Hungry - Budapest

---

Monday 13th October JOSHUA’S BIRTHDAY
Slovakia - Hungry

Finally Joshua’s 9th Birthday arrived!!! (Thank god b/c that’s all we heard about for weeks before!)
He jumped on our bed very early and received his birthday kisses and hugs over and over and over again…..
We hoped to be close to a McDonald and have a McDonald’s breakfast for his birthday but we weren’t, so the poor kid got Bombay Toast. Bombay Toast is like French toast but it’s sweet instead of savoury. So we ate it with ice cream and jam instead of cheese and olives.

After lunch we headed off to Budapest and did a big shop at one of the biggest supermarket we’d seen up to that point. It was like the biggest Coles and Big W mixed together. We had to change the money and boy, was that hard to understand. My Mum paid for two chickens and gave the lady 2000 koruna and got NO change!!

Later we went to a recommended caravan park where the grounds were lovely but the toilets were horrible and they wouldn’t negotiate with their ridiculous price. Kurt hates it when people are unprepared to negotiate and he left straight away.

The next place had signs everywhere but when we approached the building, the camp had been closed for a long time.

The following place was great and appeared to be nestled between two hills, the grounds were full of autumn leaves and the bathrooms o.k but the price was still a bit high considering the facilities. So we asked the lady to lower the price and SHE DID!!!

Later we had showers and we realised she should have lowered the price even further!!!! We all took our gear to the showers and then poor Kurt in his boxers, had to put pieces of timber into the furnace to keep the pipes hot!! The showers had the tiniest shower screens and there was no space to put your clothes or towels. Many times you’d walk in and they’d be 2-3 ladies naked and drying themselves outside of the cubicle. Poor Katelyn got an eyeful of my Mum many a time and will probably need therapy when she’s older…..God know what was happening in the boys showers with Kurt, Joshua and my Dad.


The rest of the day was spent at a caravan park catching up with washing and blog.


Tuesday 14th October
Hungry - Budapest

At this caravan park we had wireless and so used the time to Skype all the family. We spoke to my sister and saw her wedding invitations and then spoke to Claudette’s family and saw some photo’s of Narelle formal. Later we spoke to my brother Sammy and his family and the kids had a great time chatting and comparing notes about their D.S games. Whenever we speak to family, it takes us half a day to leave the park!!!

We caught a bus into Budapest which was separated by a river and one side of the river is called Buda and the other side was caught Pest. The city was so big and being the official guide I got us completely lost!! And we ended up missing half the city.

Anyway, we headed down to the stunning Parliament house which was modelled on London’s Westminster but with crazy spirals. The front of this incredible building had been cleaned up but the back was still dark with grime and yet to be cleaned. We wanted to enquire about a tour, and read that we had to approach the guide before we entered the grounds. So we approached the guide, who couldn’t speak English but understood enough to say “buy tickets tomorrow” We returned the next day and they have the worst system of buying tickets we have ever seen!!!

My Dad, Joshua and Kurt bought some more fishing rods and I thought second time lucky!!

It was getting late and we wanted to get to the Citadella where there is a huge statue of a lady holding a leaf in her hand. The statue is dedicated to the Soviet soldiers who liberated the town and was supposed to be the highest point of the town with magnificent views of Budapest.

But the walk up the hill was a killer…….I think my parents were close to having aheart attacks and wondered if the walk was going to be worth it. The Statue was great but there were construction all around and it blocked some of the view. But in other spots the views of Budapest by night, were beautiful. Actually we thought more of Budapest could have been lit up and continued to think that as we walked back down and along the waterfront. Parliament House was the biggest building in Hungry but wasn’t lit up as well as it could have been but it was still a fantastic building.

We went home and had soup for dinner. It was a nice simple meal at the end of a busy day.

Our neighbour turned out to be a talkative New Zealand couple who were travelling for 18 months. The husband had lots and lots of advice to give us…..every time he saw us he gave us more advice…even when we weren’t visiting the counties he spoke of!



