Trip to Europe: Budapest, Hungary

Early on 1/14, we took the train to Budapest. Christine slept most of the way, while Toli enjoyed the beautiful countryside vistas. Most memorable was a small town at the foot of a cliff; on the top was perched a huge metal statue of an eagle (which reminded us of Fritz/Frites), a-la Rio de Janeiro and the Jesus statue. We reached Budapest's train station with plans to stay at a hostel; but right off the train, we were approached by a local who offered us a room in a vacant apartment right by the castle for a great price (€30)... and a ride there in her SUV (quite a change from the typical Škoda of 1987 when Toli last visited Budapest). So, we took the deal and thoroughly enjoyed the proximity to a laundry shop (where, for €8 (yes, it was really pricy), the shop owner took care of everything), a small market, good (and cheap) food, the Várhegy (vár: castle; hegy: hill), and Moszkva tér (Moscow square), which is a central transporation stop.

We took it easy on 1/14, and even easier on 1/15 where a nice walk from Buda through Pest to Városliget (város: city; liget: park) took us to Széchenyi Gyórgyfürdő (spa) for some extremely relaxing Turkish baths. When we got in, we had to pay for 4 hours of bath time (time in excess of 2 hours is refundable on the way out)... we thought we'd get bored, yet we managed to stay 3 hours and that was while taking advantage of only the indoor facilities; the baths are actually famous for their vast outdoor pools, which we didn't even realize existed (maybe they were closed due to the cold).

1/14
Halászbástya (halász: fisherman; bástya: bastion), Várhegy
Christine in front of the bastion. It is named so because there used to be a fish market behind the bastion; also, it is above a neighborhood called Fishermen's Town.

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Halászbástya, Várhegy
Christine inside the bastion.

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Halászbástya, Várhegy
North Buda, Pest and the Danu (Danube) river: North Buda (panorama).

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Halászbástya, Várhegy
North Buda, Pest and the Danu: North Buda (panorama).

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Halászbástya, Várhegy
North Buda, Pest and the Danu: Pest (panorama).

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Halászbástya, Várhegy
North Buda, Pest and the Danu: the Halászbástya (panorama).

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Halászbástya, Várhegy
Pest and the Danu: the Halászbástya and the Mátyás Templom (Matthias Church) (panorama).

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Várhegy
The Mátyás Templom against the beautiful cobalt blue of the evening sky. The sky reminded Toli of Christine's electric blue Civic Si... what romantic imagery...

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Bethlen bástya, Várhegy
Christine with Buda in the background.

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Bethlen bástya, Várhegy
Buda against the evening sky (panorama).

1/15
Margit híd (bridge)
Christine on one of the bridges over the Danu, separating Pest (on the left) from Buda (on the right).

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Vajdahunyad vára (castle) grounds
Christine and the statue of Anonymous, the legendary (but unnamed) early chronicler of Hungarian history. Its sculptor is Miklós Ligeti, and it was crafted in 1903. This castle imitates its namesake in Transylvania, which is the family castle of János Hunyadi (hence the origin of its name).

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Vajdahunyad vára grounds
Christine and the Anonymous.

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Vajdahunyad vára grounds
The Anonymous.

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Vajdahunyad vára grounds
Toli touches the pen of the Anonymous, a-la Creation of Adam from the Sistine Chapel. Legend has it, it's supposed to inspire writers.

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Széchenyi Gyórgyfürdő, Városliget
Relaxed from three hours in the indoor baths of varying temperatures, Christine rests near the Poseidon statue in the bath's entrance.