Who in the world knew that Budapest was so amazing! I was expecting nothing, especially when we got off the train and saw how old and crappy the station was. We had some difficulty getting our next tickets, but then these nice people attacked us offering to help and telling us where to go and what to see. It was by far my favorite place yet in Eastern Europe, even better than the Czech and Krakow. We saw a big fat castle and parliament and some nice churches. To top it all off, for dinner we went to this awesome little restaurant that some guy built himself and he made really good food.
This is the parliament building.
Looking over the river from Buda into Pest (there's two cities)
That night we went to catch our next train and I nearly died. We couldn't find our booth anywhere and they kept kicking us out of all the train cars and telling us to go to the next one. Eventually we ended up in the 2nd class cars where there are no beds just seats, and our room smelled worst than any outhouse I've ever been in. We shut the door and luckily no one else came in the rest of the night so we could lay across three of the seats each. It was really dirty and kind of gross but I thought it was hilarious. The stinking police kept waking us up every hour to show them our tickets and our passports.
Early this morning we arrived in Belgrade, Serbia and it is not a very aesthetically pleasing city. We went to the castle first thing in the morning and walked around for a few hours.
Serbia is a crazy place.
One of the buildings inside is a war museum so we went into there, and it was something else. Most of it was dedicated to the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires but in the last room there were a few displays on the recent war in Bosnia with NATO. They had on display the weapons and gear of the pilot that was shot down and of a few captured ground soldiers. The explanations all talked about it as if it were an unwarranted attack on the Serbs. It was very interesting to see. 
A statue near the war museum.
Serbia and Bosnia are not war-zones like they once were, life goes on just like normal here and everyone pretends like nothing ever happened, we haven't seen any resentment in any of the people. Tonight we are heading off to Zagreb, Slovenia and we'll see how that is. Our final destination is Trieste, Italy and then I'm starting the long ride up to Paris to catch the high speed to Dublin.
Just so the family knows, I'm not buying any junk while I'm here except if you tell me to. So if you want something you should write it in a comment before Thursday and I'll see if I can find what you want.
4 comments:
It sounds like you are having an awesome time. I can't wait to see pictures and hear more of your adventures. Are you flying home alone? your last sentence made it sound like you will leave for Dublin alone. Did Jordan get the messages on his cell from his parents. Vicki called g-ma Balli, she didn't know our number. You can't leave us worried parents hangin. What time does your flight come in? Is it on Sunday. We have a ton going on, so we need to plan. Trisha comes in that day, and we will be at Missy's baby blessing.
Love you, be safe!!
I want you to buy us some junk. I don't know what kind of junk, just some. I can't remember what kinds of things I wish I would've gotten. Have fun!
I forgot, I do want you to by me some stuff. I don't care what, something you think is nice, not to big or to expensive. Dad told me Brigss are meeting Jordan and staying another week, but I still need to know when your plane gets in.
Every post makes me want to be there more and more! I am looking forward to seeing the pictures. Say hello to Italy for me!
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