Budapest Day 2+3

Heroes' Square

We went to Heroes Square the next day. With A and B's expertise, we had a fun time trying to come up with photos with optical illusions.

Photos can be so deceiving. If I had taken off my coat, which of course I wouldn't due to the freezing temperatures, people would have thought that I went there in summer

The millennium memorial. This was the place which looked like Bradenburg Gate in Berlin.

Vajdahunyad Castle:

The castle does look unique, as if two parts of it were built by different architects but decided to put them together anyway.

Doesn't it look a bit odd?

There were stalls selling warm wine, pretzels and hotdog by the roadside. A decided to buy one of the Pretzels to share. We bit into it, thinking that it was going to taste like normal pretzels but how wrong we were. It was extremely salty! I seriously couldn't believe that they even added so much salt to pretzels that it was torturous to eat.

Schezenyi Spa and Hourglass:

Apparently Hungary is really famous for its spas and outdoor swimming pool. I'm not that keen on soaking in water in this type of weather, so we just took photo from the outside. Nearby there was the world's largest hourglass. At midnight of 31st of December of every year, it will be manually turned upsidedown using human stength. Too bad we weren't there on the 31st.

You can even see ice forming on the ground. That's how cold it was.

Finally, lunch time!

We went to a restaurant near the Opera house. This time, I ordered ternderloin on a spith with bacon, gree salad with roqefort and steak potatoes (can tell you this because I took a photo of the menu). A had chicken breast in honey and mustard sauce with croquette potatoes which tasted like chicken stir-fried with sweet soya sauce. I won't bore you with what B ordered as it looked too similar to a western meal with chips.

From this point, it wouldn't be a chronological order as we went there on the evening of Day 2 and I went there on Day 3 on my own after throwing A and B to the train station for them to make their way to Vienna. They did tell me that Vienna and Slovakia were more interesting as compared to Budapest. Therefore, both places have been added to my K.I.V. list.

Opera house:

This is the famous Hungarian Opera house. They only have tours at 3pm and 4pm everyday and plays in the evening. I went for the tour on my own.

Oh yes. This is just a photo to demonstrate how wide the streets are. It's supposed to be a main street and the number of people on the road and the cars seems so little as compared to the size of the place.

The Opera house was really beautiful inside. It was frustrating that my camera doesn't really capture nice photos in poor lighting and dark areas. It was also frustrating that no one was there to help me take photo, therefore, the mirrors and skills earned from vanity of taking photos of myself come into handy.

My favourite picture. This was taken in one of the boxes on the 1st level. I wonder if the person sitting there will concentrate on the play or spend most of the time admiring one's beauty in the mirror.

St. Stephen's Basilica

I went there twice as well. There was this huge Christmas tree in front of it which was lighted up at night.

The interior was really beautiful. However, I still feel that St. Paul's cathedral in London is more appealing. There was the display of St. Steven's mummified hand in one of the small chapels. It was weird that you had to pay 200 HUF to switch on the light to illuminate it for 2 minutes. Even churches do this to rip tourists off. In a more positive way of saying this, to raise funds to maintain the church.

It does look impressive from the outside.

Dohany Street Synagogue:

This was the second largest synagogue after the one in New York. They offered tours but I chose to just enter due to financial constrains. Already very poor after posting 5 postcards. First time in my life I had to go through a security check and metal detector before stepping into a place of worship.

As you can see, the design is very different. I felt that it was very unique.

If you want to know, I took this photo using the 10s timer on my camera. Hehehe. Liked the chandelier.

Christmas Market:

I really liked the Christmas market. So many things to see, buy and eat! The only drawback was, I was already pokai at that time, so, no money!!!! It was also the first time seeing so many people. Usually the streets are empty. I liked the tall table placed near the food stalls and people standing around to eat.

Bodies exhibition:

I can say that this is a truly 'lawatan sambil belajar'. Previously, the exhibition was in Manchester, but we chosed to go all the way to Budapest to attend it. How I wished anatomy was presented as interesting as this. Then I would have learnt more.

Finally, it was time for me to make my way to the airport. I had to take a tram, and then change to the bus service.

It was so crowded but the bus stop was just a small stand. The condition of the buses was really old as well. That's how all the transportation look like in Budapest.

The only thing I can say after exploring on my own was, travelling as a girl alone is dangerous. Therefore, I'm never going to travel alone again, even if it's just for half a day.

Finally I bought a watch

Finally, the first watch which I've bought for myself for no special reasons besides needing it for the coming exams. I surveyed the whole of Liverpool One and came to this decision to buy this Swatch watch which is practical, attractive because of how unattractive it is, but most suitable to my needs: a second hand, date, and ability of attaching it to my hospital badge.

May I not grow to love you as much as I've loved your predecessors or I'll totally be heartbroken once you decide not to tick again.

Had a little Japanese biscuit feast thanks to I. Her friend gave them to her, all nicely wrapped up in present paper as well. Yummy!

