Budapest March 23-24

Monday, March 23rd.
Got off the night train really well rested thanks to Neil's Benadryl! We were picked up at the gorgeous Budapest train station (which I only realized how extraordinary it was when we returned for our trip back to Krakow since I was still pretty groggy) by our Hungarian mom Hajnalka (Hajna pronounced Hoy-nee). Matt, Neil, and I were delivered by taxi to our hostel/University (what is this in europe?) Corvinus Egyetem. We arrived too early to use our rooms so we decided to tour about. We ended up climbing up this huge mountain, Gellért Hill yeah don't let the name confuse you, which overlooked the Danube river. First, rather than taking the staircase I just kinda climbed up the hill for a bit? like a silly person. Then we happened upon a set of slides which we had to play on. Eventually we reached the top to get a closer look at the Liberty Statue, meant to commemorate the Soviet's liberation of Budapest from the Nazis and the fortress. Great view too! We returned back to the hostel to see our Lexia in Berlin friends, some we already met in Krakow others new to us. A group of 19 in total! While the Lexia in Berlin crowd explored Budapest the Krakow crew showered. Next, Hajna took our group to Castle Hill which included seeing Fisherman's Bastion, the Royal Palace, Matthias Church and other sites. For dinner we went to a student cafeteria, later a bar and then sleeeeep! (1st pic- View of Buda and Pest from Gellert Hill, 2nd pic- Liberty Statue, 3rd picture- View of Danube and Parliament Building from Castel Hill through the Fisherman Bastion arcades)
Tuesday, March 24th
Woke up for sightseeing at Heros' Square. Takes many trams, subways to eventually get there. For lunch Hajna advised us to go to Great Market Hall this huge steel structure that looks almost like a train station. There are two floors; the bottom is mostly grocery items the top floor is knick-knacks. I had this delicious meat-filled crepe for lunch. Afterwards, we went to a beautiful, old college in Budapest to receive our lectures on Transylvania/Romania. Uh.. unfortunately we all feel asleep and Eli in the back of the room started snoring. It was warm in there and we just had lunch. Again, we were warned about the "dangers" of Romania. After our lecture Neil, Eli and I wandered around Buda and looked for dinner. At night, we went to a Transylvanian folkdance house and learned how to do those much more strenous circle dance moves. This was the night that Neil and I had to part ways as we left the next day for Transylvania :-( (1st Pic - Heros' Square, 2nd pic- Market Hall)