Budapest, Hungary

So this is the start of documenting our tour to Central Europe with the Folk Dancers. We arrived in Budapest on Tuesday afternoon and immediately went to a reception with the U.S. Ambassador to Hungary. On Wednesday we did a little walking tour up a hill to the Fisherman's Bastion. We then went across the river to the shopping district and did a little shopping. We then had a show that night combined with the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble. They are a professional dance group here in Budapest. Today we had entirely free to sight see. We started out going to the House of Terror which is a museum that honors the people who died under the Nazi and Soviet Regimes. It was very sobering to see the horror they had to endure. From there we went to Heroes Square. Today is a national holiday here, similar to our Labor Day and everybody has it off. They were having a big festival in the square and it was surprisingly similar to American festivals complete with cotton candy, face painting, balloons and food. There was probably hundreds of thousands of people there. We then went back up the hill to where the Fisherman's Bastion is and continued sightseeing. Tonight we are going to a show performed by the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble. We leave for Bratislava tomorrow. Here are a few pictures so far from our trip.


This is the view from our hotel room. We are right on the Danube river and our view is gorgeous. We are staying on the Buda side of the river. The other side is the Pest side. Who knew that Budapest had two sides? This is the Chain Bridge, one of many that connects the two sides.


Another view from our room. This is the Parliament Building.


Mark standing by a statue at the Fisherman's Bastion. There used to be a castle on the top of this hill but it is gone and they have built on top of it. There is still a wall that goes around though.


The view from the Fisherman's Bastion.


Me and the view from the Fisherman's Bastion.


Also on the hill is a palace and this is just outside the palace looking over the wall.


Mark and Jonathon, our tour manager, going across the chain bridge.


Some of the dancers and me at Hero's square. There is a large monument there as well as some museums and a large park.


More of us at Hero's square.


There is an old castle looking building at Hero's square. We couldn't find any info on it but it is now a museum of some sort.


This is the palace up by Fisherman's Bastion. It is also a museum now. There are a lot of museums here.



That is all for now. I will try and update later this week. We are in Bratislava until Monday but we do have a day trip to Vienna on Saturday so I should have some cool pictures.