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Other entries in Budapest

Oh to have come back in the spring!

Budapest was the final venue of my first year’s contract, and with just 6 days, there wasn’t much time to appreciate the city. Being back in the spring months is glorious! The sun was out, the shorts were on and Ben was here J We did a quick trip up to the castle, around the Fisherman’s Bastion and to a few of the view points on castle hill. What a difference it makes with blue skies and the sun!...the view of the Parliament building is still hazy looking, but I think you can’t get away from city haze, especially on a hot summers day!

Ben & I then headed off to Margaret’s Island, an island in the Danube that’s primarily park. We were going to hire in-line skates, but as they were all broken, we hired bikes instead! The island is about 4km in circumference, which didn’t take us long to cycle! But there are a few sights along the way, such as the church, an open air swimming pool, the water tower, a beautiful white cherry blossom tree and some famous heads! (sculptures) We had dinner in Goa, a very nice restaurant with very good steak and great South American wine!

While Ben was still here, we got off the metro in the centre and walked all the way along Andrassy Ut, through the nicer part of town (where Goa is!), past the embassies!...to Heroes Square. The monument is quite impressive, particularly the horsemen, with the city park stretching out behind. Here is where you find Szechenyi Baths; an amazing place! The baths are open to the public, making the most of one of the many hot springs that the city is situated on. There are indoor rooms, saunas, steam rooms and hot pools, but when the sun is shining, there is nothing better than relaxing in one of the outdoor hot baths!! I also love the yellow exterior walls, and the mini wave pool, which is a circle of jets around the outside of a Jacuzzi, so if you stay in there too long you get dizzy! Oh and the coolest thing are the old men playing chess in the water!...so typically eastern Europe/Middle East, I thought we’d passed over to Turkey!

I have definitely found the love, Budapest is great, as long as you have the time to chill and get off the beaten track to find some of the city’s gems...and of course Ben being here helped tremendously!!

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