Chilling out in Budapest

With nothing for Zach to wear to the Opera, our day becomes a mission to find Fashion street and go down the main area looking for some nice shorts (can’t get him into pants) and a polo shirt.  Found some cool shops with a range of kids clothes, but in reality it's those big world wide chains like Zara and H&M that have a good selection for kids.

As the evening arrives, the kids are getting more excited for the Opera and to be honest so am I as I have never been to one.  We go down the road and grab a Gyros from our local kebab shop, the dude is so cool, and like most people we meet, quite enamoured by Kaia, especially as she has manners and says thank you in Hungarian.  Wolfing down dinner in our semi glam outfits, Gareth as usual, has seen an Opera before so just watches us getting more hyperactive and eventually gives in and we leave early.  We are staying in the Opera district, a quick stroll and we are there early to look around, and this just adds to the excitement. They are so opulent, and even though we have the Civic in town, we really have nothing that compares to these theatres with hundreds of years of history and storytelling. Keeping true to its original state, there is no air flow or air con, and we are using the paper tickets and whatever I can find in my bag to fan ourselves.

The 8 year old inability to sit still kicks in, and by intermission we know that Kaia is done.  Unfortunately she can’t see so well around the big head in front of her, and can’t read the subtitles fast enough to know what’s going on.  Gareth decides it would be best to take her home. Zach is adamant he wants to watch till the end, so he and I finish watching our first opera.  After paying a small fortune for iced tea in intermission we settle into the 3rd act.  We both came away super stoked to have gone, but think the dying scene went a bit too long, and also Zach declares he has never clapped for a performance for so long, and will it ever end.  We start to make our way home, it's dark and after 10pm, but the area just feels so safe.  I’m not sure what kind of crime happens here, but it doesn’t feel like it's lurking around in the streets after dark.  Very different feeling than Naples at night.

The next day we woke up late and  made our way to the pirate indoor golf.  Some golf places have a theme and put some effort into the look and feel, but this place went way into the theme of underwater and pirates.  And it also glowed in the dark with black light so it was impossible not to be impressed.  Gareth’s puting sucked as usual, mine was worse, and there was zero point explaining to Kaia how to hold the putter correctly.  She had a very artistic way of getting the ball in the hole.  

Forgetting that we are supposed to be on the go slow in Budapest to help manage our tired bodies, we then walk across the bridge to Buda to have a look at the Buda Castle and Fishermen’s Bastion.  Zach is very keen to note that we never take public transport (except on our first day arriving) and we walked everywhere.  The Castle and caves tour is sold out, but we take one look at the hill we have to climb to get up to the castle or the long line for the Funicular to the top, and decide that we’ve seen heaps of castles and make our way to fisherman's bastion instead.  With some words of encouragement we walk up the stairs to the top, and the view of the church, the surrounding area, but more importantly the view across the Danube back to Pest is stunning.  The area has turrets, a chapel, and going down the side streets the old buildings that made up this area including a very impressive town hall.  We work out that Pest is expensive for food, but Buda is even worse.  As the raging hungry demon in Kaia is kicking off, we find a Bavarian pub for lunch.  Wow, not sure what we were expecting for $25NZD but it was probably more than a sausage, a cut up gherkin and three pieces of small sourdough bread.  It's possible at this point we are just going to live at the Kebab shop down the road. We are now committed to finding good Barvian food in Germany.

Making our way home, we have an hour to chill before going back to the river for our evening cruise.  I’ve been told by so many people this is a must do.  We are on the 7pm cruise that will last 2 hours with live music.  What I now realise, is this is a must do at the height of summer on the 10pm cruise.  Whilst we got to see the city on both sides from the river boat, eating goulash and drinking Prosecco, it's only when it's completely dark that the magic of the city really lights up.  And this happened to be when our cruise finished.  Oh and the live music lasted approx 1 hour, then tried to sell us their CD for €10.  It was cringe.  Who even has tech that still plays CDs?!

Not wanting to miss out, we take the scenic route home, via parliament and take in the city from an amazing view point across the Danube.  Buda Castle is so impressive at night.  It looks like a golden castle that spreads across the top of the landscape.  Like all the architecture here, the general impression is big and imposing.  It fits well into its history with various empires over hundreds of years.  No other city we have come across looks this gorgeous by night.