Day 9: See ya, Budapest

We woke up early on our last day in Budapest. We made our way to a large park on the Pest side with intentions of going to a public bath house. But once we got there, for whatever reason, decided against it. Instead, we wandered around somewhat aimlessly but grateful for cooler weather.  I was feeling pretty lethargic - perhaps it would've done me some good to soak in a hot tub with a bunch of strangers.

We decided to make our way back to the Castle Hill area and toured the St. Matthias church. I'm completely fascinated by the church. The money. The art. The religion. The ritual. The corruption. There's a lot going on in those old bones.









From there we hit up Central Market and bought some cookies. I overheard a woman from Texas (I know a Texas accent anywhere - especially in the middle of Hungary) asking a man behind the counter of a bakery to wrap up some sort of loaf treat extra tight because she was going to try and sneak it through customs on her way home. It made me smile - and it made home feel close by.

Jeremy and I decided to take a night train to Krakow, Poland that evening. But with a few hours to kill we decided to head back to our favorite wine bar. It was there that we met a middle-aged German man named Herman. Jeremy and I split a bottle of wine and discussed politics and Herman's hatred of the French. We chatted about how expensive Norway is and The Problem with America. But in the meantime I found myself completely distracted by people watching - really beautiful girls clouded in self-awareness - their faces as if they had practiced and perfected their best sexy pout - the kind you put on when you look at yourself in the mirror but really no other time. Another girl with bleached blonde dreads and amazing heels waiting for her date. The dude bros drinking Rosé on the patio. Just as I was falling deep into my tipsy it was time to go.









Arm-in-arm, Jeremy and I made our way to the train station and found our cabin which we shared with a young Polish guy named Thomas who works as a light designer in a theater in Krakow. We practiced our Polish with him and he told us about the vacation he just took with his sister and her husband to Croatia. I ate a cookie and read a bit before retiring to the top bunk.

Over the next 10 hours I enjoyed the most solid sleep I had had since being in Europe. The sound of the train was my lullaby and my dreams were its precious cargo. At 6AM we woke up in Poland.