Here, There and Everywhere: June 2012

Or, better known as Budapest, Hungary. However, the city is actually two towns, separated by the Danube River, and people put an "sh" in the Pest when they say it.

When Bethanne and I were thinking of ideas for a trip together this Spring, Budapest and Prague popped into my head. We didn't really toy around with too many other ideas- we just went for it. I cannot believe how much I LOVED Budapest. And for the first time in I don't know how many vacations, we had nice weather.

We rented an apartment that was within walking distance of almost everything. However, by day three we figured out the Metro because we were both really sick of walking. I was so tired by the end of each day that we never really even went out and saw the nightlife, other than dinner. To me that's not what traveling is all about anyway. A vacation on a beach, bring the beers on. However as I'm sure you have seen from this blog over the years, a trip to Europe turns me into Super Tourist, and Bethanne is the same way.

The first day we stumbled upon Margaret Island (which I don't have photos of). It was a huge park with families everywhere, flowers, fountains, etc. We rented pink bikes for about an hour which was hilarious because I'm not so good at turning. Then we just walked around, checked out the cit(ies), and found a place to eat some goulash for dinner. After the first day, we had our bearings as to where things generally were. And I say generally because even with BA being a great map reader, we looked for a restaurant that we heard about for like 30 minutes, and still never found it. Examples of names of streets are Klauzal and Berkocsis- not easy to remember.

The second day we decided to hike it up to Buda (we were staying in Pest) to check out Castle Hill. And by hike it up, I mean take a funicular. We walked across the Chain Bridge to get there, which was very cool. We checked out the Royal Palace, a church, and got a way overpriced lunch on the Hill that was totally fat free (right). The view was so beautiful, and it wasn't too overcrowded. Our favorite building in Budapest was definitely the Parliament. I wanted to take this train I read about into the Buda Hills, so we tried that. Not the most memorable afternoon, but oh well. We had dinner at an awesome Mexican restaurant that night called Iguana and I think we in bed before 10:00. I bet we walked over 10 miles that day, on cobblestones.

One thing of note in Budapest is that they love Italian food. It was almost difficult for us to find good restaurants that were not Italian. We ate it two out of the four nights that we were there! Another thing to point out is how affordable it is. We each took out the equivalent of $100 USD, and we both still had cash on the third day.

Day three was day trip day- more on that in the next blog.

The fourth day, BA felt like we had missed out on a lot of things we should see, so we covered a ridiculous amount of ground. We went to the Opera House in the Terezvaros area and did a tour. It was beautiful, but I have honestly seen so many theatres that unfortunately I'm a little over that whole thing. But it was next to a Louis Vuitton so that made it okay. Then we went to the most famous dessert and coffee place in Budapest (and may I add, the most expensive) called Gerbeaud. It was SO GOOD. Until BA spilled her million dollar coffee all over the table and the floor. The one thing that I think both of us will remember is that on the plate with the apple pie was something that looked like a green cherry. Neither of us really wanted to try it, but I finally gave in. It was soft like a cherry, but tasted like an apple.... so strange, and so good.

The last thing that we did that day was something that Budapest is known for- their baths! We took a train to the Szechenyi Spa Baths. The first half hour we were there was a joke. We had no idea what we were doing, and nothing was written in English. Unlike the baths we have both experienced in Germany, this was more like a public pool bath, not numbered stations that you follow. We eventually figured it out, and spent a few hours there. They had the hottest sauna I have ever felt in my life. Why would I want to steam burn myself? I am so happy that we did this at night and got to see the structure lit up. So beautiful.

I would recommend Budapest to anyone. The people, the food, the sights, the architecture- there are unlimited things to do there. Loved it!