In Our Own World: Fall Break 2021 - Part 2

After departing Bratislava on Monday morning, we hit the road for a 2+ hour drive to Budapest, Hungary. One interesting observation made by all was the number of windmill fields in use by the various countries we traveled through. While we didn't get any good pics of the windmills, we probably passed at least 200 of them. As we entered Budapest proper, we immediately noticed it was a much bigger and busier city with noticeably more traffic. We arrived prior to rush hour but we still sat in a bit of traffic as we navigated our way to the AirBnB. Budapest is a city split in two by the Danube River. Buda is on the West side of the river and Pest (pronounced Pesht) is on the East side. We stayed in Pest but visited attractions on both sides of the river. There was an underground parking lot just down the street from us which proved to be a challenge. All signs were in Hungarian and we'd never parked in a garage like this before so there was a learning curve. Below is a short video the underground garage (preceeded by our ice cream video). We stayed in Budapest for 3 days, 2 nights and enjoyed out time but it was a bit much after our time in sleepy little Bratislava.

The below sign shows the way to Budapest as well as several other countries: UA = Ukraine, RO = Romania, SRB = Serbia, HR = Croatia, and SLO = Slovakia.

This is one of the streets we drove down to get to our room. The room was very nice (the nicest of all AirBnB we stayed at on this trip) but the courtyard of the building reminded me of the rundown place from Karate Kid.

At the end of our street was a park where they managed to squeeze in a huge ferris wheel. We walked past it daily and while Ron was willing to go for a spin, no one else was interested. Ron didn't end up going since it's not as fun alone.

For some reason, Budapest is known for people connecting locks to different attractions to symbolize their commitment or love for one another. This is one such piece...not sure what the relevance is. They also have the more well known Szechenyi Chain Bridge that we saw but it was closed to pedestrian and vehicular traffic as it was under renovation (additional structural support required due to the added weight of all the locks).

A view of the Buda Castle from the Pest side of the river.

We saw a pretty sweet old Mustang so Jonathan wanted a picture with it.

A 3-minute walk from our place was St. Stephen's Basilica, another common tourist attraction. There are several more pictures below of the basilica. For dinner our first night, we ate a restaurant just out of picture to the right.

Ron had a local dish, Hungarian beef in hunter's sauce with crispy onions on top. It was tasty!

And of course we had dessert after dinner. First time we'd ever had "rose" shaped ice cream but we all enjoyed it.

Tuesday morning Ron took Kobe for an early morning walk and realized there's a dog park at the end of our street (our room was a minute walk down the road towards the left of the pic. Directly behind me is the ferris wheel).

Random Michael Jackson tree and memorial...no clue what the story is behind this.

The river is behind the statue and you can see the Buda castle as well.

Kobe was the subject of this artist's masterpiece.

Buda Castle in the morning sun.

When Ron returned from his walk, we got dressed and walked about 10 minutes to McDonalds. Dogs were not allowed, which was not the case in Bratislava, so Ron and Kobe enjoyed breakfast outside.

Our first big stop of the day was the House of Houdini. Harry Houdini was born in Hungary as Erik Weisz in 1874, however, his roots were not traced back to Hungary until well after his death. His parents immigrated to the US when he was 4 years old. After confirming his Hungarian roots, many movie props and other memorabilia were sent to Hungary for display at the House of Houdini.

Jonathan was happy to lock his sister in the large safe. Payback for so many things!

Jonathan was genuinely nervous that Kaitlyn was going to lock him in. :)

Ron was acting silly as always.

There are additional pics of some of the displays from the museum if you're interested in learning more about Houdini. They are at the bottom of the blog.

Just around the corner from Houdini's was the Labyrinth. Count Dracula (Vlad Tepes), who was born in nearby Transylvania (Romania), was supposedly held prisoner in the Labyrinth for a period of time. There are several stories/myths about his presence in the Labyrinth and there's no way to tell the difference. He was not associated with vampires until well after his death but he was known to be a brutal leader. He earned the nickname "Vlad the Impaler" for impaling most of his victims. Anyhow, the Labyrinth is a series of natural underground caves/caverns that were formed by water hundreds of years ago. The caves were used for storage during times of peace and as prisons or bunkers during times of war. Today they are merely a tourist attraction that run under the busy hill known as Buda Hill. I didn't take any pics inside so the below pics were pulled from the internet. It took about 30 minutes to walk through.

Entrance from the street to head down.

One section was completely dark and you had the option to bypass it if you wanted. Since we had a cell phone, we made our way through and had to turn the flashlight on a few times. You literally couldn't see your hand in front of your face so we lost all sense of orientation. In addition, they had a plaque with several spooky stories of encounters over the years (seeing a white mist, feeling a cold breeze, rapid temperature drop, etc.). It was perfect since Kaitlyn likes spooky things and I will say she was a bit creeped out at times.

Next up on Buda Hill was Matthias church, another common tourist attraction near the river. We didn't go inside as you had to pay for a tour and we had plenty of ground to cover that day. Another beautiful masterpiece.

Just behind the church was Fisherman's Bastion, another popular tourist destination known for its unique architecture.

Hungarian Parliament building across the river.

Fisherman's Bastion with the Matthias Church in the background.

A tasty lunch while Jonathan and Kaitlyn practiced their Houdini magic trick (we got suckered in...).

Ron tasted the Hungarian goulash...it was good!!

The shores of the Danube River and the Parliament building are one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites.

One of the local foods Ron was encouraged to taste was "langos" (pronounced lan-gosh). It's a common Hungarian street food made from deep fried flat bread that typically includes sour cream, shredded cheese, and any variety of toppings. It's basically Hungary's version of a pizza and was darn tasty.

Our last morning in town we walked past the US Embassy to the Parliament building. Just past the embassy there's a statue of Ronald Regean, which we snapped a few pictures of.

Jonathan was excited for his first handshake with a President.

The Parliament building is the crowned jewel of Budapest and well known around the world for it's beauty and intricacies. What a treat it was to visit the grounds and tour the interior.

The Golden Stairwell...painted with real gold.

The main entrance to the Parliament building.

Ceiling of the main entry.

In the below picture, you may notice a display in the middle of the room. This is where the Holy Crown of Hungary is stored and photos are prohibited. The Holy Crown was first established around the year 1000 and no king of Hungary was regarded as having been truly legitimate without being crowned with it. In the history of Hungary, more than 50 kings were crowned with it up until the last in 1916. Further below is a picture of the crown as displayed today (pulled from the internet).