After a long night on the "night train" from Crakow, we arrived bleary-eyed this morning in lovely Budapest. OK. The train station was kind of gritty as were the throngs of backpackers -- most 20somethings -- sprawled on the floors and in lines for the hostels. While the girls may do this kind of travel someday -- and we hope they do see more of the world as a result of our family trips -- both Garin and I have decided we are too old for that basic level of travel anymore and enjoy our affordable apartments along with comfy beds.Anyway, after finally figuring out the cash machine and Metro ticket purchases and finding our apartment to drop of our WAY too heavy packs, we splurged on $5 coffee drinks before heading out in the city often called the "Paris of Eastern Europe." Buda-Pest is really two cities separated by the Danube river. It is home to nearly 2 million people! We are staying in "pesht" which is the commercial heart of the city with a very western, cosmopolitan feel (but with cooler architecture). Many bridges connect the cities and today we crossed the Chain Bridge, an impressive strucutre guarded by stone lions that really impressed Garin the engineer. From there, some of us decided that walking up Castle Hill (the more touristy though picturesque part of the city in Buda) in blazing heat would be better than riding the cute little funicular/streetcar. We were rewarded at the top, however, with a shady patch of grass outside the royal castle and just chilled out there for awhile drinking our water and people watching.
Keeping in mind that none of us had showered since the morning before due to the night train and could not check in until 2 p.m., we strolled along biding our time and stopping for what has
quickly became a daily gelato habit. That, along with pastries for breakfast and the occasional pizza bread, pretzel or bagel for lunch does not amount to a very well-balanced European traveler's diet. We DO order salad whenever we can though and pick up fruit at the local market when fresh. Fruit juice becoming the popular source of all things vitamin C. All the walking seems to be burning the hundreds of extra calories we are consuming but today after a nice dinner of meat, potatoes and more delicate pastries, Hallie and Court declared tomorrow would be a fruit and veggie day. We'll see how long that lasts. Speaking of food, Court, being the adventurous gal she is, decided to take the waiter's recommendation tonight and try "goose liver." Nobody else at the table was too impressed and Courtney was mortified after dinner when Garin told her how these poor foul are force fed to get such a tasty liver. "Foix Gras" ghast!After dinner we tried to walk it all off along the river and the main pedestrian drag called "Vaci utca," home of the landmark McDonald's -- the first behind the Iron Curtain. I guess Budapest practiced what some referred to as "goulash communism" which drew visitors from other Eastern block countries for years due to its Western flair and flavor -- and cool stores!
Tomorrow we plan to really focus on not rushing from site to site (aka London experience) and just go to a park, walk around and of course, take in one of many Budapest hot spring baths!
"Viszontlatasra" for now!
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