Budapest Hungary Day 1/2

Our first day in Budapest started off with a 3-hour bus ride from Austria to Hungary. We were a bit paranoid about this bus since it was also from the Orangeways line, but thankfully it showed up and left on time. We had a small hitch in the morning when our taxi driver had no idea where the bus station was and dropped us off in the middle of the street.

 

When we arrived in Budapest close to 3pm, Rena was waiting to pick us up. We took the metro a couple stops and had lunch at a salad bar close to Rena’s house. We hung out at her house for a bit,since our airbnb hosts wouldn’t be home to let us in until 6. Afterwards we dropped our luggage off at our apartment, and got ready for the night.

Rena took us to the island between Buda and Pest and we walked around the parks. We sat for a while on the edge of the island. This is when I found out that Hungary had buses that can go from the road right to the water. We stopped to try some traditional Hungarian summer food as Rena called it. Pretty much it was a huge piece of deep fried dough covered in sour cream and cheese. While on our way to get a drink we were stopped by a fountain show. For 20 minutes we sat enthralled by the way the water and lights matched the music, wondering what kind of city planners thought this up.  

Our lovely apartment.. 

When the show was over, or at least we thought it was, we headed to the bar for a drink. Rena and Mishaela ordered fancy lemonades. When we were just finishing up and thinking of leaving the waiter came to the table and spoke to Rena in Hungarian. It was pretty easy to tell from his gestures that he was informing us that the table next to us wanted to buy us drinks. I thought why not?...free drinks! So I encouraged them to take it. After they ordered I looked behind at the table and realized it was a bunch of 40 year old French men. On their way out they smiled and told us “remember the French touch”.

After leaving the bar we were going to take a walk to the parliament until we heard some thunder and saw the lightning. In hopes of avoiding the storm we decided to go home instead. Sadly for us the rain started before we got home and we were completely drenched while half running/half dancing home.

 

We had a lot planned for our second day in Budapest. We were supposed to meet up with Rena at 11am. On the way we picked up some breakfast to go. We got on the train and Mishaela dropped her latte on the tram in an attempt to balance it. Luckily for us we were only going one stop so we promptly exited the tram. We arrived at Hero’s square a few minutes later and walked to a park behind the monuments to eat our breakfast.

The plans for the afternoon included a trip to the thermal baths. We lounged around in the baths for three hours, and suntanned on the deck. At one point a boy walked up to us and said to me “I remember you, we danced two nights ago. You were wearing a red dress. You were drunk, that’s why you don’t remember”. This seems completely logical… (although I had been wearing a red dress earlier that day). The baths really tired us out, not sure if it was the sun or the hot water. So we went to Rena’s house for a quick rest. We got some gyros on the way for a late lunch.

Parliament

That evening we had planned to go to the Circus Classicus, since neither Mishaela nor I had ever been to a circus. The show lasted 2 and a half hours, and we were out of place in a crowd filled with parents and children. The circus included many animals; 5 tigers, an elephant, 13 horses, and a pony. There was magic, rather annoying (and slightly creepy) clowns, and tight rope walking. We were a bit uncomfortable with the man who dressed as Spiderman and swung around the ceiling without any safety equipment. Our first circus included a Hungarian announcer so each act was a surprise since we weren’t sure what he was saying.