Cheese and Hungary

Apparently, it is time to change the name of this blog to "The Girl Who Eats Cheese with Every Meal". No worries, I shall elaborate. I've caught on to your methods Hungary!  The way they deal with vegetarians is to feed them vegetables/rice with cheese. Don't get me wrong, it's freaking delicious, but it is their method nonetheless. Example one: breakfast was mozzerella with basil and bread (YUM). Lunch was more cheese and a salad with a mind blowing dressing und apfel strudel! I'll keep you posted on dinner shortly. Another thing I love is that we have soup with every meal. Every. Meal. And they aren't chicken broth with a couple noodles, they are the most delicious concoctions. With lunch today, I had 'Onion of Bear' soup which was FABULOUS. It was creamy with spinach flecks and everyone downed it.
Most of today was spent touring Budapest with Ildi, our Hungarian guide. She's very well informed and obviously loves showing off her city. I can't say enough about the architecture here! The details in the stone are incredible and I continuously stop to stare at little carvings in the stone that probably don't even phase the locals. As soon as I get back, I'll upload pictures of it all. The little horses and figurines, are so intricately designs that they could just as easily hop out of the buildings and run off into the street.
Our first exploration of the day was a perfect example of that. We made a visit to St. Stevens Roman Catholic Church. This was my first visit to a European Church and I just about fell to my knees in sheer awe. The statues and models were breathtaking. Interestingly enough, instead of a statue of Jesus Christ in the center of the main chapel, there was a marble statue of Saint Steven. He apparently saved the city from the floods in the late 1800's and so they secured special permission from the Pope to construct the statue. All the details were so well done that I actually lost the ability to articulate my thoughts for a short while. Also in the church, was the mummified hand of Saint Steven. I don't remember why the church sought to acquire this particular item, but it was interesting, for sure.
After the church and lunch, we went to the Buda side of Budapest, which is the more wealthy and spaced out portion of the city that is across the Danube River from Pest, where my hostel is located. Pest is very much a city which houses mostly young inhabitants and has many bars/things to do at all hours. Buda, on the other hand, is full of mansions and rolling hills. It was definitely beautiful, but in a completely different way from Pest. It's full of quiet green space and seems to host a leisurely style and way of life's. Pest is constantly moving and changing due to the urban lifestyle, almost similar to Manhattan, but it still carries the relaxed undertones of Europe. If you want to go to bars or cages then Pest is your best friend, but if you want to sleep at night, Buda is the place to be.
Under Buda Castle was the 'Hospital in the Rock', which is an intricate tunnel system built into limestone caves. At differing points in time, it has served as underground storage for valuables, a hospital during two different wars, a nuclear bunker, and, most recently, a museum. As a nursing student, I was both riveted and horrified to hear about its hospital functions during WWII and the Hungarian/Soviet revolution in the 1950's. The sheer amount of people they crammed into those rooms was terrifying to hear about. The facility, designed to hold 150 patients, ended up with well over 600 patients during WWII. Conditions were so bad and supplies were so spare that nurses reportedly had to remove bandages from deceased patients and use them again on new patients. I  have never been in such a dire situation that I even had to consider that as an option, and I can't imagine having to make that choice. It was quite a labyrinth down there, and I was amazed that the guides were all some comfortable ducking down to avoid short ceilings and squeezing through painfully narrow passages.
Up next to the Castle, at the Fisherman's Bastion (which sports a fantastic view of Pest and the Parliament Building from across the Danube), we met a native Alaskan who is staying here for 43 days. It's pretty interesting that after only two weeks, she already seemed bored. Somehow, I doubt I'll get like that, but we shall see.
Dinner was at the same restaurant as last night, but, surprisingly, instead of more cheese, I was served the most incredible Vegetable Kebob. This place always has something new in store as far as food and drinks go. Once I'm stateside, I'll post all my food pictures so that you can see how beautiful these dinners are. Also, I'm assuming that those of you who are chefs will now attempt to make these for me when I'm back home. ;)
We did end up making a short trip to the mall where I picked up 6 or 7 super cute scarves for super cheap. These will probably show up in future pictures over the course of my excursion, because they're too cute to not show off.
As per usual, I am thoroughly exhausted and can barely hold my head up as I'm typing this. Maybe by Saturday, when I've had a chance to sleep in, I'll have a witty/coherent post.
Fingers crossed!
Sincerely,
What is the Hungarian word for miserably exhausted.