Continuing my ongoing quest to use every London airport, I left from Stansted this morning and flew to Budapest on Ryanair, which went extremely smoothly. My hostel is fairly centrally located, and I quickly located the nearest Starbucks, McDonald’s, Burger King, and Hooters, so I don’t think there will be any issues here.

I went for a walk up to the park to see some things. I liked this building. It’s called Kunsthalle, and it’s an art museum. I didn’t go in though. It’s on Heroes’ Square right by City Park.

And this is Vajdahunyad Castle in City Park. It was also cool looking.

I also walked up to Margaret Island. It’s just a big island in the middle of the Danube.  Lots of trees, and this fountain, and people running around the exterior of it.

On Tuesday morning I did so much walking. And in my nice shoes too. I walked all the way up to see this statue on the hill overlooking the city.

I basically trudged across the “Buda” side of Budapest. Up to that Liberty Statue, back down, then back up to Buda Castle, Citadella, the art museum, etc. It was a nice walk.

My favorite was Fisherman’s Bastion though. Nicest view, cool looking building. Beer at the top (but I didn’t have any because it was expensive, and by expensive I mean $4), what more could you want?

Then I walked back over Chain Bridge. Not sure why it’s called Chain Bridge though.

I also walked over to the Great Market Hall, which was huge and pretty interesting. If I was cooking, it would have been a great place to buy things. There was also a lot of cheap souvenir crap. I didn’t buy anything, although I was tempted by the whiskey selection.

I’d also like to take a moment to call out my love for California Coffee Company.  It’s very Americanized, of course, but I’m just glad it exists in this city for me to get work done.

My wanderings also took me to these things near City Park.

Wednesday morning I did a Communism walking tour, because Hungary was a communist country and all. Doing that made me feel like I did something at least. In the evening I went to the Széchenyi thermal bath, which is one of those things you’re supposed to do. It was alright, I’ve been in hot water before.

Then I went for a night walk through the Jewish quarter and along the Danube before calling it a night.  Long train ride to Belgrade tomorrow.