Day 87 Berghain and Berlin

So! I’m on a roll here, at this rate I’ll be all caught up before I leave Berlin on my midnight bus! I’m thinking that I’ll do a final post before I’m done with this trip about the stats and cost of everything, plus a few top ten lists, but until then, I just want to leave you with a little bit of advice: DON’T PLAN TOO FAR AHEAD. I always have one or two plans on the go, but from now on I going to differentiate between "plans" and "guideline routes." For example, I have a guideline route that I want to get to Croatia on my way to Italy and Greece, but I had a plan to get to Berlin by plane from Budapest, and this plan caused me to spend twice as much as I needed to. If I had relaxed and let things fall where they may, I would have saved close to €50 which I could have spend on more tours or adventures. I would have saved this money by taking overland transport, because not only would I have saved the air fare, but I would’ve slept on the bus, thus saving me from paying for a hostel as well. This happened once before when I flew from Istanbul to Krakow, which I could’ve reached overland, thereby going to Bulgaria, which I will now miss out on. SO, to sum up: have a general idea of what you want to see, but trust in the Universe to get you there in the best way possible. You meet the coolest people, and pick up the coolest tips when you travel, and they should be your guide - not the scared voice in your head that says you should always know your next move.

Berghain in the daylight.

That being said, allow me to enlighten you on what may be THE single greatest night of my life. Berlin is renowned for a few things; liberalism, avant-garde music and fashion, history, and of course - nightlife. Of all the clubs in the world, they compile a list of the best, and Berghain is a prime component year after year. We had heard about it on our trip from some people who had been there, and many who had been turned away at the door. An average waiting time is between 1.5 and 2.5 hours, usually in the darkest part of the night. Berliners go out extremely late, and it’s been the case at the hostel that people will have a nap around 10 in order to start drinking around 11 and to go out anywhere from 1 in the morning to 3. Nightlife starts around 4, and ends whenever you cannot stand any longer. We decided, having been lame, tired people the night before, to join a few guests in drinking and going out - it was after all Friday night! I met Louis, an Aussie, as well as a few other young people who were all keen for some cards (of course...) and we began to think about where to go. Many clubs here are over 21, and the age of the present company was going to hinder us somewhat in that respect. David wasn’t incredibly keen to go out, and had gone with some other guests to an art exhibit. By chance Louis wandered over to the staff on duty and asked what was good. We were told that IF we could get in, Berghain on Fridays is excellent. The problem is, even when you wait in line for two hours, you are not guaranteed entry... in fact only about 10% get in.

Louis, Me and David at the end of the night.

The bouncer is famous for his eclectic method of deciding who parties. It’s honestly like social engineering: he chooses the people he wants based on what kind of atmosphere he thinks is best. He’s terrifying -  barbed wire tattoo on his face, long slicked back silver hair, jewelry and rings all over the place. But he’s it, the only deciding factor if you get in or not. Louis decided that being his last chance to go out in the city, he was going to try regardless of whether or not we wanted to go as well. I have heard from people about what to do and not to do to maximize your chances of success: dress casual, act like you don’t care, be different in some way, don’t look at the bouncer, don’t move forward in line when it’s your turn, be a small group, be a mixed gender group, and more. It’s honestly ridiculous when you think about it, but I guess in the end it works, because I’ve never heard of anyone who got in complaining about their night. I was with Louis -  go big or go home, and David when he returned agreed to try it out, though he honestly didn’t care either way if we got in or went home (which may have worked in our favour!) We waited for two hours, and the others in the original group also decided to try, though were far less enthusiastic. We kept seeing people just coldly (literally) get turned away from the door, and my stress levels kept going up, even though I knew it was nothing personal to be dismissed. These lovely German girls we were talking to in line got turned away right in front of us! I was wearing my new loop scarf like a turban against the cold, and just kept it on when it was our turn. Louis, David and I went in together, and I spoke our number in German to optimize our chances of being mistaken for locals. I don’t know what it was: our multiculturalism, the German, my turban, David’s "whatever" attitude -  but we got in. Unfortunately we were the only ones of the small groups that originated at the hostel to be successful.

We were patted down for drugs at the door, and paid our cover and coat check. You have to leave your camera as well, as it’s forbidden to take photos in this club. I won’t say much more because it was just ridiculous in there, but you know what to ask me about when I get home. We left around 9 in the morning, and people were still going in! Crazy, incredible music and company and night/morning.

