Friday June 17 - Szeycheni Baths and Dinner with Friends

One of the things I was most excited about doing were the Szecheyni Baths! When Holly found out she was moving to Budapest, I had my class do a research project on Hungary to "help her get to know her new city." The Baths were things that kept coming up in our research so I knew they had to be cool! I'm pretty sure Mom was most excited about this too! The Baths were originally built as a temporary spa in 1881 but became so popular that the permanent structure was built in 1913. It's all natural water and inside the building there are natural mineral pools. It also serves as a full service spa now, but we just did the mineral baths.

Of course the inside of the building was amazingly beautiful.

Um wow! The pool closest to me in this picture was the "fun" pool. It was the coolest at about 86 degrees F. I don't know exactly because they use the metric system and everything was in Celsius. There were jets that would shoot up and a whirlpool in the middle.
Levi had a wonderful time here! He LOVES to swim and Hungarian people LOVED him!!! Everyone would talk to him in Hungarian and he would just give them the biggest ol' grin! No matter what language or country, people love babies!! One thing I was very shocked to find was that NO ONE....I mean NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON, reached for Levi's face or hands. Here at home I'm sometimes a nervous wreck because people will talk to him and reach for his face and hands. I am not above moving their hands before they get to him either. But EVERY person that talked to him in Budapest and Vienna both reached only for his feet! I was amazed....and very thankful. :)

The middle pool outside is a lap pool, no swimming without a cap!

So inside was all the mineral baths. The first thing you notice is the SMELL! The sulphur smell is extremely strong. The structure itself is very pretty, with huge marble columns. This bath was the "coolest" in this part. I think it was like 36 Celsius, I could hardly put my toes in it. I'm a big weiner when it comes to hot water.

40 degrees is HOT!!! It's the equivalent of about 107 Farenheit. You're supposed to go back and forth between 20 and 40. I couldn't get in either one! The 20 is like ICE WATER!

And Holly's favorite part.... the "foot sanitizer." I'm pretty sure it was just mist, but we won't tell her. :)

I'm so glad I got to experience this fantastic place with Holly, Mom and Levi!!!

Friday night, the Bowman's friends Katie and Wilson had us over for dinner. They were super sweet! I loved meeting them and knowing that Holly and Phillip have some friends who are so wonderful in a place that could be very lonely.
Katie and Wilson, they LOVED Levi! Well....let's be real here....who doesn't!?!
Me and Mommy
More historical stuff to come! Holly has always been my "nerdy" friend. She met her match with Phillip...but let me tell you, they are DEFINITELY the two to travel Europe with. I learned so much from them! They're the nerdiest couple ever! (Just kidding Bowmans....you know I love you!) I have a little inner nerd myself. :)

Arriving in Budapest and Day 1

I'm going to break our trip into a few different posts or it would be so long no one would read it! It's way more likely I will get all (well ok, not all) the details that way! As of today Levi is scooting backwards everywhere. I'm afraid the "chase" will begin in the next couple of months! It would totally be ok with me if he didn't crawl for a few more months. :)

So we left Dallas at 9:30pm. It was the greatest thing ever because Levi slept the whole way to London. He had a little bassinet (after we surprisingly were told at the airport they didn't use them anymore...talk about freak out!) and was fantastic on the trip over! But sheesh that was

one long flight!

We had to change plans in London. We didn't have much time so someone from British Airways met us at our gate and rushed us through security. If we learned anything this trip....it's that traveling with a baby does have it's perks! Much more so in other countries than in the US. However....their way of checking baby "liquids" is by making you taste them! Levi had NO appetite while we were gone anyway so it turned out alright that I had to open 2 of his food pouches and taste them. If you don't refrigerate them they are no good after a couple of hours. :( That stuff is not cheap and I don't like to waste it! We left London at 2:00 and got to Budapest at 5:30, we were soooooo excited to see Holly!!!!

Levi's seat belt on British Airways...haha!

He's way more excited than he looks!

About 3 seconds later...

The courtyard at Holly's flat.

Walking through Holly's neighborhood to see the river, then grab some dinner.

Looking across the Danube River at Buda Castle

Holly and Phillip pushing Levi around in Budapest!

We had dinner at Soul Cafe and then headed home for BED! We were pretty exhausted! Luckily Levi slept all night, he did wake up about 3 and need to eat. Since we lost 7 hours, he didn't get all the food his little tummy needed to sleep his normal hours!

The next day we had to run a few quick errands before we started sight seeing. Mom needed a curling iron and Levi needed diapers so we went to the mall. Holly says it's where they go to get any electronics they NEED, electronics are very expensive in Hungary.

This is the entrance to Holly's building..

The mall. Looks like a mall!

I was taking this picture because this is the steepest escalator ever!!! It's way worse than a 45 degree angle!

Cheesin' on the metro.

Having lunch at Friday's. Real Hungarian right? haha. It was close and we were starving.

Then we headed to the market! It was soooo neat! Definitely a little different than we do our grocery shopping!

Many of the buildings have these beautiful and intricate roofs. The market is a gorgeous building!

After the market, we walked down Andrassy St. on our way to Heroes' Square.

This is the opera. It was built during the rule of the Habsburg Royal Family. Budapest wanted an opera, but they were told that it could not be as big as the one in Vienna. They look a lot alike, the one in Vienna is huge, but the one in Budapest is beautiful! They tried to make it that way since they were told it couldn't be bigger.

Heroes' Square. The Magyar people were nomads who originally settled in Hungary. The country is actually called Magyar Orszag (Country of the Magyar) and their language is called Magyar. St. Stephen is the man who converted them to Christianity and is a huge figure in their history. This is a memorial to some of the important parts of their history.

Magyar people

Art on Lake in the Park. Those are "castles" in the background. They're not really castles, but they represent the four different types of architecture you can find in the city.

People booze it up all over the place! These two were cute, having a little picnic in their boat!

That means Heroes' Square

Mom and Holly in her TINY elevator!

Then we went to dinner at Mini. This is Levi in his crazy European high chair!

Um...excuse me, but how am I supposed to reach the things on the table in this chair?!?