Wes and I had our first trip together in September, when we went to Budapest. We had (and have) quite a bit of trouble coming up with places to visit and literally decided to go here on a whim. This was the first trip that we planned together and out of this came our first travel rule: Look for where the sites are and book a hotel there. We had a lovely hotel in Budapest, on the Buda side in the hills - but most of what we wanted to see was on the other side so that meant at the end of the night, we were hiking up the hill in the dark to our hotel. Not the best plan, but it did mean we slept well each evening.
We arrived on Friday night and took a taxi from the airport to our hotel. One thing about Budapest - it is completely lit up at night. All of the grand buildings - it was the second capital of the Austro-Hungarian empire, after Vienna - blaze at night. So we got a great view of the city on our way in to the hotel.
The next morning we visited the castle complex, since we were on the Buda side and it was on the way to everything else. We were quite lucky as we happened to be in Budapest on the weekend that all the museums were free!
We had dinner at a restaurant recommended by a friend from PwC (Thanks Van!) right near St. Stephen's Basilica - ordered Beef tenderloin "Goulash" with red wine and croquettes and roast turkey breast with roquefort cheese sauce.
The desserts were interesting - the first was chestnut puree with home-made sour cherries in rum and the below was poppy seed croissants in custard.
I don't have any pictures of this, but Wes found a Hungarian folk dance festival, which had traditional music and dancing. This video isn't from when we were there but it's pretty similar to the dancing we saw. It was really cool to see people of all ages enjoying themselves!
Since we were on the Pest side for our meal, we had to cross the bridges to get back to the hotel. Everything is lit up wonderfully.
The next day we hit another museum, the Hungarian National museum.
I really enjoyed the war propaganda exhibit!
We ran to take a tour of the Opera house and I'm really glad we made it. The opera house was only allowed to be the 2nd best, the best one being in Vienna in the capital of the Austro-Hungarian empire. I haven't been to the one in Austria but this one was amazing.
We paid a bit extra to hear two arias by one of the opera singers. Power of her voice was unbelievable!
We had some ice cream...Wes was sad that his cone wasn't appropriately filled...
We visited the Jewish monument on the Pest Bank of the river, near the Parliament. It honors the Jews who were killed by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen in Budapest during World War II. They were ordered to take off their shoes, and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away.
The Parliament building was also architecturally impressive.
This evening we took a dinner cruise and enjoyed some local wine and the views of the banks of the river.
Before we left, we found another local restaurant (Wes' obsession) and enjoyed a meal of yummy spinach soup and cutlets.
I really enjoyed this, on the Pest side of the river, the sidewalk showed the path of the river and the places along it.
We arrived on Friday night and took a taxi from the airport to our hotel. One thing about Budapest - it is completely lit up at night. All of the grand buildings - it was the second capital of the Austro-Hungarian empire, after Vienna - blaze at night. So we got a great view of the city on our way in to the hotel.
The next morning we visited the castle complex, since we were on the Buda side and it was on the way to everything else. We were quite lucky as we happened to be in Budapest on the weekend that all the museums were free!
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| This was in the basement of the Budapest History museum. |
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| I really LOVE this style of pictures. |
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| View from the castle |
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| Cafe at the castle complex |
We had dinner at a restaurant recommended by a friend from PwC (Thanks Van!) right near St. Stephen's Basilica - ordered Beef tenderloin "Goulash" with red wine and croquettes and roast turkey breast with roquefort cheese sauce.
I don't have any pictures of this, but Wes found a Hungarian folk dance festival, which had traditional music and dancing. This video isn't from when we were there but it's pretty similar to the dancing we saw. It was really cool to see people of all ages enjoying themselves!
Since we were on the Pest side for our meal, we had to cross the bridges to get back to the hotel. Everything is lit up wonderfully.
The next day we hit another museum, the Hungarian National museum.
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| Wes loved it because it was made of wood! |
We ran to take a tour of the Opera house and I'm really glad we made it. The opera house was only allowed to be the 2nd best, the best one being in Vienna in the capital of the Austro-Hungarian empire. I haven't been to the one in Austria but this one was amazing.
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| The prime minister's box, which can only be used if the prime minister is in the building...seems silly since it's the best seat in the house. |
We had some ice cream...Wes was sad that his cone wasn't appropriately filled...
We visited the Jewish monument on the Pest Bank of the river, near the Parliament. It honors the Jews who were killed by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen in Budapest during World War II. They were ordered to take off their shoes, and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away.
The Parliament building was also architecturally impressive.
This evening we took a dinner cruise and enjoyed some local wine and the views of the banks of the river.
Before we left, we found another local restaurant (Wes' obsession) and enjoyed a meal of yummy spinach soup and cutlets.
I really enjoyed this, on the Pest side of the river, the sidewalk showed the path of the river and the places along it.
