"To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world." - Freya Stark
So I felt as my night train into Budapest rolled into the station. A special excitement and wonder hung in the air from what seemed to me a crossroads between East and West. It was the farthest East I had ever been, and the strange language, which only Finnish was related to (in the entire world!) made me look around in wonder. Who were these people and what claims to fame did this city own?
I took a free shuttle to my hostel, only 12 Euro a night, on the other side of town, in Buda. The two cities were once distinct, much like Brooklyn and Manhattan, until they merged in 1873. So situated in the hills, with a streetcar system nearby, and a ten minute walk to the downtown Pest side, over the newly renovated Liberty Bridge, I began to familiarize myself. I had only myself and my harmonica, which I played as I ascended the top of the hill, overlooking the blue-green Danube. It was early August, and with the entire city to explore, I couldn't help but feel a tinge of nostalgia and a desire to discover it with a close friend.
Part of the definition of backpacking with Europe airline tickets is having little money and indeed, I had less than a hundred and twenty dollars to last me for another day here, a day in Vienna, and my rail fare between the two European capitals. That meant I had to be frugal on my meals and spend money on beer only when necessary. Soon it was dark and I was tired from walking up the famed Andrassy Avenue. I had hitched the subway back, which it turned out is the world's second oldest, and used my laptop to determine what to do tonight.
I shared my room with an Italian, whose English was poor, but who was nice enough. We nipped whiskey together before he left to meet some friends somewhere. I went to the first bar on my itinerary, where cycles bedecked the foyer, if you could call it such, and I met a Texan, who would prove to be my comrade for the evening. There were parties under bridges, late night dancing, and the prospect of long-term friends, so that I struggled to pull myself away from the group we had formed and to take the streetcar back to my side of town, just as the sun rose over the needled steeples of the Pariliament building. To go to sleep alone, in this vibrant city, was a delight hitherto unknown to the young traveler.
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