Budapest is the crown jewel of Hungary. It is also known as the "city of baths". We took that little intellectual side note and filed it, for we had no time or inclination at this point to try out their many incredible Turkish style baths. Reason being is that we were here for literally 36 hours. There were various reasons for our short stay here, but suffice it to say, we did explore a few sights of the "Queen Of The Danube".

We arrived via bus from Prague. The buses here are decent in that they have Wi-Fi (which never works) and power to plug in your devices (for the one person who gets the seat next to the outlet). The bus ride took 7 hours due to the many stops along the way. We arrived at the bus station around 10:30pm. We read in Trip Advisor that it's not advisable to be out at night due to a rising crime rate, well that's off the table. Naturally, we were a little anxious. We got off the bus and our first step was to secure some HUF. It' not the name of the latest street drug that all the cool kids are "huffing". It's the local currency, "Hungarian Furits", or "HUF".  It's name was something we had fun with for a bit.

The next day we were off! Our first stop was the river. The Danube is at it's grandest here, and we were not disappointed. It is very majestic seeing it so wide with the large gothic buildings to admire all along the river . These buildings were Parliament, old palaces, museums, churches, and so forth. There is a bridge called "The Chain Bridge" which is guarded by two lions on either side (let's get real, the lions are statues and if you were to attack they won't hit back, just stare disapprovingly). This is the bridge we crossed to see Castle Hill. We rode up on this rail car looking thingie called a Funicular. It's old, rickety, and a waste of money since we could've walked up the hill in about 10 minutes instead of the half hour in line spent to buy tickets to ride an almost windowless wooden box up the hill to our destination, Castle Hill. Castle Hill is a network of paths on the hillside linking various museums, large plazas, and lookout points of the city. We decided to take a break, have lunch, and look around. The city is very nice from up here and one can see the various influences of the Romans, Turks, and various European Gothic elements. It's like seeing the history of Budapest in one panoramic vista. Naturally we took lots of pictures as well as various shots of us in jumping poses to signify the occasion.

After our lengthy decent down the windy cobblestone road we crossed the chain bridge back to the other side of the river (with the lion's permission of course) and took in some shops and exploring of the tourist shopping district along the river. Prices for goods were very reasonable as they have a good selection of crystal, crafts, and various Hungarian treats. Ali was actually able to find shoes his size, which was proving very difficult for most of our journey.

Budapest is a city that deserves far more time and attention than what we were able to afford it on this trip. There is a strong history here that needs to be explored more thoroughly. From the numerous Turkish baths to the museums, historical landmarks, churches, parliament buildings (largest in Europe), to a river cruise down the Danube at night. It's all here waiting to be discovered. Now we embark on the last leg of our journey as we visit one of Europe's last, Ukraine!