Buda and Pest

Hello,
Dakota and I got into Budapest Friday evening after a few hours on the train. We set out to figure out the public transit here and find our hostel. This, however took far longer than expected due the "off-yonder-ness" of our hostel. There were no resturants nearby and the so called "10 minutes to downtown" was really "a 15 minute tram ride to the metro station which you then have to take to get downtown." It seemed like a pretty chill place but it was loud with this annoying dog, needless to say we found plenty of faults. So, we packed up the next morning checked out four nights early and moved to a hostel that was actually in the city. Our new hostel has been nice. There is free internet and our room has these cool little balconies. Also there are numerous resturants, bars, and signs of life nearby.
So far in Budapest we've visited a House of Terror Museum which was about the Nazi occupation soon followed by the Communist regime. We visited replicas of their prison and execution room, fun. Also, we spent a wonderful saturday night at the Turkish baths. That was very relaxing although we smelled like sulfur after. Sunday we ventured across the rive to the Buda side of things where there are several old churches, a labrinyth, and of course a palace which is home to the current Hungarian president. All of this is on top of a hill with a fabulous view of the Danube and the Parliament building (where we are heading today). From up there we saw some type of street fair taking place on one of the bridges so we trekked it downhill and found a neat arts and crafts type fair. There was music and performances on the far side of the bridge so we wandered all the way across before heading back to our hostel. Last night was also the Finals for Euro 2008 between Spain and Germany. We got great seats outside of this bar called Jolly Rogers with a big TV and surround by football fans. It was very unAmerican haha :)
Anyhow we're off to see more of the Pest side today. And kota is anxious to check her email so until later.
Love,
Cara