Wed 15th October
Hungry - Budapest

My parents and I have always like ricotta and Kurt had never been a fan, although in Licodia he tried some that he really liked. So when Lina gave us the recipe he thought he’d give it a go…..but we had to email her son Davide with the instructions and his email was a little confusing, so Kurt just tried it based on what he remembered……

The ricotta he made was delicious, warm and great with fresh bread. Kurt has cautiously developed a liking of ricotta. I say cautiously because he’s probably afraid we’ll have it too often if he shows too much enthusiasm. But I’ll have to give Sammy the recipe so he can make it fresh whenever he likes it!!!

We finally made it into the city centre and had to detour to get Dad to Parliament on time for a tour. It was 11.50am and we had to make it by 12.00pm!! When we got there they were heaps of people in line!!! The system was so crazy that only one person at a time could walk past the gate and 20 mt into the ticket office. There you had to have your license and the license of anyone you were buying tickets for. After all the waiting in line, my Mum finally went in……….and came out to tell us that the tickets for the English tour had sold out this morning. You’d think that message could be passed onto the guard to avoid people waiting in line.

Kurt had gone to change money and buy Joshua a bum bag and felt like he’d walked the street a million times by the time he got back.

We always take a long time each day starting our touring and it seems that only once we’ve had lunch do we move into touring mode. Before that we’re so preoccupied with finding a venue for lunch!!

So surprisingly enough it was lunchtime!!!

As we crossed the long bridge, to visit Buda and the Castle Hill, we came across an “all you can eat and drink!” restaurant called Trofea Grill. Yes it did include DRINK!!! So Katelyn and I who were ahead of the rest walked in to have a look. The décor was elegant and simple and there was a grill with lots of fresh marinated chicken fillets/strips and marinated fish fillets/strips that a chef cooked fresh for you. There was also a traditional Hungarian section with loads of goulash, casserole-like dishes and speciality dishes, as well as the normal salad and desserts. We were sold!!!

The service was impeccable and the food great. I started very calmly and chose a few pieces of chicken and fish to have grilled. Meanwhile I went to the traditional section and chose some interesting but definitely different dishes to sample. I figured I could try a small amount of something and if I didn’t like it, I hadn’t paid for the whole dish and lost money. So I tried a delicious pancake roll stuffed with tuna or something similar and soaked in a great sauce. There was also a lasagne- like dish that was cut into small cubes and served dry. It was bland and too dry for me.

When I went to collect my grilled food, I added a bit of fresh salad and a strange potatoe mix and ate happily. That’s not to say I didn’t return many, many times. But I did so slowly and calmly and stopped so I had enough space for dessert. Many times in the past, when I’ve been to all you can eat, I have made myself almost sick. And it’s not because I want to eat a week’s worth of food, it’s because I want to try so many different thing, but this day I was the model of restraint.

While we were having our coffees and deserts we almost decided to call it a day and head home for a sleep. We jokingly said we’d seen enough of Budapest and I seriously think if someone had spoken adamantly the rest of us would have crumbled like a deck of faulty cards. We were so full and content that a sleep would have made that day perfect.

But some idiot…. Not me!!...decided we should finish the day and see the rest of Budapest. So we headed up the road to the Castle Hill.

The Castle Hill was an area where most of Budapest’s remaining medieval buildings were situated. The area was gorgeous with a stunning huge church Matkyas Templom (under repairs) but the one section that made the biggest impact was the Fisherman’s Bastion. The area was built where fishermen once worked, but was never used for military purposes.

Fisherman’s Bastion was a beautiful collection of white stairs and balconies overlooking the city. In amongst the balconies were canopies with peaked tops. The overall effect was stunning.

Further down there was the Royal Palace. The wealth and decadence around the palace was amazing, with fountains and statues everywhere. The sheer size of the buildings was impressive. But the majority of statues in the fountain were made with
some copper and they turned an ugly shade of green.

We slowly made our way home and got ready to travel on Thursday.

---

Photos

Hungry - Budapest.
The furnace for the hot water