Budapest with the Boumans, Part I (Wednesday, October 5, 2011)

Last night we left the older two sleeping at the Boumans' apartment, so we were a one child family when we got up this morning. What a peaceful morning that was! We slept in a bit, got ourselves together and went to find a restaurant for a breakfast out with Allison. It seems that Budapestians (Budapestites?) don't go out to breakfast. If they do, they do it later than 9:30. Which makes sense, given that we are sleeping with an open window, and the neighborhood is lively until well into the early hours of the morning!

There was a grocery store open, so we bought a few things and sat in a park bench to eat before showing up at the Boumans' apartment once more. It was another lovely morning--we have had incredible weather, uncharacteristically warm in both Vienna and Budapest. We are told this is all to change on Friday, which is fine because we are tired of the 2 or 3 short-sleeved shirts in our rotation, but what an unexpected bonus the summer weather has been!

Julie, Bastian and Abi joined us--actually, Bastian led us--in a tour of the town. We went to Margit Island, where the musical fountain was, sadly, emptied and getting a scrubdown, but the Japanese gardens were great and there was a playground there where the inner child came out of everyone.

In an attempt to meet up with Jeff during his busy days of appointments and classes with the Calvin students he is leading, we made our way to Vaci Utca, a street lined with coffee shops and other fun places, a street which makes you want to sit down with a good friend and never leave. We had various coffees and hot chocolates and "shakes" which were sort of cream drinks. Yum. We also tore into the sandwiches we'd packed, and no one lost a tooth in the seriously crusty bread, so all was good.

Jeff made an appearance but then had to leave again, so we got back on the omnipresent transportation system and went up to Castle Hill, which is the result of some sort of beautification project many years ago, meant to look medieval. It's not that old, but old enough, and it's lovely even if fraudulent. In withdrawal from caffeine, Kristy bought the most expensive Diet Coke in Budapest--something like $3--against Brian's suggestion. We stopped in some souvenir shops (at Brian's suggestion!?!) but didn't buy much (again at Brian's suggestion). The area is just beautiful, and walking around in the sunshine, you wonder why anyone would live anywhere but here.

Jeff met up with us again, and in order to cement the feeling that this is the perfect place we stopped for ice cream and/or tortes, and it was good. Then Jeff went back to teach his class, and we discovered the wonder of Google maps mobile, which tells you where to walk, then what bus to get on, then what subway to get on. The little British woman in our car's navigational system should be feeling threatened right about now.

We fed the kids some spaghetti, then left them to their own devices while we had a late dinner out. Jeff, back from class, led the way to a "ruin bar," a restaurant/bar that was set up, sort of squatter-style, in an abandoned building. Budapest is kind of famous for these places. Szimpla, our restaurant for the evening, has been around for some years, and it's fantastic. Funky decorations, rooms and stairways winding through the building and open air courtyard, whatever chair or table-shaped thing they could find (one of our tables was an old sewing machine table, and the next one over sported a bathtub renovated into seating for two), and broken plaster walls covered with notes from previous visitors. Plus good (and cheap!) food. It's the kind of place you can only hope to find on a trip to a city you don't know. This city is undergoing intense renovation and is practically changing as we speak.

This time the girls slept at our place, and the boys at the Boumans. We too needed to sleep!