Budapest

Tram at sunset.

So Budapest *is* a top-ten tourist destination, which meant I got through the whole visit there with approximately one muttered word of Hungarian. Shame on me. And thank you, patient Hungarians.

This trip happened because my brother got invited by his partner's family to take a Danube river cruise in July. Fancy! So meeting them became Caroline's graduation mini-break: we took the train to Vienna, stayed overnight, then kept going to Budapest, where their cruise ended and we could spend two full days together before they flew back to the U.S. and we took the long ride back to Zurich. And by "together" I mean "in relative proximity to" because we weren't a particularly cohesive group. But we did okay.

I'll mostly spare you the standard tourist photos, though of course with so little time we mostly did the standard tourist things. Here's a taste of the trip:

On the train to Vienna, these three German guys started serving beer as the train pulled out of the station at 6:40 am. They had a mini-keg and Deutsche Bahn tumblers, until that ran out and they moved on to cans, and they drank steadily until we arrived in Vienna after 2 pm. Not drunks, just...travellers in German style. Truly impressive. Crazily they boarded our train *again* on the way home.

The Dohány Street Synagogue in Budapest, consecrated in 1859 and renovated in the 1990s, is (says Wikipedia) "the largest Jewish place of worship constructed before the 20th century." It was built in the style of a Christian basilica to emphasize the equal participation of the Jewish community in the city. Next to it is the burial place of 2,000 of the 10,000 Jews who died in the barricaded ghetto of Pest in 1944 and 1945.

Probably the highlight of the trip, a meal at the Onyx Mühely, where everything from the bread to the bowls are curated for your dining pleasure. Four artisinal courses didn't sound like much, but oh boy were we stuffed at the end. Caroline enjoyed all her courses too, which is nothing short of a miracle.

Public art meets public toilet at The Pop&Roll Art Toilet, conveniently located next to our hotel. I was super into it, of course. My daughter rolled her eyes, of course.

Hungarian State Opera - vs. -

Vienna State Opera
...the ultimate showdown.

Rubik's Cube street art, love it.

Not a great picture but I loved this one too.

This is from the Matthias Church, where I was obsessed by the patterned walls. At some point I decided that the crow is my spirit animal, so I especially liked this one. The raven with a ring in its beak is a symbol of Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. 

At some random station on the long ride home. "God is closer than you think"!