The Grand Budapest Hotel
Author: Brandon (Dad)
Time for a blog! It's Saturday (as if days of the week matter to me...) and we're about halfway through our stay in Budapest, Hungary. We elected to take a little down time back at the apartment this afternoon, so let's get you up to date.
By the way, the title of this blog doesn't refer to anything other than the name of a movie by my favorite director, Wes Anderson. The movie isn't even set in Budapest.
OK, after arriving at the central station in Budapest in the early afternoon, we were met by a local driver who dropped us off at our apartment. Quick geography lesson: Budapest is divided into two areas, Buda on the west of the Danube and Pest on the East. We are in Pest, maybe a quarter mile or so from the river bank.
The apartment is very nice and updated. It has some of those floating stairs that lead to a loft area where the kids are sleeping. Luke is up there right now listen to the Croatian soccer song that we heard over and over in Croatia. In case you don't know what I'm talking about. He has earbuds on, but I can still hear it... he's also singing along with it. And now he's hit play for the third consecutive time.
Anywho, we were all a bit tired when we arrived on Thursday, so we just wandered around the inner-Pest district, had dinner at an Italian place, then turned in for the night. We even rented a movie for the kids to watch, "Kicking and Screaming" with Will Ferrell. They liked it.
On Friday we headed across the Danube to explore Buda. Strauss wrote a waltz called "The Blue Danube", but that must have been written on a different kind of day. It's pretty brown.
My favorite part of our time in Buda was The Labyrinth, an underground cave atop Castle Hill. The kids were absolutely spooked, but I had a great time. Apparently the real Dracula was imprisoned here by the Hungarian king, so there were lots of references to him, along with other artifacts.
Plus it was about 40 degrees cooler than it was outside, which was a big hit with me. Side note: Livi does not like life-size wax figures.
Because of the heat, we were kind of dragging, so we rode the funicular down the hill to grab lunch, then took a long walk north on the Pest side. After a quick trip to the mall, we found our way to the "Flipper Museum", which was a huge hit.
For about 10 euros each (5 for kids), you can go in to this underground complex that features 100 or more pinball machines and other old amusements. Not only can you check them out, but you can play all of them. We spent a good hour and a half here. Lots of fun.
I had made arrangements to take a river cruise on the Danube, so we had to cut our pinball adventure a bit short (we could have stayed there much longer). The river cruise was nice and afterward we walked back down to the main drag in Pest.
We ended up walking over 11 miles yesterday... not the most on the trip, but a pretty good accomplishment for me. The kids too I guess, but I'm really proud of me. Didn't even whine once.
By the way, Luke is now up to 7 times in a row listening to the song.
As is Bronzan tradition we had some trouble coming up with a spot to eat dinner. While wandering around we all heard what sounded like AC/DC playing. It grew progressively louder until we glanced back to see a rickshaw heading straight towards Tiffany. Damn thing hit her too! It was amazing. She brushed it off, but several Hungarian passersby said what an idiot the rickshaw driver was. I don't even see a mark on her today. Impressive.
After wandering for a while, the rain started to fall, so we darted into Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. Second time Livi and I have eaten at Hard Rock Cafe in the past week.
This morning we got up and took a bus out to the 9th district to tour the stadium of a local football club, Ferencvárosi Torna FC. Though the tour was completely in Hungarian, the guide was nice enough to chat with us at each spot. Lots of fun and Luke got to add to his football jersey collection.
By the way, Luke has been rotating between his Liverpool, Barcelona, and Croatia jerseys for the past 8 weeks or so. Will be nice to see him in a new outfit.
Not sure what the rest of the day has in store for us, but it's a bit rainy, so we're going to hang out in the flat for a while and hopefully head out tonight to experience Budapest under the lights. While walking back from the river cruise last night, Tiffany and I decided this city looks better at dusk than at midday. I think the same will be true at night.
And Luke is now up to about 10 times in a row listening to the song. I took a video of him singing along, but I'm not sure if I should post that. He might not like it. I'll probably end up blackmailing him with it. Ha.
Until next time...
