Prague & Budapest- Day 8/9- In Which We Bathe (And Drink Boar's Blood)

Leading up to the trip and so far on it, I had been hemming & hawing about whether or not I wanted to do the baths. I am not a spa person, I don't like baths in a bathtub or in a communal hot springs setting, but I was conflicted because doing the baths is one of those things you do in Budapest... slightly cliche, but I hate missing something like that. Brennan was a great sport and said he would come with me to do them, so on Saturday we got up and walked down to the XX baths.

Mitch went up the hill in the meantime and met us outside so we could continue together the rest of the day. After we met back up, headed to a market hall on the other side of the river.

When we got back up to the hotel, we tried to go to this cool wine bar underneath the hotel but unforunately they couldn't accommodate us.  Headed to 3/3 of the restaurant group on the hill, sat outside, had,small plates & drank Bikaver wine, otherwise known as Boars Blood and something Hungary is known for. Hard to believe we had to head to bed early to get up for our flight the next morning!

On Sunday, we caught a 7am flight from Budapest through Paris and back to DC. What a trip and the best way to celebrate landmark birthdays!!

Prague & Budapest- Day 7-In Which Mitch Goes for A Climb & A Bird Escapes from the Zoo

Worn out from the day prior, took it a little easier today and did a loop starting atop the hill, through Margaret Island, the Pest side of the river and back.

Highlights included:

• walked by the military museum on the hilltop

• Mary Magdalene Tower

• Margaret Island-- 
• fountain concert (working on getting the video up!)
• Mitch went for a climb

• A bird escaped from the zoo

• Parliament Tour

• Shoes on the Danube

• Pest Buda Bistro

Prague & Budapest- Day 6- In Which We Walk the City (humming "Bicycle, Bicycle")

First full day in Budapest was definitely a full one. We walked from Castle Hill to Vajdahunyad Castle / the Szechenyi Baths stop.   

Here are some of the hits along the way:

·         Walk down the hill from the Castle District to the Chain Bridge and crossed to the Pest side.

·         Four Seasons Gresham Palace-- we love a nice hotel; and the history behind this one was that it was the foreign headquarters for London's Gresham Life Assurance company in the 1900s, then barracks during WWII, then passed to the city of Budapest. Was retooled in 2001, but they incorporated some of the original details like the large staircase, stained glass, mosaics, etc. 

·         St. Stephen’s Basilica

 

·         Liberty Square Square (also called Freedom Square), Soviet Army Memorial, US Embassy– once base of operations for Carl Lutz (credited with saving over 60,000 Jews during WWII), Statue of Imre Nagy (Hungarian politician, he was a communist whose 2nd term ended when the Soviets invaded (the failed Hungarian Revolution of 1956).

·       

·       ·        Walked around Parliament from the outside as the line for tickets was really long

·         Change in plans with Parliament gave us an opportunity to check out the Ethnographical Museum. Absolutely beautiful building inside with a cool bicycle exhibit. Kind of a through the ages, how the sport and equipment evolved-- best part was definitely the old song that got stuck in our heads and is now Mitch's ringtone. You can listen to it here!

·         Lunch at Inner City Market Hall

·         Opera

·         Jewish District

·         Orthodox Kazinczy Synagogue, Holocaust Memorial, Dohany Synagogue

·         Boscolo Budapest (formerly the New York Palace Hotel)-- ahh wedding memories....

·         Andrassy Boulevard-- the main boulevard from the 1870s, has shops & food, but a lot of rowhouses etc that are pretty. (It's actually a World Heritage Site to boot!)

·         Oktogon-- major intersection of two main streets, Andrassy & Grand Boulevard

·         Kodaly korond--beautifully painted old buildings and status of 4 Hungarian heroes in each corner

·         Vajdahunyad Castle-- pretty cool site that actually showcases different architectural treatments throughout the ages (Romanesque, Gothic Renaissance, Baroque, etc). It was actually made of cardboard and wood in 1896 for the city's millenial exhibition, but became really popular so it was rebuilt from stone & brick in the early 1900s.  

·         Metro back from Szechenyi Baths stop-- located underneath one of the famous baths; this was actually openedin 1896 and was one of the original termini of the system. Word to the wise-- the doors to the subway are really not open for very long, so hop in and hop out!

·         Funicular to the top of Castle Hill to catch some views and give ourselves a break--

·         Dinner on top of the hill at 21 Restaurant-- only downside of Castle Hill is that there isn't much going on in the evening. This actually ended up being night 1 of 3 we ate a restaurant owned by one restaurant group at the top of the hill-- convenient and all were really good!

Prague & Budapest- Day 5- In Which We Travel By Train

Ok, so we're bad kids and didn't exactly finish the posts from the trip in a timely manner. In an effort to record the details but really catch back up before our next big trip that's right around the corner, the next few posts will be a bit more perfunctory.  

Up and at 'em this morning to travel by train for the majority of the day (left at 930, got there at 430)-- so long Prague, hello Budapest!  The train travel is actually how we were able to catch up on entries from the first part of the trip, and it really didn't feel as long as we expected (we just hung out and read the whole time).

We arrived in Budapest late afternoon and grabbed a cab from the train station to the opposite side of the river to the Castle District, where we were staying (aka from the eastern Pest side to the western Buda side, the Danube River splits the city in two).

Not a ton of time to accomplish things today, but we did walk around the top of the hill. The Hilton is literally right next door to the Mathias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion, so we started there and took in the sites overlooking the rest of the city.

Walking south on the hill, there is the big Buda Castle complex which includes the Office of the President, the Budapest History Museum, the National Gallery, National Library, as well as some kind of creepy puppet creations (temporary exhibit only, so sorry if you miss it).

Additionally we saw the Matthias Well (should be called a fountain...) and the bird statue, Turul. Fun fact that the turul is a huge mythical falcon from Hungarian mythology, who was considered to be a messenger of the god and sits on top of the tree of life. It's actually still used as an emblem on the coat of arms of the Hungarian Army too, as a symbol of strength, power, and nobility.

We didn't do a lot of meal planning before the trip, but there were a few highlights along the way, including tonight's dinner.  We had heard about this restaurant, Aranyszarvas, that focuses on game and was supposed to be awesome.  And it was!  Definitely on the nicer end, but the restaurant decor was cool, the food was great, and so was the wine. Only hiccup was trying to find our way there-- it's on the Buda side as well, but down the hill and navigating the twists and turns of the paths and streets got us a bit mixed up. We made it though and it was well worth it. (Insert too-detailed description of food here if we had written this closer to the actual travel date!)