Budapest, Hungary

6/25

Culture shock set in as we got off the plane yesterday. Hungarian is a language that I can't even pretend to understand. We took a bus to our first metro station where a very stern woman ripped up the man's ticket in front of us because it was the wrong one. The money conversion is tricky, even for a math teacher to do on the fly. 3000 HUF is roughly $12. The great news is, things in Budapest are cheap and the Horns love a bargain, so we're ready to go spend some HUF.

The little airline that we flew to get here consisted of long lines, so we hadn't eaten anything but a quick snack that morning. We got here at 4:00 pm so we were HUNGARY! (the pun is for you dad ;). We searched a while for our hotel and then magically above us was none other than....drumroll.....

McDonalds has never tasted so good. We were able to point to what we wanted on the menu to get some familiar food. They had a special menu highlighting American Burgers, that we thought that was pretty funny.

We took the metro closer to the city action and saw a beautiful chapel (St. Stephen's Basilica)

Frontback of St. Stephen's and the City Streets

The surrounding area is very modern. Lots of restaurant's decorated "Pinterest style" with palates, chalkboards, patio lights, etc. It felt like home for a bit :).

We had pre-booked a river cruise down the Danube river where we saw amazing gothic architecture and beautiful buildings like the Buda Castle, Chain Bridge, and Parliament building. The danube seperates Buda from Pest. The Buda side is older, wealthier, and hilly, while the Pest side is younger and more modern.

View from the boat to Buda Castle

We're having a great time and thankful for this time together.

6/26
This morning we saw the Parliament building. The inside was intricate and many parts were coated with gold. The pillars are made of marble. The Hungarian King's crown is guarded all day and it is crazy to think about the money, time, and pride that goes with the building. The last king to wear the crown was in 1980. Today, the building is used for congress, senate, meetings, etc. We thought it was interesting that Hungary has five different house parties. The pictures do the building more justice than my description ever could:

Sausage links, cheese, goulash, and pieces of meat that I've never seen before hang from booths in the Grand Market Hall. There were three stories of food. On the first floor, I attempted to buy some cherries (they were a great deal, less than a dollar for a kilo). I tried to buy a quarter of a kilo, but I didn't do a very good job and left with a full kilo of cherries in my purse. The tourists hung out on the second floor where foods were cooked and served by the plate. We decided we were going to be authentic! I got a kabob and Tom got sausage. We split fries heavily seasoned with paprika (what Budapest is known for). The food was full of strong flavor. I enjoyed the sausage and pork, but could not bring myself to eat the fat (yes, fat, that I thought was an onion was on my kabob). It was interesting and left us with a hankering for ice cream, but it was delicious at the same time.

The evening brought us to the Fisherman's Bastian. We climbed the hills of Buda to reach an overlook and enjoyed a great view of the city. The Buda side of Budapest seemed magical. A quite and quaint rich part of town that made me feel like I was in a movie.

Following the magical view, was a labyrinth lantern tour. We walked down into the labyrinth and navigated our way through dank and dark caves. Literally all I could see was the walkway two feet ahead of us. Tom's arm probably was sore by the end because I had a tight grip! On the walk we hear ominous music and read about Dracula and the many uses for the labyrinth. The caves were used as a hide out during WWII, a place to keep prisoners, etc.

The night ended at a craft beer festival right in the center of Pest. Tom and I ended up talking to two guys from New Zealand for quite some time. They were younger and much more "Backpakerish" than us, but it was fun sharing stories.

A light night dinner was none other than....TACOS! We saw went in to the famous ruin pub and while it was neat, it was too club like for us. The taco sign next door caught our attention and we enjoyed some spice.

6/27
The Horn's ambitious plan of waking up early to start the day at a large flea market failed when we both snoozed the alarm and slept passed nine. An unusual happening in the Horn home, but we've also been eating dinner around 9 and going to bed around midnight. The culture here is so different and surprising, I haven't been tired late at night.

Despite the sleep in, we still had plenty of time to metro across town to the Pesca flea market where we were surprised to find tons of legos, rubix cubes (invented in Hungary), hungarian magazines and movies, American movies, and anything people wanted to sell. There were no gems in the rubble that we could fit in our bag, but we did haggle for a pack of gum. I know I know, that's so cheap of us, but when you're in a haggle market, you must haggle.

Just up the street were the famous Thermal Baths. Picture a huge concrete/marble building full of natural spring baths and people from all over the world just bathing in their euro suits. (Euro Suit (n): a tiny tiny covering). Tom and I got lockers and had a funny experience navigating to the men/women's side and getting to the outside baths. Our favorite sight was two friendly older Hungarians playing several intense chess matches.

About to walk into the Szecheyni Thermal Baths

"Enough Said"

The afternoon led us walking around a park and picking up a burger and fries. It really was a mediocre burger, but we enjoyed eating good ole American food.

The last night in Budapest was full of walking the streets. We wanted to find Tom a pair of "Jorts" (jean shorts that are very popular here), but many shops were closed, or a little too trendy for our style. We walked across the well-lit Chain Bridge and took in views on a park bench just talking about friends, family, and Dirky. We're not home-sick, but we do talk about home a lot, we're so thankful for our relationships and leaving just makes us appreciate our friends even more. Traveling is great, but there is not place like home!

Tom took me on the best date for dinner! We had researched a little cafe called Lanchid Sorozo, that did not disappoint. We sat outside on a crowded little street. Tom enjoyed the popular Goulash, I had a chicken dish, and we paid about the price for fast food in the states. Finally, we took a very steep Funicular up to the top of hilly Buda and enjoyed views of the city in lights.

It's been great in Budapest, but we've seen the sites and our ready for ITALY! Britt is looking forward to Gelato, friendly people who smile, pizza, and more cute little streets.