There really isn’t much that can be said against our time in the region, although I dont think anyone would complain if Croatia either instilled a diet/workout ethic or made some of the beaches a bit more “clothed”…

(Don’t forget to check out the Eastern Europe Photo Gallery here)

Favorite moments:

• Sarajevo
• Seeing Morgan
• Pastries
• Baltic Music
• Movies in Budapest
• Beautiful beaches & coastlines

Not so great:

• Expensive lodging!
• Cold sea water
• Seeing naked people (not of our own free will)

Total Money Spent Per Person: $849.06

Average Per Day Costs Per Person:

• Lodging: $18.89
• Food: $11.04
• Transportation: $12.70
• Misc: $4.54 (movies, wine, park entrance fees, supplies, etc.)

Total Average Per Day, Per Person: $47.17

Number of Days: 18

Last day in Budapest. And what a lucky day! Our favorite bakery was closed (not so lucky) so we had pizza for breakfast(ish) and happened upon a huge music and food festival (very lucky) happening around and across one whole (huge) bridge over the Danube.

On the bridge

There were craft stands, food booths, live bands playing at either end of the long bridge and swarms of people enjoying the sights, sounds and tastes of Hungary’s capital city. We tried some of the favorite local food: a giant sausage dipped in mustard and fried potatoes.

It tastes better than it looks

Doesn’t sound great but is actually surprisingly tasty. Nice way to end our time in Budapest. Tomorrow, we fly to Hong Kong and into the real unknown.

We have been taking it pretty easy in Budapest so instead of boring you to tears with 3 sentence long dreadfully boring daily posts we have lumped them into one medium sized boring post! Budapest has fit our needs very nicely. Turns out our flight from here to Hong Kong (flying out Monday) will be pretty cheap and it gives us a chance to enjoy some western comforts before jumping into China.

What are you lookin' at?

So nnjoying those western comforts is about all we have been doing. We watched the new Terminator movie. Joke was on us though: it was overdubbed into Magyar (Hungarian). Lucky there is more action than dialog. We ate at a fantastic and horribly overpriced Mexican restaurant (we miss Mexican food like a fish misses water). We watched the new Sacha Cohen movie Bruno (in English!). And we have been eating amazingly cheap and mouthwateringly good pizza every… single… day.

Now doesn't that look tasty

We did do a little sightseeing while we were in Budapest. We spent one whole day exploring the hill and Buda Castle. The hill really affords some amazing views of the city and the river.

View from the Hill

The Castle on the other hand was alright but certainly not mindblowing like we had been told by others. We walked all over the hill which is covered with old churchs, storefronts, and restaurants we can’t afford.

The Castle

Finally on the 11th, we spent a delightful day at the big city park with cotton candy for lunch and later crossed over into the city zoo. Budapest has a very nice zoo facility with tons of animals, even a brown bear, raccoons and sloths! The sloth exhibit is probably the best as you get to enter the massive cage with the sloths and they climb around (slowly) right above your head or on the branch inches from your face with no fence or bars blocking your view.

Sloth and baby sloth hanging out

Besides those unusual zoo “exhibits” there was a white wolf, hairy 2-humped camels that we got to pet, a typical farm cow, and a huge gorilla that was so old he was graying out on most of his big, bulky body.

Lindsey and a spoiled Camel

We had such a fun time seeing the animals and checking out some fantastic tropical aquariums. By the time we left, we had nearly closed the place down.

Fish Fingers

Well, it was time to leave Bosnia last night on the train. We chose Budapest because we need a good hub to fly into Hong Kong from and this seems to be a good place. It was a long ride and we spent a very frustrating 2 hours trying to find any hostels which at first didn’t seem to exist. Then, once we began to find some, were all fully booked. Finally, we found a seasonal dorm (one of the college dorms that rents out as a hostel in the summer months) for a whopping US$19 for a 4 bed dorm. We got dinner and a large bottle of wine. The plan: Play cards and drink until no longer sober.