Budapest

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I leave Budapest with a better feeling than when I arrived... the last day... finally... once we got off our schedule... and off the tourist map... felt like a vacation... we did what wanted... we saw what we wanted... on a whim we changed course to something that caught our attention... something that we thought was cool, instead of what everyone else said was cool...

... And it's not like the places we saw the first few days weren't worth it... it's just when you're on a schedule... trying to see as much as possible when museums open at 10 and close at 6... mapping routes between landmarks on opposite ends of the city... you aren't able to spend extra time to really see a place... you can't enjoy it before you have to move on to something else... you can't even sit down for a cup of coffee because you'll be late for the next bus to leave... and the stress that comes with rushing around hurts what is supposed to be a relaxing vacation...

... The hop-on hop-off bus was our first day... and because it only ran every hour on the hour it was more trouble than it was worth... without a choice we were forced to rush our tours in order to make them within the hour... or be forced to wait another hour for the next bus... I can see how the bus would be better in a place like Rome where buses leave every 15 minutes... but every hour, on a tight schedule, is no good... and even hurts your plans to eat a nice meal... if you have any... But I still really enjoyed the places we saw... the national art gallery, victory square, St Stephen's basilica and the Synogogue... and only the Synogogue may not have been worth it because there was little to see and yet costed more than the rest...

... The second day was a walking tour of Castle Hill... Because it was out of season, and cold, we were the only ones on the tour... And it made the experience very rewarding... Some of the information was not what I read on Wikipedia... and makes me wonder if... unbelievable I know... the internet might be wrong... Or if... similar to Rome... they add on to the story in order to make the history sound better... After a lunch we hit up the spa for the afternoon... and could have capped the night off well if not for the walking we did afterwards... giving Danelle a callus... and me a back ache... We crashed hard that night, even before Danelle could have supper...

... On the last day we saw the Parliament... we met a couple from Buffalo that said they have been to Budapest 4 times... Twice when it was a part of Communist Russia... they can't get enough of the place... and makes me wonder what we must have missed... They did say that we missed a winery that samples over 400 wines for the price of 35 euros... they loved hockey... and said their son was a great hockey player before he punched a ref and was banned for life from the league...

... And with a full day to drive home the feeling was different... no longer on a schedule... no longer a serious plan... as I already said... we shopped... drove... detoured... and really enjoyed our drive home... we drove through Vienna because I assumed merely a drive through was all the city would ever need... how wrong I was... as it might be the most amazing downtown that we have ever seen... And now our hearts are set on going to spend some serious time there... But with 8 castles within a 10 block radius it's hard to see how we cannot go back to rushing... and not learn the lesson we should have here in Budapest...