Budapest: You Guys Sure Got A Lot of Stone Here

I put the noob in Danube.

I don't think my trip to Budapest really does the city justice. First, it was still cold in Hungary when I visited, whereas in every other city I went to it was springtime. Second, I was still disoriented and not used to travel at all, I didn't even spend the night there, it was just a day trip. Budapest is only an hour away from Szolnok by train.

I love the train. Sure it may take a little longer to get places, but I don't have to worry about parking, or  getting lost, or running over somebody in a foreign country:

Poor Netflix queue choices lead to conservative travel arrangements. 

Plus I get to read and sleep on the train. The Hungarian railway system's website, http://elvira.mav-start.hu/, is an amazing site that can easily find you the most efficient routes to your destination. You can purchase your tickets and collect them with your purchase code from the kiosks in many train stations. After an hour of nervously staring out the window and holding my ticket in my hand despite it already being verified, I arrived at the western Budapest train station:

Things I saw in Budapest:

I saw Heroes' Square (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C5%91s%C3%B6k_tere), an uncompromising collection of Hungary's historical badass leaders:

Something tells me this guy did not like to be fucked with. 

Notice how the copper's verdigris almost matches the coloration of the overturned apple, signifying the ultimate impermanence of both a century old monument and a day old apple. Sure, one will rot away by the end of the day, but both will eventually succumb to time's implacable embra... no, no I don't have any change. Please stop asking me for spare change.  

I also went to the art museum, which was a nice, heated respite from downtown Budapest, where they hassled me for change:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bocklin ruled pretty hard.

After a morning of walking I just sat in front of this painting and salivated. 

I also climbed to the top of Castle Hill (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Hill,_Buda), but didn't go inside to see its art gallery. It's an impressive place though:

If it was stone, and it was ornate, then it was in Budapest.

Tower of the Synogogue

Sunset over the Danube 

I love tiled roofs

Preparing to Ride Home

Bruno Mars is Huge Here

I hear Bruno Mars everywhere--on the Hotel's little boombox while eating breakfast, on car stereos when I walk to work, everywhere. 

God help you Bruno Mars if you fail to hold this concert, which has posters up for it even though it's almost 9 months away. 

How popular is Bruno Mars? Let Google translate help you to understand:

After walking all day around Budapest, I start to get pretty tired. Here's bonus clips of me trying to figure out my camera at the top of Castle Hill:

I make my way to the train station to start my journey back to Szolnok, lose my ticket (how does that happen? I never do that), buy another ticket, and get on the train home. I am exhausted, in a rear facing seat, and watching older women doze off while they have their hands bundled up in those fur coats with the big cuffs on the sleeves:

Yes you are pretty. But I am on a cold train from Budapest and I will need that coat.

I watch them nod off one by one. Watching people go to sleep is like watching people yawn, you want to imitate them, and being tired doesn't help. I do not want to miss my stop and wake up freezing on the outskirts of some forbidding village. Somehow, against all odds, I find the strength to stay awake.