Friday, July 4, 2014

More Sightseeing and Ruins Pub Crawl (Aka Remember that time in Budapest when...)

Every once in awhile I say to my self, "I am in Europe. In Budapest!" It's still trippy. I miss my family though. And Dr. Pepper. I have not seen anything but Coke here. 

As promised to my daughter-artwork in my room at the hostel...






More of the hostel courtyard and view...



Chim-chimney...



Entryway ceiling...


After staying awake all night and then sleeping nine hours straight (first time in years I have slept more then 3 hours at a time) Matt and I did some walking around  looking for something to eat. He ended up having a gyro and I had pizza again. I find it very interesting that a lot of the food here isn't Hungarian.  It's Mexican, Turkish, Greek or Chinese.  We did see Burger King, Subway, KFC and McD's today. They are open 24hrs or as the signs say 0-24. We wandered for awhile looking around. 




 There's is a sidewalk with a ton of footprint plaques. I have no idea what they are for, but this one was barefoot. 




Balkan Kobra. 'Nuff said. 


 Cool statue...


He's holding this guy's head. 



I have no idea what this club is for.  It says RnB Club but the window is plastered with pictures of women. 


Alternative bar...




This is a store selling home design, I think. 


Chinese restaurant No turtles, green or otherwise to be seen. 






No comment. 


Giant knockers. 


People don't carry grocery bags. They use baskets like this to carry their groceries.  They don't do huge shopping trips like we do, but instead buy for a few days at a time. 


Outdoor cafe and Matt's elbow.


Gyro place...



Meat.

Starbucks are everywhere.


Striptease and KFC?! No zoning issues here, I guess. 


My pizza had corn on it and very little cheese.  It was good though and cheap. 












Street Market and beer garden





We passed several people wearing flags. World Cup fans? They weren't American or German. 






Chinese restaurant called "Kelly's." 













The hostel entrance...



Matt bought Fanta for 89ft=30 cents! 



F@#&ing Stairs!


When we got back to the hostel, we joined a group that was going out for a pub crawl through what they call the "ruins pubs." These are bars that take over abandoned Soviet era buildings (or even alleys). Many of them are in crumbling buildings or overgrown courtyards. Some have hostels above them. Our group included two 18 year old girls from the UK, two 20 year old guys from Israel-whom I dubbed the plaid twins, a 30 something Argentine man, Hawaii (from the hostel), Matt and I. 

Everywhere we went, the World Cup was on TV and people were actively watching it and cheering loudly.  I had a rum and coke in the first bar we went to. In the second, I had a local beer called Borsodi.  It wasn't bad.  It was very light and kind of like Corona. Another beer we tried started with a T and it was not good at all. Yuck!  I also had an apple ale and a vodka soda.  The apple ale was really good. There were several groups of guys dressed alike for bachelor parties. Some of them were dressed as women.  

One of the bars had security at the door who checked our bags for alcohol or weapons before we went in. This place had two rooms. A courtyard where people talked and drank took up one space and the other was a dance hall.  We went into the dance hall to check it out. It was almost all men in there and there were two stocky Hungarian guys rapping like crazy into the mikes. They weren't bad, but we didn't stay. We watched security boot some people out. They meant business too. They grabbed them and carried them to the door and tossed them out.

 I tried a shot of Jagermeister in a tiny bar that couldn't have been as big as my bathroom.  I liked the Jagermeister. One of the bartenders in one of the busiest pubs had a not so nice attitude, but Hawaii told us this is common. They are not paid well and people don't tip much if at all. Some of the bars gave some of us plastic solo cups and some gave us glass cups. Hawaii said it varied based on whether the bartender trusted you not to break the glassware. Plastic cups also mean you could carry your drink with you and finish it on the street. Another first for the books,  I had the lovely experience of paying an attendant for TP in one of the bars. 

Ruins Pub







Tiny bar with Jagermeister. A few steps either way and that was the whole place. 



Jagermeister...








Apple ale





UK girls, the plaid twins and Argentine guy...





Plaid twins from Israel...



This is the "ceiling" of one of the pubs. 



Dance area...


Eventually, Matt and I left to go back to the hostel. The UK girls and the plaid twins went dancing. Argentine guy also went back to the hostel, but he lives downstairs. We decided to walk for awhile and go get some pizza. There are people out on the streets until the sun comes up.  The line for pizza went out the door. I needed the lady's room and since only bars are open, I decided to use the portapotty that is there for construction workers. Matt, who did not have my back, watched some guy run across the street and open the door while I was in there.  Me, being a freak, had ahold of the door from the inside, so the guy couldn't actually open the door, but thanks Matt. It reminds me of a girls' trip to Montana, but that's another story. 

Someone call 5-1-5-O?
 







Figuring out how to get back to the hostel...


We made it!

It's almost 7am and I am not sleeping again.  Ugh! I am still on WA time. That's going to be fun for the workshop on Monday! 

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