Happy Saturday from the crew here in 453! We decided to make the most of our last Saturday here in Budapest by doing a lot today. Anders and Ethan started the morning off with the classic hotel breakfast, while Tim and Josh hit up one of the local cafes. After their breakfast, Josh and Tim met up with friends to visit the Széchenyi Baths, which were a calming relief on a chilly day.
Meanwhile, Anders and Ethan were busy finding souvenirs at the giant market hall we visited on our first weekend here, as well as looking for a printer in the hotel for the special surprise of the day. We found almost everything we wanted to purchase, and on our trek back to the hotel to drop everything off, we stumbled across another little shop full of printed art pieces depicting Budapest from a local artist on magnets and postcards. It was a great find for sure!
After dropping our souvenirs back off in the hotel, we headed off for a late lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Gringos Amigos, with our friends. After learning our lesson from the first visit, we all got delicious burrito enchiladas, which were very filling and set us up for the rest of the day.
Across the city, the Tim and Josh's crew were busy meeting up with some locals they had connections with. They got to learn even more about the Hungarian language, as well as get more acquainted with the city of Budapest. Overall, it was a great experience for them.
From their meeting, Tim and Josh decided to go do what Anders and Ethan had done earlier in the day, buy souvenirs. Meanwhile, we had made our way into the northern parts of the city to Duna Arena for the final day of the European Women's Water Polo Championships!
Our tickets were for the whole championship day session, and we arrived midway through the 5th place game to give us enough time to get acquainted with the rules for the most important match of the day: Hungary's bronze medal game against The Netherlands.
The atmosphere at this game was amazing and full of energy, which was what we expected when we first heard of Hungary's prowess in the sport. The Hungarians got out to a quick lead, and the arena was going off. However, The Netherlands took advantage of fouls and got to a point where they were up 8-5, striking nerves into the crowd, us included. Amazingly, in the second half, Hungary was able to put together another string of goals to regain the lead. The video below shows their last goal, which all but secured the bronze for Hungary! (It doesn't do the crowd justice for how loud it got)
Still hyped from Hungary's win, we stayed for the final match between Spain and Russia, before seeing the award ceremony for the whole tournament. It was truly interesting to see the importance of water polo to such a small nation like Hungary.
While Anders and Co. were at water polo, the rest of our crew was busy searching for dinner, which they got at a scrumptious burger joint. It was then time to visit a board game bar. Unfortunately, it proved to be too crowded for this Saturday night, so that will have to come at a later date. We all finished our night with a nice trip back to the hotel along the river to get some much needed rest.
It's been a pleasure bringing you our adventures from Budapest and beyond for this month, so for the last time from 453, thanks for riding along!
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