Budapest

We took a train to Budapest and when I bought our ticket I assumed it was a high speed train because that’s what I’m used to in all our Western Europe adventures. I should have gotten a clue when our tickets were super cheap but didn’t. We ended up on an older train that moved at snail speed including going backwards for nearly an hour! The benefit of riding the cheapest and slowest transport option was being surrounded by backpackers. When I was in college i didn’t have time or money to backpack and don’t think I could have done it anyway, if I was unsure of that talking to backpackers for hours made my mind up. I found out something exists called couch surfing where you randomly go from peoples house you found on the internet and sleep on their couch. It made for an amusing ride for sure and made my 27 years seem very old. Once in Budapest we checked into our apartment and went exploring. We wandered the street of the Jewish quarter and the Jewish Synagogue.We found a fun little bar patio restaurant and had some delicious cabbage quesadillas and a book store. 

 
The next day we were still feeling exhausted from our journey and got a late start headed to tour the Jewish synagogue and to Parliament. It was amazing to come out of the metro station and see the Parliament building looming over the water, the sight will take your breath away. Because they had a special event that day tours were all sold out, we bought our tickets for the next day tours and explored the outside.

That afternoon we headed to the Central Market Hall (Nagy Vasarcsarnok) for lunch. Of course we got lost but thanks to some friendly strangers we eventually found it. We had lunch in the upstairs cafeteria and enjoyed some typical local food. The Market is the biggest we’ve ever been too, 3 stories and full of treasures. We got some fruit and enjoyed a picnic by the park overlooking one of the gorgeous bridges of Budapest. 

We called it an early night and did something we never do and ate Burger King, in our defense it was the first  fast food restaurant in Hungry so that’s historical right?

 The following morning we met our private guide Timea for our tour of Budapest. We started with a ride on the Children’s Railroad that was built in the 1940s and is still ran by middle school and high school kids. We got off the train and hiked up the the chair rail to get some nice views of the city. After a nice local lunch and a little more driving around we got on the metro for an afternoon of exploration. We saw the Opera House, Hero’s Square, Vajdahunyad Castle (which is a collection of replicas of historic building in Hungry from different eras), Szechenyi Baths, WW2 Memorial (Shoes on the Danube) and finished at Parliament for our tour. It was a super busy of walking and we were worn out by the end! The Parliament tour was 45 min and held a lot of interesting facts about the government and the building. 

 

Our final day in Budapest we decided to have a recharging day on Margaret Island. We started out on a Legenda cruise which was really informative on the history of Budapest and fun. It stopped on the island and we headed to Palatinus Pools, I really wanted to go to the Baths while in Budapest but with Maddy it wasn’t a good idea. Palatinus was the best of both worlds with a couple heated pools and shallow pools with kid play stuff. We spent the majority of the afternoon there relaxing and playing. We finally got to try the Langos (fried dough bread with sour cream and cheese with garlic) that had been recommended by locals to us. That evening I took the metro to Szechenyi Baths and treated myself to a massage and a tour of the Baths. A day at the Baths is a must do for our next visit. The massage was the most peculiar I’ve ever had! I came there right from the Palatinus pools so I had just put a dress over my swimsuit not thinking anything of it. All the massages I’ve ever had they have a sheet to cover you and I’m not particularly modest. What I didn’t count on was a semi-private massage room with just marble massage table and a weird massage guy. When I asked if he had a sheet or something he looked at me as if I had frown an extra head or something, how very American of me! And if me randomly very naked wasn’t bad enough the guy talked to me the whole massage, I think I left more tense then I started! But it was an experience for sure!! While I was getting the weirdest massage of my life Trey and Maddy went to Erzsébet Square to enjoy the Ferris wheel and park. Getting off the Ferris wheel Trey cut his toe and ended up having to track down a pharmacy before heading back to the apartment.

 

 We had a lazy night at the apartment and got ready to head back. Budapest surprised me and I really can’t wait to return the city is so  vast and we were running on fumes after Croatia. We didn’t do it nearly the justice necessary, but we will be back!