Sunday, April 06, 2008

Budapest, Hungary

Map image

Lisa and I were fortunate enough to get to travel to Budapest, Hungary.  Below are chronicled our gastro-political adventures.

American Embassy in Budapest

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We were driving around and looking for parking.  We stumbled upon the American Embassy and through hand gestures and french/english/german/hand gestures, we obtained free parking.

You're gonna Pay!

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The tower on the left is a memorial to all the fallen soviet war heroes.  The sign on the right instructed us to pay for parking, in three languages.

Botulism never tasted so good.

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We were treated to (at least one) good meal while in Budapest.  The prices were really cheap until we realized that we were one decimal place off in our calculations.  Then the prices were reasonable.  The appetizer we got consisted of some butter and raw bacon.  When in Rome......don't eat raw bacon.

Marzipan Map

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While we were in Budapest, we went to the Marzipan Museum.  Here is a map of Europe made from Marzipan.  Italy was delicious.

City View

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It turns out that Budapest was only 2.5 hour drive from Vienna so we decided to go.  The town was beautiful, the people were great, and it had a much more favorable exchange rate than Austria.  We had a great time and our only regret was that we didn't spend more time there.

Gerbeaud

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This is Lisa and I at the famous Gerbeaud restaurant in Budapest.  They have a famous chocolate cake that is pretty rich (both in the cost and intestinal distress ways).  It was nice to come in and warm up.

Chain Bridge

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This is the chain bridge in Budapest that connects the cities of Buda and Pest over the Danube river.  It is a little shocking as you come out of the "Bad part of town", through a tunnel, and on to this bridge without expecting it.  

Where I used to work

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EnSafe, the great company I used to work for, had an office in Bratislava, Slovakia, which is right next to Vienna.  We drove by (into) the city on the way back from Bucharest.  We didn't find the office but we were treated to a very beautiful city on the Blue Danube!

33rd Birthday!

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Upon my recent birthday, I realized that there were a lot of our friends who shared a birthday in our shortest month.  Here are me and Amy Blehm with a birthday cake prepared by Lisa.  We just ate the name parts and Lisa re-baked that portion with the next names in line for a birthday.  Also is me pictured with my cake at work which a friend of ours at church prepared.  It lasted just under two hours.