No Site left Unseen
I don’t think I mentioned visiting Esztergom Basilica on our road trip with Szusza. Pictures don’t capture that this is the 3rd biggest church in Europe. On any adventure abroad there is always something you wanted to see that’s being reconstructed. The inside was disappointing.
I bought tickets for us all to climb to the top of the tower. Dennis & Szusza indulged me. Neither was at all enthused. Think of climbing to the top of the Space Needle or the Empire State Building. What the tower lacks in height the small round stairs more than makes up for in claustrophobia.
We worried about Dennis’s head
After our climb Szusza drove across the bridge to Slovakia where we had our best Hungarian meal. The restaurant looked questionable as it was in a small slightly grimy building and called Casablanca. I guess because it was once painted pink??
Heroes Square Remodel
The newly designed and very interactive House of Music and the Ethnographic Museum which we walked on top of were a nice surprise. Part of the Liget Project which Zsuzsa tells us when proposed quite controversial. So far it look good and is quite popular. We had to wait almost 2 hours for our turn to see the House of Music permanent exhibit.
The Agriculture Building is still a castle. There was a long line of families waiting to enter. I wondered what the attraction was. Was it the castle like building or something farm related? Later Zsuzsa told me all the park museums have educational exhibits with interactive features that interest interest children. Part of our Budapest visit coincided with a Fall Break for Hungarian schools.
Exploring the Agricultural Building is something for next trip. I actually remember that in 2008 the building was hosting an international flower show. The ticket for admission was so $$ expensive so we opted not to go.
I am relieved that Trump canceled his trip to Budapest. I’m sure Victor Orban would have made sure Trump visited Budapest’s acre of monuments on Heroes Square. Trump would have been inspired to add a few ancient horsemen or something worse on our Capital Mall.
Tourists run amok
I thought these young people must be waiting for a rock star. We couldn’t believe the lines of tourist waiting to buy a chimney or funnel cake. In my opinion there are far better Hungarian desserts. Rick Steves and other guide books tell visitors this is something they must eat.
Finding our way around Budapest
A transportation pass for trams, the underground Metro and buses was $17 for 15 days. When I was here 18 years ago there was a transit strike. The system was losing money. I paid $35 for my first monthly pass but $50 later. Something is fixed. The trams & subway cars are new too.
Finding our way around Budapest was not hard. It took us a couple of day to master where the various trams that came by went. The metros were easy except I kept confusing the numbers M2 took us home in Vienna but not in Budapest.
Our Flat in Buda
We loved our very modern Airbnb. We were in a quiet neighborhood in Buda convenient to the tram line. The price was right. Our only difficulties were which button to push to get the stove to heat and how to get the remote control blinds up once you have them down.
Dennis tried to take a picture of the kitchen but it wouldn’t fit in 1 shot.
We had a big kitchen table, a huge coffee maker & the smallest dishwasher you ever saw.
We had the traditional 2 bathrooms. One with a toilet and sink, the other with a shower, sink, and washing machine.
This clothes washer is supposed to both wash & dry. That didn’t happen so I spread the clothes out the more traditional way in front of our sunny window.
We had a great 2 weeks in 2 beautiful cities.
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