We’ve been in this amazing city for a week now but I’ve been slow to report out on what we’ve been up to because of two main interferences : it rained a lot and I had a man-cold. Fortunately the sun came back today and I only have man-sniffles remaining.
The past two days saw buckets and buckets of rain, we took advantage and knocked off some solid home-school days with the kids. After two consecutive days of “indoor recess”, we all had cabin fever so it was a big relief to see the sun come back this morning. Out the door this morning, we headed straight to what the kids have declared to be the best playground we have seen thus far in the world (sorry Vienna, you’ve been eclipsed). The play structures here are huge and we weren’t the only adults climbing around them. From what we can tell, the playground was opened just recently as part of a revitalization project the city is undertaking on the park.
As tummies started to grumble, we headed downtown on what I have declared to be the world’s cutest subway (apparently Europe’s oldest). Each train is three cars long (the trams running on the surface are four) and each station is exactly the size of the trains so it won’t be changing anytime soon. The service is remarkably efficient with trains running every few minutes and even in rush hour hasn’t been too crowded. So downtown we went to find some grub and make our way across the chain bridge and up the hill to explore Buda Castle. Our budding photo-journalists took to their jobs passionately today (somebody took more than 100 photos on my phone today!). The kids are both discovering the fun they can have with cameras – today we ended up with lots of photos of intricate details often overlooked, reflections in windows and funny moments they can capture if they time it just right!
Photojournalist 
Photographer?
We managed to stay up on the hill long enough to get a good view of the night lights over the city. This didn’t require much effort since sunset in Budapest this week is around 4:20 pm. By 5:00 the sky was dark and all of the classic skyline monuments in the city were a glow.
Back to our apartment we went for dinner & downtime after plenty of time on our feet today. As with other locations, we have a growing appreciation for the simple things like an apartment with a family room in which to unwind at the end of the day. It lets us play our favourite games, like “who can stay still the longest” (well my favorite anyways).
One more week in Budapest, plenty of time for more adventures…