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).