On one side of the blue river lies Buda, on the other lies Pest. Together they make up the capitol of Hungary, and also the bathing capitol of the world. Late in the evening we boarded Boatel Fortuna, one of a several boats converted into hotels that line the Donau shores. Not much remained of the day, but at least we got a few drops of local brew at a 24/7 open pub in the nearby restaurant district.
As the day broke, so did we (fast, that is). A lavish brekkie buffet while overlooking the Donau gave us enough energy to tackle a tiresome task: Touristing.
We got on a hop-on-hop-off bus with audioguides in several different languages, including Swedish and headed for a tour arond the city.
Close to Heroes' Square lies the castle Vajdahunyad-vár, which really isn't a proper castle at all, but rather a collection of different building styles common in the area from the late sixteenth to late nineteenth century. Not far from there, across the river (at the moment hosting several pieces of art, sculpures and whatnots) lies one of the world's most renowned thermal baths, Széchenyi Medicinal Bath, and therin we dipped. The 37,5 degree naturally heated waters were sublime.
The touristy bus took us across Sisi's bridge to the Buda sida, which is the old town, with its breathtaking view from the Citadel and its Mickey Mousy castle erected amongst the olde style architecture and paving. Goulasch was had, photos were taken and dusk approached.
But we weren't done being bloody tourists. The hop-on-hop-off bus tour also offered a complimentary boatride on the river, which we did.
But enough with the tourism. As Hungary was part of the communist eastern block back in the 20:th century, they erected a great many statues and monuments hailing the greatness of the communist leaders and its ideals. When the iron curtain was torn apart and the Soviet Union fell, so did most of the Stalin, Lenin and Marx statues throughout Eastern Europe. But in Budapest, many were saved from desctruction and brought to a park in the southern suburbs, as a reminder of the country's troubled history. The proprietors of the park also sold soviet memorabilia, postcards and toung-in-cheek t-shirts, featuring , amongst others, the 3 Terrors* and East Park**.
As we patiently sat waiting for a train that was, at first, 50 minutes, then 80, then 120 and eventually 135 minutes late before departure, we had langosz and concluded that the weirdest hungarian word has four letters with incomprehensible thingimajigs.
*) Lenin, Stalin and Mao in the style of the 3 Tenors
**) Marx, Engels, Lenin and Che Guevara, South Park style
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