Sav: Thankfully I was up and at ’em this morning, though a little worse for wear. Yesterday was tough, and I’m thankful that Meaghan didn’t have the Plague as well. I was still feeling off this morning, but I didn’t want to lose another day in Budapest.

On an unfortunate note, my phone was stolen. Sorry about being MIA, family. I am working on hopefully finding it, but as a temporary solution until I get home I will be buying a replacement.

Meag: To raise our spirits after the double whammy of The Plague and the phone being stolen, we went to Cirkusz for breakfast. We have been dreaming about Cirkusz’ Turkish eggs since we left Budapest and it was just as delicious as we remembered.

Last time we were here we didn’t get our acts together enough to go on a tour of the Hungarian Parliament, so it was at the top of my list for our return. When we got to the Parliament building, the handful of guards were doing some kind of performance. We were very confused as to what the point of this was. There were five guards and they were marching back and forth and doing formations at the top of the stairs in time to the trumpet music coming from the speaker they brought outside for the performance. Sav and I were laughing to ourselves because the whole thing was ridiculous. Then what made it even better was that the guards themselves started laughing! It started with them trying not to smile, then we could see their shoulders get going trying to hold in their laughs. By the end the small crowd of about 50 people was laughing along with the guards. It was very strange and I may or may not have been cry-laughing by the end of it.

The tour was great too, thanks in part to the tour guide: a very good looking Hungarian man. We had earpieces so we could hear him well as we walked around, and it was like having him whispering right in our ears. And it just so happens that the things he was whispering in our ears were very interesting. We learned a bit more about history of the country, including the fact that in the 1940s the Hungarian Parliament changed from bicameral to unicameral. Neat stuff, if you ask me! Even the upkeep of the building was interesting to learn about. They have a giant chandelier hanging in main dome, above the Hungarian coronation crown, orb and sceptre. This chandelier can only be accessed from outside and we watched a short video about the process. They have 150 full-time craftspeople to maintain all the old, original pieces of the building, including a locksmith shop to make parts that are no longer manufactured today.

S: I loved how noticeably ‘Hungarian’ the parliament building was. Our guide continuously pointed out things that were classic to Hungarian decor and themes, like rich blues, particular floral patterns and colourful ceramic statuettes. Oftentimes I’ve thought this seemed random or a stretch in other countries, but it was so obvious in this building.

Next we went to the Grand hall market to each get a purse. My purse broke a few weeks ago (RIP Sebastian) and it was time for a replacement. Still on the hunt for my phone we asked around a few of the other hostels on the off chance that someone just picked it up rather than stole it (I know, I know, wishful thinking), but no such luck. It’s seeming like the trail has gone cold, Watson.

By this time we were starting to get hungry, so we came back to the hostel to drop off stuff and ended up bringing along our new friends, Adam and Dominic. The four of us trekked over to an Indian food restaurant Meaghan and I went to last time we were here, and the repeat experience did not disappoint. We spent dinner chatting about our Budapest experiences and laughing over the craziness of it all, which was a great way to kick off the evenings festivities.

M: This evening we went on a pub crawl, one of the activities we missed last time round because we took the night off. We went to really cool ruin bars like Kurplung and Fogasz. Each ruin bar is so unique and every time we go, we find a new corner we haven’t seen. Sometimes there are twinkly lights hanging from the big trees growing in the middle of the bar, other times there’s graffiti on the walls and at one ruin bar there’s even an old car parked in the middle. The night ended at Instant, an apartment complex turned bar with each dance floor playing different music. And a piece of $1 pizza for me on the way home.

S&M