Hunger Strike at Parisen Platz.

Victory and I go well together...

Back at the hostel we were bombarded with questions, and gamely answered them all. Still kind of wired about the whole thing, David and I decided to join a few guests who were planning on going on the 11:00 free walking tour. This was a struggle. We managed it, and it was much better after the coffee break, but there were a few kicks delivered amongst us to keep up. I’m glad we did it though or we wouldn’t have learned so much!

Monument to the Murdered Jews.

We hit the hostel afterwards, intending to take it easy, cook dinner, and then head to bed. I only really did the latter... and I had another 14 hour mini-coma. This pattern’s probably terrible for my health, but at the same time, when am I ever going to live it up like this again? Just another day in the life! The chicken salad I planned on making was just as delicious in the morning when we decided to hit the East Side Gallery and the Topography of Terror exhibit.

Monument to the Victims of War and Tyranny.

National Theatre.

But back to the walking tour! Our guide was a bubbly Brit, who had moved to Berlin specifically to do these kinds of tours. We started at Parisen Platz, home of the iconic Victory arch. The name is actually a taunt to France, as the statue on the arch is the Goddess of Victory... therefore there is always Victory over Paris! She gave us a huge rundown of Berlin history in a nutshell, from when it was a small swampy town, to when it became the seat of the Prussian state, to when it gained a Kaiser and participated in WWI, to the tragedies of WWII and it’s present condition. Say what you will about ’ze Germans, but at least in Berlin they are not in any way trying to hide or make excuses for their past crimes. The Topography of Terror exhibit we visited the next day made that perfectly clear, accurately outlining Hitler’s rise to power, his intense use of propaganda, the crimes of the S.S. and the hoodwinked actions of the German people. We went past the longest stretch of the wall which still stands in it’s original location, stood on top of the bunker where Hitler committed suicide, and visited the Monument to the Murdered Jews.

Largest piece of the Berlin Wall in its original location.

The monument is something special. It’s total cost was €27 million, which caused abit of a stir at the time. It’s a field of uniformly rectangle cement blocks, though built at varying heights. It’s chaotic to look at from the outside, all different levels, and the ground is also very uneven, however when you enter, you can see it’s built on a strict grid. Later when we were discussing the significance, upon which the artist has been purposefully vague, I postulated that it mirrors the insider and outsider views of the Holocaust. People have wondered if it’s also a giant bar graph, reflecting statistics of those murdered, or the demographics of families shipped to camps. Whatever the case, it is actually pretty powerful, and snapped me out of my tired state for a while.

Bits of the wall painted all around the city.

We didn’t just focus on WWII though, we also talked about the Treaty of Versailles, in which Germany was forced to take all the blame for WWI, and to pay an indemnity of huge proportions, the amount of which was only settled completely in 2005. This Treaty is often cited, along with the 1929 Wall Street Crash, as the reason Hitler’s National Socialist Party was able to gain support in the polls. Combined with some serious PR backing, the Nazi Party needed only to gain a foothold before slamming the doors of democracy shut and implementing their plan for a German social community based on an ideal race and uniform thought process. Did you know they took Mother’s Day as an occasion to promote the bearing of Aryan German babies? They handed out gold, silver and bronze medals to women with a certain number of desirable children, and further ostracized and threatened those who propagated no idyllic offspring with sterilization.

We did also learn lots about Germany when it was still known as Prussia, and about the great leader Freidrich, who was a patron of the arts and built the first opera house that was not attached to a palace. He wanted everyone to be able to experience culture, knowing that Berlin couldn’t survive as a capital unless it drew all kinds of intellectuals as well as peasants. He also wanted to increase the population, which had been decimated by the 30 Years War between Catholics and Protestants, as well as the Black Death. The war, which saw Germany on the Protestant side, saw many Catholics unhappy with their current place of residence. In order to achieve this goal of growth, Freidrich invited these folk to settle in Berlin, and to sweeten the deal he built them a great cathedral, and promoted religious tolerance. I know Germany and tolerance aren’t always associated, but honestly it’s a city of such diversity both before and after that time. We saw this amazing commemoration of this near the end of the tour, a great square full of various coloured balls depicting instances of multiculturalism in the city.

Checkpoint Charlie U-Bahn stop.

