Budapest day 1

We had a fabulous last dinner in Vienna at a place our hotel recommended. They sent us across the Nachtmarkt to a small restaurant that was adorable called Cafe Amacord. We got a cheese and fruit plate, olives and some parmesan and chantarelle risoto. Yum!

We enjoyed our last breakfast, took a few pictures, including the beautiful old opera house that you could see from the lounge area. We went to the market to grab a snack for the train of olives (some italian red olives-- yum!) and the date, prociutto and walnuts. Double yum. Got a taxi and headed to the train station.

Taking trains is such a great and cost-effective way to get around Europe. It took just under three hours and we were in a new country: Hungary! The countryside was beautiful and littered with farms. We arranged a car to pick us up at the station as we'd read that taxis are notorious here for ripping off tourists, and the man was adorable. He carried both of our suitcases, which was impressive as he wasn't young! The ride took around 15 minutes to our hotel, which is a cute little boutique hotel renovated last year. It's really cute and is a perfect area, just off a main drag and near several sights including St Stephen's Church and the Opera House. We checked in and got settled then rushed out to see this city.

Budapest is much bigger than I expected, and seems to be in size between vienna and Prague. The architecture seems similar to Prague, however, many of the buildings are a stone facade that has darkened and not the colors of Prague. It's beautiful though in an understated way and very easy to get around.

We decided to walk around a bit to orient ourselves, then went to the Synagogue for a tour. We bought a ticket, took a quick spin through the museum then met up for the tour with a guide named Ruben from New York. He speaks fluent hebrew, but then when he started speaking English, he sounded very, very New York. He was sarcastic and hilarious. He's been here for eight years.

The temple was built between 1854 and 1859 by Ludvig. It's the largest in Europe, and the second largest in the world, behind one in New York City.  It includes many very unusual features for a temple including two pulpits (as it seats 3500, they had two additional pulpits for the cantors so the people in the back could hear), an organ, and an area on the bemah/stage for a female chorus. In most temples, women aren't allowed on the stage, and especially not to sing! What Ruben shared was that the bible says you "cannot follow the voice of a woman." Well, the Neulog Jews at this temple believe that the interpretation is that since the choir is of many womEn, it's ok. They have an interesting way of interpreting the traditional rules that goes beyond this. Many orthodox temples have women sit on a level above the men, and this temple actually has three levels. In this temple, the men sit in the center and the women on the outside rows. He had several interesting stories of a similar nature.

Ruben kept calling the synagogue 'The House' and kept saying 'when in the House.' In was really funny! Now over 11,500 people attend, spilling out onto the street for the high holidays and in the square. This temple is all about making people feel comfortable to practice. The benches have been there since 1857. The chandeliers were stolen by the Nazis and recently replicated, and the building actually served as a German command center and the site of Adolph Eichmann's offices.

there were 1.8 million jews in Austria-Hungary in 1848, and now there are 100,000 in Hungary, of which 80k are in Budapest.  The area was under communist control for many years and no religion was allowed. The building fell to partial ruin, and in 1999 a new roof was put on and it was reopened. It's an interesting mix of styles of spanish, christian, turkish among others. There is a cemetery with 19 plots containing the remains of over 2,000 people from WWII and a beautiful Tree of Life memorial with names etches into the leaves of some who died.

The temple was one of the most gorgeous buildings I've seen and really impressive in it's size, architecture and beauty.

We walked around for a bit and made our way to the market, but first got distracted by one of the Budapest bridges that crosses the Danube. We took some pictures and by the time we made it to the market, it was closing. We took a quick stroll through and may go back. It's similar to the Reading Terminal in Philadelphia-- an indoor market with mostly food.

We decided to stop for a drink on a cute little pedestrian street and enjoyed a local red wine, then wandered back to the hotel, changed into warmer jackets, got a dinner recommendation from the hotel and walked around 10 minutes to get there. The place was adorable! We sat outside under heaters and enjoyed the best meal we've had! I got duck with a sour cherry sauce, and Kim got shrimp. We heard Hungarian music floating from inside the restaurant. We tried an incredible dessert white and found out where we can get some to bring home. yum!

Tomorrow we're going to check out the baths, which is something we were both told we have to try. From what I read, it's old-style Roman hot springs. A friend of mine is coming in from Amsterdam in the late afternoon so we're holding back on things he may want to do but I'm sure we'll find something fun for the day!

have a great day!!
s