Budapest -- Day Three

Day Three began with a visit to Budapest's largest indoor market. It was a great place to find good food and a ton of cheap souvenirs.

Next we took a short walk along the river and checked out the bath (from the outside) we intended to visit later in the day.

We hit up this bakery a record three times in two days. I've got the extra two pounds to prove it.

As we were leaving the bakery, we stumbled across an old "palace." Susanne, Jill, and Shawna were pretty excited to explore it, but I was certain it was a breeding ground for thievery and drug lords. I can't recall too many "palaces" with homeless people sleeping in front of them. But I was wrong. The inside was amazing, even if you had to ramp stoned people in the doorway to get inside.

This is how Shawna carried her purchases -- tied to the outside of her camera bag, which was strapped haphazardly on her back. WHAT?!?!?! Why don't you just wear a huge American flag and ask to be robbed and/or assaulted. I'm pretty sure our loud talking and obnoxious laughing drew too much attention for us to be easy targets for criminals wanting to stay under the radar.

The first night we watched Bridesmaids, which was pretty hysterical. Every other night ended with us staying up until nearly two playing board games and eating junk food. I can't live without my bananagrams.

Budapest is seriously gorgeous in the evening, so we were pretty stoked to walk along the river, take pictures, and dish.

Room service!

Budapest is famous for their Turkish baths. We visited one that has been running for 600 years. That's some old (and probably dirty) bath water! The temperature in the main pool was 38C, but there was a 30, 33, 36 and 42C smaller baths around the main one. There were also some super hot steam baths and a raging hot sauna. Both Susanne and I opted in for the REALLY cold bucket of water dumped on us after we left the steam room. NEVER again.

There were a few awkward moments at the baths, of course. The first was the number of people making out. This happened all over Budapest and not just at the baths. PDA must be a national sport here. 

The second was when Shawna and I decided we were going to get a water massage. It sounded like fun until our masseuses showed up in less clothes than we had on. I'm talking tiny speedos under short towels that barely went around their massive Hungarian bodies. I was terrified they were going to get into a bath with us and wash us, but was delighted to find out there were actually massage tables and Shawna and I were going to have the massages done side by side. They literally scrubbed us clean with a variety of salts and soaps and then hand wiped the soap off with water. At the very end they had us stand up and they threw buckets of water on us. It felt amazing, but I was a little embarrassed when he soaped my backside. Yikes! I didn't need that to sparkle. 

Tons of things in Budapest are named after this bishop. I don't think anyone remembers his name, but we remembered him as the Bishop they put in a barrel (with spikes) and rolled down the large hillside beside the Danube. That's some pretty rough stuff.

                                        

Yes, we are the Americans that go to foreign countries and eat American food. We justify this by the fact we live in Germany so it's still a "foreign" experience for us. 

Night Walk + very late night playing board games = heaven.