Time for a blog! It's Saturday (as if days of the week matter to me...) and we're about halfway through our stay in Budapest, Hungary. We elected to take a little down time back at the apartment this afternoon, so let's get you up to date.
By the way, the title of this blog doesn't refer to anything other than the name of a movie by my favorite director, Wes Anderson. The movie isn't even set in Budapest.
OK, after arriving at the central station in Budapest in the early afternoon, we were met by a local driver who dropped us off at our apartment. Quick geography lesson: Budapest is divided into two areas, Buda on the west of the Danube and Pest on the East. We are in Pest, maybe a quarter mile or so from the river bank.
The apartment is very nice and updated. It has some of those floating stairs that lead to a loft area where the kids are sleeping. Luke is up there right now listen to the Croatian soccer song that we heard over and over in Croatia. In case you don't know what I'm talking about. He has earbuds on, but I can still hear it... he's also singing along with it. And now he's hit play for the third consecutive time.
Anywho, we were all a bit tired when we arrived on Thursday, so we just wandered around the inner-Pest district, had dinner at an Italian place, then turned in for the night. We even rented a movie for the kids to watch, "Kicking and Screaming" with Will Ferrell. They liked it.
On Friday we headed across the Danube to explore Buda. Strauss wrote a waltz called "The Blue Danube", but that must have been written on a different kind of day. It's pretty brown.
My favorite part of our time in Buda was The Labyrinth, an underground cave atop Castle Hill. The kids were absolutely spooked, but I had a great time. Apparently the real Dracula was imprisoned here by the Hungarian king, so there were lots of references to him, along with other artifacts.
 |
| A typical scene in the Budapest Labyrinth. |
Plus it was about 40 degrees cooler than it was outside, which was a big hit with me. Side note: Livi does not like life-size wax figures.
Because of the heat, we were kind of dragging, so we rode the funicular down the hill to grab lunch, then took a long walk north on the Pest side. After a quick trip to the mall, we found our way to the "Flipper Museum", which was a huge hit.
For about 10 euros each (5 for kids), you can go in to this underground complex that features 100 or more pinball machines and other old amusements. Not only can you check them out, but you can play all of them. We spent a good hour and a half here. Lots of fun.
 |
| A great way to spend a couple hours. |
I had made arrangements to take a river cruise on the Danube, so we had to cut our pinball adventure a bit short (we could have stayed there much longer). The river cruise was nice and afterward we walked back down to the main drag in Pest.
 |
| Aboard the river cruise. #SelfieTime! |
We ended up walking over 11 miles yesterday... not the most on the trip, but a pretty good accomplishment for me. The kids too I guess, but I'm really proud of me. Didn't even whine once.
By the way, Luke is now up to 7 times in a row listening to the song.
As is Bronzan tradition we had some trouble coming up with a spot to eat dinner. While wandering around we all heard what sounded like AC/DC playing. It grew progressively louder until we glanced back to see a rickshaw heading straight towards Tiffany. Damn thing hit her too! It was amazing. She brushed it off, but several Hungarian passersby said what an idiot the rickshaw driver was. I don't even see a mark on her today. Impressive.
After wandering for a while, the rain started to fall, so we darted into Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. Second time Livi and I have eaten at Hard Rock Cafe in the past week.
This morning we got up and took a bus out to the 9th district to tour the stadium of a local football club, Ferencvárosi Torna FC. Though the tour was completely in Hungarian, the guide was nice enough to chat with us at each spot. Lots of fun and Luke got to add to his football jersey collection.
 |
| A nice stadium... similar feel to the San Jose Earthquakes' new home. |
Not sure what the rest of the day has in store for us, but it's a bit rainy, so we're going to hang out in the flat for a while and hopefully head out tonight to experience Budapest under the lights. While walking back from the river cruise last night, Tiffany and I decided this city looks better at dusk than at midday. I think the same will be true at night.
And Luke is now up to about 10 times in a row listening to the song. I took a video of him singing along, but I'm not sure if I should post that. He might not like it. I'll probably end up blackmailing him with it. Ha.
Until next time...
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