Budapest

Last weekend my friend Ben came back to London to visit me and to take a trip to Budapest with me. Ben came with me when I first moved here and loved our travels so much, he decided to come back! We had a fabulous time and since we travel well together and appreciate the same things, we had a great time exploring the city and eating really great food all weekend!

This is the Basilica of St. Stephen, Budapest's cathedral. It was surrounded by a nice square with a few restaurants. The weather was so nice the whole time we were there!

This is the Chain Bridge, which connects the 2 cities of Buda and Pest. There is a lot of political history between the 2 cities, but suffice it to say they are connected now (by MANY bridges), both physically and politically. This is the view from the top of the Siklo (uphill tram-type thing) we rode to the top of the Buda hills.

This is the Buda side as seen from the middle of the Chain Bridge.

Parliament, on the Pest side of the Danube River

This is one of the cafes in Franz Liszt Square. There were so many pretty cafes there and as a pianist I enjoyed the shout-out to Mr. Liszt and the piano playing coming from the nearby Liszt School of Music.

Budapest is especially beautiful at night. The architecture was amazing and even though it's seemingly a bit simpler than other cities I've visited, I liked it so much because there was a constant style throughout the city and it was never overbearing. Just very pretty.

The roof in the lobby of the Scheznyi (sp??) Baths. If you're from Colorado, think Glenwood Hot Springs. There were several of these baths around the city from different hot springs and we enjoyed an indoor and outdoor soak at these to relax our tired muscles. And I slept so well that night too!!!

Another thing we noticed in Budapest was the pride they took in their city. All of the windows were spotless, silverware was polished even on outdoor patios and everyone was friendly and welcoming. We never had a bad meal and we tried lots of things. If you are ever in Budapest, just remember that you can make a hearty meal on soups alone! Another area we went (but I don't have pictures of...) was Margaret Island which is a 2.5 mile long island in the river between Buda and Pest. It is all park and we had a nice long walk around and through it one afternoon.