Budapest

Our first big trip out of Germany - Budapest

We had the opportunity to travel to Budapest for 5 days. After many weeks of overcast weather in Cologne we were greeted with 5 days of sunshine in Budapest. It was a pleasure! 

Wonderful city with beautiful architecture and a long history of invasions from other countries. Tours of the Parliament Building and the Synagogue were very time worthy. The silver willow tree in the garden at the Synagogue was unique and it glistened from the sun shining into the courtyard. It is the second largest synagogue in the world.

We attended our first opera ever at the Opera House which had a similar feel in decoration as the Parliament Building. 

Great walking city, with Pest side being flat and full of shops, restaurants, and hotels. The amazing Basilica of St. Stephen seemed to always be on our path when walking. We did get to listen to an evening concert there. It had seating for 8,000 and there were maybe 100 in attendance. The season has not begun in Budapest. A talented street performer who played water glasses, even took video of him and found him on u-tube later! 

The Buda side of the city being more prominent with buildings in the castle district, winding streets, parks, and hills. We hiked up to the Citadel to get a beautiful vista of the Danube and cities on both sides.  

Also striking and memorable are the bridges across the Danube. Our hotel was right near the "Chain Bridge" so that is the one we walked across a few times. We did see pictures of the city after the war and these bridges were all destroyed and laying in the river.  A very sad sight to see. They are beautiful again and traversed by people, bikes, cars, and buses all day long.

One heartwarming story from our time there. The night before I was to leave we walked next door to the Four Seasons Hotel and sat in the piano bar area for a drink. It was not busy and with the pianist playing it was the perfect way to relax before walking to dinner. We chatted with our waitress and mentioned where we were going for dinner. At the restaurant two hours later, we got a phone call! It was the Four Seasons - I had left my purse on the arm of my chair and the waitress tracked us down. It had my passport, wallet, etc. in it. Boy was I ever lucky!