Budapest - Day 3

We got up early today for our private tour of the Hungarian Parliament. We woke up to even more snow than there was yesterday!!!

The Hungarian Parliament is the #1 attraction in Budapest, as it is highly regarded by the Hungarian people. Designed by Imre Steindl, who won an open competition to build the Parliament, died 5 weeks before it was finished. This is very sad, as it took 17 years to build and he missed the finish by a mere few weeks. The Parliament is the 3rd largest in Europe (England, Berlin). It is over 30,000 square feet large and has 691 rooms! The main entrance of the parliament is guarded by 2 huge lions, which was inspired by London's Houses of Parliament. It was here that the uprising in 1956 happened, where the Prime Minister and the Hungarian citizens watching his speech, were shot at by the Communist Party, killing 70 people. You can still see the bullet holes in the Museum across from the Parliament. As it stands now, there are several memorials for the 1956 uprising. The grand staircase is spectacular, including three outstanding celing frescoes. You can also view the crown jewels, which worn by St Stephen (whose Royal Right Hand is at the Basilica). We also walked through the National Assembly Hall where Parliament sits.

After leaving Parliament, we headed for the Great Synagogue. This is the 2nd largest Synagogue in the world (it can seat 3,000 people) and it is so beautiful! The museum attached to the Synagogue was almost as moving as the Synagogue itself. Full of Jewish relics from the early 18th century, I was especially found of the chanuka's and prayer books. The last part of the museum was dedicated to the Hungarian Jews that lost their lives in the Holocaust. The museum was full of large pictures, newspaper clippings, old Jewish Ghetto signs, clothing from the Ghetto's. It was very moving to know that the Synagogue was the center of the Jewish Ghetto in 1944, also serving as a detention center. Over 70,000 Jewish citizens lived in this small area, 20,000 perished.

Once we left the Synagogue, we headed to Varosliget (the city park). This is where the locals come to play, wide streets, lakes, cafe's line the park, making it an absolutely beautiful area! Andrassy Street is the Park Avenue of Budapest, with beautiful mansion like homes and tree lined streets. We decided to visit a Turkish Bath called Szechenyi. This bath opened in 1913 and is a vast complex of indoor and outdoor pools, which include Hungary's deepest and hottest thermal baths. This was a classic Hungarian bathing experience....I LOVED IT! Imagine 3 large, Vegas style pools that are all hot tubs. They even had chess tables inside the baths!

On the way back from the baths, we figured we should do some souvenior shopping. Believe it or not, it has not been easy to find good quality (mid-range priced) souveniors in either Vienna or Budapest. Either they are extremely pricey or of very low quality. Also, both places are known for antiques and ceramics, which isn't really our thing. However, Hungary is also known for their crystal and glass (like Prague), so we picked up a few hand made Hungarian pieces that will compliment the house nicely!

We ate at a seafood restaurant down the street form our hotel, called Ocean Blue; however, Jeff wasn't impressed so we ended up ordering grilled cheese, pomme frites, a couple glasses of Veuve (Linda's fav) and chocolate mousse cake from the Four Seasons when we got back!!!! It was yummy!!!

We are leaving tomorrow, heading back to the Chi...I'm very sad, but I do miss my babies (Josie, Jorgie, and Jackie). It was a wonderful trip and I couldn't have asked for anything more. I don't know how I could have gotten anything better...I have the best husband ever!!!!!!

Budapest - Day 2

It was cold today and VERY snowy!!!!

We decided to focus our morning around Parliament, which is a must see when visiting Budapest. Howerver, when we got there, we realized all the tourist tickets had been sold out! So we arranged for a private tour tomorrow morning. We took some great pics of the outside of Parliament, it is an amazing building.

We walked from the Parliament over to St Stephan's Basilica (built in Neo Renaissance), which can been seen from almost any viewpoint in the city. It was really beautiful - Jeff's favorite thus far. It was built in 1851 and is the exact same height as the Parliament, as the builder did not dare go higher in scale! The Dome and Mosaics are quite impressive, lined with gold detail. The high alter actually has a life size statue of St Stephan, as well as the 12 apostles. Just to the left of the main basilica is the room where the Holy Right Hand resides. This is literally a right hand that belonged to St Stephan in the 13th centry. He was mummified when he died, so the hand was actually preserved and is on display for all to see!

