Hungary Day 7

On our last day in Budapest, we avoided some demonstrations that were expected in Pest. So we took a special train ride in the hills above Buda. The train itself is a holdover from communist days. It's run almost entirely by kids (they apparently do all of the jobs other than driving the train). The idea was to instill the concept of hard work. It was really just fun. We took the train to a stop that had a hike to a lookout with some really great views back into Budapest. We stopped there and had some "snacks" for lunch of sausages and langos (fried dough with sour cream and cheese) which were both really delicious. We took the tram back down to Budapest. Maya and I took a tour of the Hospital in the Rock, which is a really cool modern history site. The hospital is in a series of connected caves underneath castle hill; it was used in the second world war, and then again during the (failed) revolution, and then outfitted to be ready at a moment's notice during the cold war. We really learned a lot about modern (20th century) Hungarian history. While we did that, Tim went into Pest to stop at the market once more; it was closed, so he wandered a bit and happened on a street food fair before the three of us all met up again for dinner on Castle Hill. We headed back relatively early to get packed up and prepared for the combination of early flight and European daylight savings time.

Hungary Day 6

On Friday, I was back at the conference all day. In the morning, Tim and Maya headed into downtown Budapest, then walked from Buda to Pest for a late-morning bus/boat ride. That's right. Maya got Tim to take her on the Budapest equivalent of a duck tour. After that, they headed back to Cafe Kor for lunch. It was that good, apparently. After lunch, they stopped at the playground in City Park for some playground time. After the conference was over, Jamie and I headed into Buda on the train, where we met Tim and Maya and all headed together to Margit Island, which sits right in the middle of the Danube. We walked onto the island and then noticed bicycles built for four. So we rented one and toodled around the island for a while. There are some ancient ruins of a church and monastery; the island is named after Saint Margit, who is also buried there. We headed from the island for dinner at a pretty touristy restaurant, but the food was good, and there was live Hungarian folk music. And goulash soup.