Our guide showed us the monument to the Victims of War and Tyranny, which is housed in what used to be the old guard house of the palace. The Palace was completely demolished, and having no royal family, as it was disbanded in the Treaty of Versailles, there was no reason to rebuild the structure. The current government, in all it’s wisdom, has undertaken a massively large project to bring it back, which isn’t the best use of the money to be honest...

Monument to Diversity. Each colour represents an area of life.

We got a lot of information on the Wall, and Berlin’s period of separation. When Hitler was finished off, the country, and the capital, was divided into four parts and given to America, France, Britain and Russia respectively to administer. The issue with this is that almost immediately after WWII had been resolved, the Cold War began, and former allies now regarded each other with the greatest mistrust. We went past Checkpoint Charlie, so named for it’s position as the third and final checkpoint between East and West Berlin (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie...). The wall, a monstrously hard structure to cross due to it’s hight, patrolling, and special top, which made it impossible to grab onto, was erected to stop East Berliners from escaping Communist control. The story that stuck with me the most from this part of the tour though, was how the wall came down. It all started with a press conference, held by a high-ranking member of the government. He had missed the briefing that morning, which had outlined a plan to begin loosening the boundaries between East and West in order to calm a restless population, who saw other parts of Russia-controlled Europe gaining more and more freedom. When asked about the meeting he had missed, he basically ad-libbed from the minutes, neglecting to mention all the extra limitations which would be necessary for someone to cross the border, stating only that the borders would be opened. People immediately started clamoring for more information, and in the interest of not looking stupid, he came up with the answers on the fly. His response to the question of "when" was "immediately." Border guards were soon after flooded with people wanting to get through, as it was now considered legal. The masses were too much to keep track of, and all order was lost as people and families which had been separated for 28 years embraced. There is a famous scene of the fraternal kiss immortalized in the East Side Gallery from that momentous finale to Russian domination.

The famous fraternal kiss when the wall came down in 1989.

Park near the East Side Gallery.

Our tour was great, but in all honesty I have not fallen in love with Berlin the way I have other cities. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fantastic, but it’s a little more modern than my ancient history-loving self is down for. It’s also sprawling, and even though the public transit system is fabulous, it’s just a hassle to have to plan how to get everywhere. We saw everything we wanted to though, and have had some awesome times in the clubs (well really the only one that counts...) and cafes. We took it easy Sunday night and saw a late movie at the most posh theatre I’ve ever been to, Looper. It was great to catch up on some Hollywood, and I always love a good sci-fi! Problem was that it was pretty rough getting home on the night bus system, which we had forgotten would be our only option after midnight! Luckily through a combination of asking people, and realizing that bus lines run on the same route as the U and S-Bahn train lines, we made it back to the hostel in under an hour! Booyah!

David and I on the U-Bahn.

The public transport system was actually started here in 1896, as there were already traffic problems that early in the city’s history. The many lines cover the whole city, and even connect to others in the surrounding area. Once you get the hang of it, all you really need is a map! The check are infrequent about ticket validation, though a few people got dinged while we’ve been here, so better safe than sorry I suppose! It’s so strange how some places are really strict, and you need a ticket to get past turnstiles, and sometimes even out of the metro as well, and some places are essentially honour system!  Ah well, I’ve been pretty lucky so far, time for me to become a legitimate trasit-user before I wind up with an unwanted ticket... though when are tickets ever wanted?

Edelwiess Cafe in Kreuzberg.

One of the cool buildings.

We spent our last day together visiting areas in Kreuzberg and cool coffee joints. The amount of urban chill spaces in this city, and the amazing street art is mind-blowing. The place we went today, Edelweiss, was a grungy/hip spot with mismatched furniture and a great terrasse, though because of the cold we wimped out and sat indoors. A guitarist in the amphitheatre outside completed the vibe, and we just hung out and  relaxed for a while, soaking in the atmosphere of the city. Though David’s here until Thursday, when he flies to see his lady in Madrid, I don’t know when I’ll return. It was a nice way to finish it off. I’ve been so lucky to find such a cool guy to spend so much time with, and it’s going to be interesting to see where I end up after this.

Beautiful Autumn Day.

Fanciest movie theatre of ALL TIME.

I leave tonight on a bus back to Budapest. I swear I’m not going just to party some more, though that is how it will work out with bus times. Retox for one more night, before I head to either Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia or Bosnia, which all depends on prices and times of travel! It’s kind of exciting to plan on the fly, and certainly better than realizing how much you could’ve saved if that had been the case all along! (see earlier blog portion...)

being a tad hipster in Kreuzberg... ah well, that’s Berlin!

