Awesomeness Defined - Hungary (Country #6)

AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING. Budapest is one of my “Top Five” cities for sure. Budapest has everything you could want, history, culture, interesting topography/geography, interesting shopping, great food (heavvvvvyyyy though, think meats with cream sauces), and superb wine. Budapest is the most livable Central/Eastern European city, as ranked by a by a bunch of economists whose job it is to say so. It is inexpensive compared to somewhere like Paris or Rome. It doesn’t hurt that we went with two lovely friends J.C. and R.C., or that J.C. lived in Budapest when he was younger. Oh yeah, we had a guide who was not me! And even better for us, a guide who loves wine! We could have stayed another few days easily.

Our friends got us in on a deal through Malev Airlines, $300 per person for airfare and lodging at the Le Meridien. However, we arrived late on Thursday night and the Le Meridien was overbooked. Dave and I fell on the sword and volunteered to move to the Intercontinental (right around the corner) for a night. Oh poor-poor us, not the hideous Intercontinental – that is a joke people, it was great. When we checked into the Le Meriden the next day, to make up for the *horrible inconvenience*, they put us in a suite with a freaking balcony and we had chilled champers waiting for us in our room. Pretty much the coolest hotel ever.

Dave was meant to live like this, what a douche.

We spent our days lingering over long lunches, walking along the Danube, and exploring the city. The town has a fascinating history: Celtic, Roman, Mongolian, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, German (briefly), and most recently - Soviet. (Note to self, I need to study up on my WWI and WWII history if I am going to keep traveling over here.) The castle district is unbelievable, I have never seen anything like it. The photos speak for themselves.

Buda Castle at night, redic.

Post-dinner fun with J.C. and R.C.

This is one damn scenic city, I can't wait to go back.

A view of the city from the Buda side, and perfect weather too.

We also spent some time with J.C. and R.C.’s friends in Budapest, who are awesome. They took us to some local bars and restaurants and introduced us to traditional Hungarian booze, Palinka. It is supposed to be a fruit brandy, but it is really just jet fuel. Oh god, what were we thinking doing shots after dinner – clearly we weren’t. I believe there was also chanting at one point in the night, "PA-LIN-KA, PA-LIN-KA". Not pretty the next day.

Bottom line, we will be back! Anyone want to join? Next time we will include a visit to the museums, natural hot springs and spas, the synagogue, and all that other important stuff that didn’t quite make the cut this trip. Ya know, because we saved the important activities for this trip......as shown below.