Look at me! I'm in Hungary!

On my last day in Vienna, Roman and I decided to cross the border into Hungary. It is only about a 30 minute drive from Roman's house in Ebreichsdorf (see map below). Roman was telling me that Hungary was to Austria what Mexico was the U.S. I had to find out, and I didn't really think it was true. We went to the border town of Sopron which was not in any shape or form like Tijuana. Apparently it is pretty common to go across the border to go shopping or party. Roman and his friends go to get cheap haircuts. We went into this mall right across the border and it was basically like any American mall. They got haircuts while I sat and pretended to read a German magazine. We drove around Sopron a bit and you could really see the Soviet influence with the ugly, boxy high rise apartments and things like that. Roman pointed out a few old Soviet cars too.
The center of Sopron felt much different and was more like any other old European city. The iron curtain was basically an artificial division created after WWII. Before the 1940s, Austria and Hungary were part of the same empire and in the older part of town you can see this. We went to a cafe and I had a Hungarian beer. Things were a lot cheaper in Hungary than in Austria. A beer was something like 350 Forint ($1.66). It was an interesting little trip across the border. Hungary has recently joined the EU, so I guess I never even left the eurozone, although I did get my passport stamped.

Soviet style buildings
the old part of town