Location: Budapest, Hungary

M: I love markets. I love Christmas. Christmas markets? You guessed it – I love them. Luckily for us, the Budapest Christmas markets just started a couple days ago! The first order of business was food though as it was almost noon. Shivani had yet to go to Bamba Marha, the best burger place in the entire world, so we naturally had to go there. After trying a few of their burgers, I can now officially say that the Big Kahuna burger is the best. Bacon, pineapple, teriyaki sauce, cheese, an amazing patty and just the right amount of bun. I’m drooling while writing this.

With full bellies, Shivani, Savanna and I set off for the Christmas markets. On the way we passed by a few promising balconies for my dream morning, but none that rival the best ones we found in Italy.

S: Literally this entire trip Meaghan has been pointing out potential balconies for this ‘latte and people watching dream morning’ thing… And it’s been a surprisingly accurate representation of our favourite cities. Our favourite places are all busy, walkable, have a million places to eat food and get coffee, and are decrepitly beautiful. So for a latte drinking, people watching, feet up on a ledge kind of morning? We’ve got our stuff figured out.

We wandered over to St. Stephen’s Basilica after burgers, and it was so beautiful. I’m realizing recently that I think I’ve spent the majority of this trip with my mouth hanging slightly agape. Also I realized I’m running out of ways to talk about churches. This one was was really great because we could see the parallels in the decor between the basilica and the parliament building. The florals, use of a particular blue and gold, and ceramic statues were beautiful. There was an interesting info board about how the dome fell in part way through construction due to shoddy workmanship, bad materials and changes is size. Meag, Shivani and I spent awhile gazing at the details and chatting about religion.

THEN WE WENT TO THE CHRISTMAS MARKETS. Glorious glorious day. It was our fist real jump into Christmas and was it ever exciting. We shopped around for mulled wine and looked closely at every stall, all for a wonderful couple hours. Wooden booths decorated with green garland and white Christmas lights lined the streets, while the smell of cooking Christmas food and hot wine wafted amidst the wares. We were met with incredible pottery, beautiful jewelry and art and a surprising number of things that were unknown to us. ‘What is this for?’ Question of the day. I bought an artistic map of Budapest that I couldn’t take my eyes off of, and I am looking forward to hanging it up in my room back home.

M: We had so much fun the beer bike last time that we jumped on the opportunity to do it again, even in the cold. There were 16 of us on this one, all bundled up with hats, mitts and scarves. My gloves definitely smell like beer now, but it was worth it to be cozy. There are a couple seats without pedals so normally people switch around to take a break. I was not interested in giving up my pedals because they kept me warm. Everyone on the bike agreed that this was by far the most exercise we’ve had in months, aside from climbing to the top of churches for a view.

S: The crowd on this beer bike was alive! We had a great time laughing, talking, singing and climbing around in Hero Square. After these shenanigans it was time to say goodbye to Adam and Dom, who had a bus to catch an hour later! Hugs all around and waving down the street completed we set off for Retox. I wouldn’t change anything we’ve done this trip, and everyone we’ve met has been so incredible, but I’m getting tired of saying goodbye to all these amazing friends we are making. I guess the silver lining is that wherever we go in the future there are likely to be friendly faces there, ready to pick right up where we left off.

M: The liveliness of the beer bike crew continued at Retox where we watched the Jäger train then took off to Szimpla with Shivani, Zoe, Alex, Alana and Allie. We were all keen on getting to Szimpla and all had our maps out, yet what was supposed to be a 15 minute walk turned into an hour. I think it was a bit of a too-many-cooks-in-the-kitchen situation combined with us all only half paying attention and taking wrong turns. Eventually we asked some locals going by on skateboards and found our way there. None of the other girls had been to Szimpla before so we explored every nook and cranny before joining in the dancing. The music at Szimpla is always so much fun! It’s not like club music or electronic music. It’s music that is fun to sing and dance to with friends, like The Proclaimers, Spice Girls and AC/DC with a little Beyoncé thrown in for good measure. It was yet another great night out in Budapest, ended with a $1 piece of pizza eaten on the couch at Vitae while making even more new friends.

S&M