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Published: June 29th 2017
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Geo: 47.4984, 19.0408
Our train arrived at Budapest station around 8.45am on Tuesday morning. Despite it being a fun adventure travelling in a rail cabin, sleep opportunity was minimal and we stepped onto the platform rather tired and drained, almost feeling jet lagged. All in all, our arrival here didn't feel particularly friendly or welcome. We were heckled by cab drivers and the people seemed a bit cold and dismissive to us, well more than usual. It was hellish finding an ATM, the metro with misguiding signs, and directions to our hotel. When buying rail passes, the vendor short changed us. Eventually, after some wandering and a brutal uphill climb, we found our way to our hotel by around 10.30. Check in wasn't available for a couple hours, so we left our bags and went for a walk. Turns out, our hotel was called Castle Garden for a reason, being located right next to the castle. So for the next couple hours we explored this area. The Matthias Cathedral, named after the Hungarian King Matthias the Just, was particularly impressive with its hand painted interior. The Castle walls also offered a spectacular view over the city. We ate lunch next door to
hotel, checked in, and had a nap. We woke in the evening for a tram ride into town, having dinner at the Chess Restaurant. I had grilled fish with Gnocchi, Nat Chicken stuffed with asparagus, paired with a tasty bottle of Hungarian white wine. We had a chocolate souffle for desert and tried a couple of shots of the Hungarian spirit, Parlinka, free of charge.
The next day, we decided to explore more of the city. We started with a walk down the main street, Andrassy, all the way to the Heroes Square. This was an impressive open square with around twenty marble monuments decorating Hungarian kings, soldiers and heroes over the ages. From the square, we wandered through the Varosliget, a lush green park district. Within, a beautiful castle, the Vajdahunyad. We caught an underground tram back to the city centre, and walked along the riverfront, up and around the Hungarian Parliament building, competitive with the beauty of London.
With time to kill before a booked dinner, we spontaneously decided to go to an exhibition. It was simply entitled 'Murder'. It had shown in London and Berlin with Budapest being the final stop. The premise was an interactive review of the
most haneous and brutal killers over the ages. The exhibition was an audio tour, taking us through 23 themed rooms relating to famous killers such as Gacy, Jack the Ripper, the Boston strangler, Vlad the Impaler and many more. It was a reasonable exhibition, some really good ideas that often failed with poor props or design.
Dinner was fantastic at Hungarikum Bisztro. We had made a booking for 7pm. The staff were extremely friendly, food affordable and delicious. Live music, some sort of xylophone was also amusing. We shared a giant pork knuckle, and pretty well rolled back to the hotel with full bellies.
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Mum
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Toe definiately looks broken! Nothing you can do but try to strap it up and get some ointment for the bruising! Trying to stay off it as much as possible will help too.