Tomorrow off to Bratislava.. but I reckon I have seen all that I wanted to see of Budapest, a wonderful city all in all and pretty much what I expected it to be.. it was never going to be as organized as Vienna.. in fact I will go as far as to saying that if Vienna had fallen to the Soviets, this would probably be what the city would be like.. i just can't believe that despite the Soviets being in power, there are still plenty of elegant buildings around the Pest area especially on that main avenue, Andrassy ut. That could easily have passed off for Boulevard Saint-Germain if it weren't for the language.. It really is a beautiful avenue with some quite nice shops too..
In fact, Budapest could easily pass off as a Paris. Both cities do have a major river running through it after all and the skylines of both cities are quite similar too with not too many skyscrapers and plenty of churches and cathedrals in between the many many apartments.. And at night both take on another level of magic. And just love the way Budapest has really done a great job illuminating its most prized buildings - probably that's how places like Buda Palace, the Parliament, the Danube bridges have earned UNESCO World Heritage status.. Let's just say Budapest may have been what Paris was before they changed over to the Euro.. or a bit more coz just everything here is really really cheap when u convert - i think in the Euro coz it's just easier and that's what I've been spending in for the last month or so..
Ugly sides - the underground ticketing system is far too complicated and I've heard stories abt overzealous ticket conductors - one of them even pinched my hostelmate's passport coz he wouldn't pay the fine and all this coz one of his colleagues mistakenly told him that he could just walk through without stamping his ticket.. he did give it back though.. thankfully the central Buda and Pest area is surprisingly compact and a 30 minutes walk from one end of Pest to the other, and a 5 min walk across the Danube, so never really needed to use the metro - although it is quite modern and quite frequent..
Hmm.. there was quite a bit of construction work going on around the pedestrian walks which made them quite treacherous.. but other than that have to say it's been great in Budapest, albeit a bit quieter.. have really enjoyed walking down its roads.. the best moments have been going to the Gellert Bath after a long day of walking and basking in the wonderful thermal baths.. that has to be one of the highlights of my tour..
anyway off to Bratislava tomorrow.. i booked a place there so will stay there tomorrow night and then continue onto Prague the next day.. despite the best efforts of Tarantino, people have said Bratislava is nice if a bit small - a one day sort of place..
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