Budapest

This was the large framed photograph on our hotel living room wall.  We pretended it was the view from our window.  It was just about the same view we got driving into the city for the first time… Breathtaking.  Not hard to love Budapest.

Because we really only had one day to see the sights in Budapest, we opted for a hop on hop off bus tour which covered all the major sights.  We bought our tickets at the hotel office where this large map covered one wall.

Budapest is huge, with nearly two million people.   Like Vienna, the city was built as the head of a much larger empire than it currently governs.

We thought it was so interesting that Budapest is split down the center by the Danube River.  On the west side of the Danube is hilly Buda, and on the east is flat Pest.    Buda and Pest are connected by a series of characteristic bridges.

The Buda side is dominated by two hills, Castle Hill being one of them.   Pest – the real world commercial heart of the city is the downtown area with the majority of buildings and sights.  Our hotel was in the perfect location right in the heart of Pest.

We also learned that in Hungarian there are two kinds of ‘S’ sounds.   ‘sz’ which is pronounced like an English ‘s’ sound and just ‘s’ which is pronounced like an English ‘sh’ sound.  So Budapest is pronounced ‘Budapesht”.  So fun to learn these things.

First stop… St. Istvan’s Basilica – “Budapest’s biggest church and one of its top landmarks.  This church celebrates St. Istavn, Hungary’s first Christian King.  Inside you can see his withered, blackened, millennium-old fist in a gilded reliquary in the side chapel.” Rick Steves  Because of that, it’s sometimes referred to as the Church of the Holy Right Hand.  We didn’t want to miss out… we checked it out.  Katie and some of the other members of our party were a little ticked that it wasn’t the LEFT hand.  Too bad for them.

Petersons, Nelsons and Johnsons showing our appreciation for the Church of the Holy Right Hand.

Hop on Hop off Bus tour…

Heroes Square…Built in 1896 to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of the Magyars’ arrival in Hungary.  The monument is made of 14 stoic Hungarian leads who represent the whole span of this nation’s colorful and illustrious history.  In front, at the base of a high pillar, are the seven original Magyar chieftains.

Ryan, Lincoln, Emily, Jenny, Katie, Abi

Vajdahunyad Castle…  “a fanciful replica of a Renaissance-era Transylvanian castle.  Deeper in the complex are curlicue-covered Baroque mansions.”  I loved this little castle.  Fun to walk around it.

The Anonymous statue…

Snapshots of the Day…

My friend, Brittany and her daughter, Abi

Katie girl – 12 and a half

Back on the Bus I landed a front seat. 

Jewish Synagogue… the worlds second largest.  We didn’t go in, just peeked at it from outside the gates.  Not enough time!

The Tree of Life monument to Hungarian victims of the Holocaust as well as a symbolic grave for Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who worked to save the lives of Hungarian Jews during World War II.

The bus took us over to Pest and up to the Citadella on Gellert Hill… “the strategic, hill-capping fortress that was built by the Habsburgs after the 1848 Revolution to keep an eye on their Hungarian subjects.”  It was indeed the best panoramic view over all of Budapest.

And it was freezing.  Really really freezing.  We were prepared for cold… layers and layers and layers… but the wind up here was something. You can barely even see Emily’s eyes.

At the top of the hill a vendor got our attention by having Emily try to open a ‘trick box’.  Pretty soon we were all huddled around trying to figure it out.  Ryan, Katie and Emily decided they wanted one and ended up getting one for Megan too.  Chris found a 3 way Chess board that he and Ryan decided was a ‘Budapest souvenir MUST’.

From Gellert Hill we headed over to Castle Hill.  We walked around and enjoyed the grounds and views for a long time.

It just fits to do a SASHA pose in an Eastern European country.

We ‘Hopped Off’ at the last bus stop and headed over to the Parliament Building…  We heard the interior was remarkable but we found out the tours were booked and you couldn’t enter without one.

Walking along the river…

“Consisting of 50 pairs of bronze shoes, this monument commemorates the Jews who were killed when the Nazis’ puppet government, the Arrow Cross, came to power in Hungary in 1944.  While many Jews were sent to concentration camps, the Arrow Cross massacred some of them right here, shooting them and letting their bodies fall into the Danube.”

A boat tour came with the price of our Hop On Hop Off bus package.  It was fun to sit and relax, be warm and check out the sights along the Danube.

The girls… Abi, Emily, Jenny and Katie.  The boys were sleeping.

The Nelsons and Petersons often find the Hard Rock in each new city they visit and we quickly jumped on board.  After our meal was over, Ryan (who was in a separate booth with ‘the teens’) leaned over and said, “WHY have you never taken me here before?”  He loved the atmosphere and the food.  We all did.  It was so fun to have refillable drinks!  The last time we’ve eaten at a Hard Rock was in Scotland years ago.

The Parliament Building at night.  Back at the hotel we played a couple games with Dave and the teens.  Great day.