We spent most of the day on a quest for free things. You see, our Hop On Hop Off tour bus tickets came with coupons for free soup and free beer, and if there's one thing Kate Brindle and Keith Lenart like, it's a bargain.
We started the day by admiring Budapest's bridges and beauty.
We then went to a vegan restaurant called Napfényes Étterem. I had the oat fritters, cabbage, and potatoes, which were fantastic! If you ever find yourself in Budapest, run, don't walk, to this restaurant! You'll be glad you did.
After eating way too much (the above picture was only one course), I waddled to the Hungarian National Museum.
And after that, it was 'hot pursuit of free beer' time! After walking around for quite a while, we finally found it, but sadly, I didn't take any pictures.
I did, however, get some pictures of St. Stephen's Basilica on our way back for the evening. What a stunner!
We kicked off the day by checking out St. Stephen's Basilica, which is only a five minute walk from where we were staying. It was so gorgeous!
Keith.
We then found some vegan gelato, which was equally pretty and delicious.
We then bought Hop On Hop Off tour bus tickets, which was a rather interesting experience. We found out quite quickly there are no public bathrooms in Budapest (at least free ones, anyway), and people get very upset when you even dare ask about them. When I asked the clerk at the Hop On Hop Off bus ticket office if I could use there bathroom, I was met with a swift "no."
After paying for the tickets, Keith and I were trying to ask the clerk a few questions about the tour when she promptly cut us off with a very sarcastic "thanks, bye-eee."
Keith and I exchanged puzzled looks, but we were obedient to her command and thus, thanked her and said our goodbyes.
We then discussed how we found her response to us to be rather rude, but also highly effective. We talked about how we could incorporate "thanks, bye-eee" into our daily lives (for example, when someone after a show won't leave you alone and insists on telling you offensive jokes).
We took the tour bus around the city, where I snapped these pictures:
The Opera House.
We also stopped at a pretty park, and again had poor luck with attempting to find a restroom. We walked into a convenience store adjacent to the park, and the clerk immediately started yelling "OUTSIDE! OUTSIDE!" at Keith. We couldn't figure out why she was directing him to leave, but we obliged. Only later did we realize it was because he was carrying a water bottle that he hadn't purchased at the store. Oops.
After the tour, we headed to the grocery store where we learned three things: 1. wheelie shopping baskets are way too much fun. 2. Plastic shopping bags are not free. 3. When you ask for a bag after you've already paid, you will get yelled at and ridiculed.
Lesson learned.
For dinner, we headed to a hummus bar (I think that was the name of it actually). Beer + hummus for the win. We ate outside, and the weather and people-watching were both fantastic.
On our second (and last) day in Norway, we decided to go to Holmenkollen, which is the Olympic ski jump and museum located just outside of Oslo.
I knew ski jumping looked terrifying and dangerous from seeing it on television, but seeing it in person brought the fear factor to another level. At the museum, we learned all about the history of ski jumping (i.e., people who decided to try it must have been really bored...and not at all afraid of serious bodily injury), and we also went on a ski jump simulator.
Holmenkollen is also, coincidentally, the place where I learned that there's not enough money in the world for me to try ski jumping.
The jump hill was pretty spectacular, and there was even a zipline high above it, which neither Keith nor I had the guts to try. The simulator was enough for us. I was just amazed that people weren't screaming on the zipline as I would have been screaming my head off.
From atop the jump, we could see so much of the city. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day, and my iPhone camera didn't truly capture what we could see.
After the ski jump, we headed to the airport and hopped (see what I did there?) a plane to Budapest, Hungary.
At the airport, we got sucked into a conveyor belt sushi restaurant because I had always wanted to try one. Plus, it just looked so fun! And I must say, it was. I'm pretty convinced everything you want in life should magically appear before you on a conveyor belt. Imagine the possibilities...
