It's was warm and sunny on our arrival in Budapest. Pronounced Budapesht, like you have a lisp, by the locals. About 45 minutes after a bus and metro we made it to our hotel perfectly located in the city center right on the Danube River. They even upgraded us to a family suite for free. Maybe my enormous belly had something to do with that!
Budapest is actually two cities, Buda on the west side of the Danube River and Pest on the east. Our hotel was on the Pest side and we were told only the really wealthy can afford to live on the Buda side. The Buda side is where the Castle district is and the area is not very commercialized. The Pest side is similar to may European cities. We decided to stay on the Pest side for the day and grabbed a late lunch at an outdoor cafe in Vorosmarty Square then walked to the City Park.
Avery in Hero's Square
Avery and the Millennium MonumentFriday was St. Stephen's Day, Budapest's 110 year independence day. Almost all stores were closed and there was a big festival down on the waterfront. Thousands of people came into the city for the fireworks and all the streets were closed off to cars.
Elizabeth Bridge with all the people walking in for fireworks. It's blurry but the entire bridge was packed with people.
The fireworks were impressive. They had 4 identical displays at different locations on the Danube River. We were able to watch from just outside our hotel and make the short dash inside when the masses of people started leaving.
On Saturday we started the day off with the free walking tour of Budapest, recommended by friends Mandy & Nathan and Sarah & Zann. The tour was awesome. Not only did we walk and see lots of the city but the guide was a wealth of history and just good city information.
This is a concert hall that had such bad acoustics that no composer every played at more than once. The city then allowed all night raves and party's, pretty impressive building for a rave.
St. Stephen's Basilica. We tried to tour it but it was closed when we went later that afternoon.
Crossing the Chain Bridge to the Buda side.
The view from the Castle District of the Pest side. Big thanks to the tour guides assistant for helping Josh carry Avery and the stroller up all those steps. I can honestly say there is no way I would have been able to do it at this point.
Calvinist Church, the roof was beautiful.
Fishermen's Bastion, a viewing terrace. Remind anyone of Walt Disney?
Daddy and Avery with Parliament in the background.
One of the many water fountains throughout the city.With the walking tour over we decided to tour the Labyrinth of Buda Castle. One of the 7 underground wonders of the world.
Constant running 'red wine'. Yes, Josh tasted said wine even though the sign did not recommend consuming it.I was pretty much finished with walking at this point so after we cooled down and regrouped at our hotel we took the metro to Szechenyi Baths. Budapest is known for it's thermal baths. We rented a cabin, basically a closet to avoid having to figure out the locker rooms and so we had a place for the stroller. We started in one of the regular pools, played in the bubble jets and Josh took a ride in the whirpool. Then we tried the thermal bath that is said to have healing powers.
Avery and Daddy swimming in the thermal bath.
The entire bath complex was beautiful.
Enjoying a yummy dinner after a full day of touring.
The view of the Royal Palace from just outside our hotel.
Sunday morning we got up and thought we would get a good breakfast in the Jewish district. Boy were we wrong, very un-impressing area and no restaurants.
The largest synagogue in Europe.
Inside the synagogue before we were told we needed to pay to take a picture.Next we figured out how to take the tram and a bus to the top of Gellert Hill to the Citadel and Liberation Monument.
The Liberation Monument.We did walk down the Hill and toured the rock church built into the hill on the way down.
The entrance to the Rock Church is that arched gate on the left side of the pic. The liberty monument is up on the right.
Riding the tram.Our last stop was to tour Parliament. The entire area around Parliament was roped off with no visible place to buy tickets for the tour. There were a large group of people waiting and three guys selling tour tickets. This was the most expensive thing we did the entire trip and we felt a bit taken with the process of buying tickets, although we saw no other way to do it. Our tour guide was horrible but the building itself was beautiful.
Heading up to Parliament.
Looking up the grand staircase.
Inside the chamber. Their version of air conditioning was to bring in over a ton of ice, place it under the chamber and let natural cooling cool the chamber.
Numbered cigar holders.
Avery and Daddy at Parliament.
