Budapest was a surprise to me. I really enjoyed our time here and could easily have spent a couple more days wandering around but I was also surprised by the cost of things. For some reason I thought it would be reasonably cheap but it compared to the rest of the trip easily and most churches wanted an entrance fee of some type.

Yesterday after a lazy morning and breakfast we decided to head upwards towards the Castle District. We caught the funicular up which exits near the Sandor Palace, housing the offices of the President of the Republic. We heard some drums and managed to catch the Changing of the Guards outside the Palace. Before one pair changed, we watched as a bug must have flown into his ear because he started to swat and try to get it out. I said to mum, I guess they don't have to be the statues that the ones at Buckingham Palace have to be.

We wandered around this area, which is part of the old town where commoners lived in the middle ages. I don't think commoners live there now. On of the the main sights is the Mahthias Church which looks really old (a church has stood here for over 500years) but this one was only built late 1800's, early 1900's. Surrounding it is the Fishermen's Bastion, again looking very regal but again, relatively new, compared to European standards. Good for photo opportunities anyway. Also up here is the Royal Palace which is now home to 2 museums and lots of different statues & fountains and fantastic views of Budapest. We tried a local type donut, which is one big roll of dough (empty middle) but it is cooked over charcoal and you have your choice of toppings ie cinnamon, chocolate, coconut. Pretty tasty.

Heading down the funicular I then checked out the famous Chain Bridge. Mum was going to start walking over with me but when she felt it move when the buses came over, she back stepped pretty quickly. We headed back to the hotel as they offered a free afternoon tea. Well, it turns out afternoon tea was instant tea or coffee and packet biscuits. Oh well, at least we didn't come back here just for that. We also had to pick up our swimmers for the baths. We tried out Gellart Baths, which wasn't as far from our hotel. We decided to have a 40 min massage too.

Talk about a maze. Trying to find out way to the locker room and then out to the thermal baths was a workout in itself. You think you are going the right way but then realise you aren't. We finally found the baths and I tried out one of the saunas. The pools were all different temperatures ranging from 36 - 40 with a cold plunge pool at 16 (degrees Celsius). It's always going to be the 40 degree pool for me. Everything else feels like a warm bath. Now to our massages, mum said hers was good, they used oil and it was a full body massage has ordered. However, mine turned in a 40min back rub with no oil. You keep thinking, Ok, they will move onto the arms or legs now, but they don't and all of a sudden your 40mins is up. Oh well, lesson learned. Wouldn't really recommend a massage here. Back out to the pools until we had to leave.

Today we had another late morning and it was time to check out the other side of the river. First stop was the Great Synagogue. Beautiful building and apparently the largest congregation outside of NYC. However, the fact they wanted $15 each to visit inside and see the memorial garden to the Holocaust was off putting. If you wanted to visit the museum it was extra too. The most we have paid to visit any church is $5 so we decided just to look from the outside and we could see the memorial garden through the fence. The Jewish population was pretty much wiped out by the Germans and Russians through 60years of occupation.

We wandered through the Christmas markets before heading to the State Opera House. We had heard it was beautiful but unfortunately tours were only at 3 or 4pm with a mini concert which wasn't good timing for us. We did get to see inside the foyer though. We then spent a couple of hours at the House of Terror Museum which is located in the house that used to be the headquarters for the Secret Police. It was used during WWII and also while the Soviet Republic occupied Hungary. The inside entrance has all these photos of victims and one of the last things you see is photos of the perpetrator's who participated in the torture and interrogation of the prisoners. Hard to believe Hungary has really only been independent since 1991.

We then walked up a little of Andrassy Ut which is one of the most valuable pieces of real estate. Lots of embassies along here. It ends at Heroes Square, a beautiful monument but what was even more stunning today was the sky. It was such a day, sun out and all and then sunset really was spectacular.

Tonight we tried out the Szechenyi Baths which I enjoyed much more because they had a beautiful outdoor thermal pool. It was only 37-38 degrees but because you were outside it was perfect. It was a big chilly getting out to it but worth it. Spent most of our time out here. We did check out the pools inside but they were cooler and their 40 degree pool was rather tiny so back out we went. This one was a little easier to navigate.

On our way back to the underground, we passed a big outdoor ice skating rink, apparently the largest in Europe. It was pretty crowded. Today we had spent a lot of time on the M1, the oldest underground train system in Europe. It is only about 2 carriages long and the stations tiny, but got us where we needed to go which at this time of the night was back to the markets to get dinner. I tried some cabbage rolls and mum had a potato pancake.

Back towards our hotel and finally took some time to get some night shots of the parliament and Chain Bridge. Luckily, they decided to let some fireworks off near the bridge as I was heading towards it to get photos. Tomorrow we are off to Salzburg, getting closer to Christmas which is hard to believe. Before we know it, we will be on a plane back to Oz.

Having problems uploading photos, will do so when I can