I love you all. And thanks so much for reading! I’ve gotten almost 1000 views, and it makes it a little more worthwhile to share it all knowing I’m not typing my fingers to the bone for nothing!

Lots of Heartfelt Love!

Day 84 The Party Comes to a Pause... After I Tell You the Rest OftheCrazy!

Alrighty, this post should take me to the end of my crazy days in Budapest, and I’ll try to keep it short and sweet to get you caught up on my adventures!

Marco (the Giant) having to drink the dreggs.

The Fairy having to do pushups for saying 'm.i.n.e'

Maverick!

Adam as Princess Fiona, the Ogre.

Back at Retox after our awesome and super informative walking tour we met back up with the boys and sifted through this huge gross room called "Pipe Dream". This room is an amalgamation of all the crap people have left behind, and it’s where most people find their theme night costumes. As I think I mentioned, Tuesday night is always themed at Retox, and we were all told to dress as Sci-Fi or Fictional characters. There were some pretty hilarious finds in this room, all of which made for fantastic costumes! The boys all found great girlie getups, Adam decided to be Princess Fiona, Harry was just a girl, and Sven in a miniskirt and bikini top decided to play dumb about a theme night if anyone asked and simply be "Australian." A few of the staff went as Jack and the Giant, we had a fairy with lampshade wings, Bo Peep, many other princesses, Scuba Steve, Katniss Everdeen, and I went as Maverick from Top Gun. I had managed to snag a huge snowsuit onesie and some rad shades, and immediately donned the get up. I was roasting, but luckily there were huge zippers down the sides so I could get some air flow! The lenses in the glasses fell out later in the night, but I managed to fix them on the fly and keep rolling. David dressed very appropriately as an Asian, complete with poncho and lampshade hat, and managed at one point in the night to try and jump through a freestanding plexi-glass frame on the street, providing a great source of hilarity! The newest game is called "cut and paste" and be ready people: I'm bringing it home. When someone says a fabulous one-liner, you immediately say 'cut', at which point they must remember what they said and anytime you say 'paste' they have to spit it out, no matter where they are or who they are talking to. I got Adam and Harry with a great one that I used when they were chatting up chicks later. When asked why they didn't wear makeup with their costumes to add to the authenticity, they replied "makeup is for fake bitches." You imagine how well THAT chat up went after such a comment!

We left fairly early that night, as the alcohol and slippery floor made staying upright a challenge, and I found that finally the internet connection was good enough to warrant a proper conversation! I talked for about an hour until the boys came back, and then spent until 5 am listening to new artists and picking up some really chill music. I was a little sobered by the fact that the next city David and I go to will be our last, but I’ll land on my feet and have some new adventures! I introduced Sean to a few of my crazy boys, who managed to impress upon him the utter ridiculousness (and of course awesomeness) of the crew I’ve amassed. We played a very childish prank on Harry, who wasn’t home yet, of placing hygenic materials in his bed... not very mature but pretty funny, and as a disclaimer I can’t say I had anything more to do with it than spectate!

Checking out the next challenge caving.

Excited to be in the caves!

listening to our guide explain how to go.

I was pretty tired the next morning, and had to anticipate the all-nighter to come. Luckily Retox has no check-out time (greatest invention ever) so I could take the packing and organizing easy. I hit up the mall with this awesome Aussie girl Lizzy and David to get a USB key, as the amount of pictures are piling up! I’ll try to find the time to get some albums up eventually, or you’re all just going to get flooded with them later! I had managed in my state the night before to get a few new friends to swear to come caving later that day, so around 3 we all manned up and hit the train station to meet our guide. It was Moby, a staff member, Jaimie and Lauren (the Canadians), Lizzy and David, and Cameron, who had dressed as Jesus the night before. Another new Canadian friend was supposed to come as well, but he had a pretty trying night before and was forced to bail. They tell you when you check in NOT TO TAKE TAXIS - they are run by the mob and will rip you off at the very least. He was drunk, and thought that it would be a safer option (which it would have been back home to be fair) to cab home, even though the hostel was a few blocks away. The driver drove him in circles and at the end asked for 60,000 HUF - the equivalent of $250, which of course he refused to pay. The driver then pulled a knife on the poor kid and robbed him of his debit and credit card, the 10,000 HUF he did have on him, and his iPhone. Needless to say he was pretty shaken up, and though his insurance will cover him and he’ll even come out financially ahead, he needed to file police reports and figure out a cash flow. So much for listening to advice!


