Budapest Hungary
Travel Day
If you were to tell me that I would be riding through Poland, Slovakia , Hungary a few years ago, I don’t think I would have believed you. It is nice that Ryan planned this trip for his family, otherwise I would not have done it by myself. About the only thing I know about Hungary is that they have goulash and Budapest was two cities Buda andPest and they combined them into one city.
I enjoyed Prague and Krakow. The interesting buildings and architecture in Prague was amazing. Going to the ballet and hanging out with Becky and Ryan’s kids was a blast. However, I think I enjoyed Krakow’s quieter relaxing atmosphere a lot. Having the Old Town area surrounded by a park was very nice. It seems a little cleaner than Prague and less tourists.
We got up and packed up our bags. Moving is always crazy, dragging baggage along. We got to the train station and found a little shop selling pastries and sandwiches. We bought some for both breakfast and lunch. We found the right platform and waited for the train. Karen and Gracie decided to go and buy some more snacks for the trip. The train arrived before they came back. We loaded all the bags in and they did show up in time. Just a little excitement for the trip.
The train ride is about 9 hours. Our train came around 10:45 so we won’t be arriving in Budapest until about 8 or maybe later. The kids are mainly playing on their Kindles.
Slovakia
Actually I didn't realize it , but as we make our way to Budapest we pass through Slovakia. We went through a couple of cities and it seems to have an industrial look to it, rather than the Gothic European look. I don't know if that counts to add to our 'visited countries' list or not.
The scenery is similar to that of Poland. Beautiful green with trees and rolling hills. It seems as we get further into Slovakia it is not quite a lush green but maybe a little be drier. Quite a bit of farmland between cities. In the rural area, mostly single homes made of block with stucco. In the larger towns and cities there seems to be a little more of an industrial look.
So it doesn't seem to have the same quaintness we had in Prague or Krakow but a bit more of an industrial feel. I guess I should hold off on judgement until we get to Budapest to see how it really is.
Gracie and Ryan watching a movie on Ryan's phone on the train ride.
After a long train ride the kids even resorted to sit up contests in the isle of the train to beat the boredom.
Arriving in Budapest
We got into Budapest. It has a huge covering on its train station.
We walked to our AIRBNB. It was unusual, I saw over 50 full dress Harley Motorcycles parked along the sidewalk. These were nice motorcycles in MINT condition. There were a few BMWs and Indians but most were full dress Harley. A few groups were driving around the road. I need to ask tomorrow at church what the deal. It looked like the Daytona Bike Week in Florida. Maybe they are having a Harley Convention.
We attended church at a half English and half Hungarian church meeting. They had two Sister Missionaries, a Senior Missionary Couple serving in Humanitarian, and a Nurse.
The had a translator and talks in both English and Hungarian. The majority of Priesthood Meeting was English speaking.
I chatted with one of the members and yes indeed there was a Harley Convention-Rally there. He gave us a few tips on things to see and eat.
Nice church building with about 50-75 members
Parliament Building
The Parliament Building and a lot of the other buildings in the area were built in 1895-6, celebrating Hungary's 1000 birthday as a country. The area around the Parliament Building is kept up quite nice.
Lunch was great. They had good chicken schnitzel and Ryan tried the Hungarian Goulash. We also tried some dumplings made from cortege cheese and apricot sauce.
Ground Misters
Even so often the turn on water misters in the ground. It cteates a kind of fog and cools you down. I saw a couple of these in other areas as well,.
Looking at Castle across the Danube
Danube River and Bridge
The Danube River separates Buda and Pest. The Parliament Building is on the Pest side and the Castle is on the Buda side.
Jewish Memorial of Shoes for when the Nazis shot a bunch of Jews and threw them into the river
Budapest Castle
Looking at city and Parliament Building from Castle
Park of all parks
The Neplipget or People's park is huge. (270 acres) It was made for the 100 anniversary of combination of Buda and Pest.
There are lots of little parks within the big park
Grandma popped for ice cream.
Castle Replica
Maze and interesting park
Park that slopes up on each end.
Play Toys of all Play Toys
This play toy area is huge. It has the biggest collection of free play toys I have ever seen. Huge toys. Anything you can slide, swing, jump, or just have fun on. Trampolines. Large slides. You name it, and it is there. Totally AMAZING!
Hungary First Metro System on Continent
Hungary claims the first Metro on the European Continent. London did have a steam Metro before Hungary, but Hungary had an electric after, first on the Continent.
Hungary has a 2nd Metro further underground. It is like riding a funicular on the escalator up and down.
Along with the two Metro systems we rode on electric buses on tracks, electric buses on wheels, motor driven buses, with wheels. They have a wide variety of types of mass transportation.
Ryan was AMAZING keeping track of all the tickets , routes, and getting where we needed to go. If it wasn't for him, we would have never made it anywhere.
By the way, with all those types of transportation systems I still managed to get 20,851 steps on my Fitbit. We were all worn out, especially Bryson (and Grandpa)
Palatinus Thermal Pools
Margaret Island is an island on the Danube River accessible by bus. There are several thermal pool resorts on the island and in Budapest. Some have some clothing optional days, but Ryan picked out a family friendly resort. Budapest has several areas with natural thermal hot springs.
We started out the day going to the grocery store for breakfast and lunch food. Then off to the thermal pools.
The park had over a half a dozen pools with varying tempetures. (both indoor and outside.)
The girls loved the water slides.
Hudson did not!!
He missed the height limit by a couple of inches and was not happy!
They had an interesting wrist band system. They issued everyone a wrist band on entry. If you wanted a massage that was registered on your wrist band. They had lockers to use and you would scan your wrist band in and use it for free.
Indoor children hot springs. (a little cooler than the adult one)
For lunch we had sandwiches from the grocery store. For dinner they had a food area we enjoyed some food.
Langos are a traditional Budapest food. They are like 'fry-bread' or deep fried bread dough. It is a little lighter and sweeter than we have in the US. Instead of jam or honey they put savory items on it - cheese, sour cream, ham or etc. We tried the cheese and sour cream. It was really good.
A tired group after a full day of swimming.
Highlights for the day
- Bryson learned to swim across the pool without his floaters. He was super excited.
- Bud and Monica got a massage. (Karen gave Bud a massage because he has been complaining his body is falling apart. It was pretty nice.)
- Gracie loved practicing her 'syncronized swimming moves' - however she needs a partner to actually make it syncronized.
- Addie loved the water slide.
- Hudson was pretty bummed out that he was not tall enough to go on the big slides. He did like the small slides.
- Everyone had a fun 'down day' from sightseeing.
- We got to try Langnos.
Hudson-isms
We were walking down the road to our apartment and Hudson checked the barber shop if it was open and reminded me that it was open. One of many barber shops Hudson checks for Grandpa for a haircut.
Hudson likes to tease his Grandpa. Here are a few Hudson-isms
- Hudson got a haircut in Munich. Karen suggested the I need a haircut. Every time we see a barber Hudson points it out to me and checks to see if it is open.
- I got pick-pocketed in Paris. Hudson is always checking me if I got anything stolen.
- I like to keep a knife in my backpack for cutting bread, cheese, apples, etc. I got one taken away at the scanner at the Louve in Paris. I bought another one and got it taken away in Auschwitz. Every time we go through security, Hudson checks to see if they took away my knife.
- At least he has one for Grandma. When you go to a museum, they quite often have Audio Guides. He calls Karen (Grandma) our 'Own Personal Audio Guide' because she is always reading Rick Steves Tour Guides to the group.
Side Note
Our AIRBNB in Vienna fell through at the last minute. Karen and Ryan are scrambling to find a new place for tomorrow.
