Eastern European Adventure Part VI: Budapest

From Vienna, we headed off to Budapest, Hungary.  I have to be honest with you and say that other than the beautiful view of the Danube at night, Budapest was easily my least favorite place I've been in Europe.  I am glad we went there and got to see it, but I have no desire to go back.

Summary of Budapest:  Big, spread out, beautiful at night, expensive, conflict, struck a deal.

Day 8:  May 9

We arrived in Budapest after a short train ride from Vienna and headed to our apartment.  I have to admit that when we saw the building that looked like it was dilapidated and falling apart, I was pretty nervous.  Like, real nervous if I'm being honest.  I took a picture to show you guys what I mean.

But when we walked inside, it was probably the nicest apartment we stayed at.  Phew.  Bullet (maybe literally) dodged.

Anyway, we only had about 36 hours in Budapest, so we ended up doing the hop on/hop off bus tour because it seemed to be the best way to see the main sites in the city.   I am so glad we did this because everything is SO spread out in Budapest that I don't know any other way to actually see the things you want to see.  Plus the tour gives a lot of info on history, and in particular the Communist rule in Budapest.  It was really sort of eye opening to me because I have to admit, I knew very little about this history.  It was amazing to realize the struggles and sacrifices that the Hungarian people made in order to get out from under the Russian rule.  It was equally amazing to me to realize that not that long ago, even when I was a little kid, people from the US could not travel to Hungary.  Just amazing.  And I think that learning about this struggle really gave me some insight on the people of Hungary, and the difference between them--most of whom lived through that--and Americans, who have always been free.  It was really fascinating.

Anyway, that was a soapbox.  Here are some of my favorite sights from the tour.

Castle Hill

Chain Bridge

Great Synagogue 

Chain Bridge over the Danube

Freedom Bridge

View from the Buda side of the city.

Parliament

St. Stephen's church

During the the tour, I shot this picture.  I have to say, I saw a lot of domestic disputes when I was in Budapest.  I mean seriously, I counted 5 times where I saw women beating the crap out of men or screaming their heads off at them.  These two were the funniest.  See the girl crying behind the tree?  When we pulled up in the bus, she was beating the crap out of this guy.  Like punching him, all up in his face, crazy.  Then she went and cried behind the tree for a while.  Genius dude in the red just kept talking.  Cousin Swiss Mister kept saying, "Shut up, dude, shut up, don't keep talking," but this guy didn't take his advice, and before we drove off the chick was back up in his face.  Drama, drama.

After about an hour and a half, we hopped off the bus and grabbed some lunch.  And four desserts.  We couldn't decide which ones we wanted.  It was vacation, so we ordered them all!

Which one do you think was the best??

 Then we went out to find the Ronald Reagan statue in Budapest.  We were quite excited to take our pictures with our favorite president.

That night we took the night bus tour, which I have to admit was absolutely beautiful.  The city all lit up along the Danube River was amazing.  This was hands down my favorite part of our Budapest adventure.

This next picture is not as cool of a picture, but I love it for what it stands for.  For years, there was a flag with a red star on it--representing Communism--that flew over the top of the Parliament building.  Today, the Hungarian flag is proudly displayed.  I just couldn't help but think what a feeling that must have been in 1989 when this flag went up and that red star went down.

Day 9:  May 10

This day ended up being a little family bonding for me and Cousin Swiss Mister.  We decided to get up early and go on a little run.  I thought I would show him up, but he has super long legs, is stubborn, and runs sort of like a gazelle, so he held his own.

After that we headed out walking around and decided to have lunch.  That's where things got interesting.  Cousin Swiss Mister was dying, and I mean DYING, to eat at Hooters.  Now, I think this is stupid on so many levels, primarily because I hate the idea of Americans eating at chain American restaurants in other countries.  Much less Hooters.  But, then he made me an offer I couldn't refuse.  If I would eat at Hooters with him and talk him up to the waitresses, he would (1) buy my food, including fried pickles and drinks; (2) upgrade me to a business class ticket on the flight home; and (3) take my photo at three tourist locations of my choice that afternoon.  Hooters, here we come.

The happiest Cousin Swiss Mister was the entire trip.

Despite Cousin Swiss Mister's best efforts, and me following the script to make him sound like a nice, rich, American guy, we failed in our attempt to find the mother of Cousin Swiss Mister  Jr.  Shocking, I know.

After that, we were off to take the photos I bargained for.  :)

St. Stephen's

Under the dome at St. Stephen's

Alter at St. Stephen's

Collecting on Cousin Swiss Mister's promise to take my picture.

So the architect who built the Chain Bridge was really proud of these lions,  so when some kid
at the opening of the bridge pointed out that the lions didn't have tongues, the architect jumped
off the bridge into the water.  Crazy, right!

Another jumping photo.  Took some skill to pull this off in a dress and not flash  everyone in town.

Sean doesn't quite have the jumping photo down.

Then it was time for Cousin Swiss Mister to bow out of the trip.  Even though there are times I want to strangle him for being on his iPhone non-stop or oogling a 21 year old, I just love that guy to death.  I always hate having to say bye to him.

After he left, Miss Canada and I met up with a colleague of mine from back home for a drink to talk about all of the adventures to this point.  We also ended up planning a trip for next year to Montana for the Bucking Horse Sale.  I'm pretty dang excited about this prospect!  And then we headed off to the airport for the next overnight train experience.  You'll hear about it more tomorrow, but let me just tell you that it was not fun.  Not fun at all.  Stay tuned for the Krakow update up next...