Day 42: Budapest, Hungary

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Today's highlights:

-Terror museum

-Fruit soup

-Seeing the city

***Robbie here***

First of all, here is what greeted us in the bathroom when we woke up this morning. How could your day not be great with a start like this?

Do you know another way to start the day? Nazis and Soviets! That is what we spent our morning learning about. So needless to say, it was a pretty positive way to start the day. We went to a really cool museum that used to be both the Nazi and Soviet headquarters while each regime controlled Budapest. There were so many Hungarian victims of genocide, work camps, deportation, and starvation. There were lots of video interviews of those who were affected. It was amazing to learn about a country that we didn't know much about. Another cool thing is that it was completely free! Normally the tickets cost about 10 bucks a piece, but today is some kind of Hungarian holiday so it was free 99. Win.

We gotta give a shout out to Bryan Brockbank. He gave us an awesome list of stuff to do--we wish we could've done it all but we loved what we did see. One of his recommendations was this classy buffet-style restaurant. This place was heaven. Trofea Grill. 

There was a salad bar, an entree bar (with some standard but also some true Hungarian foods), a to-order grill with shrimp, chicken, pork, beef, fish, even shark! We had it all, but the best thing that was there was the fruit soup. You read right. Fruit soup. This stuff had the consistency of milk with the taste of a cross between egg nog and a fruit smoothie. There was also this super good spice in it. Holy cow. I went back threw times just for a big cup of fruit soup. Amazing. Thanks Bry. 

After lunch/dinner (we ate enough for both), we rolled out of the restaurant and walked along the river that cuts Budapest in half. That's when we saw the parliament building. This place is gorgeous! It's a very ornate building right on the river banks. 

Here are a couple other sights we saw on the way. We were lucky because of the Hungarian holiday that everyone was out and about, and selling delish food and souvenirs.

Photo bomb

We then went to the fisherman's bastion and Matias' church. It's this huge church that is surrounded by a fortress with cool stone walls that everyone can walk on. It gives a great view of the city. 

We loved Hungary! Tomorrow we go back to Germany, which is bonkers that we have really been traveling for more than 40 days. That's a lot. Anyway, peace out Hungary!