Buda and Pest (Budapest, Hungary.....not the best...not the worst)

So hello all,

It's been a while, as usual.  On October 15-17, I went to Budapest, Hungary. I was not very certain whether I would enjoy the city or country, but I was certain that is is a place that not many people can get to in their lifetime....so why not jump on the bandwagon, you know?

My first impression of Budapest was, "Wow....it's really dirty here."  After a pretty short, but interesting city tour, I had learned to appreciate a little more of what Buda and Pest had to offer.  Before I continue, let me explain the separation between Buda and Pest.  Budapest is split by a huge river. On one side, is Buda, and the other side is Pest. I definitely grew to love Pest more the Buda as the weekend went on.

Atina, Me, Meizi, Stephen, and Kyle

After the bus tour, we went to a very cool traditional Hungarian restaurant.  I had some pretty amazing food, that I was surprised I liked.  At the beginning of each meal, it is a tradition to take a shot of peach schnapps.  Needless to say, everyone was pretty excited about this tradition. :-)  Along with the delicious 3 course meal, there was live "Gypsie" music.

The next day, we woke up pretty early and ventured off to the famous market in the city.  The market was huge and had anything you could imagine for sale. The wide range of colors in the market was a site to see.

After the market, we ventured off to the Parliament.  Bottom line, this was one of the most impressive buildings I have been in since my trip abroad. It is simply gorgeous!! I'll let the pictures do the talking:

The main staircase....GORGEOUS.

Parliament Meeting Room. Where all diplomats gather for meetings.

The view of the Parliament Building from across the river in Buda!

That night, we went to a Mongolian BBQ all you can eat restaurant. It was delicious. Every type of meat, side dish, vegetable, etc you could think of were there and ready to be prepared right in front of your eyes.  Another success came from this restaurant: I had the BEST tiramisu I have EVER consumed in my 20 years of life.

On Sunday, there was one trip planned. As a group, we all went to the Terror Museum. It was a very interesting venue that explained and explored Soviet and German Nazi torture strategies. During World War II, Hungarian people went through a period of turmoil, including the Holocaust. This museum traveled inside of that period. Very enlightening, to say the least.

A tank that was reinforced inside of the museum along with a wall of pictures of those people that were tortured and killed.

Overall, the trip was very interesting. I really enjoyed the places we went, and my favorite location was St. Stephen's Church. It is a very modern church (only 100 years old), and was simply breathtaking!

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