Day 21: Budapest (Eric)

Day 21: June 17th, 2019. Today was another fun day in Budapest with only a couple of minor complaints (more on those later). We decided to buy transit passes to just wander and explore the city. The views along the river are spectacular, and there is so much to see. 

As we were wandering, we came across a fountain in a park that had a water display set to music. The coolest part is when we recognized a Hungarian version of “Let It Go” from Frozen. It made us both smile. 

After making it over to the Pest side of the river, we continued to explore taking pictures of some of the more interesting sights along the way, including The Shoes on the Danube Bank. This is a memorial to honor Jews who were killed on the banks of the Danube during World War II. It was a powerful piece of art. 

Of course, the city is filled with numerous other sights, historical statues, and buildings. Here are some of the highlights. 

We started to get a little hungry, and Jenny had read about a place called the Zoo Cafe. Turns out that this really isn’t a place to get decent food, but it was one of the best experiences of this entire trip. The cafe has you sit at a table while animals are brought to you for you to hold and pet. We were visited by a tortoise, a chameleon, a bearded dragon, a guinea pig, a rabbit, and a ball python. There are also a number of cats who freely wander the cafe as well as toucans and other animals in numerous cages scattered around the place. It was truly a unique experience. 

Now onto the aforementioned complaints, the first was dinner. We ate at a place called Riso Restaurante and Terrace. To be fair, there were some positive things about the place. It was situated in a beautiful garden on Castle Hill. Jenny ordered a pizza that was delicious. My complaint came from the lasagna I ordered. It was mushy and tasteless, but I would eat there again, but I definitely wouldn’t get the lasagna. After dinner, we walked around the hill to once again enjoy the amazing views of the surrounding area. 

The final complaint came from our trip to Rudas Baths. Our experience there was not a good one, and we can’t recommend the place. The baths themselves were fairly nice, but the people working there were not terribly friendly nor helpful. Our towels also got stolen while we were in the baths. The whole experience left a bad taste in our mouths and put a little bit of a cloud on an otherwise fabulous trip. 

That’s all for now. We have one more day in Budapest, and I’m still looking forward to it despite the minor issues. 

Day 20: Budapest (Eric)

Day 20: June 16th, 2019. This is the view as I am writing this post. 

I should just leave it at that because I’m having a difficult time putting into words my thoughts and feelings regarding Budapest. I seem to be having that feeling a lot recently. Must be a sign of an amazing trip, but I think the most amazing part of it all is that I get to share it with my best friend and the love of my life. Jenny said to me the other day that she loves seeing these experiences through my eyes, and I couldn’t have said it better. Watching her face take joy in the little things adds as much to the journey as the beautiful surroundings. I truly love being able to share all of this with my soulmate. 

We had a two and a half hour train ride from Vienna to Budapest where we had an interesting conversation with a German man from Düsseldorf about travel, politics, and the world in general. At about the halfway point in the trip, we were joined by a Hungarian family whose youngest boy was quite the handful. He initially was trying to eat our croissants, and then the mother gave him some bread which he accidentally dropped on the floor. The mom threw the bread away, but the child kept trying to get it out of the trash. Jenny helped settle him down by sharing some of her croissant. 

After this fascinating train ride (which apparently was bound for Transilvania). We arrived in Budapest a little after 2:00 pm and had the adventure of figuring out another subway system’s ticket machine which is always fun. The ticket machine did not seem to like American bank cards, but luckily we already had some Hungarian money we ordered before coming here. 

Anyway, after a short subway ride, we had an 8 minute walk to our hotel. This was where the wow started as we somehow scored an upgrade to a room on the top floor with a balcony overlooking the Danube River and the Hungarian Parliament Building that you see pictured above. It is breathtaking and awe-inspiring, and we are both feeling blessed to have so many amazing experiences. 

This post is getting a little longer and more emotional than I intended, so I will attempt to wrap it up quickly. After checking in, we walked up the hill to the historic Buda Castle area. We had an amazing dinner at 21 Hungarian Kitchen (thanks to our friend Lisa’s recommendation), and then we simply wandered the streets talking in the sights and sounds of this vibrant city. It truly is a remarkable place. I’ll finish with some pictures with captions. 

Fisherman’s Bastion and Matthias Church

Random Flexible Girl Doing a Photo Shoot

A Hungarian Choir Singing in a Park (this was surreal)

The Love of My Life

Random Shots from around Castle Hill

Shots from our Walk Down Castle Hill and along the Danube

More Views from our Balcony