I can't believe it....I'm actually WARM!!

Thank goodness for Greece! For the first time in over two weeks, I've been able to feel genuinely warm standing still (as opposed to sweating from running for the train with my pack on). We got here at 3am....so we haven't seen much yet...but the prospect of walking around all day in this beautiful weather leaves me caring less about where we go, and more just about going. Although don't get me wrong, we do plan to see "the sights" ;)

But first...where did I leave off last time....ahhh, Trebic. After Trebic we headed to Vienna for a night. Vienna is a huge, beautiful, huge, clean, huge, expensive city. Our hostel was nice - very busy! And we ended up meeting a few nice folks like Ryan who was teaching in Oman and is now on her way to teach in Saudi Arabia....originally from North Carolina! She was quite cool. There seemed to be a number of American and other English speaking tourists there....I hadn't heard that much English anywhere since Dublin. Outside the hostel, the streets were bustling with tourists from everywhere in this upscale town. The buildings, while gorgeous, were not enough to keep us from hopping on the 2pm train to Budapest....the lure of Budapest was just too powerful. And what a train it was!! After riding on Czech trains for a few days, this Austrian train felt luxurious indeed. One of the coolest sights from this train? Fields and fields of Sunflowers....absolutely beautiful.

As we got off the train, we were met by a dozen or so entreprenuers trying to sell us a room in their home...pictures, descriptions...each one was of course the best. It was the first time I'd seen that done, and I couldn't help but wonder about the potential for either the host or the guest to be taken advantage of or put in danger. But then again, I guess that could happen anywhere. As we'd already booked our hostel, we walked confidently by, smiled and said no thank you.

Unity hostel - new venture in a great central location in Budapest. Peter and his buddy (can't recall his name) opened the place up after years of working in high end hotels and staying in hostels. It's a great place, situated in an old apartment building. The little old lady next door does the cleaning and the two guys take shifts staffing the place - tiring to say the least! But Peter says he's happy they're doing it and that they will be getting help soon for the night shift.

Budapest was different than I imagined. Less Bohemian than I pictured as cliche as that sounds. It's incredibly modern and has a number of the same stores as the states (like office depot). The Palace and castle are gorgeous and Parliment is ridiculous! The views from the Citadel - incredible, and the liberation statue, inspiring...the parks and flowers, vibrant....Budapest certainly has an energy all it's own. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed by the baths. Really, they were just strange...people pointing and telling you where to go and what to do. My massage was definitely out of the norm - here, lie naked on this table next to this other girl (separate table), and no we're not going to give you a sheet to cover up, don't be ridiculous! And it wasn't quite a massage...more of a rub down with baby oil. The thermal baths were relaxing, but I'm not sure I need to bath with that many old naked women (the young ones wore suits) again any time soon. But it's all about the experience, right?

We were going to check out Statue Park, where they have moved all the old socialist statues...but it was an hour by tram/bus or 30 minutes and expensive by direct bus...and then we had to pay to get in....so seeing as we'd have to spend a decent amount of coin and it would take up a good part of the day, we decided to skip it. We'll check it out online ;)

Again, we met some interesting people....a group of girls from Scotland with their "Praha Drinking Team" sweatshirts (or "jumpers" as they called them) - young enough not to be embarrassed to wear said sweatshirts...a nice guy from the UK...a very cool couple from Miami...and some other random people. Ah, and then there was "Treehugger Dan" - the name of his new and used bookstore. Nice guy from Minnesota who has been in Budapest for 16 years and just got his 5 year visa. Said he has another 8 years before he can apply for dual citizenship. LOL He sells fairtrade coffee and books and is into saving the envrionment - my kind of businessman, indeed.

And now we're in Athens for three days....so much to do and explore! I'll keep you all posted.

Thanks for reading...I hope you are all doing well and staying happy :)

Love and Sunshine,
Lor