Our next stop was Budapest, a city I completely fell in love with. It was love at first sight: as our train glided into Hungary I began to see markets, gritty structures, and old cars and immediately knew that I would love this place.

We were welcomed by people running on the train tracks and jumping onto the back of the train in order to get onto it - we could definitely see we were no longer in peaceful little Prague.

Our hostel was much easier to find than in Prague so we quickly dropped off our luggage and went in search of food as we were Hungary (sorry, I had to) after the grueling 7 hour train ride. We found a traditional Hungarian restaurant called 'Paprika' which had outstanding food and friendly waiters.

Paprika

Afterwards, we made our way to the parliament building - an intricate, beautifully crafted structure. We walked along the Danube where you could see the entire city and that's when Budapest completely stole my heart - I couldn't quite capture it on camera but it was truly one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen.
Tired from our journey, we walked around the town centre a little before headed back to our hostel for an early night.
 Parliament Building
 Walking along the river
Exploring the city

The next day we went to a large indoor market called Great Market Hall which ended up being another favorite of mine from our trip to Budapest. I love markets. I feel like it's here that you can catch a glimpse of the true essence of a country's locals. The building itself was absolutely stunning like pretty much all the architecture in Budapest and the inside had a cool, web-like design.
Great Market Hall 

We found a nearby Italian-Hungarian restaurant (we encountered Creepy Guy #5 on the way: a man promising Flora a "free kiss") where we ate some warm goulash and delicious Hungarian deserts. Full-bellied and satisfied, we made our way over to Buda where we walked up to the castle. It was stunning up there and I had such a relaxing time spending our last few hours in Budapest strolling around, exploring and taking pictures. On the way down, Flora and I decided to practice our German by translating English songs such as Talk Dirty by Jason Derulo and Wannabe by Spice Girls into German, in fits of giggles the entire time. Needless to say we got quite a few funny looks!
 Hungarian Deserts
 Exploring Buda

Afterwards we made our way back to our hostel over on Pest and said farewell to the lovely Budapest. We were so worn out the entire time we were in Budapest but I absolutely adore the city - I'll definitely be heading back there. 
And so we caught our train back to Vienna. We were fully prepared for a nice long nap but of course we got seated next to a crying baby! Luckily, the journey only took under 3 hours. As much as I loved this trip it felt damn nice to be home!
Living in Central Europe (Vienna) means easy access to lots of other countries and i'm so excited for future travels - my wanderlust is finally beginning to be fulfilled!