After the church, we walked over to the State Opera House. While it was very beautiful, decorated with beautiful foyer murals and an extensive detailed facade, we still loved Vienna more!!! However, the grand staircase was pretty impressive...pictures aren't giving it justice!

After the church, we walked down the famous Vaci Utca. This is a well known area for its cafes and souvenior shops. It ends at the Central Market, which is an indoor produce market. It was suprisingly clean and full of charm.

Lastly, we walked around the castle district. We really enjoyed this area! This was originally the town of Buda. The castle sits up on a hill above the Danube, which was to protect it from invasion. The Habsburgs restored the town and castle in the 1800s. The Royal Palace (the castle) that exists now was built in the early 1800s during the reign of Maria Theresa. This actually replaced the first castle, which was built in 1255. It now houses several museums, including the Hungarian National Gallery. We will get a better picture of the palace tomorrow for you...we didn't get a good one today. However, look at the cute quaint streets that are in this area...we loved the colorful buildings.

Inside the castle district is also the Matyas Church. Unfortunately most of the church is under renovation; however, the area surrounding the church, the Fishermen's Bastion was absolutely gorgeous!!! It was so different than anything we've ever seen...almost looked like a GIANT sand castle (see the pictures below). It's a Neo-Romenesque style wall, gathering place that surround and outlines the back of the church and offers spectacular view of Pest. Yes, the city is divided into different towns - Pest, Buda, and Obuda. The city "Budapest" started its existence when in 1849 the first permanent bridge over the Danube, the Chain Bridge, was built. It allowed the unification of Buda, Obuda, and Pest some years later.

For dinner we ate at Irish Eyes!! We can't go anywhere without visiting the local Irish pub!!! It was a lot of fun, but very smokey!!!

Till tomorrow...

Budapest - Day 1

We arrived in Budapest around 3PM today via the 11:50 train from Vienna. We had a great train ride. It was approximately 3 hours long and no delays, which was great! Budapest, part of the Habsburg triumvirate, is much grander in scale than Prague and Vienna. Comprising of three separate towns, the city is rich in historical sights. We are so excited to start exploring!

Once we arrived in Budapest, we made our way to our hotel, Four Seasons, Gresham Palace. Gresham Palace is an Art Nouveau landmark. It has views of the Chain Bride, Danube River and the Buda Hills. It even has its own place in the history of Budapest, as it was once was a great Palace. The hotel at night is absoluetely beautiful! We climbed Getrin hill and took a bunch of pictures of the city.

Since it was later in the day, we made our way to the Castle Districts to visit the House of Hungarian Wines. Here you will find all the wines from Hungary's 22 wine regions and they even organize daily wine tastings for its visitors...that's exactly what we did. The Royal Wine House and Wine Cellar Museum brings wonder underground, in both royal and civil cellars that were previously closed and could not be visited! There are a number of cellar rooms, salons, and wine tasting rooms, as well as dungeons. We did a 3 course wine tasting with a 1 course Champagne tasting. The tasting experience was very different than we have ever experienced. You actually sit down at a table with live music and dancing (we loved that) and you are served each tasting as a FULL glass of wine. While the white wine was ok, the red wine was unlike anything we had ever tasted. One of them was very smokey, while the other was very spicy, almost a Paprika taste. We finished off with a glass of champagne and them toured the rest of the winery. The winery itself is underground, housed by old caves where the Hungarian Royal used to entertain. As you can see by the pictures, they couldn't have been that tall!!!

After dinner we went to a casual Italian restuarant called "Tratoria Toscana." It was SO GOOD and the atmosphere was great. We sat here for about 3 hours just taking it all in...I kept saying, "we are in Hungary, can you believe it?" Jeff got a good laugh out of that! Also, check out the sizes of the wine glasses. They were the largest glasses we have ever seen! I think I could have fit my whole head inside!

Afer dinner, we took a taxi back to the hotel, where we sat in the bar and talked about what we were going to do tomorrow. We are very excited to be tourists in Budapest. From what we have seen thus far, we are looking forward to the next few days!

Have a great night, we are off to bed!

xoxo

Jenn & Jeff