Budapest: Day 3

Today we moved from the B&B to the hotel. I would have rather stayed at the B&B – Albert is a great host, and B&Bs are far more comfortable and personal than hotels. We actually could have stayed till Thursday because Albert had a last-minute cancellation, but we already had the hotel booked. I miss the beautiful & character-filled B&B building…

…and even those crazy 117 steps from the front door to our room!

Before we left the B&B, we went to the House of Terror Museum. Although the museum is fascinating, it’s also incredibly depressing and disturbing, and I’d rather not get into the details on my blog – this is supposed to be a happy place! If you want to learn more about what happened during Hungary’s two terror regimes, check out the web site. Trust me, the museum name is absolutely appropriate.

After we moved to the hotel, we did more walking & exploring, starting with the Christmas market, which is now back to being fully open. I never think to take pics before I eat, but I’ll be back at the market tomorrow and I’ll try to remember to take pics of something that looks like foccaccio that I can’t remember the name of, a yummy tubular pastry that’s cooked over hot coals and coated in vanilla sugar & cinnamon that I don’t know the name of, and rooster testicle stew. Yes, that’s what it’s called, and yes, we ate it!

We walked farther south today and came across some more great architecture…

Some close-ups…

 

This building is next to the Danube.

Yay, finally a blue sky!

This statue is across the Danube on the Buda side. Hopefully we’ll make our way over there tomorrow.

This is also a view of the Buda side…

Back on the Pest side, the famous Gerbaud cafe is on the main floor of this beautiful building, which covers one side of the square where the Christmas market is. We had hot chocolate & cake there yesterday – YUM!

The new and glamourous Four Seasons Hotel, which looks across the Danube.

And I finally got to Varga Design to check out the cool jewelry I told you about. The piece I really wanted was 420,000 HUF, or about $2,100 CAD. Just a bit out of my price range, but that’s the price you pay for real diamonds! The pendant I bought is almost as pretty, and ten times less expensive!

We also went to Pick to buy some real authentic Hungarian salami. It was the first place we’ve been to where nobody speaks English. It’s quite impressive how many Hungarians speak English, and how well they speak it. I’ve never been so clued out about a language – Hungarian is nothing like any other language I’m familiar with!

Well, my feet are achey, and after a lousy sleep last night (didn’t fall asleep till sometime after 3:00AM), I’m hoping for a good sleep tonight! A housekeeper actually came into our room earlier to turn down the sheets – how fancy is that?! ;-)