We caught an afternoon flight from Amsterdam to Budapest on Hungary's Malev Airlines. The only guidebook we had to the city was one from 1996 which we bought at a used book store days before we left Vancouver. It advised us we needed to take a bus and then a subway from the airport to the city. We hoped that in the last nine years the Hungarians had built a direct subway link but no such luck. When we got off the bus we were approached by a woman offering a private room for rent in the city. We agreed to have a look and rented it for three nights at 25 Euro a night, a good improvement over Amsterdam's prices. Our room was one in a small two bedroom apartment in an old (150 years) apartment block which enclosed a nice courtyard. The first night we had the apartment to ourselves. The second night a couple from Warsaw moved into the other room. We only saw them when they first arrived. After that we only heard them late at night as they seemed to enjoy the night clubs (open until 4am) followed by a nice bath together in our shared bathroom.
We spend 2 1/2 days exploring Budapest on both sides of the Danube River. We saw castles, a citadel, a church built into a cave, dozens of statues and squares, the world's second largest synagogue, the Museum of the History of Hungary, and amazing churches and buildings every corner we turned. We also went to an outdoor museum that contained statues from the Soviet Era. We spent a warm sunny afternoon in a thermal bath set in the courtyard of a huge public bathhouse that is over 100 years old. We ate lunch two days in a row at the public market and tried traditional Hungarian dishes such as paprika chicken, stuffed paprika and paprika goulash (the Hungarian's dig paprika).
The language was difficult to understand and not even close to English but most people were friendly and helpful.
The fashion here is difficult to explain. It's not that it's behind in years, it's just really bad! Not that we look any better as we have been in the same clothes for about a week now (although we have done laundry twice). The shoes are the worst which is probably a good thing for me as I have not had the urge to top up my sad supply of three pairs of shoes to last me the whole trip.
We just made it to Croatia today so expect another update soon. Photos to follow once we find somewhere to download them from our camera.
Hope everyone is well.
B.

Photos:
We weren't the only Canadians in Budapest...
Brandy and a Castle
Streets of Budapest
The Courtyard of our Apartment
Inside St. Stephen's Church
Kevin and Lenin
Kevin and the Danube River
One out of five Budapest women has hair that looks like this...
Kevin's hair doesn't grow long, it grows up...