Introduction + Budapest, part I

I have more than 3000 photos spanning 6 different countries and 16 different towns/cities. Holy eff. I didn't realise it was actually 16 cities, I never really counted before this. OK, 16 cities. In 22 days. No wonder my eyes were so bloodshot during the latter half of my trip and I was tired as hell.

I am back at Rene's in Hammersmith and I love this place. It feels like home. I'm also exhausted as eff. I think I already mentioned that. I'm tired from all the travelling and all the people I met. I'm tired from not travelling and actually being stationary. I'm still trying to work out all my feelings, all the emotions I absorbed from all those people who I met/slept in the same hostel with. My 'footnote friends' as Jake calls them, acquaintances, and people who didn't go back to being parallel lines.

It's hot and stifling in London. When I first went over to the Continent, it was much hotter than England, but now it's the other way round. I think it has something to do with the fact that Britain is an island and that the continent is, well, a continent. A giant land mass. What were my favourite cities? Budapest and Prague, although these were also the two hottest cities. I nearly got sunstroke. If I wanted heat I would have stayed in Asia. Budapest was beautiful because of the Danube, the impressive Parliament building adorning the Pest side of the river, and the famous Fisherman's Bastion. Prague's old town centre was gorgeous, although what made it stand out was the castle on the hill. One of the fanciest cities I've ever had the fortune to see. Was disappointed in Germany, didn't like is as much as I thought I would. Thought everything was overpriced and that the quality was not that great. You had to pay for everything: the lockers in the hostels, the "bedsheets," the keys even. It's not a country I feel like going back to. My favourite German city was, surprisingly, Frankfurt. I never realised how much of a city person I am, and the fact that Frankfurt was so metropolitan, with its towering glass buildings and skyscraper horizon, was oddly comforting to me. I also liked Nuremburg a lot despite the horrid weather. Its old city centre was wonderful and reminded me of all the books I read when I was younger, the ones set in medieval Saxon Europe. The clock towers, "glockenspiels" they call them, the thatched roofs, cobbled pavements and winding pathways.

Favourite lot of people: the Wroclaw bunch. Brutally honest as always since we're serendipitous strangers who weren't supposed to encounter each other, and didn't expect to meet or hear from each other again. Trying to sound smarter than we really are and having loads of fun talking about what we call deep stuff.

Flight to Budapest from London Luton was bumpy and uncomfortable. I loathe flying. Not so much the flying itself but the idea that I'm whizzing through the air at an altitude of 35000 feet in what's basically an aluminium tube, with my life in the hands of a faceless, nameless stranger. Tough looking Hungarian boy sitting across from me with that typical eastern European buzz cut, tattooed and smelling of cigs, praying during the whole 3 hour duration of flight and crossing himself when the aeroplane went through an especially rough patch. He was terrified. We all were. The more you know the less you like. Ignorance is bliss. I loved flying when I was a kid, now it's a horrid but unavoidable experience for the greater good, as it were.

Weather wasn't ideal when I first arrived, blustery, stuffy and cloudy. I'll start off the barrage of photos with a dusky shot of my favourite Parliament building, taken from the Buda part of the city across the Danube.

Nyugati, close to the hostel I stayed at.

The next day, when the weather had cleared up somewhat. The Parliament as seen from the tram.

Met up with Beniamin which was lovely, and he introduced me to a restaurant that I initially liked, but after some trouble with tips, Beniamin and I decided that we didn't care for it. The view and the food however was really quite good, pity about their servers. Well, one server to be exact.

Nice panorama of Buda, and the brown Danube.

And the best goulash I've tasted in this part of the world is Hungarian. I want some goulash now. So bad.

The Parliament again. Big, gothic, intimidating, and reminiscent of London Westminster. I have a thing for large buildings with spindly spires and skeletal frames.

Found a cocktail bar next to my hostel which served the most amazing - and affordable - cocktails ever. 1 euro give or take for 500ml. My favourite drink was their strawberry colada. I need to learn how to mix this.

Will be back again soon. Sorting through all these photos is a right pain in the ace.