Buda Pest

I took about 200 pictures, so I'll just share a few here. Let me point out that there is no documentation from my travels in Tbilisi Georgia or Vienna, Austria. I had a great time traveling but didn't have the best luck with luggage or ticket counters. I need to be smarter about what I pack in my carry-on from now on (phone, camera, house keys in checked luggage that gets lost for a week is not a good idea, not to mention 5 bottles of Hungarian wine wrapped in my clothes). Remarkably, they made it back safe and sound (after I was already back in DC).

In any case, Budapest was my favorite. I learned before I left (from my Hungarian Godfather Uncle Jimmy of course) that the city is actually made up of two parts; Buda and Pest divided by the Danube River. There are bridges all over the city, and here's a pic of my favorite bridge, the Chain Bridge. They close it every weekend in the summer for pedestrians only, but I guess the weekend I was there was not considered 'summer' anymore...bummer.

This is a picture of Pest, which is where most people live and work. I have maybe 50 different pictures of this same shot because everywhere in Budapest seemed to have an amazing view of the river and city.

The pic below is from the castle district in Buda, which is the older part of city in the hills.

After our week of work was finished I got some quality time in the city by myself. I rented a bike and spent the day exploring all parts of the city. I spent some time on Margaret Island, which is a little park in the middle of the Danube (in the pic below, it's the greenery behind the bridge).

I hung out at an outdoor art exhibit of billboards that I think were political statements (I still need to get Uncle Jimmy do some translation). I enjoyed this one below because all the roommates make so much fun of me when I bust out my grandmother's meat grinder every Easter and grind up ham for ham salad (is that weird)?

I spent my last night visiting with Zsuzsa and her boyfriend Tomi. Zsuzsa (I love saying her name by the way) is a relative of Uncle Jimmy's who visited him for a couple months in Jersey about 15 years ago. During that time, Uncle Jimmy brought her to DC to hang with my parents and see the city. They still keep in touch, so when I told him I was heading to Budapest, he told me to look her up. Visiting with her was the highlight of my trip. She is adorable and showed me around the city and we had lots of fun practicing her English and helping me pronounce a few Hungarian words. They took me on a little road trip outside of the city and we had a fun traditional Hungarian meal.

So, although Uncle Jimmy has declared that Budapest is the BEST city in Europe (even though he hasn't been to Italy), I loved it and wish I could have spent more time exploring.