Back from Budapest!!!

We had a GREAT time in Budapest and the weather was pretty nice, too. It went even as hot as 25'C on Thursday. In the mornings it was rather chilly (around 11-15'C) and the wind could be pretty strong and cold, but after midday it was nice and warm (18-25'C) and we even sunbathed while resting our weary legs and feet. Why weary legs and feet? Because R2 didn't want to use any kind of public transport, so we walked everywhere. Yep. EVERYWHERE. Good thing they had plenty of clean stairs and benches around the city to sit on he he he...

When we first got there, it felt weird to see dilapidated old buildings side by side with newer buildings and they all had different styles. One thing that captured my eyes was the fact that there were plenty of small streets in the city centre and people could park parallel on both sides, leaving only the middle lane for one car to pass by. Here's an example:


We arrived in Budapest in the evening and R2 was really hungry, so we didn't have time to browse around for a resto. The minute we found one, we just went for it ha ha ha...It was actually rather pricey, but we enjoyed the food and the service greatly.

I ordered seafood soup: fresh shrimps, oysters, and fish (3500 HUF or around 13 Euros - in Finland it'd have cost at least 1.5 times or twice as much). Here's a pic of it (the serving was twice as much in a huge bowl so I was really full after eating it - btw, the serving bowl isn't in the pic):


Here's the cheapest food we ate in Budapest. I bought Chinese noodles plus sweet and sour chicken. R2 ordered potatoes and spicy chicken and we bought a bottle of Nestea ice tea and altogether they cost 1700 HUF (around 6.4 Euros). And you know what? The chili sauce was TERRIFIC 'coz they use FRESH chili!!! :-D


Here's a sneak peak of Danube River at night:



I think here are the highlights of our trip:

1. Labyrinth. It's an underground labyrinth/cave. It was VERY dark and thrilling. We deliberately went there at night so that it'd be so dark and we had to bring a lantern to circle around the caves (lanterns were provided). It cost 2000 HUF per person to get in (around 7.5 Euros) but we felt it was WORTH it. I'll write more about this in a separate post 'coz I have too many photos.

2. Gellert Hill. Had to walk up many stairs, but the view from the top of the hill was just MAGNIFICENT. :-D

3. Castle Hill. Another hilly area.

4. Opera House. The hour long guided tour cost around 2900 HUF (around 11 Euros).

5. The Free Budapest Walking Tour. We really had a nice time walking around for 2.5 hours and listening to the tour guide. I'll also write about it later on.

What's interesting is that some places have toilet codes on the receipts, so before going to a toilet, you have to buy something and then punch in the codes. Good thing we didn't throw away any receipts - otherwise we'd be in HUGE trouble. Here's an example of the receipt:


OK, I won't write more here, but later on I'll write about our trip in details along with plenty more pics, so beware HA HA HA...