Thursday

Mom & Dad
see all photos »

Yesterday afternoon we took a bus from Krakow to Budapest. My parents and brother (Brent) came into a town about a week ago and are traveling with me. The bus left at 3 in the afternoon and it was a 7-hour ride. The route was windy though Slovakia and we got to admire the Polish countryside and mountainous areas. When we arrived in Budapest the bus station was closed and it was tricky to find a taxi. Our hotel was what seemed like very far outside the city in the dark but in the morning we figured out that actually we were very close to everything. Hotel Anna was a nice change from all the lousy hostels I have become accustom to. The breakfast was wonderful and kicked our day off to a great start. We rode the metro 2 stops into the central hub. Immediately I loved this place. It was so different from the other places I have visited so far. Yes it had a river just like every other European city but the dynamics were quite new. At one time Buda & Pest were 2 separate cities but combined in 1873. The Buda side is a huge hill with the castle and many other historic sites. The Pest side is flat and contains the majority of the city and the Parliament building. We walked around to try and get a good feel for the city and figure out where we were. I got to be head navigator, that’s a new role for me, since I have been using lots of maps lately.

see all photos »

We were walking down a very nice street toward the Danube River. There were many professional looking guys standing around with cameras as though they were waiting for something to happen. So we stopped and waited to see what it was. A parade of Ferraris! One of the guys helping with it stopped his car to talk to me. He said they were celebrating the 60th year anniversary. It was splendid to watch all the beautiful cars go by. There were at least 35 cars. As we continued to walk to the river we crossed the 'Chain Bridge'. It's main cables look like HUGE bicycle chains. While we were crossing we noticed that traffic on the bridge had been closed and the Ferrari parade continued! Definitely cooler to watch them coming across the bridge.

Crane Composition
see all photos »

Since on the Buda side you have to go up a big hill to reach everything there is a lift that took us up. It was called the Vernicular and was on tracks up the steep slope. At the top there was a nice view to the river. A young guy was trying to sell tours and my parents asked him if he spoke english to ask a couple of questions. It turned out he was from Canada and was really helpful. We were standing in front of the President of the Republic's house, similar to the White House at home. A series of guards showed up and a red carpet had been laid out. We think it was a political meeting between Malaysia and Hungary because there was a Malaysian flag hanging up with the Hungarian.

see all photos »

We later walked down in front of the Buda Castle and saw that all the Ferraris were parked in front. There were so many photographers there. I felt very glamorous to be there. We went into the Cathedral near the castle as well.