Budapest was hot. Unbearably so. Because the city was very cheap we’d been lucky enough to rent a massive apartment. Even luckier that it had a portable air conditioner. But we’d come to do touristy things, so we couldn’t sit inside all day. Instead we went out and were pummeled by a wall of heat. We made it to a shaded park on the river, right next to the chain bridge, and tried to survive the day by watching the boats.
The park was a popular destination and crowds of people came and went. Only one other pair stayed as long as we had. We eventually went over and talked with them. They were two of the most gorgeous women I had ever seen. Ana and Svetlana were Hungarian Americans on a tour of Eastern Europe. Ana was Svetlana’s mother, but was still very young. She must have had Svetlana when she was about twenty, the same age Svetlana was now. They were both blond and had soft round faces. They both wore their hair in intricate braids, something that they admitted they’d only done for this trip.