Grant and Michael's Excellent Adventure: Prague and Budapest

So we've been to Prague, you can Czech that off the list (sorry)
Anyways we got into Praha (correct way of saying Prague) around 11 PM and made our way to our hostel. It was a nice quant hostel about a twenty minutes walk to all the attractions.

So we woke up on the morning of the 13th with the plan of heading to the castle grounds and then catching an afternoon free walking tour. The castle grounds were set up on top of a giant hill, of course but they were really cool and offered amazing views of the cityy. On our way back down we made our way across the Charles Bridge to grab a quick bit to eat and go on the tour. The bridge is a very cool bridge with statues placed all around it, and it links the castle to the town. One of the cool things about Prague is that it was virtually untouched by the world war bombings, because well, they rolled over and played dead. But it worked out well for us to take in the Bohemian culture people and city. Anyways back to the timeline. We met the tour group around 2:30 and had an older tour guide who remembered the communist rule in the Czech Republic, which gave a cool slant to the tour as he took us around the old town and new town of Prague informing us about their history. After the tour had ended and we had made friends we made plans to meet up later. Before that though, we needed to eat and shower and change. So we headed back to the hostel and completed those takes before we headed back towards the Old Town Square to watch the Euro Cup for the night. On the way we stopped to grab a few beers to save us money so we didn't have to do it at the event. After we had cheered Germany on to victory (yeah, we're Germany fans now, or Schland fans!) we met up with our friends from the tour and had a beer at a bar, then headed to an Irish Bar (yeah, I don't know either, we have already been to Ireland.

The next day we woke up with plans to see one or two more things and then heading to Budapest. The only problem - it was pouring, and was supposed to all day. So we just took off for Budapest earlier than we had initially intended. So we headed to the Train Station, in the lightest period of rain we saw all day - well until we reached Budapest anyways. As we walk up to the tram station we find out that the machine is out of order and we can't buy tickets. So we just set out walking to the train station, with our backpacks on. Yep 3 mile walk, why not, its free right?

So we made the 1:00 bus out of Prague towards Budapest, and we finally got in around 7:00, and when we got to the Hostel they had messed something up in our order, so they upgraded us to a room with less people and gave us extra drink tickets. How could we complain? We couldn't, so we grabbed our free beers and watched the end of a soccer game before calling it an early-ish night.

The next day we woke up around 10 AM and headed out for the free walking tours that we have taken a liking to. On our way, we may have gotten a little lost. The thing about that was, we had picked up followers who were also trying to find the same tour, and assumed we were expert navigators of the city. We weren't but we had made friends for the next few days, and did end up finding the tour with them. The tour was great, and gave us a great history and feel for Budapest, and learned that it actually used to be two towns, Buda and Pest (pronounced Buda-PeSCHt) and learned about their communist rule and revolution, and how terrible of a situation it is and how it has lead them to where thez are today. After that tour we enjoyed it so much, and wanted to learn more about the Communist rule in Hungary that we signed up for another free walking tour on Communism, that started right after our previous tour (with time to eat some traditional Hungarian food of course) after the tour we grabbed a quick bite to eat, had a beer while we watched some soccer games in our hostel, and then met our new friends at a bar, then we called it a night, with plans to see a little more of the city the next day.

The next day we woke up and grabbed some breakfast and then met our two new friends to see the tour. We kept forgetting stuff though, and ended up getting a later start than we wanted. First stop though was the Terror Museum that walked through the Terror of the Nazis a little bit, but it mostly focused on the Communists. It was eyeopening and eerie. After that we all needed something a little more light hearted so we set out towards the baths, which Hungary is famous for, stopping only for a quick lunch. The baths are nothing like what I expected. It was essentially a bunch of hot tubs, pools, giant hot tubs in pools, freezing tubs, saunas and steam rooms. We obviously had a great time there, and wore ourselves out. Then the typical night in Budapest began. Came back, grabbed beer for a soccer game, grabbed a bite to eat, and met our new friends at a bar, before we called it a night.

The next day we had every intention of getting to Croatia. We got to the train station 2 and a half hours early, and when we got there it was a 2 hour wait to buy a ticket. Absolutely absurd. In the middle of it Michael ran back to grab our backpacks because while Grant waited in line. When Michael got back Grant had just finished talking and found out that we were at the wrong train station. So we sprinted towards the subway, with 20 minutes till the train left for Croatia, and by some miracle, or by the grace of God himself we made the train to Croatia, and are now settled in here about to head to the Plitvicka Falls National Park (look at pictures, its beautiful)