Even though Dan spent most of his time working and has seen very little, he agrees that Budapest, a city of 1,800,000, was fun to explore. Well worth a trip. It’s clean, friendly, and well organized. There is great public transportation but a good walker can do most of the city center on foot pretty easily. The skyline is low so it’s a bright city, not one bathed in shadow. Parliament and Saint Stephen’s are the two tallest building in town, actually. Pedestrians have the right of way at all crosswalks (zebra crossings) that do not have pedestrian lights. And the drivers actually stop with no question. There are loads of bikes and bike lanes with easy on-the-street rental. Food is delicious and there is a lot of variety.

A quick word about the manhole covers: they are beautiful! Brass presumably and most have incorporated the city’s coat of arms. They are often shinny and really caught my eye.

In terms of shopping: think paprika, Hard Rock Ts, and beautiful embroidery.

Today is relocation day and merits a clean travel outfit. We enjoyed a lazy morning and then headed to the airport for our flight to Amsterdam via Frankfurt. We had 20,000 HUF (local currency) left, so we strolled the duty free stores and had fun spending it on gifts and goodies. Good weather and on-time flights got us to the hotel in Amsterdam around 7:30. We had a snack on the plane which we counted as dinner so we had an early night.

We are excited to get our next adventure started …. tomorrow morning.