My brother left Hungary a long time ago. First he was living in the USA, mostly in California. Then a couple of years ago he moved back to Europe and has been living in the UK. So this spring when he finally landed a part time job in Budapest I was really happy, because this meant I would get to see him more.
So finally a couple of weeks ago, we finally arranged to meet each other in Budapest on a saturday. I was anxious to see where he was living etc.
Blackberry #1 had a school trip to Budapest for the same day, so I took him to the train station and took the same train to Budapest as the class 🙂 BB#2 stayed home with his Dad, so I was kid free for most of the day 🙂
My brother lives in the Castle district in Buda.
He lives 2 blocks from this beauty:
This is Matthias Church, a Roman Catholic church, also known as Church of Our Lady, it was founded by King Béla IV. after the Mongolian invaders left Hungary in 1242. Not much remained of the original building due to numerous expansions, wars and reconstructions.
We had lunch in the Manna Lounge, also located in the castle district:
Dessert:
The Habsburg Gate.
The Royal Palace.
The Matthias Fountain.
The view from the Castle 🙂 The river Danube, Pest and The Parlament.
We continued our stroll and crossed the Danube on the Chain bridge and found this strange statue at the other end of the bridge.
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences. I have spent many hours here listening to interesting lectures, and was once even invited for champagne with the head of the Academy, when I received a tender for young scientists.
St. Stephen’s Basilica is named in honour of Stephen, the first King of Hungary. Today, it is the third largest church in Hungary.
Before going back to the train station we had coffee. Starbucks: Pumpkin spice latte, pumpkin pie and apple pie 🙂
Have you been to Budapest before?
The Blackberry Boys 
One of the cities I find is too often overlooked but that I always recommend non Europeans to visit in Europe; beautiful and full of history but also somehow “real”. I loved it!
It is an exciting City 🙂
I loved visiting Budapest! The “strange” statue is new to me. Thanks for sharing your day with your brother with us.
The strange statue was at the end of Chain Bridge on the Pest side. But it was temporary, because it was gone by the end of december…
I loved Budapest, especially the amazing architecture. I am so glad that you got an almost kid free day with your brother! How fun!
Yes, Hungary has some amazing architecture 🙂