Budapest: The Second Day (cont.)

The square was kind of nice but, it wasn't too much to see. We then made our way to the park to find the Hungarian castle, which was supposed to be spectacular. We walked through the park, and finally arrived at the castle. When we entered, we soon realized it had been changed into a Museum of Hungarian Agriculture. Booorrrriinnngggg. Strike three. Game over. We were done. We went to the park and laid down to figure out what to do next. We were all sick of everything, so we decided to hang out for an hour. When we finally realized there was nothing we wanted to do, we decided to go back to the hostel and find internet. I finally finished posting my blogs for the second camp but since there were no outlets in the Burger King we used for internet, I only had 30 minutes to do everything. Afterwards, I just used my phone to browse facebook and talk on Skype. When it was finally time to go to dinner, we went back and showered to get ready for the evening.

My friend Alexandra, who I had met for lunch one day in Prague, was in Budapest only one month previously and I she recommended on facebook that I visit a restaurant in Budapest for dinner. The group and I headed down to the city center, which was only a 15 minute walk away, and found the restaurant. The girls weren't hungry, so it ended up being me and Harrison enjoying the Hungarian meal together at the restaurant that looked over the Danube River. While we were eating, we joked that we were on the perfect "date." The sun was setting, they brought a candle to light our table, and a little band came and played live music, a mix of classical music and traditional Hungarian music. It was great. Harrison got the Calf Foot specialty, which weirded me out but made me laugh. The waiter asked twice if Harrison was sure he wanted to buy it, and just like in Mexico, they brought out the foot, battered and fried but hoof still attached. Harrison made me try it, and I shouldn't have looked at my food before I put it in my mouth because although it tasted good, I couldn't help but notice the few pieces of hair still in the fatty skin that once surrounded the bone. Delicious…

After dinner, we went down to the dock to meet the girls for the river cruise. The one hour cruise was great. It included a free beverage as well as an audio tour guide cassette to tell us what sights we were seeing as we cruised the Danube. The sun continued to set and the lights of Budapest began to light up the river. It was great for pictures and relaxing as the temperature finally cooled off and allowed us to breathe some fresh air. When the cruise was over, we decided to go to Gördör Club and Terrace, located in the heart of Budapest. This is the spot where locals and tourists alike can go for a great evening. Young people stand, sit and lay down along the benches, on the grass, and around the fountains in Erzsébet Square. There are so many people, you have to be careful how you navigate around the groups of people and on this particular summer Saturday night, Gördör was packed to maximum capacity. The eight of us had a great night, meeting some new people and just enjoying our last night off before heading back to Velké Meziřiči for the second camp. We had a blast.