Budapest 3

11/19/06 - we hung on the buda side of budapest the third day...we visited st. matthais' church, rode on the cog-wheeled tram up to what used to be buda castle, walked a huge hill to the lady of freedom and wandered into places that caught our eye...

here's a great shot of the outside of st. matthais' church....wowowowow...it was such a beautiful fall day...the air was crisp and clean, it was great to be in budapest with such amazing weather...

i love this shot of the painted ceiling....everywhere you looked in this church the space was covered in color....painted everywhere...it was just breath-taking...they also had these incredible stained glass windows....

here's one of them...wowowowow....there was also a cool gallery of the history of this church and how king stephen used to walk over from the castle for service here....there was a box specifically for royalty so they didn't have to sit with the common folks...gotta love that...the crown was on display here as well...

outside of st. matthais' church is the fisherman's bastion...which looks like it would be used for some sort of protection aspect...but we couldn't really figure out what it was doing in that spot...but it gave us a great view of the danube river and the buildings on the pest side....

plus, there was this random guy, sitting at the bastion with his goshawk...drinking his wine from a bottle...he let us take pictures for free and offerred us the chance to hold her...but that cost money...we watched to see if anyone would hold her,but no one did...it was cool though to see this beautiful bird just hanging out :) okay...blogger has had enough...and i have had enough today...i will continue this someday...enjoy the shots...more budapest when i get back....

Budapest 2

11/19/06 - back again...and continuing on with my trip to budapest...i would love it if blogger would let me post more than three pictures...but we'll see...

here's another shot of the inside of the basilica...just amazing doncha think...it was huge and had a chapel in the back that also stunning....with the relic of St. Stephen's hand...you paid some money and they would light it up for you...just a bit bizarre in the whole scheme of things....

we spent some time at this cool cafe outside of the basilica...it was called the montmarte and we had a great conversation with the owner who was israeli and had been living in budapest for over 10 years...and loves it....

this is my money shot from budapest...we were sitting at the famous cafe named gerbeauds....drinking liquid chocolate...yummy...wondering where we were headed next...there were live musicians on the street infront of us and the sun was just starting to go behind the buildings of the square...it was a great stop....

we ended up walking to the parilament building...this is an amazing building but the site of a huge protest while we were there...i guess the current leader lied to get himself into office...and people were calling for his resignation...also, a few days after we left was the 50th anniversary of when there was a hungairn revolt against the russians....things were never as bad there under communism as it was in other places because of this...or so they say...but there was to be a memorial...i heard there were riots too...ugh...politics...this is a shot of parilament from across the river...just a stunning building...more soon...no more pictures....grrrrrrrrr...

Budapest 1

11/19/06 - holy cow...an entire month has just about gone by since my trip to budapest and since my last update...incredible how time flies and you have no idea where it has gone....oct was a rough month for me...not really sure it is always like that...but i made it thru and now things are sweet once again....and my friend Wendy gets here TODAY...so i am trying to catch up on some stuff so i have more time to play while she is in town...hence, my blog update...so here's budapest....yahoo...what a great place...the food, the weather, the metro...it just rocked :)

this is the view from the apartment friend catherine and i rented...it was a great place...one of the cooler things about budapest is everything has a inner courtyard...very civilized...the aprtment itself was okay...in stages of remodel...but it was cheap and served its purpose quite well :)

here is the beautiful st. stephen's basilica in downtown budapest...it was a stunning church and you can climb to the top of the dome...it was an amazing view and very "spirally" climb...but the view made it worth it...

this is one of the beautiful shots of the very intricate ceiling, just incredible artisan work here...and i am sure it cost a pretty penny at the time...now its priceless! okay...blogger says no more pictures here...update 2 from budapest is headed your way in a moment....