Road Trip to Budapest

7/14/14
Day 1: Colleen, Keenan, and I decided to drive to Budapest since it was only a seven hour drive and we could save on travel expenses by driving the Prius.  So we set out around 10:00am.  It was a pretty easy drive and we only had to stop to get gas and vignette's.  I found our place to stay on Airbnb.com.  It was a great place right next to the basilica and centrally located to everything.

Cute little kitchen!

 As you can see the apartment was pink and white.  It had really high ceilings so it made it feel even bigger.
We actually parked at the Budapest Airport and took a bus shuttle into the city since there was no parking near our hotel.  It was worth it though because our place was right across from the St. Stephen's Basilica and basically right in the middle of everything.

St. Stephen's Basilica

Keenan showing how happy he is to be in Budapest

The Basilica at night

Keenan & Colleen in front of the Basilica

The fountain at the Basilica

7/15/14
Day 2: When we woke up and got ready for the day we headed straight away to the Basilica to see the inside.

The alter in the Basilica

The ceiling

Holy mummified right hand of King Stephen....gross but fascinating.

After walking through the Basilica, we started toward Chain Bridge and over to Buda and Castle Hill.

Looking back at the Basilica on our way to Chain Bridge

Cool restaurant

Just a very cool gate on the way

Gresham Palace Budapest

View of Buda from Pest

View of Hungarian National Gallery from Pest

View of Hungarian National Gallery from Pest

Chain Bridge

The Citadel

The tunnel on the Buda side 

Capital Hill

Capital Hill

Trinity Square

Statue of Saint Stephen I of Hungary

Statue of Saint Stephen I of Hungary

Marian and Holy Trinity Column

Matthais Church

Detail on the tiles

The Fisherman's Bastion

After we checked out the Trinity Square area, we started toward Buda Castle and the Hungarian National Museum.  Here are a few things we saw on our way.

Statue of Hungarian Policeman

Legend says if you rub his belly, you will find delicious food nearby

I just loved this little alley

Cool looking coat of arms by the tunnel

The Funcular that takes people up the Buda Castle

Lady Liberty

We kept looking for Buda Castle.  We finally found out that there is Sandor Palace, where political leaders live but the castle no longer exists as a castle.  The Hungarian National Gallery is now inside what was once the Buda Castle.  We happen to arrive just as they had the Changing of the Guard at Sandor Palace.

Sandor Palace

Palace Guard

After we watched the guard change, we went towards the Hungarian National Gallery.  Here are a few things we saw on our way.

Walking towards the castle gate

Castle Gate from below

Views from the castle

Castle gate

Matthias Fountain

King Matthais

Ilonka

Hungarian National Gallery

Statue of Eugene of Savoy

Statue of the Horseherd

We purchased the Budapest card which gave us one price for two days to take any mode of transportation other than taxi's.  It also got us into a lot of museums and places for free or with deep discounts.

The Hungarian National Gallery

After the museum we were going to go check out the spy museum but got distracted by the Castle Labyrinth and just had to go in.  Years ago, it was impressive and people said it was an amazing experience but for some reason the police raided it and it was shut down.  In the past couple years, it was reopened but by a different company and it is pure cheese whiz now.  The labyrinth itself was creepy and pretty cool but the stuff inside it was silly and ridiculous.

The labyrinth under Buda Castle

More of the labyrinth

Pieces of the original Castle

Creepy and cheesy all at once

A coffin to look like Draculas

Yuck.

Where I belong.

My monkey in his cage

She looks WAY to happy in a cage!

We were getting very tired by the time we were done with Buda so we headed back over the bridge to Pest.

View of Pest from Buda

House of Parliament as seen from Buda

View of Pest from Buda

Budapest

Chain Bridge on our way back

Buda Pest Opera House

I put two pictures together to show the statues on the roof

The lady spinx of the Opera House

On our way to dinner we did a little sight seeing.

7/16/14
Day 3: When we woke up on day 3, we decided to explore Pest a bit more.  Our first stop was Heros Square and the City Park area.

Heros Square

The Archangel Gabriel

The Museum of Fine Arts

After our long walk, we were going to go to Széchenyi Baths but got sidetracked again and ended up going to Vajdahunyad Castle first.  It was cool to see although it wasn't really a castle per-say.   It was built between 1896 and 1908 as part of the Millennial Exhibition which celebrated the 1000 years of Hungary since the Hungarian Conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895. The castle was designed by Ignác Alpár to feature copies of several landmark buildings from different parts the Kingdom of Hungary, especially the Hunyad Castle in Transylvania (now in Romania). As the castle contains parts of buildings from various time periods, it displays different architectural styles: Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque. Originally it was made from cardboard and wood, but it became so popular that it was rebuilt from stone and brick between 1904 and 1908. Today it houses the Museum of Hungarian Agriculture, the biggest agricultural museum in Europe.

Entrance gate

Cool little space in one of the bushes

Anonymous statue in City Park

Mermaid fountain in City Park

After a long hot day, we headed toward the Széchenyi Baths.  Europeans take their "baths" very seriously.  They are pretty cool, although in our minds they should be cold.  Instead, the majority of them were warm to hot and wasn't as refreshing until we found the cold one.

When we were done at the bath's I was pretty tired so I went back to the apartment to rest up for the drive back to Germany.  Keenan and Colleen went out on more adventures.  Here are some of the places they went and checked out.

Ludwig Museum

Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Close up of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

The door to the Academy

CET Building

The Ziggurat

The Ziggurat

National Theater of Hungary

Vigadó Concert Hall

7/17/14
Day 4: The drive back was even easier since we didn't have to stop to get vignettes.  This was a quick but very fun adventure and I went to Hungary thinking it was more of a small town feel and that the people were more old fashioned and simple.  I was completely wrong and actually found Budapest to be extremely modern, sophisticated, and as "Big City" as most of the big cities I have visited in the states.  Only the people were even more glamorous and sophisticated than most American cities.  It was alive and vibrant and I loved it as much or more than Prague.  I really can't wait to take Captain Jack!