Budapest

Well, if you've looked at the page for Luzern, you've already read about cultural trips here at LAS. Budapest was my first European Cultural Trip. I went with one other sponsor, Julianne, and 10 girls. Here is that trip in short!

On the left is Julianne. This was taken a few days into our trip (on the ferry on the Danube River). The girls we sponsored are on the right. This was taken on our tour on the first day. I know they're small, but even in a big picture they're little!

Budapest is actually 2 parts: Buda and Pest. The Danube River runs between them. Buda is the hilly side, and Pest is the flat side. (I think I remember that right!) One day of our trip we went to Castle Hill. We had an amazing view from there, and that's where this picture was taken as well as the one of me and Julianne.

Matthias is as important figure in Hungarian history. This fountain is dedicated to him. He became like a regular man (rather than a prince). A hunter's daughter fell in love with him while he was dressed as a common man. The fountain wasn't running, but it was still beautiful. It can be found in the Castle District of Buda.

Cool building isn't it? It's the Parliament Building. I took this picture from the ferry. We didn't actually visit the Parliament Building, but we saw it frequently!

Although I don't have any pictures of Hotel Gellert and the thermal baths, I must mention it! On our last morning in Budapest, Julianne and I went to the thermal/Turkish baths. It was amazing! We spent time in the pool as well as the thermal baths, and we had pedicures. It wasn't very expensive. You can enter the thermal baths naked. Julianne and I had our reservations at first, but I think we truly enjoyed it. It feels like a huge tub! We had an incredibly relaxing time. If I ever go back to Budapest, I'm going to make a point of spending more time at the thermal baths!

If you would like to learn or read more about Budapest, go to this site: www.fsz.bme.hu/hungary/budapest/budapest.html.