Three Eastern European Cities - City 3

From Salzburg, we took the train to Budapest, Hungary.  This time we were on a fast train - over 200 km/hour.  I was really nervous I would feel sick on the train because it went so fast, but I felt fine the entire ride.  We did not get assigned seats on this train, but did not have a problem finding good seats together.

Budapest was overwhelming.  Maybe it was because this was the end of our trip, maybe because it was much larger city than we visited previously, but I felt overwhelmed when I got off the train.  It did not help that we were approached as we arrived at the train station by a (perfectly harmless I am sure) person who wanted to be our guide in the city.  I am always leery of strangers offering tourists their services unless I have word that all is well.  Maybe I am too cautious, I guess I might be missing out on something great.

 
We bought a map and decided to walk to our hotel.  It was really far and I cannot swear we did not get in a couple of fights on which direction to go in first, but we made it our hotel eventually, and it was fantastic!  Great rooms and great service.  Plus, it was right off Andrassy Avenue - a beautiful boulevard with great restaurants and excellent shopping.

It was finally warm by the time we reached Budapest and I could take advantage of the clothes I actually packed for the trip.  Side note:  I am a pretty modest dresser.  I do not show my stomach unless I am in a bathing suit, my shorts do not show the bottom of my butt, and my boobs are usually tucked away.  However, I found myself feeling self conscious in Budapest while wearing a dress with straps.  I felt like I was showing too much.  Maybe the people are just more modest or maybe they just did not think it was as warm as I did.

There is a lot to do in Budapest and we barely scratched the surface.  Here is what we did:
Hereos Square
Parliament
Island in Danube River (kind of odd, but nice park feel)
City Park (this park had ping pong and trampolines!!)
Great Market Hall (great building, but only useful for cheap souvenirs)
House of Terror
Pest-side (Newer Budapest, where most of the sites are)
Buda-side (Older Budapest)
Thermal Baths (My favorite thing in Budapest and there are many to choose from)

Getting around - We walked A LOT and this is a large city to walk around!  This could also be what added to our crankiness.  I finally talked Kyle into trying the public transportation and we used both the subway and bus, and all of it was really easy to follow.
Language issues - Very few, but Hungarian is impossible to figure out.  Most of the menus have an English version and most spoke at least a little English.
Food - Great.  I tried Goulash - two thumbs up.


For more pictures, click here.

It was a very good trip to Eastern Europe, but we packed way too much in one week.  We did not really get to learn enough about each city, since we were so quickly off to the next.  We saw some great sites, but did not learn enough about the culture.  Also, I think we were both a bit snippy due to the constant packing and moving from place to place.  It did not help that we were on email with our realtor often too, trying to bid on our new home in D.C.  Next time, we will find one place to go and just hang.