cinetrip.

Budapest tends to be well known for the Buda Castle, the Citadel, the Hungarian Parliament, Goulash and many more things in between. Also (for those historians in the audience), in 1956, the city (and the world for that matter) witnessed what has been popularly been known as the Budapest Uprising (also the Hungarian Revolution) and which saw a nationwide uprising against the Soviet occupation (or rather "protection") of Hungary which had lasted since the 1945 liberation. When one thinks of Budapest, one can also quickly associate the name with the natural thermal baths that are spread across the city and which tend to be a prime tourist hotspot. Here the typical activity is to spend a few hours going around a labyrinth of cold pools, turkish baths, outdoor spas, saunas, and so on. It is also a popular thing with most locals.  In addition to being a favourite day-time activity, from time to time (about once a month if I am not mistaken), some baths house gigantic rave parties, known as cinetrip. As one can expect, these take place throughout the bath premises, in pitch darkness, with house music rocking the sound systems and laser effects (and even some live performances) providing the rather limited lighting. Then, of course, numerous bars are set up across the baths so people can carry on, drink and enjoy a fun night out. I was fortunate enough that the hostel I stayed at (again, publicity is a must as it was an awesome place - http://www.carpenoctemhostel.com/) was organising an outing to one of these events the first night I was in Budapest. So, after a day packed with sightseeing and hundreds of photo shots I joined my fellow hostel buddies as well as the hostel staff at this prime prime venue. Will leave you with a video that was shot back in c. 2008 but at least like that you get a sense of what it was like (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEqQA-IdiAk).

In any event, I got to Budapest after a record-breaking 17 hour overnight train ride from Budapest which I mostly spent sleeping and reading. I am almost through Malcom X's autobiography by the way. I think my thoughts on the book alone are worthy of a post, so will save any commentary on it for a another time. I got to into the city at Keleti train station quite early and walked for under 40 minutes to get to my hostel. After the customary sign-in procedures and getting introduced to some of the hostel staff - which by the way was (did I say it already) awesome! Super friendly guys, extremely welcoming and with a thrive to make everyone's stay in Budapest, regardless of the purpose of each one's visit, as fun and as fulfilling as possible. So, once again, kudos to them!  - I hit the streets of Budapest. I am really glad I spent 2 days there (one of the only places where I have stayed more than a day or more than 36 hours) because the city is rather big (don't get me wrong though, nothing like Madrid, London or NYC) and there are dozens of sights and cool things to see. For instance, the first day I visited the Hungarian Parliament (pic below) which was absolutely stunning. Turns out they do guided tours and signed up for one of them. It is quite convenient for us EU + Swiss nationals as the tours is free. For other nationalities there is a c. 20eur price tag. Ludicrous! I did ask the lady at the ticket booth why this was the case and her answer seemed to make complete sense to her while she gave me a rather puzzled look, that I interpreted as: "why in the hell would you be asking that question, doesn't it seem obvious?" And the answer was that given that Hungary was an EU member, EU (+ Swiss - lucky them) could benefit from free access. Rather weird if you ask me... And so I continued visiting the city, mostly the Pest side during my first day. I saved the castle and the old town of Buda for the second day. After a rather shocking early wake-up (c. 10am) after the cinetrip outing (see above), I showered, took my gear (camera, laptop, map, gloves + scarf (!!!), etc. and headed to the Buda side. The sights from the castle are absolutely amazing. Some pictures are below for you. UNESCO world heritage sight since the 1970's (I think...) I managed to take a lot of pictures while the sun was setting, which are particularly beautiful. Overall, the city was amazing. It reminded me a bit of Paris, particularly the Pest side, with its wide boulevards (Andrassy Boulevard is particularly nice and also a UNESCO sight since the early 2000's - famous for its devotion to "Haute Couture"), its imposing "squares" and the parks (i.e. Budapest City Park - http://www.budapest-tourist-guide.com/budapest-city-park.html). And then the Buda side is like a medieval old town, nesting on top of a hill and overlooking the whole city - one of the most amazing views I have ever been exposed to. Wandering the empty, narrow, winding and stone-paved streets on the way up to the castle also provided great potential for "photo opps" :)  No real ifs and buts to be honest, only that it was a bit cold as there was a great deal of wind blowing across the city. That didn't stop me from exploring about every corner of the city!

And now I am in Vienna for the day (after spending yesterday in Bratislava). Catching a night-train to Krakow to visit the last country of this SEE/CEE tournée (sorry... was taking for granted the investment banking terminology here, which I am sure not all of you are familiar with... SEE = South Eastern Europe and CEE = Central and Eastern Europe).

Will keep you posted with more news in the next few days. Until then, enjoy the pics and be happy!

pv