Day 30: One Month Gone — Matt Goes Exploring

Today is July 10th. This journey started June 10th. It's official. It's been one whole month. But you could probably tell that by it being day thirty, so I don't really know why I'm pointing it out.

So if you remember, today I planned to visit one of Budapest's spas. If you don't know, Budapest is called "The Spa Capital of the World." So it seemed appropriate that I visit one during my stay. I also thought I deserved a spa day, after all it has been a month.

So I found out that one of the most famous spas was located in City Park, which is the park I visited yesterday. I had actually gone inside the lobby of the spa yesterday without realizing it was a spa. I thought it was some kind of museum, but when I got inside it didn't look like one, so I looked at the centaur statue and left. That's right, the lobby had a centaur statue. And in this statue, the centaur was holding up a baby merman, as well as fighting off an adult merman. I don't know what was going on in this statue, but it seemed like the centaur was the villain. It was very interesting.

It's kinda tough to see, but here's the centaur, holding up the baby merman. Merbaby?

So I returned with new information today. I bought a ticket into the spa, and entered. I walked down the hallway and entered a room full of what looked like changing rooms. I didn't know what was going on so I started walking. Then a staff member called me over, they checked my ticket, and told me I wasn't allowed up here. I had to go downstairs. So I did.

Downstairs was where the lockers were. I didn't get a personal changing room, I just got a locker. It was very reminiscent of the YMCA in my home town, or my high school locker room. The main difference was that there was a bunch of old guys in speedos. I found a locker and put my bag down. This is when I realized I didn't have a towel. I looked around. Realization sank in that I didn't want to be here. I didn't know where to go, what to do, and most of all, I didn't want to be surrounded by all these half-naked strangers.

Within twenty minutes of walking through the gate with my ticket, I returned to exit. The young girl operating the gate was surprised to see me, but I smiled confidently enough to prove that I knew what I was doing.

I stepped back out into the park, not sure what to do with the rest of my day. So I did what I did that day in Zurich so long ago. I wandered the park, finding nice places to sit, and reading.

I finished J. R. R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion today. It was not as compelling a story as Lord of the Rings because it is mainly a summary of what happened previously to the more famous books. I found it very interesting though, as some of you may know, I am working on my own fantasy novel, so I enjoyed learning about one of the most epic fantasy worlds in modern literature.

I was actually inspired to work on that novel a little today. Lately I've been trying to decide if I want to make it into a graphic novel instead. I know I'll at least try the graphic novel route to see how I like it. With my time in the park I brought out my notebook and pen and did a rough sketch of the world I was creating for the story. I had already done this, but this time I applied some new ideas and I think I'm much happier with the completed product now. I know I'm being pretty vague, but I don't like giving things away. You'll just have to read the book when it comes out.

So today was not as eventful as it could have been, and I take the blame for that, but I also don't mind. Not every day has to be something spectacular. I'd get pretty tired if that was the case. And I already get pretty tired.

Tomorrow I get on a plane to Tokyo. It's going to be a long flight, I leave in the evening tomorrow, and don't get to Tokyo until the following evening. But I'll find things to take up my time. I've already got some plans in the works.

So ends my time in Europe, but I've got two other continents to visit this week, so I don't mind. I really enjoyed my time in this part of the world, and I can't wait to come back. There are so many other parts of Europe that I still need to explore, Spain, Amsterdam, Norway/Sweden, and plenty of other places that I can't think of. Not to mention the places I want to come back to.

But that won't be for a little while. So I'll keep looking into the not too distant future. First Tokyo, then Sydney, and finally New Zealand. I am really excited to explore these places, and I hope you're excited to read about them.

On that note, thanks for reading, and here's to tomorrow.

Here's two more of today's photos.