I learned pretty quickly that the Grand Budapest Hotel is a fictional fabrication and not a real building, but fortunately Budapest has many other “Grand” sights to behold.

Firstly, my journey from Kiev, Ukraine to Budapest, Hungary was an anomaly by backpacking standards. I have gotten used to long waits and inconvenient departure times. The only wait was for the roughly 5pm departure time from Kiev which brought me to the utmost edge of Ukraine in Chop, arriving at 9am. The approximate 16-hour train ride cost a mere equivalent of $5.75 US. That included a sleeper berth, which at this point has become quite common for me. I am usually able to sleep soundly despite the crowdedness, maybe even better than a hostel bed, in thanks, part to the rhythm of a moving train. That train was a pleasant surprise for the price and then upon arrival in Chop, Ukraine I only had to wait 20 minutes for a train to take me across the border to Záhony, Hungary. The immigration and passport control went smoothly and I arrived in Záhony with my Hungarian entry stamp and my official entry into the EU. While the 20-minute wait seemed like a quick turnaround, upon arriving in Záhony I had 5 minutes to quickly purchase a ticket taking me straight to Budapest. My receipt showed a 10:01 purchase with the train leaving at 10:03am. I doubt I could have even planned it that perfectly! It’s very rare that things line up that perfectly especially when flying by the seat of your pants, as I usually do.

My first day in Budapest was greeted with the visit of my Summer camp friends Mark and Veronika at the train Station. Veronika had to quickly get back to work, so Mark took me to grab some food since I had ridden through lunch. Mark then had to leave for soccer practice, leaving me to wander the famous Danube river at night. It was gorgeous with the Parliament, a cathedral, and a castle all lit up along the river walk.

The next day after a nights rest in a downtown hostel Mark, Veronika, and now Balazs gave me a tour of the city! I really didn’t have any expectations for Hungary since I really didn’t know much about it, but I was really impressed with how nice it was. Super nice public transport, very clean, and all sorts of nest old buildings.

We went inside the St. Stephen’s Basilica and it reminded me of the grand cathedrals I visited in Italy on my first trip to Europe. Not sure when from China to Russia to Hungary that I officially entered Europe, but I can be sure I’m there now!

Then at night I met back up with Veronika and we climbed to the top of the Citadel. I guess that statue there in the picture above is the Hungarian equivalent of the statue of Liberty. The views from the top were great as well!

After, that I said goodbye and I made my way by public transport to the bus station. It was a quick trip, but a good one!

Now I am in Czechia after a 5 hour bus ride. Through the night I went right through Bratislava, the capital of Solvakia. My layover here was from 4am to 8:30am. Luckily I’ve been camping out in a 24/7 bar and cafe. I witnessed drunken fights at 5am and then almost immediately afterwards the crowd changed to older folks getting there 5:30am coffee. Kind of interesting to see…

Tomorrow, I plan on touring Auschwitz and then I’ll head a little further north in Poland to visit a friend from University.