Day 20 -22: Budapest, Hungary

After getting of the night train, we found a park on the way to the apartment we were renting through Airbnb. We were allowed to drop our bags off at 11, but couldn't check in until 3. Ariadne found a zipline at the park while Clint and Theresa used the time to plan out their Budapest itinerary. Our apartment was on the 3rd floor and it was one of very few apartments in Budapest that had air conditioning!

After dropping off our bags, we decided to have lunch and go to the Budapest zoo. We found a pricey restaurant near the zoo and tried out some Budapest specialties...goulash and pancakes with meat filling.

The Budapest Zoo is one of the oldest zoos in the world. It was almost completely destroyed during World War II. All zoos look and feel the same, but it was interesting to go to shows entirely in another language! We watched an elephant and gorilla feeding. We watched a seal show and went to their petting zoo.

After a hot day at the zoo we were looking forward to our air conditioned apartment! Unfortunately, when we got to our apartment, the air conditioner was not on and we could not find the remote. After contacting the owner who said they had to figure out where the remote was, we went to a very delicious Thai restaurant for dinner. When we got back, the owner figured out the maid had locked the remote in their private closet. Reluctantly, the owner told us where the key was hidden so we got the remote and cooled our place down as best as we could.

After breakfast, we decided we would try to Hop On Hop Off Bus tour for Budapest. The buses were double-deckered to Ariadne's delight and had headsets to learn about the sites as we passed them on the bus. We drove by the Szechenyi Chain Bridge which was a suspension bridge over the Danube River that connected Buda and Pest. At the entrance to the bridge are two lion statues. According to the tour, the bridge was blown up during World War II and only the tower of the bridge was still standing.

We hopped off at the bottom of Gellert Hill and walked our way up to the Citadella, the fortress that surrounded Budapest. We got great views of the city at the top.

We also found Budapest's Statue of Liberty. It is a woman holding up a palm leaf. It was originally erected to thank the Soviets for liberating Budapest during World War II. We learned during our walking tour that many of the monuments or statues built to thank the Soviets were taken down when Budapest was no longer a communist ruled country. However, this statue was left alone.

We got back on the bus and saw a few more places before we got off the eat lunch at Budapest's Great Market Hall. The market had clothes, jewelry, and an area for food. We tried some more traditional dishes such as cabbage rolls and sausage with vegetables. After lunch we found a park with a playground and decided to go home when it started raining.

We ate an early dinner at the apartment and decided to do the night tour since the rain had stopped. Budapest at night was beautiful! Our favorite sites were the Chain Bridge, Parliment Building, and Liberty Bridge.

Here's a panoramic of Budapest at night.

The next day was our favorite day in Budapest. We went on a walking tour. Listening to our tour guide, it is amazing the devastation Budapest went through during World War II and it's transition from a communist country to a democratic one. We stopped at a controversial monument that is based on perspective. The monument was erected by the government at night, but the items in front are from Jewish Hungarian civilians who felt the monument did not depict the true story of the victims.

We also saw a statue of Ronald Reagan in the park as if he is walking toward the embassy. According to the tour guide, Reagan never visited Budapest but he signified the end of the Cold War. We also saw the Parliament Building. It looked so different during the day!

Our last stop on the walking tour was by the Danube River. There were some bronzed shoes to represent the Jews that were standing by the river and asked to take off their shoes before they were killed. The tour guide said they would sink faster if they did not have shoes on.

After being so patient on the 2 hour walking tour, Ariadne got to pick our next destination. She chose the Ferris Wheel! We got some great view of Budapest!

Our final site on our final day in Budapest was Castle Hill. After walking up a steep hill, we had more great views of Budapest and Royal Palace which is a museum now. We also saw rubble which we assume was left from World War II.