The true city of lights

Once again, we have found ourselves in an absolutely beautiful city. Budapest looks a lot like Prague, but with more colors and the roofs have neater designs. The most beautiful buildings were the Parliament, the castle, the chain bridge, and St. Stephen Basilica. The Basilica was just recently restored, and when they were doing the last touch ups, they discovered a bomb from WWII that was hidden in the top tower. Specialists from all over Europe were hired to disable and remove the bomb. Wow, thank goodness the bomb was discovered before Keegan and I were caught in it’s ruble aftermath. The city at night is the most beautiful time. Everything is lit up and it is very romantic.

Budapest has a river running through it and one side is Buda while the other side is Pest. A long long time ago it was two different cities, but for almost ever it’s been considered one. Buda is the hilly side with the castle and where all the rich, older people live. Pest is the flat side with Parliament, the Basilica and all the embassies. This is the cheaper side where most family live. The Chain bridge connects the two.

Our hosts consisted of a mother and a daughter. They picked us up in a car which was the first time we had ridden in a car since we had been in Europe. They lived in a duplex where the mother’s brother lived in the other half and the grandparents lived in a house in the back. Once again, they were very hospitable!

It was around 40 degrees Celsius and we were sweating like pigs! It was quite a relief when they brought us site seeing in an air conditioned car. I was frantically rolling down the window, snapping photos, and rolling it back up to keep the air segregated. That night we ate like true Hungarians and had Paprika chicken and goulash. Then we bought Vodka and beer and sat on the steps of the Basilica to enjoy the night. The square was filled with people drinking and being merry!

The next day we were off for the famous thermal baths. We went to the oldest thermal bath in Pest and hopped in all the different pools excluding the 18 and 45 degrees Celsius baths. Some had so many minerals in the water that it took some strength to keep your arms underwater and your legs on the ground. There were three outside baths and the rest were inside. It was beautiful architecture! After soaking until our whole body was a prune, we explored a smaller castle on the Pest side and then headed to the Chain Bridge for sunset.

  

Travel Tip # 4

Watch out for those Hungarians! Our host told us how they will try to make a quick buck on anything and everything! Make sure you have discussed the price of a taxi ride with the driver before you commit to it. They will try to charge you 80 euros for a 10 euro trip! They will not let you get tap water at restaurants, but when they bring the bottled water it will already be uncapped because they refill them with tap water. ALWAYS specify what kind of wine you want because if you just say red wine, they will bring you the most expensive glass. Be careful and be wise!