We arrived in Budapest shortly after leaving Esztergom. We were driven straight to the hotel and given five minutes to put our things away and get ready for a night walk. The night walk was super fun. It was probably the only walking tour of the trip that I actually enjoyed. As we gathered around the outside of our hotel we realized that we had gained an extra person. A girl from the program, Maren, now had a crazy, toothless, near midget woman clinging to her arm. Maren was really sweet about it and did not freak out the way, I am sure, most of would have. One of our instructors, Richard, is from Hungary, so he was able to communicate with the woman. She told him that Maren looked like a princess from a television show that she watched. When they finally parted ways the woman chased after Maren, crying. It was a little ridiculous. We headed across a bridge and up to the Budapest Castle. Richard seemed to have a vast amount of knowledge on the sights and had a wealth of information to share with us. The views of the city in the moonlight were incredible. We made our decent into the city and back to our hotel rooms where we all crashed.
The following morning we woke up, enjoyed breakfast, and headed to the baths. The baths were my favorite part of the entire trips. The earth heats the natural mineral water, and people of all ages enjoy its wonder. After hopping from pool to pool and the occasional sauna, we all settled on a larger pool outdoors and started playing chess. I hadn’t played in several years, and I was definitely a little rusty. Nevertheless I still managed a win against a boy in our program, Ari. Against Nick I was not so lucky. I ended my day with a rather enjoyable 30-minute massage for only 10 USD. What a deal! After the baths Kendyll, Kiera, Kerri, Nick, Drew, Ari, and I grabbed lunch at this really cool restaurant. I enjoyed my first glass of lemonade since being abroad, and I savored every minute of it. It was fresh squeezed with lemon, lime, and blood orange inside the glass, delicious. After lunch Kerri and I set out on a mini shopping adventure since stores in Budapest were actually open. That evening we were all feeling a little spent and decided to hang out and play card games. The next morning we had to be up bright and early to make a stop at our final destination: Bratislava, Slovakia.
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