Rich organised a surprise trip away and gave me little surprise clues in the weeks running up to it so I could try and guess where we were going. The last surprise, I didn't open as it would give away the destination. We headed for Gatwick and once we were in the departure lounge I opened it. It was a lonely planet guide for Budapest! However I did secretly know this as one of Rich friends had let it slip when we went out for some drinks a few nights before. I didn't have the heart to tell him someone had spoiled it!! :)

We were booked in to stay at Palazzo Zichy which was a very funky looking hotel mainly black and white. When we arrived we realised it was a bank holiday and they were commemorating the outbreak of the 1956 revolution against Soviet rule. This meant alot of things were shut down which was a bit annoying but in the end didn't impact us to much. On the first night we had steak and basically a meat feast and a drink at a bar nearby.

The next day we went off walking to explore the city. They were setting up a stage for a music concert in the main square. They had a tram system running through the city and the transport was really outdated looking. We then headed to Margaret Island which is in the middle of the river and walked around. They had mini cars in all shapes for kids which were really cute and seemed to be popular. Afterwards we headed for the thermal spa. There were indoor hot and cold pools and outdoors ones. They even had the plunge ones, freezing!! It was very relaxing and the weather was still quite warm for that time of year. There was a theme park nearby as well but we didn't have time to go in. It looked like a kiddie one. We then tried a garlic doughnut which seemed to be very popular and was bizarrely quite tasty. We then headed through the Heros Square which had Millennium monument and the Millennium column in also the museum of fine arts and Műcsarnok (Palace of Art) and got some pretty sunset pictures. Later on we headed for a very typical Budapest meal of stews and they were massive portions.

The next day we walked over to the other side Buda as we stayed in Pest. We went across the bridge with lions on. Buda had some beautiful buildings, royal palace and parliment buildings. It was a very pretty town. We also managed to see the changing of the guards. We walked around the cobbled streets and in to the fairytale castle. There was a Hilton hotel right near the pretty buildings and it was a really ugly building that stood out. We took some pretty pictures with Pest in the background. We then went and got some baguettes and I wanted to feed the horses that were attached to the carts but I didnt do it in case I got in trouble :) We then stopped for a hot chocolate. We went to see the church St. Stephen's Basilica, it was beautiful. That night we headed for some pizzas which were great.

The next day we went to the market which was inside a massive building with a clock on. It sold everything from food to clothes to ornaments. There were loads of cuts of meat as well and cheeses. Yummy! We then headed back to our hotel to get a taxi to the airport and head home.