The next morning, we took the metro to Heroes' Square. (A side note: I love the look of many of the metro stations here: creamy white subway tiles with forest green and burgundy trim, painted steel beams, and wooden benches. The look had such an old world charm.) We emerged from the station to the sight of the impressive Millennium Monument. After getting a better look at the monument up close, we crossed a bridge into City Park. There, we strolled through Vajdahunyad Castle, an amalgam of architectural styles through the ages: Medieval, Gothic, and Baroque, to name a few. The Baroque palace now houses the Museum of Hungarian Agriculture, which explained the livestock penned outside! The walk through the park also brought us to Széchenyi Bath, one of the city's famous spas. I was intrigued by its grand exterior: one side a baroque mustard yellow reminiscent of Schönbrunn and the other a stately stone, looking every inch like a modern palace or government building.
After this morning visit, we came back to the city center, bought food at a market, and ate lunch in our apartment. It took a few attempts pressing various buttons on the washing machine, but we were finally able to do laundry. With this necessary chore underway, we headed out again and took a tram to Gellért Hill. We visited an interesting Cave Church and hiked up the hill for spectacular views of the city from the Citadel. I was thoroughly winded by the hike, but the view of the Danube curving through Budapest was a great reward. When we got back to the bottom of the hill, J. went to relax in the famous Gellért Bath while I explored the area around Liberty Bridge before plopping down on a bench to write and listen to my ipod. The weather turned while I was thus occupied, the skies filling with gray clouds and the wind picking up. Eventually, a few fat raindrops began falling from the sky. I hurried to the foyer of the Gellért Bath to escape the rain. Luckily, the fleeting raindrops abated when we walked back to the tram stop to return to the apartment.We rested a bit and finished the laundry before walking to the river for our Danube cruise on the Legende boats. By the time we were settled in the boat, it had started raining again, this time in earnest. The glass-covered boat afforded us protection from the elements during the hour-long cruise. Budapest is lovely at night, with its beautiful buildings all lit up and the shining lights reflected in the river. Even the lightning, thunder, and bursts of heavy rain added a piquant touch to the atmosphere. The video and narration accompanying the cruise was very informative, nicely complementing the nighttime views outside. They served us 2 drinks during the cruise, the first of which was a tall glass of champagne. Though it tasted good, I'm not much of a drinker and was only able to imbibe about a third of it. The rain had thankfully let up by the time we docked and disembarked, so we strolled along the embankment and enjoyed the view of Buda Castle across the river. Then we headed into Pest's town center in search of a late dinner. We finally found a restaurant as the rain started to come down again. We were seated upstairs, and because of the cold air wafting in, the waiter offered us blankets, which I found amusing. The restaurant was cute, and a small band playing lively folk music added to the charming ambiance. J. ordered a Hungarian salsa, and I had goulash and a cucumber salad. As we ate, it showered on and off, with occasional flashes of lightning that threw a startling wash of bright white outside the window. Our luck throughout the day finally ran out, as we were forced to run back to the apartment in the pouring rain. Never a dull moment on this trip!
The following day dawned bright and clear. We walked toward the river with the plan to cross historic Chain Bridge and visit Buda Castle. On the walk, I noticed an unusual number of policemen near Deák Ferenc tér, but the day was so pleasant, the observation soon slipped from my mind. We strolled across the lovely Chain Bridge and got in line to ride the quaint-looking funicular. It was a very touristy thing to do, as the ride was short and pricey for what it was, but since we still had much walking to do the rest of the day, it seemed a better option than hiking up the hill. The view from the top was inspiring. We wandered around the castle complex before walking further downhill and finding the beautiful and romantic white stone structure known as Fisherman's Bastion. Next to this fairytale building was St. Matthias Church, which boasted a roof with very cool tile work.
