Buda

Managed to get up today! Feel so much better after a day of rest. After a slow start, my trip seems to be speeding up. I am looking forward to the islands of Croatia.. relax time! I have mostly organized where I am going and staying. I have even booked some diving.

I spent this morning on Castle Hill in Buda. Went to the Budapest History Museum at the Royal Palace. Also visited Matthias Church, a neo-gothic church and the Fisherman's Bastion, a neo-gothic arcade on Castle Hill. Late this afternoon I headed out to Statue Park. It's a bit in the middle of nowhere and I was just starting to think that I was on a bus to who-knows-where, when suddenly we were there. Most countries destroyed most anything to do with Communism, Hungary built a park devoted to it! It is full of statues of Soviet liberators and Communist leaders. Sort of strange tourist site.

Tomorrow will be another busy day as I try to squeeze in what else I can in Budapest (Pest actually) before I head to Zagreb, Croatia at 17:30. Finally I will be in a country where I can figure out how much money I am spending!! In Slovakia the exchange rate was something like 1:56 and in Hungary it is about 1:380. Some days I have hit the ATM 5 times a day because I keep running out of money! Good thing I opened a new bank account that doesn't charge for overseas withdrawals...