Budapest Part III

Day three. Not a good start again. We went to bed too late again, and no light in our room, so we slept til 1230. But eventually we got started off and went straight to the national museum. The national museum buildings around here are all very impressive. The thing I liked most about the museum was learning about the history of Hungary. I feel pretty equipped now! But there is just so much stuff. You could spend hours upon hours there. We walked around for about two hours and saw just about everything there is to see there. So after becoming more culturally equipped, we set out again to go to the largest synagogue in Europe! Yeah, anticlimatic. Closed. So back tomorrow. Then we headed back towards St. Stephen's Basilica, but of course we had to stop and get food at the infamous Burger King. Boo! but delicious. The inside is so majestic, with towering domes, pillars of ancient relics, an old mummified holy hand and probably the most impressive service ever! But I still don't know what differs a Cathedral from a Basilica. But I'd like to find out. After seeing the Parliament building again, we decide to head to Heroes Square... man was this a good idea(r). We get off and there are just these huge pillars, monumental statues, and historical museums surrounding the square. I can't believe we almost missed this! There is just this huge open area to walk around, roller skate, do whatever in, with museums on both sides. Very cool, so we play tourist, then continue walking to find one of the biggest ice rinks I've seen, and its in like a castle! Yeah, I dont know how they came up with that one. But woulda been nice to have someone to skate with and hold hands with :)... But, then the best part of Budapest, the thermal baths. We go t othe Szechnyi bath. This is the biggest thermal bath in this city, but maybe the world... cause its pretty fricken huge! Man, what a cool place though. You head in another magnificent building expecting the world, and man do they give it to you. First you head over and pay a whopping 10 bucks for an all-inclusive (minus thai massage... booo) ticket. So you head in pick your locker, put on your suit and head out. But funny story, of course none of us really brought suits, so we all have to wear underwear... ha! And well, everyone is wearing pretty normal underwear except Ben. He strips down and is wearing whitey tighties! O man, they let people wearing like string bikini thongs in there and they wouldnt let him in there! He starts walking out and the workers are all kind of looking at him with a peripheral eye and then i guess they decided it was too much, so they just point at his underwear and shake their hands and head. it was the funniest thing. But i give him credit for actually having the balls to try it... pun intended. But eventually we head in and get in the bath. They have this huge outdoor area that you first walk into. Its just this gigantic area filled with huge thermal baths, a swimming pool a whirlpool and regular pools, places to sit, places to lay, and apparently places to have sex... yeah, the baths are definitely really gross, you just dont want to think about it when you are in there. But there is so much steam coming up out the water you can barely see when you are in there. And it was perfect cause it was a cold night, so every time you got out you had to run and freeze as you went from place to place, and your feet would freeze, but man would it feel good to jump back in. After days of traveling and walking and not eating, this was a perfect thing. Thats not all, then you can go inside, where they probably have over 100 rooms of saunas, steam rooms, massage rooms, pools, hot tubs, and showers. So, you'd go from room to room, getting in 80 degree (celsius, which is 176 F) saunas then a 55 steam room, then you'd jump in 20 water, then sit in a hot tub then go play in the pool. Geez, so much to do and so much fun! I was so relaxed i fell asleep in the big thermal bath outside! But after a 2nd nap in there, we head back and go to a restaurant, For Sale... just like an american restaurant. Good service, you get to just throw the peanuts on the ground, actually mildly expensive, but huge huge huge portions and actually vegetables! Back to the hostel for a guys night... poker movies, etc.