Settling in... in Budapest

Hi all!

First of all, I need to apologize for my delay in posting. We’ve been really busy lately with weekend trips and guests and the time is slipping away from me. Also, I was almost done writing this post a few weeks ago when it was accidentally deleted! It was soooo frustrating! I’ve decided to start writing my blog in word processing then moving it to my blog so I don’t have that issue again! :)

So our first week actually living in Budapest was wonderful! We used Sunday to unpack. We also skyped with our friends Nikki and Pete from Chicago who got engaged on Friday night! We were so excited for them! Even though I told Nikki I’d kill Pete if he proposed to her too soon after we moved. Haha! We would have loved to have been there with them to celebrate, but we are so happy for them! Nikki asked me to be one of her bridesmaids and I was thrilled! That means I get to be in 2 incredible weddings next year and I just can’t wait!

Monday and Tuesday were pretty uneventful. I did some things around the house but was starting to feel pretty homesick by the end of Tuesday. Nikki asked me to be her Maid of Honor though so that was exciting but not much else happened. We don’t have any English channels on our T.V. and we have decided to go without for the year... it’s tough! I told Brian I was homesick so, being the romantic that he is, he decided we would go out the following night downtown.

Wednesday night we started at the Parliament building which is on the Pest side of the Danube. It is beautiful so we decided to take some pictures there. We wandered a bit and found a little place to eat. We didn’t know at the time that the restaurants closer to the Danube are considered tourist traps because they often have very high prices. Yes... we did find one. The food portions were tiny and the prices too high. We left feeling under-whelmed and vowed never to make that mistake again! We then stumbled upon something incredible! St. Stephen’s basilica! Or Szent István-bazilika as it is called in Hungarian. We were in awe. It was dusk by now and Budapest has this incredible way of lighting the largest and most important of their buildings in a way that brings out the best features of each building, even in the dark. We marveled in it’s beauty for a bit then wandered towards the train stop we would take to get home. It was a night for stumbling because we then found a large lawn with hundreds of people just milling about! We found out that there is a club in the center of that lawn but underground. It’s called Gödör, which means ditch. We went underground in to the bar after purchasing drinks from the outdoor bar upstairs to see what it was all about. Inside we found a stage, the restrooms, another bar and a brochure for “Free Budapest Walking Tours”. It was in English! I thought “this is too good to be true”, because very little in Hungary is in English. We took one with us and I decided to go on a tour the next day. After finishing our drinks we headed home. It was a great night!

I went on the afternoon general tour the next day. They meet at 2:30 in the square in front of St. Stephen’s Basilica, which I had luckily found the day before! My tour guide said to call her Sara and her assistant was Andrew. I met a few ladies from CA and a guy traveling through Europe on 3 Euros a day! That was about 5 U.S. dollars at the time. We started our tour learning some facts about the Basilica which was built in honor of Hungary’s first king, Stephen. We continued to Gödör, again, lucky we found it the night before! Here we learned about the long, sad history of Hungary. It’s filled with invasions, failed revolutions, war, and Communism which lasted from the 1940s after the Nazis were pushed out until 1989. It’s a sad history but the tour guide did a great job summing it up and putting a positive spin on it! We then headed to the love-lock tree! See my photos to see what I mean. Here they explained that Hungarians “love to be in love”. So when you are in love, you engrave your initials and those of your loved one into a padlock, lock it to the tree, then throw the key in the Danube. This ensures that your love with always last. I’ll let you know when Brian and I do this ourselves. :) We then stopped at a brass statue of a quite portly looking police officer. This was my favorite part because they talked about the food in Hungary! They told us to make sure we try goulash, hortobagy pancakes, langos, and many other delicious Hungarian dishes! The next stop was interesting. They showed us the most expensive hotel in the city, The Four Seasons. The average monthly income of a Hungarian in Budapest is about 550 Euros a month. A night at The Four Seasons could cost you that much! The building next to the hotel is pretty interesting too. It’s a building that was built during the Communist era and it looks so boring! We then made a pitstop in from of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences or Magyar Tudományos Akadémia. Here we learned a few famous Hungarians, some Hungarian inventions and learned a little about the language. Sara told us it is the 5th hardest language to learn but the 2nd most logical, after latin. We learned igen=yes, nem=no, bor=wine, sör=beer and egészségedre=cheers. Sara also informed us that she teaches Hungarian to foreigners which gave me an idea! :) We made our way across the Danube along the “chain bridge” to the Buda side. Just my luck, it started pouring rain. It was such a beautiful day I didn’t even think to bring an umbrella! We went up to the top of Buda hill and went in to the labyrinth to get out of the rain for a bit. There are many caves under the Buda hills that were formed by thermal waters rising from below, rather than rain water. One of these areas is called the Labyrinth of Buda Castle. Upon entering the cave you can have free tea and internet access. Haha! We got some tea while we waited for the rain to stop. Once it did we continued our tour by stopping at a brass Hussar statue. Legend has it that if you touch a rather shiny part of the horse, it will bring good luck when taking exams. This body part of the horse isn’t something you would ever dare to grab on a real horse but it was also told that a side effect is good skills in bed. Everyone was far too embarrased but I’m sure they went back later to test it out ;). We ended out tour near Matthias church or Mátyás-templom. They gave some great tips on where to eat out, the best bath houses and the best ruin pubs. The tour is free but they do ask for tips. I used this as my opportunity to talk to Sara about possibly taking Brian and I on as students of hers! She gave me her business card and said she would also pass my information along to a language school that uses native English speakers as teachers! It was a really fantastic tour and I was really glad that we found the brochure. I decided to get some dinner near the Danube. I had some fantastic goulash while people watching and reading a book. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day!

On Friday I decided to take part in a different tour that the same company offered. The Communist tour. This tour was less about the sites of Budapest and more about the years they endured communist rule. Our tour guide was in her late 30’s so she remembered growing up during that time. She told us about how it was living in Budapest during that time and even being Hungarian but living in another country. It was really sad to hear but totally worth it. Living in America, we never really realize what other nations could be going through. It was very interesting to learn more about the history and see some architectural remnants of that era. Check out my pictures to see what I mean. We ended our tour in a rundown building that was oddly decorated with rabbits, fish, trees and even a statue of a woman’s body with the legs of a horse, and the head and wings of an owl. WEIRD!!! I later found out that it is one of the most famous ruin pubs in Budapest! A ruin pub is a bar that is built inside old apartment and factory buildings that were doomed for destruction. They are decorated with old furniture and any other odds and ends you can think of, and even some you can’t. The front end of a car and a bath tub were turned in to seats in one pub. After the tour I walked back towards the train station down Andrássy út which is a very famous boulevard lined with expensive shops, Neo-renaissance mansions and the Opera House. Brian met me downtown and we ate dinner at Silenus. I had a pork knuckle (yum) and Brian had a salad (boring!) :). It was really good food. We decided that night to try Pálinka which is a traditional Hungarian fruit brandy. We tried the original plum with and without honey. It was awful! I don’t like straight alcohol much anyway but I like it less when it burns... and did it ever! Brian ended up drinking most of it, poor guy. It was something we had to do though! I emailed Sara as soon as we got home that day so I could get a jump on learning Hungarian and possibly getting a job at the language school!

On Saturday I took Brian to the general walking tour so he could experience it and because there was no way I could remember everything they told us the first time! He loved it and it didn’t rain that time! Sara was our guide again and I was glad because then Brian was able to meet her and it was easier for me to persuade him to take Hungarian with me! :) We finished the tour on the Buda side and wandered back towards the train station. We both had a great time and I would recommend those tours to everyone who comes to Budapest!