Fri. 8/27 - Fri. 9/3

Ok guys, my trip is almost over & I want to go enjoy the rest of it, so here's the quick & dirty version:

Fri. 8/27
Arrived in Prague & got lost several times w/ my ultra heavy bags (I had an extra one I'd been trying to send home, but never got around to) on my way to the hostel

Found hostel (Hostel Elf) and met my two uber-cool roomies from Toronto, Steve & Mike. We went shopping at the local market and had lunch at the hostel's outdoor picnic tables.

Went to dinner w/ three kids from England (Polly, Lorna & James) near the Main Square. The restaurant's food was great, but they ripped us off a bit (only a few bucks, but it's the principle). Had delicious gelato at Dream & Cream. Got a tad lost on the way to the train & it began to rain :) but found train & went "home".

Sat. 8/28
Did "King's Walk" walking tour for 8 hours!!!

Sun. 8/29
Went to the big Castle w/ Kiwis (New Zealanders) Kelly (another one of my roomies), Ian & Rebecca

Mon. 8/30
Walking tour of Prague w/ Steve (a German guy who works in the hostel, is a real character & is VERY opionated & political) & a bunch of peeps from the hostel (made more new friends)

Dinner w/ some cool peeps from hostel/tour/roomies (Charlie (England), Dan (Canadian), Kelli (California!), Pablo (Costa Rica), Tanyin (England) at this cool local restaurant near the hostel. The food was AMAZING!!! Apparently, I was told that Americans think everything is AMAZING...LOL.

Spent my last night up late hangin' everyone in the hostel (it's a party every night there).

Tues. 8/31
Charlie & I went to the Jewish Town, which was cool cuz the day before he had gotten into it (along w/ Tanyin) w/ Steve on the tour re: the Holocaust when we stopped in front of a Synagogue; his grandfathers had fought in WWI & II. I ended up talking to both Charlie & Tanyin re: it Mon. night before dinner, cuz I was upset, though I didn't say anything at the time. All the Holocaust stuff was wearing on me at that point. Anyway, Charlie & I toured the sights there and then went to an excellent Czech & World music concert (classical & Opera) in the Spanish Synagogue (which is absolutely stunning).

We went back to the hostel & I packed to catch my night train to Budapest. All of a sudden, I looked at my watch & realized I had 18 minutes to catch my train. Charlie & Kelli (the female Californian, not the male Kiwi (I was the only female in my room, BTW) made a mad dash w/ me (train sta. is a 10-min. walk) to the station. As we approached it, I realized I was an hour off...teeheehee...so we had time to relax & chill together. We finally did the lil massage exchange we'd been talking about :). And then they saw me off.

Wed. 9/1
Arrived in Budapest & went to my hostel, the Best Hostel, which was a laugh, b/c they were like the freakin Gestapo w/ their rules. My leg was injured from all the walking I'd been doing & I was exhausted from the night train, so I slept from 9:30am-3:30pm. Then, I went to find another place to stay. Ended up at the Hostel Astoria, which was new, clean, nicer, not prison-like & more centrally-located.

Took a hot bath (yes, they actually had a tub!) and massaged my leg

Had dinner at 11pm at a creperie and then tea & dessert (a Hungarian one called dobos torta, which has a hard carmel top, a layer of whipped cream, a layer of custard & a slightly burnt coffee crust).

Thurs. 9/2
Did lots of meditation, yoga & chiropractic exercises.

Had lunch w/ two Americans (big mistake; one was your typical "ugly" American tourist, the other a hyperactive talker (yes, much worse than me, trust me)) at a fab restaurant.

Went to the Szechenyi Baths (where the locals go) & had a soak and an hour-long massage for $32!!! Both were great.

Stopped & bought groceries & cooked dinner at the hostel. Turned out what I thought that what I thought was a rice pilaf (which I bought in Prague) was a sauce for meats...hahaha!

Fri. 9/3
At brekkie, I discovered that the two huge "yogurts" I bought were in fact sour cream :). Thank goodness I'd also bought eggs.

Went to two main streets: Vaci utca (pedestrian street w/ lots of shops), which ended at Gerbaud (a famous cafe) where I had coffee & Marzipan torte, & Andrassy ut. Discovered a cool park. Climbed to the top of St. Stephen's Basilica. Checked out the Postal Museum (my great gramma was a postmistress in Budapest before emigrating to the states in 1903). Saw the opera house. Had dinner. Went to the train sta. to buy my ticket back to Warsaw, but they couldn't sell it to me from that station cuz it wasn't departing from there. Went to mall to buy duffel bag to carry my stuff that I never mailed home :). Went for tea at a sidewalk cafe (aren't they all...) that had bamboo & palms. Toured Liszt Square. Went for dessert at the cafe I planned on going to. Stopped at synagogue, just to look (right behind my hostel). Went "home". As usual, it was noisy even though it was late. Everyone there seemed to have no respect for those of us who wished to go to bed "early" (I got in around 11:30pm, bathed & meditated, so it was after 1am by then). Ended up in a fight about it w/ two of my roomies, so I packed up & left. Got a cab & at hotel #4, found vacancy...for a fee. Very nice place though. Went to bed around 4am or so.

Sat. 9/4
Woke up around 2:30pm. Got things organized & did some errandy-type things that I needed to do. Now I'm about to go for a sauna & swim, buy my train ticket for tomorrow night, find an internet cafe & download pics, call peeps in Warsaw re: my arrival & have dinner on the Danube. Tomorrow I plan on touring the Jewish Quarter, going to the Buda side (Castle Hill & Gellert Hill & Baths) before catching my train.

Was that brief enough for you? :P