Koszonom utca ter.

Marco and I went on a whirl-wind trip to Hungary this past week. We left on Tuesday night for Paris, slept for a few measly hours, dragged ourselves out of bed at 5h30 and headed to Orly to go to Budapest. The flight was calm, just as is liked. We arrived in Budapest around 10h30, went through customs (oh wait, that's right, there was none...), and were settled into our nice brand-new apartment by 12h30. We rested a little bit and then were off to explore what this amazing city had to offer. I'm going to try to avoid a book, but I have tons to say! I'll do my best.

A brief history of Hungary to better understand what we saw: The country was first inhabited by the Celts, then the Romans, next the Bulgarians, the Moguls, and then it finally became Hungary in the 90s. The Ottomans (Turks) gained control in 1541 for nearly 140 years. 1867 = the reconciliation which birthed Austria-Hungary. WWI brought an end to the Golden Age and the fall of Austria-Hungary. Hungary became independent officially in 1920. Budapest was heavily damaged during WWII.. In 1949, it was declared a communist People’s Republic. It fell in 1989 and signs of communism were destroyed (statues etc.).

The old school tram in front of the parliament building. The tram line is the 2nd oldest in the world. In general, the public transportation in Budapest is pretty impressive.

Marco at Fisherman's Bastion. There are statues and monuments EVERYWHERE in Budapest.

The Funicular Incline which goes up to Buda Castle. You can also see a famous bridge and St. Stephen's Basilica in the background.
The inside of Cafe New York - Hungary is known for their cafes. They are sooo delicious.
The outside of another famous cafe - Cafe Gerbeaud. We allowed ourselves indulge in coffee and cake again :). The most shocking part of the experience is to get a bill for 1,500 florents (about 18 dollars). It took awhile to get used to the extremely high numbers!

Me at the top of Fisherman's Bastion on the Buda side with a view of Pest in the background (Budapest is broken into two parts - Buda and Pest).
The memorial for the 400,000 Hungarian Jews killed during WWII. Each leaf of the tree bears a name. It is in the courtyard of the world's second largest synagogue (the first largest is in NYC).
FUR. There is fur EVERYWHERE. I don't think PETA would be to happy about that (sorry Tanner!)
An example of a nice building in Budapest. Most of them are from the 1800s.
Next door to a nice building, it was common to see one like this. You can see on the top that at one point it was a beautifully painted building. Strong reminder of communism.

Unfortunately, the title of this blog means absolutely nothing (thanks street square). After 4 wonderful days in Budapest, Hungary, Marco and I learned a total of 3 words. Everyone speaks English and a lot speak German as well. They just automatically speak to you in English - I don't know how I would have survived otherwise. Here is an example of a sentence in Hungarian about the Beatles (also known as maygar): A művészetek bármely ágát is nézzük, kevesen voltak, akik népszerűségükhöz, kritikai elismertségükhöz és széles körű kulturális hatásukhoz mérhetőek. In general, Hungarians are some of the nicest people I've met. I was amazed at how helpful they were.

Other random things:

-famous for their paprika

-the food isn't my favorite ever as it is very heavy

-the thermal baths are AMAZING and I would go back just for that

-there are lots of Burger Kings so props to them for at least having BK as often as McDonald's

-there is a huge classical music and art scene

-cost of living is much cheaper than in France

Overall, I'd rate this city as a must-see. You'd be missing out if you went to Europe and didn't spend at least a few days in Budapest. I think Marco would agree :). If you end up going, I wrote a guide of the city and would be happy to send it to whomever!