And now...Budapest

So, a lot has happened, again, since my last post. For starters, i have a job. i don't quite know what that means nor what it looks like, but i will be working full time in some form or another after the new year. So that's cool. Very cool.

Fitzy came into Prague on Friday night. His plane was a bit late, but it was very good to see him again, and be the guy who would show him around. I wasn't the best host, as I was feeling a bit sore and we were supposed to have an early morning the next day to catch our bus, but I took him around a little, got him a sausage and a beer, and then went home and had some more beer and bread and cheese as we just chilled out.

Due to the delay with the plane and everything, we ended up not getting to bed until almost 2am. Not bad for a Friday night (actually, rather early relative to most of my previous ones), but given the fact that we had to catch a 6:30 bus the next morning to Budapest, it proved to be a bit too late.

i know i set my alarm, but for some reason, it didn't wake me, and i awoke when Jessica, our third travel partner, called to find out where we were. I told her we were at home still, and she informed me that it was 6:20. As there was no way we were going to get there by 6:30, we missed our bus.

So, we still hurried and got our stuff together, and met Jessica at the metro station. We figured the next option would be the train, and we were able to get a train ticket, one way, for about $55 or so. Not bad. Fitzy and i also split Jessica's ticket. We ended up at Budapest close to our scheduled time, and actually got pointed in the right direction by a Hungarian friend of Jessica's also on our train.

We made it to the hostel, which is actually quite nice, and then walked around a bit, found some dinner, and then walked around some more, taking some night pictures. Budapest is a nice city (i'm a bit more partial to Prague) and very pretty at night. Lots of history, amidst the buildings, bridges, and the beautiful Danube.

Being that it's Christmas (and Sunday today), a lot of stuff is closed. But we're here 'til Wednesday morning, so hopefully we can check out some museums and such. The sights we can see no matter when, so we'll do some of that tomorrow. Budapest is known for its baths, and we hit up one of those today, which was cool. Planning midnight mass at St. Stephen's Basilica.

Merry Christmas! Vesele Vanonci! (i think. my czech lessons are still at the very basic level...)

JC