Budapest
Now we are here in Budapest trying to come to terms with the fact that our trip is almost over. We arrived dazed and confused from a sleepless night freezing in one train car only to escape to the sauna car. We must have crossed 20 borders because every time we started to doze there was a new scary man with a gun checking passports.
Prior to visiting Budapest we heard a lot of negative reviews from friends, family, Servas, and other travelers. Maybe it was just because our expectations were so low, but we’ve really enjoyed it here. The people seem nice enough and the city can be a lot of fun.
We’re pretty exhausted from traveling so we’ve slowed down a lot here in Hungary. Yesterday we checked out the Great Market Hall and the Christmas market, saw the Danube and the Chain Bridge, and then soaked the rest of the day away in the thermal waters of Széchenyi Medicinal Bath. Today was a little more intense: Christmas market, Buda Castle, Buda Labyrinth (caves under the Castle – possibly the most interesting place in Budapest,) Matthias Church, and last but not least, the Hungarian National Opera. We went out in style with the tantalizing tale of Elektra.
Budapest has been the perfect city to end with. It’s a handsome city, but not exactly beautiful enough to make us cry over leaving it. After the opera we grabbed a last cup of glühwein and made our way back to the hotel to start packing. I want to eventually offer a final thoughts retrospective on the whole trip and finish the blog with some closure. Right now, however, the hour is late and our flight is early so this will have to do…
USA HERE WE COME!
Tags: Travel
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