Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained: Budapest: The Final Chapter

I guess I should finish my posts on Budapest before I go to Wales this afternoon.

On our final day of traveling in this amazing city we decided to take a more "relaxing approach." And by that, I mean it was a full day of going back and forth across many trams, undergrounds, buses and rivers in order to finish everything we wanted to do. We started the day stopping at a little stand for some breakfast and ordered two things that we had no idea what they were or how they were going to turn out. George ended up with a french pizza like thing with some bacon or ham in it. And I ended up with a very heavy piece of bread with bacon, onions, potato, and sour cream and possibly some other things that I have no idea what they were-- but it was delicious!!
We wanted to go to "the island" for sake of a better name; oh well I guess a better name is what it is called "Margaret Island" and for my father's information, since I know he will be anxious to go look it up, is where the Dominican Convent once stood. Margaret, daughter of Bela IV of Hungary, lived at the convent. The ruins are quite spectacular though I wonder what it would have been like if it was still standing. While walking around the island a small creature took my attention for about 20 minutes. The allusive red squirrel! Which looked like a miniature fox. I was WAY too excited about this and left George with Flat Stanley next to a statue somewhere in the park to go chase after this squirrel. I have yet to see one in England but seeing one in Budapest kinda made my day!

The island is made up of a few hotels, a water park, pool, and many many many parks and statues etc. And again to my animal lover's delight a little ZOO! There were tons of birds, a few peacocks which all displayed their gorgeous feathers. Some deer like creatures and little horses. I wanted to play with them but George wouldn't let me-- probably for the best.

We then made our way to the Funicular Railway which George had been so eager to ride. We somehow navigated our way there via numerous Mickey D trips to use their Wi-Fi to orientate ourselves. George proceeded to tell me all about cogwheel rails and how they are used to climb up mountains and hills that are too steep for normal rail. The wheels are cut like gears and match one of the rails, so the wheels fit in to the cuts in the rail and then is able to pull the tram/ train up the mountain. I hope that explained it well enough. All I know is that we were on the tram for about 20 minutes going up hill-- George trying to contain his little boy excitement :-D. When we got to the top there was a very overpriced restaurant and a few over-looks of Budapest which were not able to find too easily. But the most exciting part of the top was finding FUNNEL CAKE. And no, not the kind you get at fairs or carnivals that are deep fried and covered in powdered sugar. It is is cinnamon sweet dough wrapped around a wooden stick and rotated over coals for a while. It ends up (pictured below) in a literal funnel shape. It was absolutely DELICIOUS! Sugary and crispy on the outside and soft and cinnamony on the inside. PERFECT snack/ pick-me-up on a cold day.

We walked by heros square while trying to find somewhere to eat. We went back down far far away from the Turkish thermal baths that we were planning on going to that evening. We found this nice little restaurant on the iPad app and decided to try it. There ended up being another couple who were American. We were sitting at different tables but they were next to each other, and the woman started asking us questions since she heard us speak English. We ended up talking with them the WHOLE evening, they were from Virginia near D.C. which was really cool. And they were just really awesome to chat with and hear about American life for a while. She did a really good Sarah Palin impression and decided that, *pardon my French,* the Brit's insistence for calling it "Fillet Mignon" (Rather than filet) was because they hated the French but did not want to look like idiots so they were really saying "Fuck-you-Mignon" Which frankly, I thought was hilarious. We eventually had to leave their company to head back to the baths.

The baths were absolutely amazing. The outside temperature was quite chilling at that time of night but we suited up and joined the crowds of night bathers. There were lots of tourists as well as the local Hungarian people who just wanted a relaxing Sunday evening. I must say soaking in those waters was the absolute perfect end to a very tiring and exciting trip. Relieved all my foot and back pains from carrying bags and walking up lots and lots of stairs. I highly recommend doing the baths on the last day you are in Budapest because it will just be the cherry on top of a perfect trip!