happened to turn up somewhere. So we gave up on that and headed for our hostel.

The hostel was almost impossible to find (we actually went to the wrong one first) and was on a street that was under construction and thus looked like it had been recently bombed. The hostel itself was fine, except that we had been overbooked for our room. The 4-bed room already had two groups of British girls in the beds, so we were offered a fold out couch and a small cushion couch that the hostel owner quietly said was the one he normally slept on himself. Sad! He must have wound up sleeping in his office chair that night.

The online Budapest travel guide listed a few places that showed movies in English, so we decided to spend our first night in Budapest in the most cultural way possible – at an American movie. We saw Public Enemies, which was doubly nice for me because it was filmed near home in Wisconsin, and we enjoyed an enormous American-sized popcorn and Pepsi Light combo. Yum.

After the movie, we headed towards Margaret Island, an island park on the Danube that we overheard our hostel owner recommending to some girls who wanted to go clubbing. The island was very cool – it was a natural park and preserve, with some small loud clubs mixed in along the path. And the bridge to get there had a beautiful view of the city, with the huge Buda Castle and Parliament buildings all lit up. We went to one open air club (no cover either! This place was amazing!), accidently ordered an expensive drink, and then danced with other people who seemed equally awkward and underdressed. It was fantastic. After a little dancing, we wandered the rest of the island and got a beer in a mini beer garden in the middle of the park. We then vowed to come back the next night and headed back to the hostel.