Fri, August 1: last day

Friday, Aug 1

I cannot believe it's August, and I cannot believe it's our last day. The morning started off with a dilemma: where do we eat dinner on our last night? We had made a reservation at a restaurant that came highly recommended by our hotel, but we finally decided to eat at the Museum Cafe because we had loved it so much, and we knew that we would have a great last meal there. After our decision making (and trust me, it took a while), we headed off back to the Jewish Quarter. We saw the Great Synagogue.

It was beautiful and covered in gold. There were levels, and women used to have to sit on the levels, separate. The guidebook mentioned that it was closed during the winter months because it was too big to heat, but we were surprised because it didn't seem that big. With our synagogue tickets we also had access to other parts of the Jewish quarter. We saw the museum which explained a lot about  Jewish customs, and included an exhibit on the Holocaust. 70,000 Jews were squeezed into the tiny ghetto. We also saw the temple and memorial for the Jewish soldiers that died in World War I, built in 1931. We looked at an art exhibit by Boró Józef, both an art historian and artist who was killed by a Hungarian socialist. After finishing at the Jewish quarter we walked to the river and got on a Danube cruise. It was a little boat that took us up and down the river. It was really enjoyable and we got good views of Budapest.

 From there we walked to cafe Gerbeaud, a cafe in the style of the New York cafe. After our nice "pick-me-up" (a momism) we had to go back to the hotel and pack a bit for our early flights the next morning. We went back out to dinner, and after the initial embarrassment of returning to the same restaurant, our dinner was perfect. The parents ordered a really nice bottle of wine and jack and I had awesome steak. 

Our ten days of travel went by so fast. This trip is something that I will remember fondly for the rest of my life. I know that I both want to and plan to return to these beautiful cities! 

Thurs, July 31: St. Stephen's, New York Cafe, Arzibeth

We finally went to see St. Stephen's basilica, one of Budapest's main attractions. We had heard some Spanish ladies at the opera house talking about how it was beautiful, but not (it) Spain beautiful. They were probably right, but it was awesome. They had a relic of St. Stephen's hand in one of the chapels. We also climbed up the tower to get an awesome view of Budapest.

We had to (had to) stop at Zara because father's shoes were completely destroyed and he finally agreed to let us buy him new ones. We stopped at a little chocolate stand and bought some marzipan covered in chocolate.

From there we walked to the New York Cafe, a magnificent cafe operating out of a hotel. It was incredibly expensive but totally deluxe. I had an ice cream cup bigger (and more expensive!) than any ice cream id ever had before. It was mainly tourists so we didn't feel too embarrassed taking pictures. Before heading home we walked through the Jewish Ghetto, in an area called Arzibeth. We planned to go back tomorrow to the area and look at it with more detail. We went to dinner at an older restaurant called Cafe Bouchon. It was supposed to have French influence but was much more Hungarian than anything else (most of the restaurants here insist on incorporating Hungarian cuisine in one way or another, even if they call themselves some other cuisine). Jack and I had amazing duck breast, different but as good as the one at the Russian restaurant. We were walking home through some streets when I noticed something peeking out of the window of an abandoned building. A little white kitten was sticking it's head out. It was the cutest thing we had ever seen, and we tried for the next half hour to coax it out of its window. 

We gave up eventually, realizing that we wouldn't be able to help it even if it came out. Goodnight buda, goodnight pest! (We are staying on the pest side of the river by the way, and did I mention that they were joined into one city in 1873??)

Wed, July 30: castle hill and the museum cafe

Every day gets better and better. The first stop was the indoor market, just to see the food and souvenirs. We crossed the chain bridge back to Castle Hill to get a better look at it. Before heading there, though, we stopped at the Gellert baths to see if it was worth it to go. Of course it's very traditional to go to Hungarian baths, but seeing them was good enough for us. We climbed up castle hill from the back. The main attraction was St. Matthias church. It's another one of those Hungarian buildings painted in gold on the inside. We climbed up the balcony and got a nice view of the whole church.

We wandered more through castle hill and looked out at the view. We eventually ended up at a nice cafe to have a little break. It ended up being one of the most expensive restaurants we'd eaten at in Budapest, but we enjoyed it. It was right next to the looming national Archives building. 

We were curious in taking a boat trip,  but there was no one at the station to answer any questions and the boat was coming pretty late. None of us were feeling especially energetic, and with the idea that this was a vacation after all, we decided to take it easy and rest in the hotel for a little longer. The walk home was still really long but enjoyable. We went back out to dinner at the museum cafe, about a 7 minute walk from our hotel. We had set up a reservation, but there were only four other groups in the restaurant. It was a beautiful little restaurant, completely old fashioned and with a live pianist who would've and could've played all night. We all decided to order the set menu, an amazing deal for a three course menu. I ordered the traditional "fruit soup" which turned out to be almost a yogurt smoothie. I'm not kidding: it was completely sweet and had cut up peaches, but it was really good. It was one of our favorite nights of the whole trip. Our waiter was great, the music was nice, the food was wonderful, and the wine was delicious (not that I could tell or anything).