Budapest was a whirlwind, let me see if I can start on Friday and work my way through to Sunday afternoon without forgetting anything. (Hah, I know before I start that I won't quite manage.)

Budapest is the furthest city that we travel to on this study abroad trip. It took five hours of driving time to get there, and then throw in our stop for lunch and it was a very early morning and a very long drive. Until the late 1800s Buda and Pest were two cities, seperated by the Danube river. Buda was the city on a hillside, built on a hill riddled with caves and governed by the powers that be in Buda Castle. Pest, on the other side of the river was built on a plain and a different ruler until the city merger. When we got t0 the city we went to the Buda side, visited Matthias Corvinus church, covered in spires with black raven statuettes (and a great deal of scaffolding that blocked the best views of the neo-Gothic arcitecture, unfortunately). The church is dedicated to the founder of Buda, Matthias Corvinus, and the ravens are from his surname. Then we got to do a little shopping, since we were in the heart of tourism on that side of the city. There were street musicians and lots of other tour groups, Japanese and German and Hungarian and I could hear snatches of English being spoken. There were shops filled with paprika and little Russian nesting dolls and faux-pashmina scarves. I looked for yarn but didn't find any, sorry Mama.

After shopping for a little while we reconvened at the Fisherman's Bastion, which gave an incredible view of the city spread out below. One of the things that impressed me most about Budapest was the many glorious vantage points. I got to see it from the great height of Buda hill, the tower of St. Stephen's Basilica, the view from a river cruise on the Danube, and from each angle the city was a beautiful tangle of old buildings, unscathed from WWII, the breathtaking Budapest Parliament building on the waterfront, churches tiled with green and yellow, and new buildings that caught the sun like glass jewelry.