This has been an amazing trip, full of more experiences and moments, both great and small, than I can ever relate in a blog that I write while half awake every night. (And I have been barely conscious for some of these.) But it has been almost entirely lacking in true surprises. I knew the Tirol was going to be beautiful, I knew that Dachau was going to be difficult, I even sort of knew that Salzburg was going to be the black hole of the trip.

I didn’t know Budapest was going to be … well, this.

Harsh admission time, Gang, but I was a little scared of Budapest. I don’t speak the language, and it’s unlike anything I do speak, or even understand in an Arizona Spanglish sort of way. You can’t suss out words like you can in any of the Romance languages, where etymology is king and a good basis in Latin will take you far. I’ve heard terrible things about Budapest, about scams and pickpockets, some of it on this trip, from travelers in other cities. It’s an Eastern European city for crissakes, and I’ve heard stories about that too. (Even read a few in my former line of work.)

Budapest is, simply, amazing.

Matthias Church in the old Medieval City

It’s not just pretty, I mean we have seen pretty. It has a level of charm and beauty I don’t think we’ve seen in a city thus far. It’s not just the spirit of the people (which is on display everywhere if you know where to look) and it’s not just the proud and determined history of the place. You can’t take any of that as a single piece. It all just fits together and makes this amazing (I’m really too tired to come up with a better word) city that I’m so glad we came to visit.

Today we took the first of our two private tours in Hungary with our guide Agnes and our driver Zoltan. One of the reasons we went with this group of tour guides is that they provide a car and driver, so the guide can do the guiding and not have to pay attention to traffic or spend time trying to park.

Jim and I had done some reading on Hungarian history before the tour (ok over breakfast today, it was before, it counts!) and Agnes really knew her stuff. She told us about the first nomadic tribes to settle in the area, and the influence of the church over the formation of the country. From the Romans to the Turks to the Hapsburgs, and then the Nazis and Soviets, Hungary as an entity hasn’t had all that long to figure out who and what it is and what it’s going to be. The place has hardly ever known freedom.

I love this statue. This statue is dedicated to the anonymous monk (it’s assumed he was a monk) who wrote the first history of the region. It was in Latin (hence the monk theory, only monks back then knew how to write) and found in the National Archives. Generally it’s believed to be a lot of fable and not a lot of fact, but I love that the city felt the need to honor someone who will forever remain unknown, and I adore the statue. My crappy pictures don’t do it justice, and I couldn’t effectively tell you how I felt looking at it knowing it honors a man whose work will stand forever in this country but whose name will never be remembered.

The changing of the guard at the presidential palace

The public Széchenyi Thermal Bath, where much of the city takes in the waters, with 15 indoor pools, 3 outdoor pools and a bunch of saunas, steam rooms and treatment rooms. One of the outdoor pools has stand up chess tables in it and it works much like the chess tables at a park, only in hot water.

I could (and might tomorrow) prattle on at length about this city’s incredible rebirth from communist rule, and it’s resiliency. And I could (and may yet) prattle on about its artistic and cultural heritage, about the effect of Hapsburg rule on a society of engineers and thinkers. But instead I am going to sign off for the night only saying that while Munich is my first love, I believe Budapest will be the most enduring.

Secret message for Johnathan:

Tell your nephew he was absolutely right. About all of it. Absolutely 100% without a doubt right, and we thank him from the bottom of our very tired traveling souls.

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