Budapest

Over Valentine' Day weekend Cameron surprised me with a long weekend in Budapest with some of our friends. It was a fun city and Hungarian food is really good (once you get past the all the liver). I would compare it to a combination of Berlin and Prague. Berlin because of the communism- style gray boring buildings, and Prague because of the historical castles. Everyone there speaks English, and they don't seem to hold anything against Americans.

This is the inside of St. Stephen's Basilica. It was very large and ornate inside, but I don't have any good pictures because it was dark inside. It is a relatively new building; the building was not completed until 1905. Housed in the Basilica is the right hand of Stephen, the first King of Hungry. The hand is kept in a dark box and you have to pay 2 Euro for a light to turn on so that you can view it. Needless to say, we didn't get a good look.

This is a shot of the outside of the Basilica. It looks more modern than a lot of the Cathedrals I've seen in Europe.

This is a photo of part of the Pest Castle taken from the Buda side of the Danube. The banks of the Danube are covered in old buildings on both sides. Because it was rather chilly, we did a hop-on hop-off bus tour that gave us a lot of information, that I then forgot.

Jessica hanging out with a Death Eater.

This is the entrance to the Buda Castle- much smaller than the Pest Castle. You can see some resemblance to Cinderella's Castle here. It was very cool looking from the outside, but the inside had been heavily damaged during wars, and just housed a collection of exhibits. The Buda Castle was surrounded by parks that probably would have been very nice in the summer, but snow and ice covered while we were there. There was also an amusement park and zoo nearby.

Me and Cameron on the Buda side with the Pest Castle in the background.

Yup, we have another flat visitor! This time Cameron's cousin Julia sent us her Flat Julia to visit. Here, she is in front of Hero's Square in the arts district of Budapest. They also have tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the base of the tower, but no guards. The surrounding buildings are various museums, including the National Art Museum, which had a VERY long line in the morning!

Another view of the Pest side of the Danube. Budapest is known for having the largest collection of natural thermal springs. According to Wikipedia, the Romans first settled in the area to take advantage of the healing powers of the baths. On Sunday we had a day of relaxation and spent the morning at the Gellert Spa hanging out in the baths. My cold wasn't miraculously healed, but it still felt nice. They offered chocolate massages too. Some day I'm going to have one of those! After relaxing, shopping, (non chocolate) massages and playing Bananagrams, we went to dinner at the Gundel Restaurant- said to be one of the best restaurants in Eastern Europe. It was yummy, but unfortunately because of my cold my taste buds were muted.

Me hanging out (haha) with one of my new friends.

View of the Parliament from Pest. Look familiar? (cough London cough)

And last but not least, a picture of the Pest Castle. It is much bigger and intricate than the Buda Castle- what I would expect from a castle!