Budapest continued.

Half the group was there already and we were suppose to meet up with them. We bought our strip of subway tickets(this will be important later) and headed into the direction of the hostel. So it really wasn't a hostel, but a crappy college dorm. No beds to sleep on, the situation was weird. We decided to go find another place and luckily we found one. We then went to eat because we had some time to kill. There is a girl from Maastricht who is from Hungary and she would become our tour guide. The food in Hungary is some of the best yet. Flavorful and huge portions.

Anyways we met up with her and she showed us around. Saw Parliment, Budapest castle and some other sights. I was impressed, because I was thinking if someone visited my hometown would I be able to give them a tour with a lot of interesting facts. I really don't think so. I was happy she came along. Besides the sights we would see that day, I was very dissappointed in Budapest. I thought it would be an exotic city , something more along the lines of Instanbul. However it seemed like some streets in Philly I've seen. Give me some cobblestone at least instead of pavement.

The next day we were to go see some country side of Hungary and go to the hometown of Katti's. Once we met up with her there she took us around. We saw the 4th largest catherdral in Europe. Tbese buildings are magificient, hundreds of detailed sculptures, mosaics, paintings, gold covered, etc. It truly is a feast to the eyes, but an ache to the heart. Catholism, Christianity exists for the people. If there is a god, he is a loving God, kind, and not concerned with material possesions. A God who wants people to live a pleasant life. The money that has gone into these churches is a complete waste. A place to worship is different than these lavish buildings. The surrounding town is absolutey poor. This isn't just in Hungry, but in all the countries I'vé visisted. The church always stands out from everything else.

Now we were to go to another town. Since we met up with her she decided all the girls should ride with her and the boys take a bus. Thats fine. The bus wasn't. We all were standing up, I was pretty much on the bus drivers lap. Eventually it started to clear out and we were able to get seats. The bus ride was suppose to be for a hour, but we didn't know where to get off. All the bus stops didn't have a sign. We asked and we always got conflicting answers. At one stop the bus driver kind of gave us the nod to get off. Some people on the bus agreed, others didn't. We got off, and Katti and the others were no where in sight. I just started laughing. I knew we would be ok, but we seriously had no idea where we were or how to get anywhere. The situation was humoruous and the other guys agreed.

I need to make a point how there were some Koreans with us. Their English was decent, but I taught them some things. They never heard of a bad attitude when I told Phil he had one. I was joking. Well once he learned about it, he kept on telling everyone. Now picture a Korean with an accent saying....Dave you got bad attitude, you need good attitude. He honestly said this about every ten minutes, the frequency more than that at times. Everytime I laughted.

So we decided to just go ahead and walk, thinking they might up the road further. They eventually found us walking and apologized for being late. It seems the girls went out for dessert.

This town was nice, and its here I bought a true toursit souvenier. Postcards. So I bought a few of those, but I bought something else. A huge hand carved chess set, each side over 2 feet long. It looks really nice, and it was something I wanted to buy in Czec, but thought them to be too expensive. Well in all honesty this one wasn't cheap. After the conversion it came to over 120 euros, which is pretty much on par with the dollar. Well I bargained for over 30 minutes and go it for around 65. It'll be a conversation piece when I have a place of my own. Which really isn't that far down the road.

Back to Budapest. Well I am now heading back to the hostel and using the subways. I bought a strip of 20 rides, but split with another guy. I was going through these strips fast, but I noticed you didn't have to validate them. There was no turnstyle(probably wrong word) to prevent you from entering without a ticket. So half the time I didn't validate them. I noticed now and then they had guards waiting at the top of the escelators to check tickets. I risked it enough times that I got caught this one night. I figured play the dumb tourist. Show them my validated tickts, saying I must have dropped one and could I just give them a new ticket. She basically kept pointing to the fine and said sorry sir. I honestly feel I could have said my name is Bobo, I am monkey and I eat bananas for every meal. She would have replied with the same answer. I payed the hefty fine of 6 euros. Not that bad at all.

Budapest is known for their thermal baths. We decided to go to one. Everyone was excited, but I had an idea of what it would be like. Supposedly we went to the most famous one there. The water was warm, but it was all indoors I felt like I couldn't breath right. Also the secenary of old fat guys wasn't that appealing. But hey, Im sure there are some people out there into that. We stayed for a hour and left. I walked around a bit more with some others, I then decided to go ahead and make my way back to Maastricht. I knew it would be a long travel on the rails.

