Bye Budapest, Hello Cologne

You know, sometimes it seems the best things in life are the simplest. Budapest is a beautiful city and the sites in Hungary are extraordinary, but I think I had the most fun simply flying a kite in a field on a windy day.  I enjoyed immensely everything else I did in Hungary, but I think it is best to just enjoy the simple things sometimes.


Secondly, I am continuing to realize that it is not really the places themselves which make something great, but it is the people that make up the places.  Of all my favorite places it is the people that make the places so great.  The Vineyard, Chapel Hill, Mexico, Hungary.  All of them are great on their own, but its the people that I know in these places that make them special.

Me and my Hungarian friends

 So I would like to especially give thanks to my Hungarian friends who were such gracious hosts for the past 5 days.  They were so hospitable and welcoming throughout my time there.  I also greatly appreciate how they made the effort to speak in English while I was there despite me being in their country.   Thank you all again for everything, I greatly appreciate the efforts you all made to make my time in Hungary awesome and a trip to remember.  I also am glad to have met some new friends in my time spent in Hungary. I also of course would like to thank my friend, Tim, in Germany for being gracious and hosting me.  I am blessed to have you all as such great friends.

The Esztergom Basilica

So today I went with my friends to a town called Esztergom that is on the Danube a bit northwest of Budapest.  The town houses the third largest church in Europe after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and St. Paul's Cathedral in London (Pictured above).  It is a beautiful little town with a beautiful view of the countryside and the Danube.  The Danube also acts as the border between Hungary and Slovakia at this point, so we took a (very) short excursion across the border, adding a bit of an unexpected country to my list visited.

Entering Slovakia over the Danube

So after being in Hungary for 5 days I flew into Cologne, Germany to spend a bit under a week with another friend.  So after a 40 hour delay in Budapest the plane finally took off and after a short flight I arrived in Germany, making a third country in a day and within about 8 or 9 hours.  So here I go on the second leg of my trip.  I am sure it will be great.

Bye Hungary, it was a great few days

Intense game of Speed that we skipped the Kesha concert for

The Esztergom Basilica

Ice cream anyone?

And for anyone interested, the pictures came from Buda Castle which was featured in Katy Perry's Firework video (along with other parts of Budapest).

Budapest and the Beginnings of a Summer Abroad

The Danube from the Air

So here I am at the end of the third day in Europe and in Budapest, Hungary. It has been great so far to visit some of the beautiful sites around the city over the past few days.

For those who don't know Budapest is the capital of Hungary with a population of about 1.7 million people.  Situated along the Danube, the river splits the city into two main parts, Buda on the west bank and Pest on the east bank.  Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe and was occupied by the Soviets following World War II.

As a Political Science major especially it is interesting to see some of the lasting impressions that communism has had on the country.  Most of the infrastructure seems to have been built during the Soviet occupation such as a lot of the mass transit system, a lot of apartments and even at least a few hospitals.  So it is interesting to see the style of all of it, but it is pretty efficient.

On a totally separate note, I am thankful to be a native English speaker.  I read before coming to Europe that English acts almost as the lingua franca in Europe for speech, but it was really cool seeing it in action.  While viewing the city lights at night from Gellert Hill, overlooking the Danube and city from the west side, my Hungarian friends and I talked to a Japanese couple next to us, in English.  It was interesting to be in Hungary with native-Hungarian speakers and with native-Japanese speakers, but to speak English to communicate.

Castle Hill, Chain Bridge and Budapest at Dusk from Gellert Hill

I have been busy the past three days touring the city and some surrounding areas, trying some food and seeing a lot of great sites while spending time with some great friends here.  Spending some time at Margaret Island relaxing, skipping stones into the Danube, having a barbecue outside Budapest, visiting the House of Terror museum (information from Hungary being under Nazi and Soviet occupation), and hitting up all the main sites have been some of the highlights so far with two days to go here before my next stop, Cologne (Koln), Germany.

Here are some pictures (more will be put on facebook in a few days).

Hungarian Pancakes; Cinnamon on the left, Hungarian on the right

Resting on Margaret Island after touring the sites

The beautiful Neo-gothic Parliament building

Bonus points to whoever guesses where this and the next picture are from in pop culture (without cheating)

Food break in Szentendre

Skipping stones into the Danube

View of Hungarian countryside from a nice hill

Grilling some food