Day Seven - Jun 4, 2017
Krakow, Poland to Budapest, Hungary
Daily Didactic
Our morning started a little early for us, so we could take advantage of what we came to learn was a free breakfast in the hotel restaurant. We ate, packed, checked out, and walked five minutes to the bus station for our much anticipated Polski Bus. Departing promptly at 9:20 it lived up to it's online reputation and (at the same time) wasn't as terrible as it could have been. Leg room was tight for Heckarts, there was one stop in a seven hour ride, and it was really hot. We were on the second story of a double decker, which lead to pretty great views. Turns out our drive was a little part Poland, then north-south across all of Slovakia, and then into the top of Hungary. In the long run it was perfectly acceptable and a seven hour bus ride through three countries for $38. You get what you pay for. At 4:20 we pulled into the Kelenföld Bus station and after a half hour of confusion as to how to get a tram ticket, we were on a really old street car to downtown Budapest. An hour later we found ourselves being let into our crazy apartment by it's owner Klara. Klara is an older lady who bought this apartment in 1989 after Hungary privatized property. It has 12 foot ceilings, is in a converted old bank, and the building is literally an Art Nouveau piece of art. Klara was also a tour guide in Budapest at some point and gave us the most excellent lowdown on Budapest's greatest hits. We settled in, found some dinner, and then walked the two blocks over to the Danube to look at the view. Budapest is the union of two towns, Buda and Pest (Pesht). We are staying on the Pesht side. Across the Danube is Buda. Looking from Pest to Buda, there is a spectacular view of hilltop statues, the Palace, the Castle, etc.. It's supposed to be even more spectacular lit up in the evening. But we were a little early and more than a little done for the day. We headed back into our lavish digs and called it evening with a little feel good streaming American television.
Today's Photos
