Buda and Pest

For my second 29th birthday, B whisked me away for a romantic weekend in Budapest, Hungary (reality: I left nothing to chance and booked flights, hotel, tours and restaurant reservations myself). Budapest has been on BOTH of our "must-do" lists since moving abroad, so we had pretty high hopes for the second "City of Light" (you know what the first one is if you read my blog! Or if you're a smarty-pants.)

Budapest is named from its two parts: Buda - west of the River Danube, has old Roman baths, 19th-century villas and churches; and Pest is east of the river where the modern city operates and most of the hotels/restaurants are located. We had a spectacular weekend with perfect weather - mid 80s, no humidity and sunny.

My favorite part about Budapest was the architecture - an eclectic mix of old-timey Victorian, progressive Art Deco, and Soviet ugly (last one is not a real type. I forgot its real name but it's hideous). I didn't even take photos of the Soviet architecture because they were little more than blocks of concrete.

Art Deco brass plate in the pavement

Wrought-iron Art Nouveau hotel entrance

Victorian building with Soviet trolley

B went photo-cray and took gorgeous shots at sunrise and sunset. Check out his Flickr or Google+ pages for more. I was sleeping during both photoshoots (hey, naps are an integral part of vacation!) so can't take any credit.

Parliament building across the River Danube

Liberty Bridge

We booked tickets for a guided tour of the massive Hungarian Parliament building (the largest building in Hungary.) The architect looked to London's Palace of Westminster's neo-Gothic design, but inside, it was pure opulence. The exorbitant building costs raised an eyebrow when it was built in 1880s and still does today (Hungary's economy is not doing so hot.) The guide giving the tour sounded like a robot, and I only remembered one interesting thing: the building was the first in Europe to have air conditioning - via a giant ice cube blown by fans into the ducts.

Where members of parliament meet the press

Hard to see in the photo but the ceiling was made of gold! Also sorry for looking sweaty.

Per usual, B and I joined a walking tour of the city to educate ourselves more about Hungarian history (did you know they have Asian ancestors?) and culture (Hungarian wine is surprisingly delicious and fancy.) 

Funicular to the top of the hill on Buda

One of the cutest structures I've ever seen is the Fisherman's Bastion at the top of the hill on Buda overlooking the river below. Back in the day, fisherman used the area as a lookout point for storms, approaching vessels, etc. In the early 20th century, it was memorialized in castle-esque stone formations with turrets and viewing areas for the public to enjoy.

Fisherman's Bastion. Can you see B?

We spent a short two days in Budapest, but we had a blast. Eastern European towns are quickly becoming our favorite to explore - interesting history and culture, not crowded, super cheap food/drink and generally nice people. What's not to love?!

They had one Kentucky bourbon on the list - Blanton's for $4!

Brugge

Welcome back, friends! It's been a while since I posted, but I haven't forgotten about you! I can't believe I haven't yet posted about our trip to Bruges, Belgium, because it's one of my favorite cities we've visited. You take a Eurostar train from London to Brussels and switch to a regional Belgian train to Bruges. Took us about two hours in total - perfect for a 36-hour weekend getaway.

Bruges has been on my "must-do" list since we moved to London. The fairytale-like architecture and houses looked too quaint to be real. And I have to say, Bruges did not disappoint me at all!

Can't get enough of this scenery

We embraced the true European spirit and just relaxed all weekend. We didn't even do our normal 3-hour walking tour of the city! We did our own lazy walk version: Wander-And-See-What-We-Find.

In the town centre

We made time for one tour though - De Halve Maan (Man in the Moon) brewery tour. We walked through the old brew house, played with some 19th-century equipment, took photos on the rooftop and drank delicious Brugse Zot ale.

Original bottle from 1856

B on the rooftop

If you're asking yourself, "What language do they speak in Bruges?" That's a very good question! It's mostly Dutch, although we heard some French (one shop lady) and German (a couple waiters). English is everywhere and it's a good thing for us, because Dutch is really hard to pronounce. 

We stayed in an amazing hotel in a 300-year old house-turned stained glass factory-turned B&B, Huis 't Schaep (see, I told you it was difficult.) Sorry for the poor photo quality - you can tell they are mine and not B's!

Original stained glass by the shop owner

Quirky religious fireplace in our room

The hotel manager told us that the stained glass factory owner decorated his house and shop with ostentatious, Christian adornments to prove to clients how religious he was. Stained glass was expensive, so when ordering, wealthy people would spend a half day or more (over lunch/dinner) in the shop customizing their order. Cool fact!

Our 36 hours in Bruges consisted of gazing adoringly at architecture/bridges, drinking beer, taking photos of everything, drinking more beer, and eating waffles/mussels/chocolate/fries. Perfection.

Wash...

Rinse...

Repeat.

We love you Bruges!