Can't believe the first day started like this

This morning, it was an early start at 8am with vascular ward round. Took the 7.20am bus which was delayed till 7.30am, which also meant that I stood shivering in the cold for more than 10 minutes.

Reached hospital bus stop late and guess what happened next. The minute I got down the bus, not expecting the ground to be covered with slippery ice, I slipped and fell right in front of so many nurses who were behind me and some waiting at the bus stop to get on. Haih....

Quickly picked myself up, assured them that I was all right and even though I was late, I had to slowly make my way to the wards as I don't want to risk another fall.

I didn't have time to check how bad was my knee and I did forget all about it thought the morning rush. But the minute I sat down at the common room, I felt the pain. Checked my right knee, it was scrapped.

First thing my friend asked was,

'Is your trousers all right?'

'Why are you asking about my trousers and not about my leg first?'

'Well, your leg can heal but your trousers don't.'

How very true.

I can conclude that medical students are numb from all emotions attached to physical illness.

Budapest Day 1

A came to Liverpool to meet up with me before we made our way to John Lennon Airport. I can't believe that she still managed to buy clothes from Topshop while I was hunting for money changer in town before catching our bus to the airport.
Reached Budapest around 7pm but we had to wait for B whose flight from Bristol was 2 hours later. Luckily a bank was opened at the airport and A went to buy some chips to calm our empty stomachs.

Our apartment was really nice. Over here, they use gas for heating and cooking. We were lucky that the heater was very powerful and we didn't feel cold in the night.

We covered the Buda area on Day 1. Above are some of the pictures of the transport system. There's trams, buses and underground metro. However, all the vehicles were really ancient and really needs changing.

One of the nicest building was the Parliament. You can even see the reflection on the surface of the water.

Budapest was really really cold. I was wearing so many layers inside and yet still felt cold. The place seemed deserted as well. I wasn't used to going to tourist attractions and find them lacking of tourists. We thought we were at the wrong place due to the number of people we see there. Even the main streets lacked of cars most of the time. I guess everyone is still busy celebrating Christmas indoors.

We were making our way to Fisherman's Bastion when we came across this church. I really liked the architecture. There were even two small chairs just outside for use to take photo.


Finally, it was our first time seeing tourist buses parked outside an attraction. This area was the Fisherman's Bastion located on Castle Hill. Seems like the name originated as this was the place where fishermen guarded Castle Hill a long time ago. We could take photo of the Pest area from here too.

Its design does look very fairy tale like. However, I still like Neuschwanstein Castle in Fussen.
Our first stop for food. I ordered boiled vegetables which doesn't look that nice but tasted nice and some meat which was wrapped with bacon. It did tasted salty at this point but I wasn't expecting anything worse. Shortly after, A and B went to buy more armors against the cold. A bought a cute snow cap and B bought a pair of really thick wool gloves.

Next, we went to Buda Castle Royal Palace. I think part of the palace has been converted to the Budapest Museum.
The only reason why we went in there twice was to use the washroom and to ask for directions. I guess we've grown tired of visiting museum after so many Europe trips, especially art museums.

To get down from Castle Hill, we tried walking down at first, but after 15 minutes, we gave up and went back to Budapest Museum to ask if there was a faster way. There was a funicular but we didn't want to pay extra for that short distance.
In the end, we took a bus down. It was really weird cause the journey was really long, where we were zig-zagging down the hill, then went through a really long tunnel to emerge just at the bottom of the hill. So near yet so far.

We were hungry again by that time and decided to try some of the cakes. Don't they look tempting? Presentation was 9/10 but the taste......it was the worst cake I've tasted in my life. I ordered the white and brown layered cake. The whole of the white but was hardened cream. This was the first time I could barely finish even half of it. The other two cake were no better, they were so dry, too sweet, too horrible. Looks can be really deceiving.

It was only 4.30pm and yet it was already pitch black. I wanted to go up Citadel to see the tall standing statue and Statue of St. Gellert as I thought it was the gate that looked like Brandenburg gate in Germany but that wasn't the one. We took a bus up to Citadel, but at the last stretch of hill before we came to the tall statue which was called the Statue of Liberty, we had to walk about 8 minutes. Luckily for the kind old lady who told us where to get down, or else we definitely be lost. Seriously, the streets were so empty and the whole place was so dark. Hungary's Statue of Liberty

The panaromic view from there was really beautiful. It's so hard to take nice night view photo. Anybody wants to buy me a SLR camera?

Finally, we made our way back to the Pest area. We went to Vaci street which was the main shopping street and had our dinner at Casablanca restaurant. I had Asparagus soup and Monarchy Goulash which was strew beef with mash potatoe. Both were highly concentrated in salt that I wondered how many percent of the population suffered from hypertension. It was really really extremely salty. I didn't enjoy it.

In a nutshell, Budapest was Cold, Empty and Salty. Will continue with Day 2 in my next post.