Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Locals say "Pescht"

We have arrived in Hungary, more or less intact. Before leaving Austria and Klosterneuburg, we decided that we had to actually visit the Cloister and the Neu Burg (new castle), a stunning baroque church strapped to a royal palace, sitting on top of a roman fort. The tour was mostly in German but our granmotherly tour guide threw in as many tidbits in English as she could, all the while complaining that her "English as not so good" (a standard line for many modest Germans and Austrians, who generally have excellent English).

Arriving in Budapest (with a Hungarian "s".. /buda-pescht/) at 8 last night (several hours after we intended, a long story for another time), we found that every hostel we knew about was full and all the Tourist Infos were closed. Bummer dude. So, what did we do? Start talking to people of course! A fellow on the train mentioned a hostel, so we got directions to his hostel, but they were full. However, the guy at that front desk said he was online with a friend of his who worked at another hostel across town. They chatted it up, and he turned back to us and said, "she's got two beds for you. Here's the address." Schwing! We hiked over there, and behind a ratty door, up a rickety flight of stairs we find a great little hostel that's two parts college dorm, 1 part slumber party and a pinch of Anne Frank. Great place, nice people, and we met some folks who want to go to the Baths tomorrow (Budapest hot springs are world famous), so we're going to go with. Good travelers make their own luck.

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