Budapest

I'm finally finishing off the last of my Christmas trip. We spent an entire week in Budapest since Amanda's aunt lives there, yet somehow it feels like we didnt do as much as we did in the other places. Go figure.

This is Westie, the cat that her aunt has been taking care of for quite a while. He was cool, though not as nice to have around as a dog.


This is the Christmas market near the university that Amanda's aunt works at.


The castle and the national gallery.


There were fun statues around town.


Amanda and her aunt with the constable statue outside of the university.

This is actually really cool. Guys are supposed to put locks on here and give the key to the woman that they love. It's to signify that she holds the key to his heart.

We went to the zoo!


The hippos would just sit like this begging for food. You can actually buy some at the shops and restaurants to feed the animals.


A zoo keeper walking a red panda.

This guy was my favorite. Great hair style!

This is a cute cafe that we had coffee and sweets at for an afternoon snack.


This is the courtyard at her aunt's apartment building.


On Christmas eve these guys were out here playing carols over the Christmas market.

We tried out the Hungarian potato pancake. Pretty darn good!

On of the main shopping streets in town.

A snowflake on my jacket as we were waiting for the bus to go to Christmas Eve dinner!

Her aunt's tree. Not quite what I'm used to...

SNOW on Christmas morning up at the house that we went to for brunch!!!


The day after Christmas Amanda and I just went out exploring. Most things were closed, but it was still a good day. I dont know what it is about these cows, but I feel like they travel Europe...I remember there being ones in Prague when I was there with my dad.



The Christmas tree at the very closed down Christmas market. Only the food vendors were still open.

More castle stuff.

The main bridge, though we never actually used that one to get over to Buda (these pics were taken from Pest, where we were staying).



One night we made dinner for her aunt since we hadn't cooked all week. Technically we just made the gnochi and her aunt through together the leftover turkey from Christmas with some cream and paprika for a basic sauce. It wasnt too bad, though I really dont like gnochi (that was the downside to Budapest...I think I only liked 3 meals that I had there, the rest I just forced down).



Over in Buda up at the castle area.

Looking out toward Pest.

Parliament building in Pest.


Icicle!!!


Buda from the castle.


The other side of Buda from the gates to the castle village/area.

The National Museum! We spent almost all day here on our last day in Budapest. Luckily it's just down the street from her aunt's apartment. I especially liked the archaeology exhibit.

There we go! I'm finally caught up with Christmas! Now, I have about 400 pictures from my weekend in Malta to go through. It was absolutely AMAZING there. We had a total blast and got to eat incredible food and spend almost 2 full days out in the warm sun. I loved it and am sooooo happy that we went!