Budapest Sights

We learned 2 important things in Budapest that helped us on the rest of our trip:

Water with a green cap, and a blue cap, and a purple cap have bubbles. It's the pink lids we want. This was very, very important to know. Every time we guessed wrong, Brandon still made us drink it. We couldn't try a new bottle until the fizzy was gone. Yuck. I'm lucky I didn't get dehydrated because I just couldn't stomach the stuff.

Sprite here is not the same as Sprite from the United States. I bought a Sprite thinking I could just avoid water all together...I was wrong. It wasn't much different than the blue topped water we tried. I almost cried I was so thirsty!

When we were taking breaks from hunting down Gát, we did manage to squeeze in a bit of fun and sightseeing. Here are all the random things we did and saw.

All the building have faces all over them. They were interesting and creepy at the same time.

The smallest car we've ever seen!

The Castle during the day, from the Chain Bridge

Every time Brandon would see this he'd yell, "It's Ron Weasley's car!" :) I finally had the camera out to catch a picture. Ron Weasley was everywhere in Budapest.

A tender moment between a father and a son

Walking across the Chain Bridge, with the Fort up the hill

We saw this big line and thought that it must be something worth waiting in line for. So we got in line too :)

You place your order through the hole in the wall, a walk-thru! :) We don't know what they're called, but it was like a waffle folded in half with pudding in the middle.

A Budapest mailbox

I loved the architecture in Budapest. I had no idea what to expect about anything here, and I loved it all!

This place entertained us for a long time. It had a sensor that was tripped as you walked by. At first you just saw this.

And then as you walked by, the frosted glass became transparent and you see the other figures behind. We did it over and over again - Brandon wanted to know how it worked. We probably had people laughing at the crazy American's playing with the window display.

I don't think this was a picture of anything but the street. I liked it.

The Opera House

Parliament Building

Castle and Chain bridge

Mattias Church

This is the building below the Mattias Church. I don't know what it is.

Walking along the river we stumbled upon this memorial. I'd read about it, but had forgotten. I was glad we were able to see it.

So the soldiers had the Jews line up at the river's edge and remove their shoes. Men, women, and yes, children. They were then shot in the head and pushed into the river.

There are candles in the shoes that people have lit and left. Brandon was trying to revive some and get others going.

The Castle and the Chain bridge again.

After trying to get pictures of the Castle to be in focus (we really missed a tripod and a remote), Brandon started messing around. He had a couple that I really liked.

We really enjoyed Hungarian pastries. This one was called a kürtöskálacs. We preferred to call it a Kurt-o.

Check out these escalators down into the subway system (Which, on a side note, was amazing! No dirt, no rats, no stench, no sweltering heat. If we ever move back to NYC, I'll have some words to speak with the MTA...) They were forever long, and very steep! Can you even see the top from here?

This place was recommended to us by some friends as a must eat place. Not having a car, it was a little trickier to get to, but we found it with some help from the locals and were very glad we did. It was very yummy.

Very cozy, very local

I ordered a Hungarian specialty and it was delicious.

The Parliament Building

Brandon hanging out at the castle while I took pictures :)

View from the Castle across to Pest. That is the Chain Bridge we walked on a few days before.

View from the Castle of the Buda hills behind it. That is were we stayed.

Piano key archway

This is the entrance of the Budapest Castle Hill Funicular at the base of the hill.

View from the bottom, going up

The big wheel that pulls you up.

View from the top, headed down

We saw Peter Pan!

Walking down to the Market, the street was filled with vendors and shops. Inspired by my Dad's recent hat shopping trip, I picked a few of my favorites.

Huge building called The Market. Row after row of fruits, veggies, spices, bread, and disgusting meats. Really fun.

The 2nd floor was full of food and touristy knick knacks. We partook of both.

This is a Lango - very similar to Indian Fry Bread, or the Elephant Ear.

And this was a very greasy brat of sorts wrapped in dough then cooked.

If you talk to us about it, you'll hear us say Budapesht because that's how they pronounce the "st" in Budapest. No, we're not crazy, we know we said "pesht."