These were some of the vegan selections:
We were both so excited to go to Hungary. I had never been there before (while I had been to Iceland and Norway in the past), and Keith's ancestors are Hungarian.
The flight was uneventful, and once we landed, we gathered our bags and made our way to where we were staying.
Rather than staying in a hotel, we decided to go the Air BnB/rent-a-room route. We were so glad that we did!
We met Miss Elizabeth (no, not the WWE character; this one was the owner of the room), and she showed us around her place. The building was so pretty, and it was located in a great neighborhood on the Pest side of the city. There were tons of restaurants and grocery stores around there, too.
The room was really modern, and had its own entrance and kitchen. Miss Elizabeth had it decorated super cute as well!
Talking to Miss Elizabeth was interesting as she didn't speak much English, and we speak no Hungarian (I did, however, learn a few pleasantries before the trip, but that's about it). I don't think I've ever been so thankful for google translate as I was then since we used the app to take turns speaking to the phone, and then it would magically translate our words. Thank you, 2016!
After checking in, our mission was to find food! Hungary is significantly cheaper than Iceland and Norway so we decided to go all out, rather than grabbing convenience store snacks.
We settled on this traditional Hungarian cafe called Hung(a)ry? (harhar), and I had my first vegan Hungarian meal (paprikás krumpli).
It was really hardy and quite good! The Hungarian beer was certainly nice, too.
Our server was a super nice guy named Meisha, and at one point, he even joined us at our table. We were the only customers in the restaurant since we arrived rather late, so the three of us shared stories and laughs.
With our bellies full, we walked around for a bit and planned out our first full day in Budapest. Already I'm enamored by the city's beauty!
With my legs still feeling like jelly, I boarded a red-eye flight to Oslo (because, what could be better for sore legs than not sleeping and being cramped in an airplane seat?). The flight was only 2 hours long, but because of the time difference, we arrived in Norway in the wee hours of the morning.
We attempted to take a train into the city, but ended up getting on the wrong way after asking a local guy. He felt so bad and kept apologizing to us since the mistake ended up adding an hour or so to our trip. We didn't mind too much since we couldn't check into our hotel anyway, and the trains in Norway are super comfortable, so we were able to squeeze in a quick nap. A very tired me explains all of this in video form here:
After napping on both the train and in our hotel's lobby, we bought tickets for the Hop On Hop Off bus.
We were clearly more excited than anyone else (or perhaps just slap happy from sleep-deprivation).
Our first stop was the Viking Ship Museum. I had been to a Viking ship museum in Copenhagen before, but the ships in Oslo's museum were way bigger! I was amazed by their size and detail.
We walked around Oslo, rode the tour bus around (where I snapped the below pictures), and napped it up in our oh-so-IKEA hotel room. I also stopped at a local burrito place (kind of like a Norwegian Chipotle) where the guy working there was an American from Miami. Again, I had visions dance in my head of moving to Scandinavia and working there. Unfortunately, the line was too long for me to fully inquire how he was able to work in Europe as an American (especially since, he admitted to speaking no Norwegian), so instead, I just imagined myself living in Norway while wolfing down my guacamole.
At night, we headed out to see more of the city. First, we grabbed a coffee at a cute little outdoor restaurant that epitomizes everything I think of when I think outdoor, European cafe. It was filled with flowers and made people-watching quite easy.
Can you tell I was tired?
Some of the buildings we saw:
The Nobel Peace Center.
City Hall.
I'm pretty sure I took this picture so we could remember how to get back to our hotel, but I think it's kind of pretty.
I had heard so much about the unique architecture of the Oslo Opera House, so we headed there as well. Unfortunately, the pictures I took at night didn't really do it justice, but I did get a shot from the Opera House of the building across the street.
We also saw some street performers, including this guy:
We didn't go out to dinner because we were so tired. Instead, we just bought way too expensive things at 7-11 (I believe I paid $9 for a bag of popcorn and an orange juice) and called it a night.
