Hungary Part 2

So this post is definitely out of order, but I wanted to get it done. My last Hungary post finished with the Eto football game. The next day we got up and started our journey to Budapest for a couple of days. The trip was full of a number of firsts for Emily: first bus ride, first train ride and first subway ride.

We arrived and checked into our hotel, the Kempinski. I found an amazing deal online as Eniko pointed out the Queen stayed there when she visited. Needless to say it was a very nice treat for us all. Mark, Max, Johnny, Emily and I headed out to play the first and only permanent disc golf course in Budapest. The course definitely has some potential, but the land is perhaps not the best. Mark described it well as "abandoned land". We enjoyed it, we didn't play all the holes as it got a bit late and the course wasn't laid out all that well.

That night Emily had another first. First time swimming! The pool was in the hotel's full service spa. It was very cool, both in terms of the temperature and the layout of the facility. Emily was a little grouchy at first, but ended up loving it. We can't wait to take her again to a slightly warmer pool. We finished off the night with some pizza and of course more beer.

For our second day in Budapest we did some touring around the town. We walked along the bank of the Danube and then walked across one of the bridges (the one with the tongueless lions on it) to the Budda side. It was a gorgeous day and a great day for a walk. Max did fantastic and didn't really complain. On the way back we stopped off at St. Stephens - at the request of Max we checked out the mummified hand of St. Stephen. Max was rather happy.

That night when we returned from Budapest Emily and I got a special treat. Emily got to stay home with Eniko (and Max) as babysitters and I got to go to the pub! Johnny arranged to go to the pub with his good friend and play backgammon. Eniko was so gracious to agree to volunteer so I could go too. Until that night Emily had been falling asleep at 8:30 or before (the time we left) and sleeping for 3 hours until she needed to eat. That night she woke up 5 minutes after we left. Max was an awesome cousin and helped take care of Emily (although he was supposed to be in bed because he had school the next day).

The last two days in Gyor were very relaxing. We hung out with the family, did a little shopping and played a lot of Pit and Aquaduct. Johnny and Mark are annoyed because I am the raining Aquaduct champion. In fact, in all the games we played I only lost one... and we played a lot.

We are having a great time in Turkey, but we really miss Hungary... well mostly we miss Maxi, Johnny and Eniko. It is nice to see the family and they were such wonderful hosts. However, I don't think Mark's liver misses Hungary :-)

Emily's first train ride (on our way to Budapest)

Emily's first subway ride (in Budapest)

Buda Castle

The tongueless lion on the bridge

The family crossing the bridge

Parliament Buildings

Eniko and Emily

Max and Emily - Happy cousins

Family...