Budapest 2,3 and 4

We're on the train to Vienna and the last few days have been everything I hoped from Budapest. It's a beautiful city with a lot of history, intrigue and class. We're sad to be leaving and exhausted after the last few days.

Before we left Chris bought a wristband that measures his steps and his sleep each day and as a result we are walking everywhere. No public transport AT ALL. Around 30,000 steps yesterday!

Here is a quick overview of what we have been up to;

Monday
*Took Chris running (I woke him up early for that which he loved)
*Visited the Central Market of Budapest - sells fresh fruit, veg, meat, cheeses, pastries
*Saw the Great Synagogue, the beautiful St Stephens Basilica and the Parliament Building
*Went to our first Ruin pub! They are bars on derelict sites... When enough profit has been made for restoration, a proper bar will open.

Tuesday
*Chris 'encouraged' me to go to the Hungarian National Museum which surprisingly was one of my favourite museums ever
*Pouring with rain, we resigned and went to one of the famous coffee houses called 'The Book Cafe'. Based in the back of a book shop it is a large hall almost with frescos all over the ceiling serving great coffee and cake and live music

Wednesday
*Went to the Citadel and the Liberty Monument on the top of St Gellert's Hill
*Walked to and around Margaret's Island. This is a 2.5km Long Island found in the middle of the Pest and home to various ruins, baths and zoos.
*Walked to City park in the Far East of the city and went to relax at the Szechenyi baths. Bigger than the Gellert baths, these baths have four swimming pools, a dozen thermal baths and at least ten sauna's and steam rooms.

My highlights
*the train journey to Budapest from Brasov - scenery was lovely
*Our guided tour around the Parliament building and seeing the Crown Jewels
*The Gellert Baths - smaller than the Szechenyi but cleaner and more quirky
*The food (especially the Hunkariam Bistro..incredible)
*Live music
*The views
*The history museum

Basically Budapest = awesome

Jane