I have a few subway tickets left and so I did validate them every time. On the last subway, who should be waiting at top with thoughts of ruining peoples days, but the Metro guards. I proudly showed them my ticket, and was soon told to move to the side. The dialogue was pretty much this: sir, ticket, es no good. sir pay. ticket, es no good. I was nice saying what do you mean I validated, etc. Group ticket, no good. My blood came to a quick boil. I hated Budapest all the more. The conversation went on for 15 minutes. I lied and lied. I told them I didn't have money. She pointed to an ATM. Said I don't have one. I was like you can have all my change. Shes like passport sir. I was like I dont have it. All lies. I was like I want to talk to someone else. The guy's English was limited as well. Basically this is why it didn''t work. I bought a group of tickets and you are suppose to keep them all together in the bounded strip they came in and not separate them. This is written in fine print in English on the back. What the hell. How the hell was I suppose to know that the back of the tickets had instructions. Well they had been separated since the first day. Seeing this wasn't going anywhere so I decided to made a run for it...only in my mind. I gave in and was like wow I found some money in my pocket here you go BITCH....in my mind as well

I took the train to Vienna, and this was the first time I felt truly uncomfortable with my surroundings. I came out of the train and tried to figure out what train I had to take next. Whats nice, in Western Europe you can go to informatoin and they will print out a schedule showing times and places of arrival and departure, what platform etc. Budapest didn't have this, they didn't have computers. I knew I needed to get to Vienna and then find a train to Germany. So here I am in Vienna at night, it wasnt barren, but not busy at all because night trains don't come too often. I was looking up at the signs. The one where numbers flip(for some reason I always love watching them flip). Then went to the info desk, which because at night was closed. Then I spotted them, two guys. I'll call them Simon and Garfunkle. Simon was the shorter of the two with dark hair and the one that did the talking. The other one was taller, with frizzy hair and was quiet. He looked a little scary. I could tell they were talking about me as soon as I saw Simon point me out to Garfunkle. I was like this is going to be interesting. I turned around and headed to where there were some people sitting. Just try and do something in front of a group. Still they were right behind me and wanted to talk. Here's pretty much the conversation...whats in bold is what they said.
can we help you
No Im fine
You looked lost
Well I figured it out, thanks
Whats your name
Dave
Where you from
Canada....Vancouver
Well we want to talk to you about god and Jesus....do you believe
(Now usually I will tell people my doubts and belief, but this time around I was going to agree with everything they said.)
Yes I believe
What does he mean to you
He died for our sins, we should live a good life, etc(I use this word a lot dont I).
What else
(Now in my mind I was like this is not the reason they want to talk to me. My eyes were firm, my face expressionless, but inside my pulse was rapidly increasing. These people might have met no harm, but this night I was not going to be the naive kid I usually am.)
Im done talking to you
Why, I want to know more about yoru thoughts
Well I really am done talking to you, have a good night
Please, talk to us, I want to learn more
(With heart thumping in my chest, my tone turned to anger, while fear was inside. I kept glancing from behind to see if someone was trying to get into my pack, to see if there were trying to distract me from a third member...even though I padlocked the top zipper. Garfunkle's glaring eyes werent helping the situation yet. He hadn't said anyting yet.)
Listen, I dont want to talk to you anymore, bye
(Not once was did I lose solid eye contact with these guys. If something was to happen I was ready to start throwing fists. Now let me emphasize these people might have been ok guys. Its just I dont want to be talked to by random people on a random night in a random country, all alone
Im sorry, I just really want to talk. I want to understand
(They weren't leaving, and the adreneline was throwing through my veins with my blood. I decided to draw the line this moment. With voice raised, and my eyes full of fire and narrowed on Simons beady browns.
Leave me the FUCK alone.

They turned around and walked away, glancing back occasionally. I hadn't hadn't moved yet and kept staring in their direction so when they did glance back, I was right there.

Laughter broke out next to me...a welcome relieft. Two college kids...what the fuck was that about they were asking. We did the introduction game. They were two kids from VMI who were just about to jump in until I yelled at ol Simon and Garfunkle.

That is pretty much the end of my adventure. In the next 16 hours I would be riding trains, switching 6 times. Returning to good ol Maastricht.