budapest

very large city - lots of night life, youth, and culture. i found this city to be most relatable to my own russian/uzbek culture over all the other places we saw (well prague too, haha).  of course it was a part of ussr at one point as was where i came from (uzbekhistan), so that would make sense.  tons of history - pride in their country and gorgeous architecture.  castles everywhere.  

of course we also had the great advantage of mike being a native so he really showed us the ropes (so to speak).

i felt particularly nostalgic walking through the street market.  we were on our way to the luxurious bathhouse  when we stumbled upon this bazaar of sorts. 

alla and i were freaking out about these little puppets

not sure if i remember what is on this bread - it looks like an eggplant spread which is something my ma used to make. it also made me think of a snack my dad made when we were little - he used to spread butter on toast, and put salt and pepper on it.  and that's it.  

we had breakfast at this great jewish restaurant called spinoza. i was ecstatic when i saw they served granola with yogurt and FRESH fruit. and to top it off, they had a pianist. and black coffee!

this is the ceiling at he bathhouse mike took us to.  it's the fanciest thing ever! they have several naturally heated pools outside, tons of saunas and mineral baths inside at all sorts of temperatures.  saunas and bathhouses are popular in hungary.  but this particular one peeps come to from all over the world. 

of course we didn't' take our camera in with us, so i borrowed this pic from the national geo website

we also had to see the famous new york cafe.  it's quite fancy to say the least (i mean look at the ceilings!).  eating at a place like this would cost a fortune in the states or paris even. here it was pretty reasonable. 

the boys entertaining ideas of making head statues of themselves.  to pass on to our children (lol)

kids were enamored with the man's puppet show.  everything about this is cute, but the look in his eyes.  

some great people we met through alla and mike.  they came out to hang with us despite the rain and gloom

a castle

alla walking in front of the parliament building.  the construction going on in the background and the grey weather really are doing no justice, but this building is gorgeous.  

bad weather definitely put a damper, but we tried to make the best of it.  

thanks for stopping by! here's more of budapest.  anywho, next up is salzburg!