The caving tour was relatively expensive: $25 for the tour, plus another $5 for the transportation tickets. I managed to save one and risk getting caught by the inspectors and used it to get to the airport the next morning. I know this is bad, but honestly you hardly ever get caught, and many people just don’t even bother with legitimate riding. We arrived at the location in the Buda hills, middle of nowhere really. We received our jumpsuits, and honestly I think it’s a new record for me: two different jumpsuits in the span of twelve hours! I got a few really good group shots of all of us throwing up the Retox 'X', prepared for subterranean adventure! I said the dreaded 'M.I.N.E.' word in the caves a bunch of times and actually had to do pushups amongst the limestone and clay... shame. Caving took a long time, between the information, and waiting for others, we did about 0.8km in 2.5 hours. It was really cool though! We had to slither through tiny holes, wedge ourselves between walls, and drop down twisty tunnels. Very intense, and makes you wonder who has the guts to explore these places without knowing what’s waiting for them!

The awesome ladies: Lauren, Lizzy and Jaimie.

We missed the start of the pub crawl being late to return, but the girls and I each bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate our last night at Retox and played card games in the room. The bottles we were drinking from are so dangerous... the cork litterally FLIES out of the bottle as soon as you remove the cage, so that was a bit of an adventure! I’ve connected better with girls on this leg of the trip than anywhere else I’ve been so far, and it’s been really nice! I miss all my ladies back home! We all dolled up for a night on the town, and had a few great inside jokes going. Harry has this habit of saying "you f-cked up!" whenever someone does anything wrong, so we adopted it and said it repeatedly to each other whenever anything happened. While this doesn’t sound particularly hilarious, trust me, it is. We were quite the shutter bugs, but eventually got our act together and met up with the rest of the crew along the way. It has gotten much colder here lately, and I had forgotten this fact, and declined to bring a coat. This was a HUGE mistake. I was FREEZING! Always bring a coat... do not cheap out on checking it! There is only so much chivalry you can expect from your guy friends!

Our "we f-cked up" faces.

We ended at a great electronic music scene, and I held out until about 5 am, when we left to find food. I showered at Retox to keep myself awake, and managed to figure out public transport to the airport in my state, which at this point wasn’t so bad. The staff at Retox have no idea about anything besides partying in Budapest, so they just tell everyone to take a cab (reputable ones this time), but I always use buses if I can help it! It was really easy, and for sure doable by anyone with a brain. I am so sad to be leaving the group, but maybe I’ll see them again when I finally make it out to Australia. I know the Canadian girls can expect me sometime in the next year! The flight was not long enough to get a proper rest on, which is a shame, and I arrived in Berlin pretty tired. I found the hostel, Comebackpackers, with little trouble, and it’s in this really cool area known as Kreuzberg, which had come highly recommended. It’s homey and sweet, which is a pleasant change after my stay! We did very little, as David was pretty wiped as well. He had declined to come out with us and went to the airport early, though didn’t get a great sleep. Us two tired little travelers decided to explore Alexanderplatz, the main shopping area here, before grabbing some Vietnamese food and hitting the hay.

The amazing Primark.

I had such a great sleep - 14 hours of needed rest saw me bright-eyed the next day, and we made a date to visit the BEST STORE IN THE WORLD: Primark. If you haven't heard of this place, look it up! We spent hours here, and got separated unfortunately. I spent my time finding great boots, a cute hat and some basics like socks which I had neglected to pack. I waited for David in a coffee shop, which he managed to miss me in, and after a while he went home. I found him there a few hours later taking a nap - cheeky! Berlin is much bigger, much more modern (having been utterly destroyed in the war) and relatively more expensive than Budapest. I like it so far, but I’d have to say I’ve been in places I enjoyed more. It is cheaper than most other Euro-using cities though, so that’s nice.

The awesome balcony at Comebackpackers... too bad it’s too cold to use it!

I’m going to leave you with this, and pick it up soon! I have my last day in Berlin to enjoy before heading off into the blue!

Love from Abroad!

Day 82 What I Learned in Hungary

Hey all! I’m writing this from Berlin, but since so much has happened since I updated, I decided to pre-date it so as to keep things simple!

