Budapest

I shouldn't have to say that I'm going to let the boys talk about Budapest since it's well documented how many times I've posted about my favorite city in Europe and everyone is sick of hearing me go on about it. But while they get their photos of the sights downloaded and ready (aka while they sleep in and play video games and do everything except work on their photos), I'll share snapshots from my phone for a quick overview.
Believe it or not, I didn't take my camera on this trip and while it was liberating to be free of it, the rigors of going everywhere with six people sort of dampened the excitement I felt about walking around camera-free.
Don't get me wrong, larger groups are a lot of fun in the sense that you more or less take the party with you everywhere you go. But the downside is how cumbersome it can be to get tables in cafes, shop in small stores, as well as the difficulty deciding what to do: trying to please the majority while not ignoring the personal bucket lists everyone has.
Since it was the week after the holiday season ended, we were pretty fortunate nothing was really that crowded but we still did our best to anticipate where and when the crowds would be the thickest and alternate our schedules to avoid them. To this end, I made myself unpopular by insisting we all be out of the house and on our way by 10. Although there was some grumbling, the early start made a difference in how many things we were able to accomplish.
However, even with the early start and separating (boys went one way, Mihai and I another) there were things we just didn't have time for like visiting Margitsziget Island, lingering longer in the museums, and getting more than one meeting. (English just switched the weekend meeting from Sunday to Saturday and we arrived in the city on Saturday so we missed it).
None of us felt too badly about it since we reminded ourselves that we need to save something for our next trip!

The lovely house we stayed in.

A little sight-seeing

The house had everything except a washing machine. The lack of washing machines proved to be a challenge for Griffin who had to learn to hand-wash his clothes. I consider it to be an important life skill learned.

At the meeting. We came directly from dinner in the city so we were pretty much a mess of unwashed  sweatshirts but it was kindly overlooked.

Eats and art, some times the same thing

My favorite shop

Budapest

Budapest.
Again.
Oh yes.

I feel no shame, no matter what you might say (I hear the collective groan: this is the 8th time we've have to read about Budapest!) because it's been 4 years since the last post about this city and this time the circumstances are different in that we've never stayed on the Buda side, and we never stayed in this swanky apartment before.

Let's face it, I'll use any excuse to talk about this place.

Since our beloved but dumpy Casa Sol on the Pest side is no more, we've hopped to the other side of the river and upgraded (the toilet seats don't spontaneously collapse on us here Linda) and now we're a 5-10 minute walk to the market, Gellert baths and the alley with the gelato stand. (The alley has an official name but we are so food-oriented that we don't care.)

Other than the different accommodations, everything else followed our typical visit to Budapest: walking, food, gelato, baths, some touring, and repeat.

As of this writing not one of my friends has been to visit Budapest in spite of my passionate recommendations. It's still incredibly affordable, the food is wonderful, the people are friendly and English is as readily spoken here as any Italian city I've ever been to.

So check it out and book a ticket as fast as you can.

Off the balcony of our swanky apartment at dawn and dusk and while sipping coffee watching it rain. And by the way, this place is $130 a night. For a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath apartment with washer and dryer . Try finding even a smoke-saturated, carpet-stained, polyester-coverlet decorated circa 1980 hotel room in San Francisco for that price.

Some scenes from our marathon walks: to the Castle District, to the market (once again there's an official name but we just call it the market so we don't look so ridiculous trying to pronounce the Hungarian names), and a couple of parks and restaurants.

I include this one because I realized this is exactly, right down to the shoes, the same outfit I am wearing in nearly every other Budapest post from 4 years ago. Hey, I find something comfortable and I stick with it obviously. (Do not let my lack of fashion sense make you doubt my taste in good cities).

I got a chance to spontaneously bust out my Romanian and didn't do too badly on the fly. Or else they were just too kind to admit they couldn't understand a word I was saying.

A word to the wise: we saw more tour groups, and tourists in general, this time around than ever before so get on it and book your flights while it's still cheap and relatively uncrowded. Apparently my recommendation has gotten around to the rest of the world.

We are still tired.