Valerianne

My good friend Valerianne, the beautiful mommy-to-be, allowed me to share this time with her by taking some maternity photos. We had a great time!

nuts anyone?

Both of the cats have been intrigued by the contents of my Hungarian bowl.

fun with photoshop

I gave some small, silver picture frames to Lillian's kids but couldn't think of interesting shots to put in them. So I found some shots we had taken a few months back and made these.Then later, as I was wrapping my grandfather's 86th birthday present (his birthday is on the 23rd) I realized that I didn't have any happy birthday wrapping paper. The gift was small enough that I was able to print this custom paper (made from some old scanned photos) and use it instead of going out and buying wrapping paper at the last minute. Handsome guy don't you think?

Never dress up your pets

While I went through the dangerous effort of putting costumes on the cats (fair enough - it was my idea) Dick took most of the photos... especially the incriminating ones. Here is the result of our combined efforts. (click to see larger image)

holiday sparklies

Tonight we went on a little field trip in search of holiday lights. Here's what we found...

Kim & Josh

Budapest - Fisherman's Bastion in the evening

We also visited Fisherman's Bastion earlier in the trip. But we found ourselves here again in the evening (by the way - one thing not truly captured in these photos is how COLD it was). The arches and city were so beautiful when they were all lit up so we couldn't resist pulling out the cameras again.

inside Matyas Church

I posted photos of the outside of this church (I think I called it Mathias Church - which I guess is also acceptable) after we saw it on our tour. When we revisited the Castle District, we decided to go inside. Here are a few photos.

and more Budapest

Dick looking cool at the Palace grounds - behind him is the Buda side of Budapest

Monica created the table linen that I brought back for Mom
Dick ducks under a tunnel in the Buda Castle Labyrinth.  These caves were naturally created by the springs, but then have been modified over the years.  They've got quite a history - now connected to many of the homes and other buildings.  Some of the past uses for this place include hospital, cellars, shelters - now it's a tourist attraction.
Some of the rooms in the labyrinth were used as wine cellars.  Here's a fun example of how this might have looked.

Budapest - the Royal Palace

entrance to the courtyard

"bookends"
panoramic view from the Palace - Mike took this one of us
Palace fountain
Palace (museum)

more Budapest photos

That same walkway I shot the first day we arrived - turns out we walked through here quite a bit on this trip.  Both of these were taken from the same spot.  First to my right - where the walls have been cleaned of all graffiti.  Then to my left.

We've been back for several days now.  Before I move on to other topics on this blog, I just want to quickly reflect on the trip and share some final photos. 

What an amazing trip!  This was my first trip to Europe, so I really wasn't sure what to expect.  I had been told that Budapest is much like many western cities and I have to agree with that.  With the exception of some cultural differences (i.e. don't leave the tip on the table but hand it to them - and don't think you're being ignored by the wait staff; the process is to ask them if you need something rather than waiting for them to come to you) the interaction with the people was really not much different than what it would be in any city in North America.

The food was outstanding.  The company was even better (no disputes with our fellow travelers) And the surroundings were unique and beautiful.

  

Tuesday in Budapest

Yesterday we took the Metro from our hotel, under Andrassi St, to City Park.   City Park was developed during Budapest's "Millennium Celebrations" in 1896, 1000 years after the Magyars (Hungarians) took over the area.  So while a lot of the architecture here looks older, even medieval, it was actually built in the early 20th century.  It reminds us of Balboa Park, which is not as old as it looks - built around that same time for the Worlds Fair. 

Here's a replica of a 1214 Benedictine chapel, built closer to 1905.

a close-up of some of the detail - apparently this is a replica of an actual chapel near Austria
Dick's smirk at the park
the locals ice skating
The Museum of Fine Arts - we were in this same square (Heroes Square) earlier in the week, but we were on the tour and weren't able to take any time to visit the museum.  Now we were actually able to go inside.  The Picasso, Klee and Kandinskij exhibit was fantastic.  I had not been to an exhibit like this since taking art classes last year - so it was cool to be able to recognize some of the techniques and mediums that we had studied.

Here's another shot of the Millenium Monument in Heroes Square.  We had some patches of blue sky which made for a more interesting photograph this time.
 

During the uprising in October 1956, protestors cut the Communist insignia out of the flag.  When Communism finally fell 33 years later, the flag with the hole became a symbol of national pride.  This flag stands near Heroes Square, memorializing the 1956 event.
After visiting City Park and Heroes Square, we walked back toward the hotel and river, then got back on the Metro to return to Market Hall in order to pick up an afternoon snack and some souvenirs.  The lower floor of Market Hall is filled with fresh vegetables, salted meats, pastries, loaves of bread and spices.  If you lived in Budapest, I can't imagine why you'd go anywhere else to get your groceries.  The building is lined with a large balcony, where vendors sell hot lunches and beer (like the meal we had on Sunday).  This level is also filled with booths of people selling table linens, ornaments, and other little goodies.  The rule here is that you're supposed to barter.  I was able to get a deal, reducing the cost of my purchase by 900 Ft, but I still think I could have done better with a little more confidence and a little less language barrier.  
After a long day we returned to our home base.

Of course we went out again later last night for dinner.  We took the metro again to Heroes Square and then took a 10 minute walk to Paprika Vendeglo, which is where we had what was quite possibly our favorite meal so far. We were so full that we thought it best to walk the 1.5 miles back to the hotel (30 degree weather or not) instead of taking the metro.  Halfway home we remembered that because the metro stops running at 11:30 pm, we would have had to walk anyway.  The walk brisk down the upscale Andrassi St was a great way to end the day.