Budapest

...is beautiful. I got back this morning after staying in Vienna last night, thanks to there being no trains back after 9. We had a fantastic, *fantastic* weekend.

We went out to the pub on Thursday, as it was my birthday, and that was grand fun. But onto Hungary...

So we arrived on Friday afternoon, all feeling fairly knackered and hungry ( No, that's a terrible joke, I'm not saying it...), but after a sly bite to eat we started walking. I'm fairly sure we didn't stop until last night, and my feet are killing me, but it was worth every second.

So anyway, Friday's highlights included the Chain Bridge and Castle Hill (both of which are fairly important and central), and St.Stephen's Basilica (Szent István-bazilika, though I'll save you the unpronouncable Hungarian from now on), and wandering round a lot of Pest followed by a meal of goulash with inordinately hot paprika stuff added to it :)

Anyway, Saturday was the only full day we had there, so we had to make the most of it. We left the hostel at 9ish and didn't come back for about 13 hours, so I think that should have done the trick. We wandered up Castle Hill to Buda, to marvel at the rather spectacular views there. A lot of the architecture is fairly Viennese looking, but still slightly different, but seen all at once...it's quite something. Anyway, we managed to find ourselves a guided tour of the Basilica, which by the way is enormous, which included going to the top of it (and it's the tallest building in Budapest), so there was even more stunning views from up there. At some point in between all this, I forget exactly when, there was a brief period of sitting in the baking sunshine drinking cocktails. I felt it was worth a mention.

Saturday ended by us getting on a boat up and down the ever-so-slightly flooded (more on that later) Danube. For just under a tenner, we got an hour on the river surrounded by a beautifully lit city, and champagne - can't complain about that!

Sunday involved more wandering (inadvertantly through an enormous political rally, with a stage and everything), a brief visit to a museum in the castle/palace and a train back to Vienna, through yet more copious flooding.

Anyway, the flooding - we noticed this when we arrived. Subtle as it was, the Danube was about 30 feet wider than it normally was. The trees and road signs sticking up out of the water gave it away. Good thing that most of the buildings are at least a sensible distance back from the river, otherwise you'd have had a particularly wet parliament. Anyway, the water rose considerably in the 3 days we were there, and I've got photos to prove it. A good contrast is the ones of the tram track - it goes along the river, then down underground, so there's a wall separating it from the grass (normally) or the expanded river (as it was at the weekend). This wall's about 10 or 15 feet high, and we went down to take a look at the water seeping through it as the water rose on the other side....we came back the next day to find the whole entrance to the tunnel submerged, with the water level equal on both sides. Crazy.

I'm sure I've missed out a few things, but basically we saw *loads* of the city and had an awesome time. It was great - I warmly recommend a trip there if at all possible!

So I'm back at work this week (not that I wasn't at work last week, just that the weekend felt like longer than a weekend), but only 4 days to go before the Easter holidays. All things considered, life's pretty good :)

(A few more photos of Budapest can be found HERE - I'll try and make it the best ones, as I took loads)