When we reached the bottom of the hill, we strolled south along the river embankment on the Buda side of the river. During the walk, we passed the sleek white Elizabeth Bridge and got better views of St. Gellért's Memorial as well as the Liberty Monument we hiked up to the previous day. We crossed the river at Liberty Bridge, a structure of green steel that managed to look both traditional and modern. Back on the Pest side of the river, we entered the intriguing building housing the Great Central Market. Walking around, I absorbed the atmosphere of the countless stalls selling vegetables, meat, fish, sweets, crafts, and other goods. It was quite a lively assault on the senses. We ended up having lunch at Fakanál Restaurant, located on the second floor. I got the goose leg with potatoes and a strawberry juice beverage. The goose leg started out tasty but got a bit tough. Still, it was a good hearty meal, accompanied by live folk music. As we meandered through a main pedestrian drag on the way back to the apartment, we stopped to get gelato in sugar cones from a street vendor. My somewhat unusual stracciatella (a sort of Italian chocolate chip flavor) quite hit the spot.When we found Gerbeaud's Confectionery, where we planned to celebrate the last night of our trip with decadent desserts, we also found more of the cute elephant statues that we'd been seeing around town. (The first, which resembled a lemon, was seen at Heroes' Square. The second, which was just on the other side of the square from Gerbeaud's, looked like a half-built brick house. Funnily enough, there was a cartoon wolf on one side of the elephant, troweling cement to lay on the next row of bricks. The third, in front of Gerbeaud's, was gray with geometric designs. Nearby, two more elephants stood next to a fountain. One was white with marble veins and an intricate design on its back. The other looked like a cake from Gerbeaud's. I affectionately named it "Tiramisu.") It turns out that these elephants are part of an initiative to help the homeless in Budapest. Eighty of these elephants, individually painted by various artists, schools, and students, are displayed throughout Budapest to call attention to the plight of the homeless. Eventually, the elephants will be auctioned off, and the proceeds will fund the renovation of homeless shelters in Budapest.
Throughout the day, I'd also been seeing Swedes everywhere. They stood out because they were all wearing their national colors of blue and yellow. Well, tons of them had gathered in the popular Vörösmarty square, where we found Gerbeaud's and the elephants. The spirited Swedes, decked in their unmistakable jerseys and waving banners, chanted and sang with vigor. Clearly, there was an important sporting event going on that night! It had been a long day, so we decided to go back to the apartment to rest a bit before coming out again. As we walked along the narrow street we took in the morning, we found it blocked by a bunch of policemen, all of whom were wearing protective armor. The sight was a bit unnerving, but we tried not to think too much about what this all meant. We turned and took another small street, finally emerging on Deák Ferenc tér. The square was filled with a huge mass of people. It seemed like some sort of demonstration was going on, which explained the inordinate number of policemen. Most of the people we passed were just standing about, trying to get a look or take video. Many were probably curious tourists. As for us, we just wanted to get back to the safety of our apartment. It got a little scary when we were trying to cross Karoly Krt, and something caused a throng of people to run in our direction. I had the sudden panicked thought that we were going to be run over by the stampede. Luckily, the crowd didn't progress too far before they stopped in the middle of the street and inched back toward the action. J. and I crossed the broad avenue, walked away from the crowds, and took roundabout small streets to get back to the apartment. The narrow lane to our lodgings was actually clogged with police cars! I was relieved to be back in the quiet of the apartment. We relaxed for the next couple of hours before venturing out again. By then, the crowds were gone and everything was back to normal. We bought food at the market for a quick dinner and went into the city again.
Night had fallen. We took a pleasant walk to St. Stephen's Basilica. The building was lit in a warm golden light, and we took in its stately ambiance as its bells rang the hour. We strolled to the embankment again to take in the beautiful nighttime views of Budapest. Unfortunately, we lost track of time a bit (and forgot that stores tend to close earlier in Europe); by the time we got to Gerbeaud's, it was almost 9 p.m., closing time. So, we bought a small assortment of cakes to take back to our apartment. On the way back, we stopped at Anna Café for hot chocolate, to help take away the chill from our walk. A big screen in the café was showing a soccer match between Hungary and Sweden. No wonder Budapest seemed overrun with Swedes all day! ;) Apparently, it was a qualifying game for the 2010 World Cup. When we left, Hungary had just tied the game 1-1, but I later found out that Sweden prevailed 2-1. Back at the apartment, we feasted on the sugary confections from Gerbeaud's and packed for our return home. It had been a whirlwind trip, filled with amazing sights, wonderful cultural experiences, good food, fun, and a touch of adventure. Truly an enriching trip!
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