Vienna.. Bratislavia and first impressions of Budapest

So after I finished updating.. I went to go check out my favorite place to grab food.. a fafel stand just down the way form my hostel. As I approached the stand I saw a weird sheet hung just across from it. As I closer, I saw that a movie was playing on it, as it turns out in the middle of one of the busiest shopping districts in Vienna.. they were playing a movie on how cattle are slaughtered... of course this is in front of my fafel, an all veggie option, stand.. however what normally had a 5 or 6 person line, the stand was empty for obvious reasons.. now, I know I really wanted one of his sandwiches, but there was no way I was approaching the stand under these circumstances, so I high tailed it out of there.. hopping the fafel stand one block down was just as good. It was decent.. but maybe I have become a fafel snob... who knows..

So last night I decided to hang out at the WomBar.. the bar inside the Wombats Hostel I was staying.. a pretty lively joint, met a couple very cute Aussie women from Melbourne... damn sharing a room, a cool guy from Brazil, and a couple Aussie men from Sydney.. and had some relatively cheap beer, 2 euro a piece for a decent size bier..

So today, I fulfilled Buttrams only request from me while I m in Europe.. GO TO BRATISLAVIA!!! So I spent today walking around the Slovakian captial with no idea what I was seeing and what the language meant. I had to buy some lunch so I took out some money from the ATM, which turned out to be 120 dollars worth, which I was quickly informed would buy me a weeks worth of accomendations in a 5 star hotel.. brilliant!

I also noticed a very different level of accomendations as far as trains go.. as I have headed East the trains have gotten rougher, dirtier, and older.. no longer are they the stylish newer looking ones.. but rather the old models, still run well and on time, but just older and harder on the eyes and butt. Although the women actually tend to be more pleasing to the eye. So i guess everything has it upsides and downsides. My next movement will be West.. so we will see how it goes..

So I arrived this afternoon in Budapest, it was cold, and dark.. kinda scary not knowing anything, also my hostel seemed like it was going to be a bit scary, kuz its pretty far down a dark alley, and after riding the metro the wrong way twice, I did not want any suprises, but it was okay, no major problems and the staff and other travelers, the proper term for backpackers, seem pretty cool. The metro is labeled quite funny.. it has the stops the train has been to, not the ones it going.. and rather then the name of the last stop.. it has the name of the first stop.. so if its going from A to B.. the side of the platform will be named A not B.. which is different the normal convention... but it is also the oldest subway/metro in Europe.. little known fact huh...

Spent some time planing for tomorrow and talking to people at the hostel, our receptionist from Columbus, OH.. went to OSU.. but not a buckeye fan, and she taught herself Hungarian while living in Hungary.. kinda crazy but very cool... Also one of the other travelers is from you guessed it ... Austrailia.. she is from Aldelaide.. near Kanagroo Island and is hitting all the same places as me, but in a different order.. weird huh? I think she maybe trying to stalk me.. but just really bad at it.

Plans for tomorrow...

1. More Castles.. love them to death.. this time the Buda Castle
2. Terror Musemum.. not much of a musemum buff.. but it sounds so cool
3. Clubs in Hungary.. def the highlight.. details for later..
4. Checkout a Hungarian Christmas Market.... yippee!

Quick thoughts on Bratislavia..

Definetly the most Eastern European looking city I have seen.. kinda of dingy and dirty, but then all of a suddent will have some amazing archatecture and expensive stores.. kinda weird.

People were pretty mean at first, but my smile and cash warmed them up, they have a gigantic palace and castle in the middle of the city.

Eurotrip does not do the city justice, but at the same point, probably is a decent representation of Eastern Europe as awhole at times.. especially smaller towns, not the captials.