Amazing Budapest, Hungary

We were at Disneyland Sunday and Monday, back to Paris Monday night...spent Tuesday doing laundry and then flew out to Hungary Wednesday morning! Michael had been invited to go to Budapest, Hungary for several days...so Eden and I tagged along! Wow...what a trip! We were all impressed with the beauty of the city and the friendly people who live there!
It was also so nice to get out of the apartment for an extended period of time too!
Our first day involved MANY modes of transportation. Wednesday morning, we got up early, walked to the Metro, rode it to the train and then the train to the airport and flew to Budapest. Michael's host then picked us up from the airport in a car. (Eden commented on how fun it was to be in a car again-I had forgotten that it has been 8 weeks since we had been in a car). We stopped briefly at the hotel, then his host picked us up and took us on the Metro in Budapest, then on a river taxi to their flat for dinner! Whew! We enjoyed both a home cooked Hungarian meal and the company of our hosts! The next day was rather uneventful...Eden and I caught up on 3 days of "home school" and ventured out only for lunch. There was a nice mall near our hotel.  We got to eat Subway and shopped around for a bit and found some American products! Yay! So far, we have seen very few American brands in any stores in France...so it was fun to see things we recognized!! We even found My Little Pet Shop toys.  I bought one for Eden...but unfortunately, I made an error in the conversion of florint to dollars and totally overpaid--but she was really happy with her new toys!!
After Michael got back to the hotel, we walked around and found a local restaurant for dinner. That was interesting! We got to have a disco ball and music while we ate:) Again, the people were friendly and quite a few speak English...
The next day, Michael went off to work again, and I surprised myself  by bravely venturing out for a bus tour! Eden and I went from the hotel, to the Metro, located the correct stops and found our hop on/hop off bus tour all while following Hungarian signs... Yay for me:) We enjoyed a tour of the beautiful city!

I am including lots of pictures since several people have asked for them! Hopefully not too many! 

Part of the ceiling of one of the buildings

 

 

Our last night we booked a dinner cruise down the Danube. Totally worth it! It was beautiful and such a cool way to experience the city! We included our "self portrait" from the upper deck.

 

 

The band on the cruise

We all agreed that we wished that we had added one more day to our visit...we didn't get to see the bath houses...and we didn't get to go in any of the buildings, which would have been awesome! If we ever get the opportunity to go back, we will do it!!
 If you can't tell, the Oelzes loved Budapest!!!