Budapest

I just got back from a weekend in Budapest with the entire NYU program. Pretty much everyone decided that it would be a great weekend for travel and we all chose Budapest.
The train ride there was loads of fun. We all got sleeper cars in the same train car. Lots of eating and drinking ensued. It was a bit disconcerting being woken up in the middle of the night by border patrol in Slovakia and Hungary, especially when, from the next car, I heard "Anna can't find her passport" and "Go back to Prague! Back to Prague!" But all turned out well, don't worry.
Budapest is a very regal city. It is set up very similarly to London in that it is centered around a large river, the Danube. This picture is a view of the Danube from castle hill. If you look closely you can see a statue on the hill behind the bridge. That is the edge of the citadel. You can take a bus to the top but Krissy and I decided to do it the better way. We walked. Or rather hiked and climbed. The entire hill is covered in switchback staircases. Because it is a popular tourist site the stairs see a lot of traffic. The snow gets packed down into ice. It was treacherous and wonderful. I contemplated sledding the way back down, but, alas, I could find neither cardboard box nor plastic bag on which to slide.
Here are a series of pictures illustrating the hike:
on the left is Krissy walking up the hill
on the right is me
at the tippy top
and the last is the
statue at the citadela.

All of this took place on the second day. The first day we dropped our stuff and headed over to the synagogue which was about twenty paces from the hostel. Here are some photos. Due to a lack of research on my part and a lack of literature on the synagogue's part, I can't tell you a whole heck of a lot. It was pretty.

After the synagogue we jetted over to the metro so we could go to the baths. As soon as we stepped off the metro we were greeted by the beautiful Parliament building.

Budapest is studded with Turkish baths from the 16th century. The water in Budapest is chock full of minerals. Even the drinking water. It tastes very bitter and is rich in calcium. No osteoporosis for me! The bath we went to is called Kiraly. It is one of the older baths. We went on an all women day so we could bathe in the nude. We were each given a towel and a changing room. We trekked downstairs to the baths assuming we could jump right in. Wrong. We had to shower off first. Everyone stood around shyly at first and then we chucked the towls. The baths were beautiful. One huge hot bath stood in the middle of the room surrounded by two really hot baths, a cold bath, and a steam room. The steam room was steamier than anything I have been in before. It was incredibly hot and almost hard to breathe. But it felt glorious. The main bath was covered by a giant domed cieling studded with small octagonal windows so beams of light pierced down through the water. I felt like a Grecian nymph, let me tell you.

After we went to the baths we took a nice hike by the river and crossed the liberty bridge. Saturday, after my hike, I took a walk around town. Turns out our hostel was very near-everything. Here is a picture of the opera house. We also walked by the basilica but my camera died. So no pics. Sunday, our final day in Budapest, I woke up early and went to the castle with my friends Krissy and Annessa. Unfortunately I did not get to go inside the church because it was sunday and it is still a functioning church. Moral of this trip: do research. But I had a blast. So, so what.