Another Day in Budapest

After an exciting Friday night out with my new Hungarian friends, my Saturday was a little more relaxed, but no less fun.

Finally since it is the weekend Matt and I can hang out during the day and see the city. We decide to go on a bike ride around the city, seeing some new sights and hopefully go on a tour of the parliament building.

One of the best things about Budapest is that Pest is completely flat and I mean completely. Biking around the city is as easy as possible. Not to mention that they have bike paths or lanes running almost everywhere. Often it can be faster to bike than to drive or use public transportation.

We bike from the apartment (in the North) down along the river side to (blank) island. Now this island is Budapest's equivalent to New York's Central Park. It divides the Danube, is about 2 kilometers long and 1/2 kilometer wide or so. The parks inside of it are just beautiful. they have places for sports, picnics, they have gorgeous gardens, a petting zoo and some restaurants. We bike the length of the park just taking it in.

After our ride through the island, we stop on the Buda side at a cafe for a quick lunch. Again, I just order something that sounds okay. Turns out to be a really good beef wrap. Not sure what the sauce they used in it was, but I really liked it.

We bike back across the river with the intent of going on a parliament tour only to get there and find out they are sold out. We discover that they usually sell out for tours around 8:30am every morning and you cannot buy tickets in advance, they have to be same day. This, I think is stupid, but at the same time it makes me only want to the tour more!

After our disappointment starts to subside we continue to bike through the city. I stop at a lovely bring to plank (cannot pass up the opportunity). We then get into one of the nicest parts of the city. We are in a small park across from the US Embassy, the Hungarian National Bank and some other important buildings. We stop in the park, have some drinks and just relax. Matt and I spend a good amount of time talking about business ideas. We are both have a desire to start and run a small business, with the hopes that it gets bigger than just small. We have a lot of okay ideas, but both of us currently lack a great one.

After a good amount of rest we start our slow journey back to the apartment, with a leisurely pace and a mildly longer, but more beautiful path. We cut back across the park, the river and are finally home. We enjoy a quite evening with a few beers, some of my new favorite hungarian wine and our friends at the apartment. All and all, quite a good day.

I will say that I love being able to ride a bike through a city. In KC it just isn't feasible. Too many hills. It is a great work out, but it isn't practical as a mode of transportation. In Budapest and many European cities it is not only feasible, but one of the most logical forms of transportation.