Budapest

Welcome to Budapest! =)

A brief intro of the city. Budapest is pronounced Bu-Da-Pesh-t, it is the capital city of Hungary. Located in Eastern Europe, it is a former Soviet state and is home to about 1.7 million people. Interestingly.. Budapest used to be made up of 2 different cities.. Buda and Pest! =) They are separated by a river.. and i happen to stay on the Pest side..

We were quickly introduced to the confusing public transport system of single/short/watever tickets.. It was quite old school, a small slip of paper being punched by a machine.

Notice we're wearing short sleeves! 25 Degrees Celsius Yippee!

We located our nice cosy little hostel.. which happens to be in a old scary looking building with flickering sensor flights. We needed to walk up pitch black stairs and narrow alleyways.. all part of the Eastern Europe experience.. =) So we left our barang barang and headed out to look for some makan and to do some night time exploring.. =)

Stumbled upon a night market of sorts.. selling yummy stuff

Interesting cinnamon roll.. freshly toasted over charcoal fire.. very nice!

We found our way to the river.. across the river is the Buda side. The Chain Bridge in the background is the oldest bridge that spans this river..

The best possible self-taken shot in the low light conditions.. ~~

Buda Castle across the river!

The next morning, we left early to locate the train station.. where we bought our train tickets to Krakow (we planned to leave the following night)

This is our guide for the Budapest tour! I think his name is Gabor or something like that =).. Wei Sing calls him Wolverine coz of his hair.. anyway he's really cool and passionate about what he does.. telling us many non-touristy stuff about Budapest.. like how tax dodging is a national sport in Hungary.. (oops)

Szent István-bazilika (St Stephen's Basilica) .. the big church of this city.. didn't get to enter coz we were just walking by on the tour.. but it was really big and impressive.. (nice interior as well.. google to see)

Sidenote: either my polo tee is shrinking.. or i'm getting more meaty

Crossing the bridge from Pest to Buda

Chain Bridge.. from the Buda side

After burning a lot of calories and climbing a looong flight of stairs, we reached the top of Castle Hill and were rewarded with a view of Pest

Taking advantage of the sun.. (i got a slight sun burn after this trip by the way)

We didn't actually enter the Royal Palace.. but Gabor sat us down on the grass and told us about some history and some stories =)

Real bullet holes from the World War II on the walls of the military museum

Random horse statue.. apparently.. the Hungarian horsemen were much feared during the medieval times.. (??)

Fisherman's Bastion.. got its name from the group of fishermen who were responsible for guarding this stretch of the city walls.. Bronze statue of Stephen I of Hungary (former King)

Walls of the bastion

The Holy Trinity Column.. erected in thanksgiving for the ending of a plague.. therefore also known as a plague column.. In the background under renovation is Mattias Church.. another well known sight in Budapest.. but we can't see it due to restoration works

Across the water we can see the parliament building.. inspired by the Westminster Abbey in London..

Buda hills..
Buda is more hilly while Pest is more flat.. Buda is also home to the richer people.. who can afford houses there.. and it also has much cleaner air.. crossing the river makes a huge difference in air quality!

The tour ended on the top of Castle Hill.. and we made our way past these cannons.. down the hill and to lunch!

Random pretty building.. Gabor describes architecture in Budapest as "Eclectic" .. meaning it derives its ideas and styles from various diverse sources.. A lot of archi terms thrown at me.. Neo Gothic.. Historical, Neo Renaissance.. etc..

How can i do without an emo shot by the river

Taking a stroll by the water.. to see the Parliament Building

Parliament Building from up close

Shoes at the River Danude.. memorial to the victims of the holocaust. Many Jews were killed and pushed into the river

oh man.. so young.. dun xiang bu kai!

Sitting down to enjoy the sun.. u can see that Wei Sing and I enjoys the sun more than Ri Hao

A couple of guys drinking and talking near us.. kinda gay to me..

Coming back to the square we were at last night..

Doll houses and Puppets for sale

Grilled meats and other oily stuff.. with beer.. =)

We left for Krakow.. and then Vienna.. (will blog about those later..)... but returned to Budapest for the last day before flying back to Helsinki... our last day in Budapest!

Notice the Hungarian Flag at this monument has a hole in the middle..

Heroes Square..

Strange thing happened here.. 3 different groups of students from Macedonia approached us.. and asked if they could take pictures with us.. (??) Have they not seen asians before (??) Maybe they've never seen single eye lids haha

Eating chips at the Heroes Square =)

On our way to Vajdahunyad Castle.. standing beside the trash bin coz i thought it would be better to finish the chips first =)

Arriving at the castle.. =)

Chapel..

The castle is now the agricultural museum

The statue of Anonymus (i spelled correctly).. he was a monk that wrote the first history books of ancient Hungarians.. Wiki says that touching his pen brings good luck.. (??)

We had no time.. if not we'd have gone to the bath! Public baths are big things in Budapest.. and this one is probably the most shiok.. Szechenyi bathhouse

The interior of the bath main hall.. of coz we couldn't go in to take pics! =)

Budapest is a really nice city to visit.. my only complains would be that too many people smoke in the country (minus points).. and that the city is quite dusty and polluted.. (Minus again).. but of coz.. it all helps to retain the charm of an Eastern European, former communist city!

Next post.. Krakow! (might take a few days.. busy in school!)