Budapest

I know, I know, I've been bad and not had a chance to update but I'm going to try to make it up to you by finishing the descriptions of my travels. So here I go with a review of Budapest. And if you didn't know, the header of my blog (the picture above) is a picture of the famous bridge in Budapest. But anyways...

Budapest was pretty cool but it was a little dirtier than I expected. It still has beautiful buildings but they are a little dirtier than those found in Prague. It was a long bus ride (about 8 hours) but we made it and found our hostel which was pretty nice, a 3-bed private, and then we headed out to roam the city. We started headed towards the Danube (the river that runs between Buda and Pest, the two cities that make up Budapest, bet you didn't know they were separate did you?). These are some of the things we saw amongst our walk.


A cool hotel that was across the street from our hostel, an interesting statue, and Lauren wanted a picture of me and Anna

We stumbled upon a book fair of sorts where they had authors signing books and tents set up selling some, a pretty building near the book sale, Lauren and I with the light post

The first view of one of the Bridges, a church that flanked the bridge (not sure what it's called though), and Lauren caught a boy playing soccer in the street

We're not sure why but these elephants (each decorated differently) were everywhere in the city so we took the opportunity to get our picture with as many as we could, Anna and I in front of a statue, and a statue on the green in front of the famous Chain Bridge

A far away view from St. Stephen's Basilica, me playing with a guard on the street

St. Stephen's Basilica, it's one of Budapest's most famous churches and it was pretty grand, but since it was overcast, not so bright inside


side view of St. Stephens, we found a mini Eiffel Tower (why are they everywhere? There's even one in Prague!), and The Great Synagogue of Budapest

That was the end of our travels that night so we headed in to rest up for our full day in Budapest. Then we headed out again towards the Danube so we could get some more sight-seeing in with a visit to the Bath planned for later.

A view across the river of Buda Castle, the castle of Hungarian kings, and a forum in Statue Park (which we hiked all the way up)

Some of the decorations up the paths to the top of Statue Park

One good thing about the hike: we got a good view of the bridge we had to cross, some of the decoration on the hill

the statue in front of the Roman pillars, Lauren and I in front of the city, a cool building that we spotted from the heights

The Liberty Statue erected in remembrance of Soviet liberation from the Nazi's post-WWII (some liberation... but you know), Laure and I at the base of it, then us playing with some of the Soviet tanks on top of the hill

more fun with the Soviet tanks

we may have had too much fun...

more good views from the top of the hill: the Danube, the top of the Roman columns

An old bath house that has since closed down, a coat of arms near the trolley that takes you to Buda Castle, the famous Chain Bridge that crosses the Danube

Lauren and I and the Chain Bridge, a far away look at the Parliament Building (the 3rd biggest in the world), a statue in the front of the castle

A cool little gate that lead to a building unconneced to the castle, the eagle that flanked the edges, and a look down from the ledge onto the lanscaping in front of the castle

Anna by the river, the dome of Buda Castle, some of the flowers decorating the outside of the castle

a statue to a war hero, a further away view of the castle, and we ran into some models doing a photo shoot for wedding dresses at the castle (talk about beautiful people!)

A fountain on the side of Buda Castle, a view crossing the Chain Bridge, flowers across the river with the castle in the background

Another elephant, a cool building on our way to the baths, and view of the sidewalks on our way

Heroe's Square which guards the entrance to the park with the baths, a statue inside the bath house

Széchenyi Medicinal Bath, our bath of choice. The water was quite warm about 30 degrees Celsius in one to 23 degrees in the other. It was a good time and quite relaxing.



All in all, a beautiful experience and much fun

Yet another elephant, and then the next morning before we caught our bus we decided to get in the Parliament building which we weren't sure I could get into since I didn't have my passport (thank goodness, they don't check passports anywhere within the EU it seems), but my ISIC card worked, woo! So we got to take the grand tour!

A monument outside the building, inside Parliament with the great stairs in front of us

It was truly a beautiful building, gold and decorations everywhere, we also got to see the crown jewels!

Some statues that decked the columns and edges of the doorframes

Lauren and I in front of a sofa in one of the halls, and an inside look inside the room where the parliamentary action takes place.

More views from the outside, it was HUGE

We also found a nice statue of a man, and you know how we like to defile those =) then another view of the Chain Bridge

Buda Castle, the Chain Bridge, and Lauren and I in front of the flowers

Anna, me, and Lauren in front of Buda Castle (and across the river), the market hall and inside the market. The markets were pretty cool, with everything from meat to jellies to souvenirs to pastries to produce. It was a fantastic little place with much to offer.

That's basically our trip to Budapest. It was a lot of fun, we especially enjoyed the baths and just getting to walk around. It was definitely worth the visit =)

Next I'll try to update on the Prague Zoo and then my adventures in Dublin and Galway, then London, and the other various things I saw in England. You know you're looking forward to it, but be patient! It's a work in progress, but I'll try to get it done as fast as possible. Ciao!