over the pond.

The last two weeks of term were full of hectic and soul-destroying days in the library writing essays, so we were very excited to get away for a few days to Budapest before starting revision for our May exams.

I didn't really know what to expect from Budapest, if I'm being honest, we hadn't really had time to sit down and think about what we wanted to do or see or what we thought it would be like before we went. It was sunny in Kent as we packed, but I didn't want to get my hopes up for a hot summer holiday, so packed mostly jeans and long sleeved shirts and thin jumpers. Turns out that was completely unnecessary as it was absolutely gorgeous! Warm and sunny every day! Which meant that I packed completely the wrong clothes... However, it didn't make it any less amazing!

I thought I'd bring my proper camera this time to get a couple of nice shots to print out for when we go to America in August, but I realised that landscapes really aren't my forte. It doesn't really matter because I didn't want to focus all my energy on getting nice shots anyway, I wanted to really be present, but I probably should have put a bit more effort into sorting out settings!

I kind of thought that Budapest would be similar to Prague, perhaps because it is the most recent place I've been and perhaps because its the most eastern European place I have been. But, if anything, it reminded me a lot of Barcelona. I think the weather definitely helped!

We only had three full days in the city, so we mostly spent it exploring both sides of the river and taking in the gorgeous views! It was such a lovely place, I swear every road we turned down one of us would say how beautiful it was! We found this great (albeit very touristy) market near our apartment which did the best flatbreads ever, I had the chicken one twice and it was like the most perfect half naan bread, half fajita you could ever imagine.

We were lucky enough to, almost accidentally, get an apartment really close to Kazinsczy Utca and the most famous area for ruin pubs. We had been told to try Szimpla Kert and it was literally amazing! It was absolutely huge and busy with such effortlessly cool decor and lots of nooks and cranies filled with the most random assortment of chairs and tables. There was even a woman walking around selling carrots! We sampled quite a range of their cocktails and, whilst their mojitos couldn't quite live up to Barcelona standards, they tasted really good and were a fair bit stronger than we are used to! When mixed with shots of Unicum (a horrendous Hungarian specialty), our nights out were merry! 

On a side note, it was really nice to go out with Adam again. We used to drink and go out as just the two of us quite a bit last year, but haven't really managed it at all this year. So it was nice to go out as a couple and enjoy getting (slightly haha) drunk together.

It was a great five days, there were literally no hitches or problems for the whole trip. It was lovely to spend some time with my favourite before exam/visa/holiday/America craziness! And I would definitely recommend Budapest to anywhere looking for a European city to chill out in- it was perfect!