We made the same mistake as we had in Bratislava... forgot where to meet! It would have been a lot more disastrous in this case though if we hadn’t also forgotten what time to meet... and shown up 30 minutes early. David and I along with the two Canadian sisters, Jaimie and Lauren, parted ways after our failed attempts to find the group. As we headed back towards the hostel, David and I passed by a church we’d seen earlier, only to discover the tour! Our discovery was compounded by recognizing an Emirati couple we’d met on the Bratislava one... seriously the traveling world is TINY. Our guide was a really cool Hungarian woman, who wore the most eclectic mix of coloured clothes that I could never pull off, but that really went with her personality.

A large "bird" and some demonstrators crossing the street.

St. Stephen’s Basilica.

We started (finally) at St. Stephen’s basilica, dedicated to the first king of Hungary who converted to Christianity. He made the switch (as most did back then) for political reasons. Hungary was at the time (1000 CE) the only pagan country in the region, and this fact made it susceptible to attack from the surrounding armies. There are many statues and buildings dedicated to him in the area, and our guide insisted that if we were to forget everything else, we should at least remember his name. The basilica was only completed in 1904, though it looks centuries older. That was the favoured style for a while of Hungarian architects, and the Parliament, completed a year later, is also deceivingly built. The Art Nouveau style of building was introduced not long after as a reaction to this style, as many builders began to feel that their buildings lacked authenticity. One good example is the Four Seasons, which we viewed next, and which is one of the most posh hotels in the city. It’s really strange though how many ugly blocks of communist era apartments still exist and are in use! They were constructed in the years following WWII to fill the holes left by devastating bombings, and so the city is a patchwork of styles. Even the same edifices can have a mixture of styles - for example those with little shops on the ground floor are restored up to their upper levels. The owners are responsible for restoration only of their floor, and since the country’s cash flow doesn’t allow for more work, the top remains pockmarked with bullet and bomb holes.

A remaining bomb hole.

View from the castle!

Our guide, whose name we missed due to our late arrival, also told us about Hungarian food. I didn’t pick up quite as much information about this, as I can eat none of it, but I did register that a serving generally contains about 2000 calories! Woah! I found the most interesting part of the tour the portion about the Hungarian language. Hungary (known by the locals as Magyar) has a distinct language from all the countries around it. It is from a grouping called "Finno-Uric", and is one of the 5 most difficult to learn. She postulated that this is why there are many smart Hungarians -  more neural connections are built in learning more difficult languages. Honestly it makes sense, us bilingual Canadians are way smarter than the Americans, no? (just kidding, couldn’t resist! David hates my jokes...) The alphabet has 44 letters, as does the longest word, whose meaning would take 22 words in English to properly convey. It’s one of those languages to which an endless number of prefixes and suffixes can be added for clarification. She gave us a few phrases, but of course I only remember 'ageshegadra’ which means ’cheers’. She had us remember it by telling us to say "I guess you can drive", which any drunk Hungarian would recognize. The language is also known sometimes as the Jedi Language, as it was what writers translated Yoda’s lines into, and then back again, to form his distinctive word order. We actually say one Hungarian word everyday, ’hello’! Turns out that when improvements were being made to the telephone to remove the need for operators, Hungarians were making the most advancements. In order to check their progress, one end of the line would as "can you hear me?" and the other end would reply, "I can hear you." This last phrase is actually pronounced in such a way as to sound like hello! This caught on, obviously, and may be the reason Alexander Graham Bell’s initial intent for the word Ahoy to be used failed... though that’s just my theory!

On the Chain Bridge, Parliament in the background.

There are many famous Hungarians, and going back to the smart comment, 14 Nobel prize winners originate here. On the celebrity side there were a few surprises, such as Drew Barrymore, and of course Yoda.

I find it interesting how certain countries have such different names in different languages. I think it has to do with globalization: the more connections each country builds, the more likely that a global name will be established. In Europe, where civilizations have existed for centuries, people were more ethnocentric, and so each developed their own names for the others. In this way, you get "Allemagne", "Deutschland", and "Germany", versus the commonly understood, "Canada". Our country is known as such all over, as it was only founded once the process of globalization had begun in earnest. I love my homeland, but the long history of Europe is so cool!

The '0' point from which distances are measured.

