And I'm off...

Ok, so my last days in Utrecht were extremely busy and hectic and more than a little overwhelming, but now I'm quite a ways away, in Hungary, and have some time to collect my thoughts. I won't attempt to undermine my time in Holland by summarizing it or choosing a greatest hits list. Anyone who read the blog knows I enjoyed and cherish the time I had. So I'll leave it at that, and will of course be more than willing to tell stories and relate experiences when I return.
As I said, I have now begun my 3 week long journey that should bring me from Budapest to Venice, to Nice and Barcelona, Torino and Switzerland before I head back to Holland to fly out of Schipol. It took 14 hours and three trains to get to Budapest. I left from Utrecht Centraal at 8:30 yesterday, switched trains with a ten minute window in Frankfurt, then switched again in Vienna. There is a noticeable difference in German trains and Hungarian trains. German trains smell like hand-picked flowers. Hungarian trains smell like stale, day old urine. That you're sitting in. German trains have safety devices on their doors, and there is no smoking allowed. On Hungarian trains, you can smoke while hanging out the door when the train is moving. For instance. So I arrived in Budapest around 23:00 last night and found my hostel with little trouble. It's by far the smallest hostel I've stayed in, barring the pension in Sevilla, and it sleeps 16. This also means the people are nicer, and more stuff is free. Free towel, and free breakfast, to name two. It's a cozy place.
I woke up this morning and headed out to see the city by foot. Budapest is split into Buda and Pest by the Dunbar river. The Pest side is very grid-like and more modern, and the Buda side is extremely hilly, with winding roads and paths leading up. It's one of those places where you want to take a picture of anything. That bridge. That statue. This small child letting her dog lick her feet, then her ice cream cone. Don't worry, I didn't take a photo of that.
It was a lengthy day, full of hill climbing and gawking at architecture, so I'm trying to relax back at the hostel for a while tonight. I'm also not quite recovered from the last week, where sleep was hard to come by, and I had to say good bye to a few people a day. That being said, I'll be cooking dinner with a few people here in not too long, then getting ready for another long day tomorrow. Budapest offers quite a bit to see, and for that matter do. I'm toying with the idea of going caving in Buda's labyrinth, though I'm not sure if I'll have the energy. An alternative is firing large handguns in the hills. Not as appealing, but it might be a fitting 4th of July activity. I need to make some loud noises, and fireworks are a lot more illegal here.
I wish everyone a Happy 4th, and I look forward to seeing you soon.