Hungary was founded by 7 tribes in the 9th century, who came together in a blood pact and moved from the Uric mountains to the present location. The territory they occupied used to be much larger, but after their defeat in WWI it was severely cut down. This left much of the population to wake up in a different country from one day to the next. The Hungarians unfortunately have a long history of occupation, but they have resourcefully managed to weather the situation. In the early days the Ottoman Empire came knocking, and although they were staved off initially, they were eventually successful. Luckily for us today however, they brought their bathing culture with them, and combined with Hungary’s ubiquitous sulphuric water, the Baths were born. I know I loved them the other day! I learned later on that the reason hot springs are so common is that the Earth’s crust under Hungary is about 15 km thinner than the global average. This is due to a large amount of tectonic activity, which is also responsible for the Buda hills and the Pesth plains. The many caves in the area are a result of the water’s chemical makeup, which was better able to dissolve the rock, creating extensive systems that range throughout, the longest of which is 30 kilometers!

The Hungarians were eventually free of the Ottomans, only to find themselves under Hapsburg and Austrian rule. For decades there were wars for independence, until in exasperation the Hapsburgs suggested a dual monarchy, and the Austro-Hungarian empire emerged. The money given to Hungary from the spoils of this alliance allowed for extensive building and beautification, which luckily has been either protected or restored from the war. It’s amazing how much damage it did all over Eastern Europe, sort of a constant reminder. After their defeat in WWI, the Austro-Hungarian Empire ceased to exist, and a vastly reduced Hungary had a short stint by themselves. Their next occupation would come from Nazi Germany. In an attempt to regain that territory which the Treaty of Triannon had taken from them, they believed Hitler’s promises of restoration. These promises came to nothing however, and instead the country was occupied, and subsequently freed by Soviet Russia. The only issue here is that they decided not to leave, and so began the Communist Era.

Since no one’s here, I’ll be on guard!

Though most of Eastern Europe was touched by communism, the Hungarians got certain things others did not. These select privileges included the ability to watch American TV, to have some freedom of the press, and to wear jeans. These were all doled out as a result of a big Revolution, which while ultimately unsuccessful, was large enough to warrant an attempt to prevent another. We happened to be doing the tour on the same day as the anniversary of the Revolution, and there were tons of Hungarians out and about. It’s a tradition for political rallies and demonstrations to happen on this day, even by skinheads, who we saw many of. Needless to say David was a little uncomfortable... After the fall of the U.S.S.R. a democratic state emerged and free elections are held every 4 years. Like Canada, everyone thinks the other parties can solve problems which the current government are failing to, and power flip-flops after each election.

St. Mathias Church.

Statue of the famous St. Stephen.

The tiles on St. Mathias’.

We crossed the Chain Bridge, the real name for the gorgeous structure we used to reach the castle a few days before. It has massive arches, and lion statues, which are pretty imposing! We climbed up to the other side of the castle this time, and were there to see the changing of the guard in front of the building where the country’s leaders work. Pretty cool how traditions like that are still upheld. They left no guards in their place though, and the guide explained that this is because of the political insignificance of the country -  no one really cares enough to assassinate the leader, so why bother guarding him? We wandered over to St. Mathias’ church, another pretty structure with a multi-coloured tile roof. On the castle hill are two caves, one which used to be used as a bunker and hospital during the wars, and one that is known as the Labyrinth. We decided to forgo entering, and planned instead to visit an extensive one the next day.

View of Parliament with Chain Bridge in the background.

Our guide left us all with "survival guides" near the Fisherman’s Bastien, a large structure with seven tours that gives a great view of the city. She also warned us about pickpockets, and it seems to me that there are many in the city trying to rip people off... cab drivers being the worst. When we had arrived at Retox our check-in included a warning about their being mob run, which turned out to be really true. One of the people at our hostel, a fellow Canadian even, had stupidly (and drunkenly) taken a cab to the hostel, after which he was asked for the equivalent of $275, or 60,000 HUF. Obviously confused and unwilling, he was then held at knife point by the driver and robbed of his cards and iPhone. He has travel insurance and actually may come out on top financially, but he was pretty freaked, and is so lucky he got away unhurt. This city is for sure one to walk in, even late at night. David and I are a good team though for that reason especially... it’s nice to know someone has your back and is watching out for you.

To break this up a bit, I’m going to leave you with all this info for now! If you ever travel, seriously do the free tours. They’re all tip motivated, and have so much good info (obviously!)#

Ageshegadra back home! Miss you all!